right the video is now finished and live! check it out:
pleasure working with you all
j xxxx
Wednesday, 5 April 2017
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
My contribution to the news report-not sure if it was downloaded just wanted to put it up here in case
Hey guys,
Bouncers Interview
First off I am very very sorry that I didn't put this on the blog! I used it straight to make the video last Thursday.
I discussed with a bouncer who I know well about the nature of the job. Kim explored about who gets in and who doesn't. Georgia spoke generally and found that Bouncers can be very secretive. My interview involved the profession and the exclusivity of Bouncers. I was told that European migration, with the bouncer being Jamaican, has changed the way the profession works as agencies can pay lower wages. This in turn makes bouncers who would like to protect look into other forms of work.
He also spoke that he cannot get angry with customers as of the racism and ridiculing against his background and language. Bouncers have to have very tough skins and in many places face discrimination for doing their job.
Also a short behavioral trait that he mentioned was that younger crowds are far more likely to listen than older crowd. This is to do with young people being molded around the new standards whereas the older generations have experienced different procedures.
If you would like a reference I can provide a phone number, but he would prefer to remain anonymous.
I discussed with a bouncer who I know well about the nature of the job. Kim explored about who gets in and who doesn't. Georgia spoke generally and found that Bouncers can be very secretive. My interview involved the profession and the exclusivity of Bouncers. I was told that European migration, with the bouncer being Jamaican, has changed the way the profession works as agencies can pay lower wages. This in turn makes bouncers who would like to protect look into other forms of work.
He also spoke that he cannot get angry with customers as of the racism and ridiculing against his background and language. Bouncers have to have very tough skins and in many places face discrimination for doing their job.
Also a short behavioral trait that he mentioned was that younger crowds are far more likely to listen than older crowd. This is to do with young people being molded around the new standards whereas the older generations have experienced different procedures.
If you would like a reference I can provide a phone number, but he would prefer to remain anonymous.
Monday, 3 April 2017
inner u
Hey
I realised I never
posted this to the blog…
This is my
experience of Inner U. Before going to the event I actually found myself quite
nervous, despite the rhetoric that this was an event in which everyone should
feel comfortable to be themselves in every possible way. I think the group,
myself included, overanalysed the importance of appearance at this particular
event, I was worried I wouldn’t look ‘different’ enough so decided I would just
dress how I normally would and forget about trying to make a statement with my
clothing. When we initially got there I found the vibe slightly unnerving, didn’t
know where to stand, how to dance what to do… I found myself more conscious of
the rules than in normal London clubs, worried I wouldn’t fit in or I would
look out of place. I ended up really enjoying the night in general and totally
relaxing, however in terms of the intervention I had a different experience.
When preparing for
the intervention, I was initially worried, like I said in the ‘transcript of
the intervention discussion’, that nobody would care what we were doing and we
would get either ignored or brushed off by people who just wanted to enjoy the
night. In the end, I found the exact opposite. As the group were setting up the
intervention I was approached by a man (let’s call him Sam) who was initially
very friendly, but when he asked if I was part of the ‘group over there’ who
were setting up the picnic, and I responded yes, his attitude changed
completely. He seemed practically furious about what we were doing there, he
picked apart our entire intervention and said that what we were doing was
disgusting and ruining not just the event but people like us were ruining
London. I was completely shocked at first and didn’t know quite what to say,
but then ended up going into a pretty deep conversation with him about his life
and struggles being himself accepted in nightlife and in life in general.
In preparing for
this, and looking at it only in terms of our group project, I feel we had
missed the point of this event all together. After speaking to Sam I came to
understand that this event was not just one to express who you are, and all
about inclusivity, it was actually for all the people who feel they are
outsiders, and that London nightlife is so exclusive that they are not
accepted. His view was that we came about this project completely the wrong way
(bearing in mind that I didn’t fully go into the rationale behind our project
and simply said we were looking at inclusivity and exclusivity in nightlife). In
his strongly worded opinion, our intervention was diminishing the people at
Inner U, and their struggles, to a university project. I explained to him that
we were not coming at this from a journalistic perspective, not trying to belittle
anyone or reduce the event or the people there to a narrow perspective of what
we thought this night meant. Me and Sam ended up getting along very well and
spent the rest of the night together. He maintained his view on what we were doing there as a group,
but after explaining more behind our rationale and that we were not trying to
offend anyone he understood more. He said that each person had an amazing story
of why they were there and if we had come to a number of Inner U events and got
to know the people we would have gained a much better experience and anecdotes
to use for our project, we came there as outsiders hoping to gain an insight,
however the real insight would have come if we became insiders.
