JC
You are going to work on a spoken word project that speaks for the experience of being you – and of being a teenager! Let’s get started!
This is what Fred.. again does. He mixes drones and words:
This is how that song turned out:
Here, Fred again.. talks about how grateful he is for the work he’s been allowed to sample. We also hear about how he uses other people’s words to speak for, not necessarily their own lives, but his own life!
The next video is the same Stephen Colbert speech but with Stephen Colbert’s face!
It’s a gift. It’s a gift to exist. And with existence comes suffering. There’s no escape in that. I didn’t learn it, that I was grateful for the thing I most wish hadn’t happened – and then I realised; and it doesn’t mean you want it to have happened; I wanted it to not have happened, but if you are grateful for your life – not everybody is and I’m not always – then you have to be grateful for all of it. You can’t choose what you’re grateful for. So, what do you get from loss? You get awareness of other people’s lives which allows you to connect with that other person, which allows you to love more deeply and to understand what it’s like to be a human being. And so at a young age I suffered something so that by the time I was in serious relationships in my life with friends or with my wife or with my children, I’m understanding that everybody is suffering and – however imperfectly – I acknowledge their suffering and connect with them and love them in a deep way that not only accepts that all of us suffer but it also makes you grateful for the fact that you have suffered so you can know that about other people and that’s that’s what I mean. It’s about the fullness of your humanity. What’s the point of being here and being human if you can’t be the most human you can be? And that involves acknowledging, and ultimately being grateful, for the things that I wish didn’t happen.
Your task is to create a video or an audio piece that in some way speaks for the gift of life and the fullness of humanity.
Maybe you will record the world as you see it ‘live’. Maybe you will ask people to speak pieces that they’ve written or extracts from well-known poems/books. Maybe you will interview people, asking them all the same question. I really want you to try, in some way, to include the other people in your classroom. I want you see yourselves as part of a shared experience!
You might revolve around lots of live audio, but you’re also going to include a drone in the background.
Fred again.. talked in the first video about having 6 or so drones that he will try using as backgrounds. He talks in the next video about how his set/music has an upward curve (this is a curve supported, or even guided, by the drone).
You might want to create an upward curve (e.g. sad to happy, chilled to intense – or vice versa – etc.). If available, you”ll choose a drone that will support the mood (if you’re in my class, I will provide drone options).
The next video explains the importance of relationships within Fred again..’s work. Relationships and connections are important to your project too. We will have an ambition to ‘slow things down’ too (like – in our own probably very different way – Fred again.. does in the ‘I Found You’ video at Hackney Wick station) so we can focus on them properly or see the things we might not usually take notice of.
I think Fred again..’s music zooms in on moments and people in a way which makes us feel ‘seen’. And this should be an aim of your project: to make the people that you record feel like the little things about them get noticed.
I love the way Fred again.. gets involved in his crowd rather than always sitting up on a stage, looking down on them. Your own work should show you are as much a part of your community – you live in it, not outside of it.
And if you want to see the impact of this kind of project, or you’re not convinced about the idea that Fred again..’s music is motivated by inclusivity, watch this….
And listen to this audio section from Glastonbury too…
Your task is to now put together a spoken word piece. It can be a ‘collage’ of recorded footage, a poem you’ve written mixed with other audio pieces. Or you might put a poem you’ve written to video – with no other audio (in this case, the video will speak for the other people involed e.g. the other students in your class. You don’t necessarily need their voices – although maybe you will use them to read out your poem or something like that). If you’re in my class, I will provide a choice of drones and you can choose the one you think will best help you to establish the right tone for your piece.
Good luck! Your final piece will something you should look after FOREVER!