14/9/17
The very first task of my BTEC was to make a quick piece
about time in a group of other people. Immediately my mind went to think about
chair duets; (a form of drama that frantic assembly coined) and then altered my
idea slightly to have the people in it never look at each other in a attempt to
convey how all people are going through time at the same time but do not
recognise that they are in that collective journey. One of the other members in
my group had the idea of having all the chairs face at 90 degree angles to each
other and that we should eventually walk around them to symbolise a clocks
turning. I also came up for the idea to have synchronised movements in with we
all perform at the same times to reinforce the message of our piece. After
rehearsing it a few times our dance teacher came up to us and suggested that we
should have it where the same movements and seat changes happen again and again
but gradually get faster and faster to simulate the felling of how time appears
to be faster when experiencing the same stimuli over and over. While I was
happy with the quality of our piece in the small amount of time we were given
there were some things I wish I had done. I made the mistake of having all our
people travel around the chairs in an anticlockwise motion which would go
against the whole reason we added that set changing in the first place. Also I
believe that my timing of the movements was not perfectly synchronised with the
others and I wish I had more time to rehearse so that I could be in sync with
the rest of our group.
15/9/17
On the second day of my BTEC we
were given our first PowerPoint. In which we learnt key phrases on how use
describe peoples voice and were encouraged to explain our personal voice
idiosyncrasies with the rest of the group. After the break we were tasked with
creating a PowerPoint of our own voice consisting of two slides; the first was
to describe our current voice using the new categories we learnt and the second
page was to describe how we could better our voice for future performances. My
presentation looked like this: 
I
did like how I used my links to better explain and reinforce my point, as
describing how many people use altering volume in replacement of pitch can go
over some peoples heads without a clear example of that. However, if I had a
longer deadline for this task I believe I could have created perhaps a plan for
increasing my pitch margins, as the voice box can be changed though the right
use similar to how people can change muscles by lifting weights.
18/9/17
On
the third day we had to give a physical presentation to the rest of the group
using the PowerPoint we had created over the weekend. While I did get praise for
how my PowerPoint used precise and engaging links to examples I was not
personally happy with how I began the presentation. Since I did not have an
exact script and instead decided to recall the basic topics and improvise, in
an attempt to create a more approachable
presentation, I ended up pausing to this what to say next and redoing words. I
believe I should have instead created a script in which I loosely follow allowing
for a more approachable speaking tone but also reducing the chances of me
losing track on what I would say next. Here's a link to a video of the presentation: https://youtu.be/gTmnvhDxxrE
After
the break we were given an extract from The
sorrows of Sandra saint by Lee Hall and were told to go in pairs, choose an
extract from the piece to read and
experiment with different ways to read them. We would later perform this to the
rest of the group later on. Since our group had an odd pair that day I was paired
with a learning mentor Which allowed me to have all creative control over the
piece. I decided that I would read for Sandra in a way that would express her
anger and resentment towards Scout by
having her at a higher volume to scout and by giving off an assertive tone. I
then decided to have scout be read as very high pitch and inconsistent in volume
to describe his timidness towards his older sister. I also added a pause after
the line Scout: “how” and before the corresponding line Sandra: “the way you sit
there and let me get picked on” to convey how Sandra was already convinced that
her family were against her without thinking of supporting evidence and
creating it on the spot when questioned.
19/9/17
Our
fourth day started by having us start by taking the Gardner intelligence test,
a test that claims to reveal how capable a person is in in eight different
forms of intelligence defined by the test. My highest three intelligences
on the Gardner test is Visual, environmental and interpersonal respectively. I
assume they represent me well as in directing and performing it is important to
utilise your space environment to your piece such as using a circular stage to
perform in the round. And in every group piece you need at least competent
interpersonal skills to devise anything. After the break we were then tasked with
writing a brief summary of our experience with performing arts before we
arrived at Worthing College. Mine consisted of having a brief recollection of
my time in high school and the pieces I directed, co-directed or performed in.
while I did not realise it at the time but I forgot to include how I performed
in the schools customary “you have a choice” workshop in year 10 and then
directed it the following year. The workshop in question was one that the
school asks for to display how students in the school should not be afraid of
bullies in the school and that there are a multitude of ways that those sorts
of conflict can be solved. Also, I did not have enough time to include any sort
of evidence of even visual components for my summary causing it to look bland
and impenetrable.
