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SITCOM: Hybrid:arts Take on the System
and the World
Episode One: Episode Two: Episode
Three: Episode Four
Theme: Big brother. ‘Hybrid:arts
discover they have a lot more in common with MI5 than you would think.’
Opening Scene: to be narrated by Velvet Johnny.Scene
opens with Tim sitting at his desk, opening his morning emails.
He is sitting in his comfy swivel chair, looking finely balanced
between an intellectual and a gangster, casually twirling a pen
between the fingers of his left hand. He is dressed all in black.
In fact, he looks like a spy.
J: Meet Tim Ellis, Creative Director of Hybrid:arts. This morning,
Tim is greeted with an email of a different calibre from the usual
offers of Viagra. An entrepreneurial head teacher from a school in
Rugby has sent Tim a piece of music he has composed himself. Think
Vivaldi meets New Order…
The music is played. Tim and other people in office, Stella and
Gemma, stop working, sit completely still and dumbfounded, blank
expressions.
Roll titles. Need to have amusing title music – Am thinking
Sex Pistols. Or Sinatra “My Way’.
Cuts back to the same scene as before titles. Then S and G start
giggling uncontrollably.
T: Interesting…
Camera tracks around the studio, where students and staff are
at work. Johnny narrates.
J: Welcome to Hybrid:arts, a revolutionary not-for-profit arts
training organisation based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. But
there’s no run of the mill training here! At Hybrid:arts, students
are treated to a hybridised education. They target young people who
spend more time on the streets than at school and are well acquainted
with the long arm of the law. Their training goes across the digital
spectrum – from Video and Music Production, to 3D Graphics
and Animation. Today’s group are receiving training in Music
Technology – something that Mr Rugby could use…
Camera returns to office, where staff are contemplating the music.
T: It’s got potential.
G: It’s not as good as that electronic remix of ‘Winter
Wonderland’ you did at Christmas, Tim.
S: That reminds me, what Christmas present do you get for those
who have it all? A rock loudspeaker! She is flicking through a
catalogue They’re known to those in the know as ‘Rockustics.’ You
could place them strategically in the garden and scare guests. Or
use them in a covert spy-like fashion…Imagine…
T and G nod in unison, pondering this idea. Camera moves out of
office again and into the studio. Velvet Johnny introduces staff.
Camera slows down when focussed on each person and then speeds up
again as it pans the studio to focus on the next person.
J: Mike Shore – Talented Hybrid:arts trainer, proficient
in both music and graphics. Generally very good to have around
when technical problems need solving.
J: Matt Valle – Another talented trainer with an
interest in video production. Italian. Has spiky hair which will
go down in Hybrid:arts legend.
J: Charlie Busby – Yet another first class trainer,
specialising in music technology. Slightly mad. Looks like he owns
a yacht.
J: Techie Gem – Blessed with the rather abstract title
of Moving Image Operative…when she’s not being one
of those she’s generally being wonderful, flexing the many
strings she has to her bow.
J: Paula Magalhaes – The exotic addition to Hybrid:arts,
and bearer of good wine, Paula is our international specialist.
Portuguese. Wears great necklaces.
J: Harrington ‘Aitch’ Bembridge – token famous
person (is a drummer with The Specials), always great to have around
and bring a smile to everyone’s face – including the
stern faced waifs that tend to flock here from the outside world.
Camera tracks back into office.
J: Many great ideas are coined in the Hybrid:arts office…
S: … do you remember when, a few months ago, the Russian
Government claimed that British spies, posing as diplomats, had planted
a fake rock in the street? It was able to transmit and receive classified
data, which they then downloaded into a palm-top computer! If British
spies can use an electronic rock as a surveillance device, I’m
sure Hybrid:arts are capable of using our technological know-how
to create a surveillance device of our own - to keep an eye on our
wayward trainees…
T: Isn’t that illegal?
S: Who knows?! It’s difficult to know what the boundaries
are in the Big Brother-type world we live in today. Our privacy is
constantly invaded. Besides, we could use it for documentation purposes…
G: … using a hidden time-lapse camera in one of the studios!
Discover what they really want. Tap into their psyches. Now THAT’S
what I call innovative!
S: But that probably means we’d get turned down for funding
for being too innovative…
G: … ah, yes. As always.
TG: On a slightly unnerving note, have you noticed our telephones
lately? The other day I picked up the phone to make a call and realised
there was already someone there, who had heard everything we’d
been saying in the office. And the phone hadn’t even rung.
It’s all very bizarre.
T: Oh my God – you mean they heard about the banana skateboarding???
S: Maybe our phones are being tapped by other organisations, to
uncover our trade secrets and to discover for themselves what young
people really want.
J: Stella Carr – Dynamic Strategic Director of Hybrid:arts
and avid horticulturalist.
J: Gemma Corden – Writer and Researcher at Hybrid:arts, notorious
for the monthly newsletter. Wears too many bracelets.
G: We’ve learnt that the only way to find out what young
people want is by, surprise, surprise, asking young people what they
want. It’s hardly rocket science, but so many organisations
set up to help young people seem to find this concept hard to grasp.
J: Life at Hybrid may seem all very ‘1984’, what with
staff confronting the fear of young individuals (and their creativity)
being oppressed by the power of the state - which never has, although
it pretends to, the individuals’ needs at heart. But it’s
not all doom and gloom. Hybrid:arts are doing something very positive – giving
the power back to young people.
Cue Rage Against the Machine!
Cut to main studio at the communal table, where a group of trainees
are brainstorming ideas for a new video project. Young people are
talking amongst themselves. Tim speaks over this scene.
T: We aim to give the trainees as much input into the decision
making process as possible. Here, the students themselves discussed
what kind of project they wanted to undertake, and decided on a video
project. At the moment, a brainstorming session is underway - throwing
ideas together and delegating roles and tasks.
By switching the power over in this way, from trainers to trainees,
the young people can get the most out of the experience and really
let their creativity come to life. The whole process is really quite
liberating.
Focus on the interaction between students. Improvisation from students
needed here for a few moments.
S: We’d like to see the authorities use their power more wisely.
If only they’d open themselves up to unconventional ideas and
adapted to modern society we could see more positive results for
young people and society at large. Unfortunately, Hybrid:arts and
organisations like us find it difficult to get this message through
to those in control – many of these people are often out of
touch. We can find ourselves at odds with organisations that are
set up to help young people in the first place. We’re working
with outdated rules and assumptions – rules that can no longer
be applied to our evolving society. As Joan Hare at the PRU once
said after a long meeting at Hybrid:arts:
“The bureaucracy takes over people and they lose sight of
their humanity.”
J: And that, my friends, is the moral of the story. Until next
time, stay special.
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