Emile suggested
before the intervention that ‘I really don’t think it should be about us; we
are going to a place where people seek to be included. We have literally a pool
of people that have experience of what we are interested in; they know
boundaries from first-hand experience. Why are we looking to provoke people?’ I
think more concern and attention should have been given to this. I’m not
actually sure what was gained from the picnic intervention as its not on the
blog and I couldn’t make it to the group meetings last week but I thought it
was important to share my experience of Inner U, and the perspective I gained.
Sorry for the long post. X
emile open mic - my footage
Friday, 31 March 2017
Results open mic night Philippines
Hey Guys,
I wanted to share with you the result that I got from my open mic night performance.
I went on after a number of musical acts- there were lots of genres of music but almost every performer was singing. Mostly people didn't pay too much attention to performers and it seemed that only friends filmed each other.
I was first introduced as "coming all the way from England", which seemed to prompt more attention as almost everyone seemed to film me as I began to recite the lyrics to the songs. I started with the song "Born a Girl" by the Manic Street Preachers and the audience seemed to be listening intently to the words. I did not get much of a reaction out of saying "I wish I had been born a girl" perhaps because they knew I had not written the piece. After finishing the first song I got a bit of applause, but I feel like most people were confused by what I had said. The second song I recited was James Blunt's "Youre Beautiful", the audience was mostly silent and listening to the words. When I was done I was met with less applause which could have been because of the confusion of what I was doing or that they thought I was just doing something weird.
Following my three points previously stated in my rationale (see previous post) it is clear that 1) the reaction of the audience was that of respect and inclusion even though perhaps of confusion (in my video you can see the comparison of my audience to another performer) 2) Those who attend live music events do value both lyrical compositions as well as the music itself 3) Venue does play a role to the degree in which the event is framed, which ultimately manages expectations and reactions 4) I did feel included in the nightlife event -even if i did feel a little bit like a spectacle with most people filming me.
I felt a little bit nervous so I did look down at my paper quite a lot but they seemed to respect what I was doing and the fact that they let me preform "poetry" despite most acts being singing showed their willingness to accommodate a different kinds of acts which was inclusivity in all in all.
Here is my video of my Open Mic Night- note the difference between the reaction I received and someone else who preformed. Mine was more of neutrality-which may be because it was unfamiliar. Where as someone else's was met with applause and enthusiasm. I was still included regardless of my performance, but this comparison can show the depth of reaction.
Comparison
In comparison to Emile's Open Mic it seems that there are some stark differences but mostly similarities.
Emile began his performance with James Blunt's "Your'e Beautiful" our control variable in this case, which led some individuals to enjoy the words, where as others saw it as a mockery of the rock and roll open mic. In comparison when I performed "Your'e Beautiful" individuals were silent and listened intently to the words. A few factors may have affected the different reactions we experienced here. 1) Emile's open mic night was more geared to the Rock and Roll genre which may have thrown people off but it is still apparent that it is individual expectations that ultimately dictate behaviour. My Open Mic night in comparison was more general which may have been why they were more accepting of what I was doing as a diversity in acts can be expected. Filipino's are also known to be very polite and encouraging- So even before doing this I doubted that I would have any negative reactions.
With Emile's second song "Excuse me Mr" by Ben Harper, individuals were more silent and willing to listen to the lyrics of the song. This was the same reaction I had with my first song "Born a girl" which I had originally picked to see if it would incur a reaction. This demonstrates that even across different cultural nightlife scenes, people who attend open mic nights and live music do value words as well as music itself. This prompted us to both feel included in the nightlife event despite doing something out of the norm.
The fact that we were both allowed to preform in this way displays the "diversity of acts" and ultimately shows inclusivity in nightlife which goes beyond borders. The reaction we had varied in our control- but was similar in our serious politically charged songs. It is therefore apparent that peoples reactions vary according to their own expectations of the events.
All in all we can come to the conclusion, that despite doing something out of the norm we felt like we were included. The difference in reaction does not seem to lie between differences in regard to nightlife in Manila and London but may seem to be in the particular settings of a rock and roll pub and a more general Open Mic night.
