Mashing mobile phones with traditional theatre

Research at RMIT – Joshua Nettheim | RMIT University

(Transcript with notations)

VISUAL: Research at RMIT. Mashing mobile phones with traditional theatre. RMIT University logo.

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim walking down Swanston Street in front of a green tiled wall at RMIT Building 10 (which is on his right as he walks towards the camera). He is playing with a blue contact juggling ball rolling it on the palms of his hands. In the background a car is turning out of A’Beckett Street onto Swanston Street and two people are walking on the footpath.

Joshua Nettheim: What I'm really doing is kind of mashing mobile phones ...

VISUAL: Close up of Joshua Nettheim walking along Swanston Street towards the camera playing with the ball rolling it on the top of his hands. In the background on his left is a blue tiled wall in front of RMIT’s Building 12 ...

Joshua Nettheim: ... and traditional theatre together ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera. Title at bottom of the screen reads: Joshua Nettheim, Higher Degree by Research (School of Media and Communication).

Joshua Nettheim: ... in places that they're not supposed to be so when you go into the theatre ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim walking down Swanston Street beside a red tiled wall of RMIT’s Building 14 and rolling the ball in his hands and up the outside of his arm.

Joshua Nettheim: ... you're not supposed to use your mobile phone.

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim smiling and speaking on his mobile phone as he writes the word Jono with white chalk onto one of the large tiles on the blue wall along Swanston Street. The camera pans around from his back to face him as he speaks on the phone. A bus stop and pedestrians are in the background.

Joshua Nettheim: So I started looking into what we do with our devices, our mobiles and our computers and how we actually perform with them.

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera.

Joshua Nettheim: Even though these media types are increasing ...

VISUAL: Close up of Joshua Nettheim walking down Swanston Street towards the camera rolling the ball around his hands and arms. The blue tiled wall in front of RMIT’s Building 12 is just behind him to his left.

Joshua Nettheim: ... so too is our want to go to live performative events ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera.

Joshua Nettheim: ... which is kind of the opposite of what's been happening for the last 10 years.

VISUAL: Close up of Joshua Nettheim’s hands, possibly drawing with chalk on the floor, his feet are in the background.

Joshua Nettheim: For me, the most exciting part is actually ...

VISUAL: Close up of Joshua Nettheim holding his mobile phone at his ear and looking at something he is drawing which is off?screen.

Joshua Nettheim: ... the conversations that come ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera.

Joshua Nettheim: ... from doing the research.

VISUAL: Close up of Joshua Nettheim smiling as he is listening with his mobile phone at his ear.

Joshua Nettheim: A lot of the time I end up just talking to total strangers ...

VISUAL: Camera pans around Joshua Nettheim as he stands on Swanston Street’s footpath next to the blue tiled wall in front of RMIT’s Building 12 which has the name Jem written in chalk on one of the tiles.

Joshua Nettheim: ... because I'm in the street doing a lot of my work. There's me on one side, there's you ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera.

Joshua Nettheim: ... on the other and if either of us don't exist ...

VISUAL: Close up and pan around of Joshua Nettheim as he squats down on the footpath and writes Max with white chalk onto a square of the pavement on Swanston Street.

Joshua Nettheim: ... it doesn't happen. So it's really nice to put those ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera.

Joshua Nettheim: ... two things together and really explore it.

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim balancing the ball on the inside of his arm, elbow and top and palm of his hands. The camera moves around him twice as he contact juggles the ball. He is standing in front of a red tiled wall of RMIT’s Building 14 on Swanston Street and the intersection of Franklin Street is in the background. People are walking past him on the footpath and a rental bike hire rack is next to him and on the other side of the road is the Swanston Academic Building and other buildings surrounding it.

Joshua Nettheim: There's this really good quote, actually, my mum gave it to be on a bookmark: you should never follow in someone else's footsteps, you should carve a path of your own for other people to follow in your footsteps. And I think that is exactly ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera.

Joshua Nettheim: ... the way that I would take my experience at RMIT.

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim squatting on a footpath with the mobile phone at his ear as he looks down at what he is writing on the path (which is off?screen).

Joshua Nettheim: For anyone who was looking ...

VISUAL: Close up of Joshua’s hand as he draws an X shape then lines between the X onto a pavement square with pale green chalk.

Joshua Nettheim: ... to do ...

VISUAL: Close up of Joshua’s hand as he draws a line with the pale green chalk around the perimeter of a pavement square.

Joshua Nettheim: ... this similar thing to me, to move from a ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera.

Joshua Nettheim: ... performance background into a media setting, I think that this is ...

VISUAL: Close up of Joshua’s feet and his hand drawing with the chalk on the pavement square. The word Max is written in a chalk outlined pavement. Camera pans back to show Joshua squatting beside the chalk drawing and holding the mobile phone at his ear. In the background people are walking past on the footpath and the red wall in front of RMIT Building 14. He is on Swanston Street just near where it intersects with Franklin Street.

Joshua Nettheim: ... definitely the place to do it. There are so many great facilities, so many great people. I love ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim speaking to the camera.

Joshua Nettheim: ... talking to them and I love them talking to me. I've made friends here that will last a lifetime as well. So ...

VISUAL: Joshua Nettheim walking down Swanston Street’s footpath, RMIT’s building 12 is on his left as he walks towards the camera smiling and body juggling the ball on his hands.

Joshua Nettheim: ... it's not just a learning institution; it's a bit of a social playground as well.

VISUAL: RMIT University Logo and website www.rmit.edu.au. This video features the song “Elevation” by Audio Quattro. Available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.

End of video

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