A story within a story
WATCH THIS SCENE (FOOTAGE FROM FULL LENGTH FILM 35:20 – 46:33)
Sperm Dance *35:20 - 37:34*
Questions
| SIGNIFIERS | DESCRIPTION | EFFECTS |
| VISUALS | Film: swimming sperm. Giant Egg. Minimal flesh coloured, skin tight costumes Naomi is ‘swallowed up’ inside the set Sparkling coloured lights |
Nakedness, internal Sperm & egg fertilisation Electrical particle exchange: a new life |
| SOUND | Long, sustained, synthesised sounds create a wash of sound punctuated by live laughter and sizzling sound effects of sparking electrics. The minor mode changes to major: harmonious choral – almost symphonic – texture |
Childlike innocence, ease & wonder. Particle exchange Magical, life-changing Miraculous |
| MOVEMENT | Following, looking around randomly, tripping up bumping into others, laughing, distracted, Naomi breaks away to run faster with more purpose & gravitates to the egg, Her head disappears into the cloth of the set; the rest of her body wriggles vigorously and she eventually folds herself into the material and disappears. Becci appears to lift her out from the egg shape |
Child-like, carefree, uncertain, having fun. Naomi – more purposeful & determined – reaches the egg. Gentle, enveloping, fertilisation. Birth journey begins |
Summary of Meaning, Mood and Significance
Aerial Foetus *37:34 - 41:41*
Questions
| SIGNIFIERS | DESCRIPTION | EFFECTS |
| VISUALS | Coloured flickering lights in the film follow Naomi’s progression and end with a foetus image which fades as she drops into Becci’s arms | Particle exchange, magical, growth, new life |
| SOUND | A harmonious textured wash of synthesised keyboard sound, set against the crackle of electricity. Melodic strings are slow and sustained A heartbeat |
Gentleness, fragility, beauty: the miracle of bio-electrical exchange Literal beginning of new life |
| MOVEMENT | Adopting different foetal positions, Naomi is passed between dancers suspended from set. First – curled positions, growing progressively more stretched out until she hangs fully stretched. Becci embraces her like a baby before passing her back & clambering to the floor to catch her. |
Perilous growth in the womb, cared for and loved. There are several stages to the process or pregnancy, each one, amazingly complicated & full of beauty and danger Birth & safe delivery into her mother’s arms |
Summary of Meaning, Mood and Significance
Mother-Daughter Duet *41:41 - 44:17*
Questions
| SIGNIFIERS | DESCRIPTION | EFFECTS |
| VISUALS | Empty stage. No film. Naomi dances in flesh-coloured ‘birthday suit’. Becci fully clothed. A dress is popped over Naomi’s head and arms | Simple, intimate. Clothing Naomi suggests she is growing up |
| SOUND | A single, sinuous soprano melody is sung above a gentle percussive rhythm. It echoes & repeats, later with more instrumentation on strings and a sitar pedal note. All finally blend to make a coherent whole | Gentle, uncomplicated to start, growing ever richer and more detailed to suggest increasing complexity as a dependent child becomes an independent unit |
| MOVEMENT | Always in contact, Hands are highlighted; looking, supporting, holding, lifting, spinning, turning, counterbalancing. Eventually Naomi is supporting her mother in similar holds Danny enters & clothes Naomi. All three walk up the diagonal |
Love: watching, embracing, closeness, Naomi grows stronger and more independent; returning affection & supporting her mother Fatherly; a family |