Hope everyone is well
Charlotte
I wanted to share with you the result that I got from my open mic night performance.
I went on after a number of musical acts- there were lots of genres of music but almost every performer was singing. Mostly people didn't pay too much attention to performers and it seemed that only friends filmed each other.
I was first introduced as "coming all the way from England", which seemed to prompt more attention as almost everyone seemed to film me as I began to recite the lyrics to the songs. I started with the song "Born a Girl" by the Manic Street Preachers and the audience seemed to be listening intently to the words. I did not get much of a reaction out of saying "I wish I had been born a girl" perhaps because they knew I had not written the piece. After finishing the first song I got a bit of applause, but I feel like most people were confused by what I had said. The second song I recited was James Blunt's "Youre Beautiful", the audience was mostly silent and listening to the words. When I was done I was met with less applause which could have been because of the confusion of what I was doing or that they thought I was just doing something weird.
Following my three points previously stated in my rationale (see previous post) it is clear that 1) the reaction of the audience was that of respect and inclusion even though perhaps of confusion (in my video you can see the comparison of my audience to another performer) 2) Those who attend live music events do value both lyrical compositions as well as the music itself 3) Venue does play a role to the degree in which the event is framed, which ultimately manages expectations and reactions 4) I did feel included in the nightlife event -even if i did feel a little bit like a spectacle with most people filming me.
I felt a little bit nervous so I did look down at my paper quite a lot but they seemed to respect what I was doing and the fact that they let me preform "poetry" despite most acts being singing showed their willingness to accommodate a different kinds of acts which was inclusivity in all in all.
Here is my video of my Open Mic Night- note the difference between the reaction I received and someone else who preformed. Mine was more of neutrality-which may be because it was unfamiliar. Where as someone else's was met with applause and enthusiasm. I was still included regardless of my performance, but this comparison can show the depth of reaction.
Comparison
In comparison to Emile's Open Mic it seems that there are some stark differences but mostly similarities.
Emile began his performance with James Blunt's "Your'e Beautiful" our control variable in this case, which led some individuals to enjoy the words, where as others saw it as a mockery of the rock and roll open mic. In comparison when I performed "Your'e Beautiful" individuals were silent and listened intently to the words. A few factors may have affected the different reactions we experienced here. 1) Emile's open mic night was more geared to the Rock and Roll genre which may have thrown people off but it is still apparent that it is individual expectations that ultimately dictate behaviour. My Open Mic night in comparison was more general which may have been why they were more accepting of what I was doing as a diversity in acts can be expected. Filipino's are also known to be very polite and encouraging- So even before doing this I doubted that I would have any negative reactions.
With Emile's second song "Excuse me Mr" by Ben Harper, individuals were more silent and willing to listen to the lyrics of the song. This was the same reaction I had with my first song "Born a girl" which I had originally picked to see if it would incur a reaction. This demonstrates that even across different cultural nightlife scenes, people who attend open mic nights and live music do value words as well as music itself. This prompted us to both feel included in the nightlife event despite doing something out of the norm.
The fact that we were both allowed to preform in this way displays the "diversity of acts" and ultimately shows inclusivity in nightlife which goes beyond borders. The reaction we had varied in our control- but was similar in our serious politically charged songs. It is therefore apparent that peoples reactions vary according to their own expectations of the events.
All in all we can come to the conclusion, that despite doing something out of the norm we felt like we were included. The difference in reaction does not seem to lie between differences in regard to nightlife in Manila and London but may seem to be in the particular settings of a rock and roll pub and a more general Open Mic night.
Hope everyone is well
Charlotte
Rationale for open mic Philippines
Hey Guys,
So I spoke at length with Emile about the kinds of things I could do for my intervention here in Manila that would compliment our project, and we came to the conclusion that a direct comparison of two open mic features would be best.
I originally wanted to do something related to Karaoke as it is a key feature in Manila's nightlife. If you want to relax after work-you go and sing. However, the main issue with that was that most karaoke bar's are booked by individual parties, so the audience would not be general. Therefore we decided that a direct comparison would be the way forward.
Following Emile's line of thought, I planned say the lyrics of two politically charged songs, this would be done to 1) Gage the reaction of the audience, as Im doing something out of the norm 2) View whether individuals who attend open mic nights do so for just the music oe the lyrical composition and meaning of the songs or both 3) to see if the venue affects the way individuals act and 4) to see if I am included in the nightlife scene. Finally there will be a comparison of both our nightlife features, to determine if there is any striking culturally differences between nightlife scenes in these 4 areas.
After a great deal of research to find an open mic venue, I found one at a bar which catered for a more general audience-unlike Emile's pub which featured mostly rock and roll.
I chose to stick with the one of the same songs Emile preformed which was "your'e beautiful" by James Blunt. This was done because we discussed that controlling the variables would lead to a more direct comparison between the reaction in London to Manila. Emile's recitation got a particularly interesting reaction and we wanted to see if it could be replicated in similar conditions.
For the second song, I originally wanted to do "light up ya lighter" by Michael Franti, which is a protest song about war. However, I was informed that it would be misconstrued as me being critical of President Duterte, which would have had a very bad reaction and it is actually against the law here in the Philippines to show an inclination toward one political candidate.
So my second choice was "Born a Girl" by the Manic Street Preachers. I chose this song as transgender issues have been at the forefront of nightlife politics in recent years in Manila. A club called "Valkyrie" closed down because they had refused entry to a transgender individual. The bouncers claimed they could not enter the club because "cross dressing" was against the dresscode of the club. There was a huge backlash, which prompted the club to close as there is a huge amount of effort to include transgender people in nightlife activities.
I also chose this song, because I felt that the lyrics especially "I wish I had been born a girl instead of what I am" would propel the individuals to listen to the words I was saying. I also chose to switch the order of the songs to start with something serious to see if that also had an impact.
My research displayed that the community of people who attend open mic nights are generally very encouraging and respectful so I predicted that me reading poetry would not be an issue and they would include me in this nightlife activity.
However, there was yet another point of contention as being a foreigner would I be accepted and included as a fellow entertainer in Manila's nightlife scene.
Results to follow,
Hope you are all well
Charlotte
So I spoke at length with Emile about the kinds of things I could do for my intervention here in Manila that would compliment our project, and we came to the conclusion that a direct comparison of two open mic features would be best.
I originally wanted to do something related to Karaoke as it is a key feature in Manila's nightlife. If you want to relax after work-you go and sing. However, the main issue with that was that most karaoke bar's are booked by individual parties, so the audience would not be general. Therefore we decided that a direct comparison would be the way forward.
Following Emile's line of thought, I planned say the lyrics of two politically charged songs, this would be done to 1) Gage the reaction of the audience, as Im doing something out of the norm 2) View whether individuals who attend open mic nights do so for just the music oe the lyrical composition and meaning of the songs or both 3) to see if the venue affects the way individuals act and 4) to see if I am included in the nightlife scene. Finally there will be a comparison of both our nightlife features, to determine if there is any striking culturally differences between nightlife scenes in these 4 areas.
After a great deal of research to find an open mic venue, I found one at a bar which catered for a more general audience-unlike Emile's pub which featured mostly rock and roll.
I chose to stick with the one of the same songs Emile preformed which was "your'e beautiful" by James Blunt. This was done because we discussed that controlling the variables would lead to a more direct comparison between the reaction in London to Manila. Emile's recitation got a particularly interesting reaction and we wanted to see if it could be replicated in similar conditions.
For the second song, I originally wanted to do "light up ya lighter" by Michael Franti, which is a protest song about war. However, I was informed that it would be misconstrued as me being critical of President Duterte, which would have had a very bad reaction and it is actually against the law here in the Philippines to show an inclination toward one political candidate.
So my second choice was "Born a Girl" by the Manic Street Preachers. I chose this song as transgender issues have been at the forefront of nightlife politics in recent years in Manila. A club called "Valkyrie" closed down because they had refused entry to a transgender individual. The bouncers claimed they could not enter the club because "cross dressing" was against the dresscode of the club. There was a huge backlash, which prompted the club to close as there is a huge amount of effort to include transgender people in nightlife activities.
I also chose this song, because I felt that the lyrics especially "I wish I had been born a girl instead of what I am" would propel the individuals to listen to the words I was saying. I also chose to switch the order of the songs to start with something serious to see if that also had an impact.
My research displayed that the community of people who attend open mic nights are generally very encouraging and respectful so I predicted that me reading poetry would not be an issue and they would include me in this nightlife activity.
However, there was yet another point of contention as being a foreigner would I be accepted and included as a fellow entertainer in Manila's nightlife scene.
Results to follow,
Hope you are all well
Charlotte
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