21/9/17
At the start of the day our teacher began by giving a
detailed explanation of all of the different roles in a theatre company they
are as follows:
Performance:
Principle- An actor with a major role
Chorus- A collection of performers who support the
principles
Ensemble cast- An entire show’s cast in which none take a
lead role and act as a collective
Director- The head of a production who normally hires most
of the other production and performance people
Production:
Lighting designer- Head of lighting for the whole
performance. In smaller theatres they will also act as operators as well. In
larger ones they will hire the operators themselves.
Lighting operator-A person that operates the lights during
the actual performance
Costume designer- The person that designs the costumes for
each character
Costume tailor- The person that makes or fits the clothes to
all of the actors
Dressers- People that assist in the actors changing outfits
Sound designer- Head of sound for the whole performance. In
smaller theatres they will also act as operators as well. In larger ones they
will hire the operators themselves.
Sound operator-A person that operates the sound during the
actual performance
set designer - Head of set for the hole performance. In
smaller theatres they will also act as operators as well. In larger ones they
will hire the operators themselves.
Set operator- The person that changes the set during the
production
Set builder – the person that builds the set for the performance
Stage manager – has a variety of roles, but normally calls
people to the stage and gives out cues to the operators during the performance
Deputy stage manager (DSM) -
Assistant stage manager (ASM) –
Admin:
Producer: an arbitrary title that can encompass almost any
role; however they normally have a financial incentive
Treasurer: The person that is in charge of the financial
situation of any theatres
Tour manager- The person that manages the tour of a show.
Programmer- The person that decides what production takes
place in receiving houses.
After that, we had a discussion on what success would be for
everyone’s future. I claimed that I would feel successful if I could be able to
be in a performance that I enjoy every three months. This is because I am not
as motivated by money as some of the other members of my BTEC class. However, I
can understand why they would attribute their success to things such as money
or fame. The main messages of the class were that actors rarely get the
opportunity to turn down roles and will rarely be in a position in which they
are able to turn down unappealing roles. Also, that one of the most effective
ways to succeed is to constantly be working or be working in multiple roles at
once, s this will allow you to network yourself and also to have a steady
income both of which are integral to succeeding in the performing world.
After
a short break we were taught how to get “in and out of the floor” in multiple
ways. Then we used them to create a small piece with the theme of an invisible
force that you avoid. I came up with the idea of a pendulum which sways from
side to side and that we go “in and out of the floor” to go under itself. My
partner, also came up with the idea for us to be segmented on different sides
of the pendulum and that we follow it with our eyes. After displaying it once we
were told to improve it by adding to the segmented part. We did this by swaying
our bodies with the direction of the pendulum and also skipping to one side of
it so that if it were real my partner would have to optimal time to cross it. I
was impressed how I managed to incorporate new moves I learnt in two hours prior
into performance with relative ease.
However, I think I could have improved my piece by adding more “in and out of
the floor” moves as I only used two in the piece. Also I could have improved by
having the way I get up from the floor faster and smoother as it looked
unpolished when I did it.
22/9/17
At
the start of the day we handed in our 12 line scripts and then were given another persona script
and a partner to work with. We were tasked to think about how we would audibly
perform them and what sound effects we would use. This was the script I was
given:
I
was in the role of “person” a character who is woken by the bus driver at the
back of the bus. I made the decision of playing the role with low energy and
having poor enunciation. This is because the character would have just have
awoken and as a result would not be fully in control of his voice. I advised my
partner to play the role of the bus conductor in an angry and authoritive way
as their character is clearly vexed by the person sleeping on the back o the
bus. I think we could have made our riding better if we incorporated accents
into it. The piece clearly defines itself to be set in south London and perhaps
we could have made the bus drivers accent reflect that. We could have even made
the “person” character have a northern or even Scottish accent to display how far
away from his intentional destination he really was. Here is a link to my
partner and I reading it: https://youtu.be/EfHEu_hZlve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbHWq8Jdhr4
25/9/17
At the start of the lesson we were told to begin using our
blogs to write all our work in and to transfer all of our work onto there. Due
to technical issues this took longer than expected and merged into the second
half. Soon my teacher redirected the class to be about the radio show “The
Archers”. We were given a link to a behind the scenes video on the series and
told to do some basic research on the property. After this we were given a
script from the archers and told to go into a small group; each one of us were
given a character and told to research that character. I was given this script:
And the character of tom. From my research tom is:
·
A member of the archer family, and as the name
suggests they are the main focus of the series.
·
He used to be in a relationship with Kirsty,
however after a while he decided to leave her for someone else.
·
After Helen had driven over mike Tom decided it
would be best if he took the blame for the accident.
·
He was engaged with Brenda during which he had
an affair with his buyer Tamsin. Brenda eventually split up with him.
·
Tom got back with Kirsty and eventually proposed
to her during Christmas, then deciding to ditch her at the alter and then move
to Canada.
It is unclear when this extract
of the series is set and therefore it is hard to decide on how I should present
my character. If it was in a period in which he and Kirsty were in a
relationship the way I speak should reflect that. In addition, if this was set
in a time near to when tom took the fall for Helen driving over mike then Helen
would need to sound indebted to tom.
From doing more research I now
know that the script is from an episode that aired on the 20th of
October. I also know that in the chronology of the series tom gets engaged to
Kirsty over the holiday season. Therefore it is not a stretch to assume that
Kirsty and tom would be in a relationship in this time period. Also the
incident with tom taking Helens blame was in 2006, 7 years before this scene.
As a result it’s safe to assume that Helens and toms relationship has moved own
from her being indebted to him. As a result I would portray Tom and Kirsty as
flirtatious towards each other as it’s reasonable to think they are together
during this time period, and have Helen as neutral or maybe slightly depressive
to tom as she is his sister but also she had begun a relationship with Rob, who
abuses her. Finally Henry is only 2 years and 10 months old, and as a result
would be relatively easy to display with poor enunciation and a high volume and
pitch.
28/9/17
In this lesson we were given a
choice to choose one theme for theatre before the 20th century and
one after or in the 20th century to incorporate into a half an hour
theatre workshop that we would design. Our workshop ended up being about the
clashing ideas of feminism and Shakespeare. After a short break we went and did
our third dance lesson. We were segmented into groups of four people and told
to create a piece in which we were manipulated by an invisible hand, quite
similar to a former lesson. We needed to create three movements of or own and
then all of the group would make a sweeping action and travel across the
studio. We would then redo our own movements and then do the person on our
lefts three movements before then making another sweeping motion in unison.
After this we would do our movements, the person on our lefts movements and
then another person’s three movements and one more sweep. I choose to do my
movements quite violently to portray how I was being manipulated against my
will. I also came up with all the ideas for the traveling across the studio,
which included a slide, a knee leap and a jump and spin. While these all did
look acceptable I forgot that the brief stated that they had to be sliding
motions and as a result I should change that. I continue to be impressed that I
have been able to incorporate movements that I have learnt very recently with
success, and also how I can manage a group and merge their ideas with my own.
29/9/17
On this day we started by
rehearsing our scene from the archers ready to be recorded. During this time I
decided to adopt a northern ascent as I thought it would better portray the
character. After the recording I decided to reflect on what I had done. I
believed my instruction to Lily in the role of Kristy to try and say her lines
in flirtatious way, which I did also. I also told Harriet in the role of Helen
to sound interested after the name rob was mentioned as in the time frame of
the script (mid October 2013) Rob and Helen began their relationship. However I
believe my performance was not without fault; I believe I should have begun
practicing the ascent more before the recording than I actually did. This way
it would sound more genuine and less potentially distracting. Also, my final
line in which I have a long pause in-between “then” and “Kristy” didn’t exactly
work as I left the pause for too long making it feel awkward and unnatural. We
were then given a script and a link to a synopsis of “Hope Springs” and told to
read both and prepare to audition for one of the roles by Monday. After reading
it, I felt an attraction to the role of “pupil 6” who is a pyromaniac, I would
love to play a manic character with a very simple thesis for a change, also the
way he is portrayed in the script can be seen as humorous, while I have not a
much experience with that field of acting, I’d love to develop my skills to
expand my acting range. Here’s a link to
my audio performance xxxxxxxx
2/10/17
On this day we had our very
first, audition. We were given a small warm up and instructed to choose parts
of a section of the script to read during the audition, we were allowed to
choose what we read. I decided it would be best if I gave the auditions the
range of my abilities; as a result I read the lines for: The Ringleader, Principal,
public 6, Sam and the inspector. I decided to play the Principal as if I was in
an advertisement for Hope springs, due to how you could assume that given
context clues from the script. The way I played the ringleader was similar to
how I had to be during my GCSE final performance, I portrayed the character
taking control of the group not out of want but of necessity, as without some
form of order characters like pupil 6 would end up causing property damage and
it would eventually evolve into anarchy and chaos. The inspector was a very
simple character to play since I only had two lines with him in the script I
didn’t dedicate that much of my time on rehearsing them. The main reason I even
read for the role was to indicate to the auditioner that I was interested in
playing that role as I know from reading on that the inspector has an integral
role in the storyline as he is the one to reveal the ringleaders past and find
out where the principal is being held captive. I played pupil 6 for the same
reason, while only consisting of two lines I played it in a melodramatic way as
it can be seen as a comic relief character since the character mainly focuses
on causing chaos. Overall, I believe the audition went well, I performed all of
my roles in the way I wanted to, and one of the auditioners clearly enjoyed my
portrayal of the principal since they laughed at the end of it. They also
responded well to my ambitious choice to read for four different characters. Here’s
a link to my audition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSmGUtd6p7A
6/10/17
We started this day by having our
presentation here’s my part of the presentation:
, and here’s a link to a video of
me giving the presentation xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
I believe that that that my segment of the presentation, while it had its
faults was a good display of my ability. I engaged with the listeners by asking
those questions, and giving them tasks to do, I even was used as a prop in one
of my peer’s monologs. Speaking of which, after everyone had completed their
monolog or duologue I inquired them about their choices around it. I did this
to display their understanding of their material or how they had developed
their skills or understanding during their workshop. However, I think I could
have improved the presentation by creating a script or at least queue cards to
allow me to better verbally portray my points in a better way. Also, I had
intended to give out prises for those who won my tasks since I had forgotten
them I resorted to currency instead. However, I believe that I should have
given out a different prise such as confectionary instead. Onto the
presentation, I am satisfied with the amount of work I had set my peers and
believe the simple tasks were suited to the presentation as for some of those
watching it; it was their first time performing the works of Shakespeare. I
also believe that the minimalist aesthetic helped styled the workshop without
running the risk of it becoming distracting. On the other hand, I think that my
time constraints such as giving my peers 10 minutes to practise their monologs
were misplaced. This can be shown by how only one of them went off script and
the one who did visibly messed up.
12/10/17
On this day we started by
creating a small information sheet about another groups workshop topic i got the
topic of Baroque, which before I had very little knowledge about this, however
the lesson allowed me to develop my knowledge of this. Here’s the fact page I
made with my partner:
Similar to most of my Thursday
morning lessons I was impressed with how many facts we made in the time we were
given, but I do wish I could have had more time so I could make it more
informative and objectively better. My partner and I worked together well; we
split the work up evenly and got on without debate. After the break we filmed
all the information sheets on a timeline and read our facts over them. Here is a link to that xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
13/10/17
This was the first day we started
blocking for Hope springs. We managed to plan through the very start until page
20. My directions included to be in the role of staff1 for the start of the
beginning of the piece and come down from the stands onto the stage
successively with every line august (playing the role of staff 2) and I said.
We would then go off stage and wait presumably I will make a costume change
into my inspector costumes in this time. When i am next to come on I should
bring my chair in in an over the top way to demonstrate that we are not shying
away from set changes, and to exit in the same way we did last time. From
previous experience in directing I know that when devising a piece it’s not the
most opportune time to suggest ideas while you are currently devising as a
result I made a conscious decision to hold back suggestions which I planned to
say to my teacher later. These suggestions were to have the lighting of the
piece change from low to intense to eventually low again to demonstrate how all
of the event sin the play happens over the events of one day. Or to have street
or city ambience sounds behind the first scene with the inspector and the
assistant. I would have also directed the person playing pupil three to over
exaggerate the words “fascist” and “Nazi”/”Nazis” to demonstrate how that
character is based off of the archetype of a political activist or extremist
depending on interpretation.
16/10/17
On this day we continued to block
and rehrese our performance of hope springs. This was the first day in which I
was performing with the rest of the group and not just with my peer August who
was in the role of assistant. Due to me reading the parts that my character was
in thoroughly I managed to find that Pupil 5 would have had to pickpocket the
Inspectors phone around page 23 as they later appear with it later on in the
play on page 29 with it on them without meeting the inspector a second time.
After the blocking session was complete I began to suggest ideas that I had
listed from the previous blocking session and todays these included:
·
Having the lights go from dark to bright to dark
slowly over the course of the show to indicate that the play occurs over one
day
·
Have the lighting intensity increase
dramatically after my character asks “where are the staff?”
·
Have the way my character and the assistant sit are
on the white chairs facing away from each other instead of sitting freely on
the set.
·
Suggest planning costumes for my character and
the assistant
·
And to have city ambience sounds happening on
page xx to set the scene that the inspector and the assistant live on the
mainland
My teacher said she would consider all of them except the
first suggestion due it being to naturalistic and subtle of an effect for this
style of performance, and instructed to look for costume ideas for the
inspector and assistant immediately but clarified that they should be light
neutral colours so that the lighting projection would still work on us. I
decided on a white blazer with matching white tie and shirt as while the colour
may not be suitable for an educational inspector the type of clothing certainly
is. I then chose a simply button shirt for the assistant as due to her wearing
less attire than my character implies her lower professional status which fits
into the role. This gave me the idea with expanding that theme, we could have
the Principal in a white overcoat at the start, which would show off their
dominance and then later have the Ringleader wear that same coat. This works on
multiple levels as it allows the audiences distinction between when the actor
is playing the Principal and one of the pupils. Also the transfer of the coat
displays how the Ringleader is directly responsible for the principal’s
situation and clarifies to the audience that they are in charge. I believe I
was more productive and involved in this blocking session than the last not
just due to it being later on than the last one but due to how my teacher
stated that she would like this whole play planned out by this week. I also was
performing in this session which allowed me to engage a lot more than last time
due to how I was on twice in short and minor scenes.
19/10/17
On this day we began with having another blocking session of
Hope Springs. The difference in this one in particular is that I was not involved
in the scenes as much as previous sessions. However, like last week I made a
series of notes of suggestions that I would ask my teacher about. These were:
Having all of the actors on stage drop their heads in unison
rather than turn around. This would allow for a more professional feel since
the action is quicker than turning it would be easier to be in synch. Also
during Sam’s monolog some of the actors need to interject small sentences, if
we were all facing down the actors that needed to say anything could raise
their heads, say their line and go back down.
·
Have the lighting change whenever a Sam monolog
comes on. This would allow the atmosphere of the scene change whenever Sam
makes an appearance.
·
Have the person playing the principal switch
roles by turning on the spot. This fits into the abstract style of the play,
and would be an efficient by to switch characters.
After a break we had another dance lesson. We started by
doing a warm up. After this we would split off into groups of two and perform
it to them, they would give feedback and we would then do the same to them.
Here is a video of my warm up xx
After this had all ended we looked at the feedback and then
redid the warm up again trying to improve whatever was mentioned. I believe
that I had successfully improved the straightness of my arms which was the
feedback I was given. We then revised the structure of our dance performance,
which I find to be increasingly easy with every session, and were told to make
a solo dance piece for 32 counts. Mine consisted of mixing up the dance phrases
previously on the performance but also incorporating some of the moves I have
in rock challenge as it allows me to display my strengths in that area of dance
to the audience.
30/10/17
On this day we had another blocking session for hope
springs. As I suggested we ended up going over what we had already done, not
just to remind us of our movements but also as a way of improving on what we
have already created.
Over the half term I was given 171 lines to learn and the
corresponding queues to them. I had not had this level of challenge in relation
to learning lines before which is why I think I struggled at the task. Due to
how we rehearsed the show from the beginning I managed to do particularly well
with my lines, however in the last few minutes of blocking there were moments
when he had to be prompted. Previously I had the formula to listen to my lines
being read out to me by a computer twice a day; however I believe that I may
need to do this four times a day from now on to get me to learn all of these
lines in the time frame I’m given.
Like the rest of my blocking sessions I came up with some
directing suggestions for my teacher while I was not on stage. Today these
were:
·
Move the principal’s voiceover from the
inspector’s first scene (page9-12) to beforehand allowing them to flesh their
character and give more context to the island earlier on and also to not
confuse the audience during the scene I mentioned.
·
Have the principal go on stage and talk directly
to the audience as if they were being filmed, this would allow the actor to
provide body language to reinforce the emotions they are portraying with their
voice
·
Cut some of the duologue between the inspector
and the ringleader from pages 69 to 71, they both talk in circles and if we
continue amount of time we are creating for every page later on the show may
reach an uncomfortable amount of time.
Unfortunately I was not able to
give these suggestions today so I will write about what happens to them later
on in my blog.
2/11/17
At the start of this day we had a lesson on blocking act 2.
Since we spent the last blocking session recapping, we decided to press on.
Unfortunately this was the worst blocking session I’ve had, to the fault of
myself. Since I had not segmented my lines when I attempted to learn them I
ended up having the issue of not being able to tell which one liners I had.
While I may have had a bad session I continued to think of suggestions for
directing that may be useful for my teacher.
·
Have physical props during the scene where the
pupils clean
·
Have a physical note during the scene where the
inspector re interprets Sam’s note
After a small break we went into our dance lesson. To
dramatically contrast my first lesson, this one went rather well, we started
I managed to
incorporate my solo into my performance, and managed to suggest ideas which
lead to us finally finishing creating our dances. My suggestions included,
having all of us do my anti clockwise hand reach to the audience, near the end.
And also to have us charge at the audience and for the lights to cut before we
reach them.
3/11/17
Today we attempted to run the entire show in our lesson,
surprisingly, it went rather smoothly. However it did display the areas of
which we need to improve these were: the
island voices before the inspector arrives, when pupil 1 greets the inspector,
when the ringleader deceives. The
inspector, when the inspector reinterprets Sam’s note and when the inspector
asks the ringleader where the principal is. The majority of these can be
improved by becoming more comfortable with lines. I have given some thought
into blocking the next two scenes I would have the inspector run on the stage
visibly out of breath, as this would show that they are almost out of time and
therefore increase the tension of the play. And also have pupil either drop or
throw the phone at the inspectors as this would display the characters
disapproval of the inspector and how the ringleader gave into the inspectors
demands. And finally I would have all of the cast sit on the four pieces of staging
that are closet to the audience, as this will be in place of the boat and the
proxemics of the cast would show how all of the characters are unified on
getting away from the island.
4/11/17
On this day we were voluntarily asked to come to rehearse hope
springs out of a scheduled lesson to display to visitors how the performing
arts department operates. As a result we managed to run through the entire show
(segmented) twice. As this happened I was able to gain perspective on my
progress as well as the groups. It was clear that the second run though was leagues
better than the first. This was due to everyone getting better t understand
where they were needed in scenes and also being able to bounce their energy off
of others allowing it to continue throughout.
6/11/17
On this day we mainly focused on blocking the final scenes.
This was quite surreal for me as many of the suggestions that I had conceived
for this part came to be without me expressing them to my teacher. One of these was how all the actors on the
stage would be grouped together on the boat. I originally thought it may be
effective due to how it would demonstrate how all of the characters were
unified by their desire to leave the island; however, my teacher did minor
aspects differently, they had the actor playing Sam, stand separate from the
boat, on reflection I do agree with this choice as it complements other actions
we’ve taken in the play to hint how Sam is not speaking at the same time as the
rest of the characters and instead is separate from them the entire time.
9/11/17
On this day I was instructed to make a table displaying all
of the vocal choices for my multiple characters. While considering this I came
to the dilemma that both of my characters “staff 1” and “Inspector” would sound
similar as they are both authoritative adults. However, I do need to make some
vocal differences. I came to the decision I would portray staff 1 close to how
Professor Umbrigde was played in the harry potter series. By having an over
articulate tone and authorivive speech I would be able to portray the staff’s
power over the students and how they control them. As for the inspector however,
I choose a different approach. Since the inspector can be seen as plotting do dismantle
the ringleaders control throughout the play I would slow my voice down and talk
as if I was thinking I display that. