WOULD YOU WEAR THESE?
Hi! My name is Sébastien Heins, and I’m one of your BMO Lab Residents! After several incredible months with David, Pia, Rick, Maev, and Ryan in the lab, I wanted to share some new tools I think could be useful to artists — and hopefully have a bit of fun.
One of my favourite videogames growing up was Ratchet & Clank on Playstation 2. In it, an over-confident green man named Captain Qwark did commercials for ridiculous gadgets ranging from the dangerous Crotchitizer to the Personal Hygenator.
In the spirit of fun, I thought I’d share some “products” based on the explorations and new tech we’ve been experimenting with in the BMO Lab.
If you actually see some use in these weird wares, let us know with a comment or an email saying, “I’d buy that for a dollar!” The goal is to get your feedback on these early-stage tools, and determine whether these are things that you’d want to make your artistic process more magical, less expensive, less stressful, and dare I say…more fun?
Here we go…
BRANDOOS™The ScriptAssist Smartglasses
You’re an actor in the early days of rehearsal, and you want to get on your feet and start really exploring the script with your scene partners. Problem is, you’re insecure about your lines, your script is still in your hands, you can’t play with props, nor really get your eyes off the page without stopping the flow of a scene. Yeah yeah, you’ll memorize your script in time, but right now, how can you make the most of your 3 weeks of rehearsals?
Enter BRANDOOS
Named after the legendary actor who wrote his lines on his props, sets, and even fellow actors, BRANDOO smartglasses feed you all your lines like they’d appear in your head: as thoughts. Keep your head off the page and on your scene partner, as you pull lines out of thin air. Your lines come naturally to you, and instead of being rehearsed, you come across as instinctual, surprising, and off the cuff.
- Upload the script to’em
- Put’em on
- Read’em in rehearsal
Artists gain:
- Better rehearsals: Run scenes hands-free from Day 1.
- Focus your attention on your scene partner.
- Learn your lines in your body in rehearsal.
- Give performances that are more instinctual, not pre-meditated.
- Have more fun.
Artists avoid:
- Paper-bound rehearsals
- looking up and down
- memory-activity rehearsals
- over-thinking lines
- playing the end of the scene
- pre-planning monologues and thoughts.
BRANDOOS: Brilliant from the Beginning.
Would you buy those for a dollar? Comment or email us at david.rokeby@utoronto.ca or sebastienheins@gmail.com . We’ll respond with thanks!
I well imagine both methods have distinct advantages. Reading and memorizing gives you the chance to interpret the character and how you would like to portray them which is so important.
However the ability to react and interpret your fellow actor is essential in creating true dialogue and I would think Brandoos would be a real asset. I would imagine other director notes or commentaries could also be projected thereby not interfering with the dialogue as well as allowing you easy access to the notes.
What? No more fumbling awkwardly with a massive plastic binder? No more desperately flipping through pages to find my next line? No more PAPER CUTS? I’d definitely buy that for a dollar!