Outline for Idea

We also discussed an outline for our idea to present to Esther tomorrow. I'm quite happy with it although there isn't a clear sequence at the moment, just some ideas that aren't particularly in sequence:

Outline for Idea - “Office Space”

Our idea is to show our spaces progression through time, from starting midmorning in an office setting through to the evening when the office becomes a cleaning ground and finally the buzz of machines left on overnight, with a light switch being turned off to signify the end of the track.

So far, we have thought of varying stages through the day where an office’s sounds may fluctuate such as, tea break, smoking breaks, lunchtimes and then when the day would be busier such as peak call times just after lunch. We also think the atmos track can be made of two layers, the sounds of the machines - typing, whirring and the sounds of workers talking - on phones and to each other.

To introduce the piece, there will be a solitary phone ringing and then we want to use a female voice that announces “Good morning, you’re through to (name) at (company name)” then fade up the atmos around her. She will be the main voice throughout the piece to situate the viewer at points in time, such as cigarette breaks and asking if anyone wants tea followed by a kettle boiling. Although she will be the main voice, we would like to include snatches of conversations, i.e two office workers talking about another worker etc.

We want to try using the hydrophone to capture some interesting sounds of “tea” being poured into a cup. Also, following our workshop on Monday, we want to use the cover to try capturing ‘below the surface’ noises such as machines whirring.

Other noises we will include will be close up sounds of typing, photocopying and phones ringing. Also, we could have the sound of refilling paper in a printer, accompanied by beeping noises it makes due to a malfunction which introduces room for our main voice to say “Stupid thing” and start rattling the drawers/banging on machine. We could also use fax noises, like the sounds of incoming fax.

We’d like to introduce the boredom of the space too, by using sounds of a clock ticking and then a pen tapping on paper in the anticipation of lunch which would be made clear by the voice declaring lunch time after the ticking of the clock. At which point we were thinking to fade out the voices to indicate them leaving for lunch and then just having a silent point in the piece. This would signify the intensity of the office environment and then the break from the stresses of the busy day that occurs there, we want this to make the audience feel the relief of the room, as if it gets a break too.

Could also have a window opening and the noises from outside coming through, such as traffic noises, which later could be closed when a worker complains of cold? Giving a sense of temperature to the piece.

During a break where some of the office leave - such as cigarette break, the quieter environment of the few office workers left can be punctuated with close up sounds of a crisp packet being opened and then the crunching of eating them.

The end of the day will be signified by goodbye’s and then the whirring in between cleaners arriving, then spraying sounds of cleaning solution being spray, then hoovering and finally emptying bins before the ending light switch. Might include the finality of relief from a worker signified by a lighter being used and then a deep breath inhaling and exhaling.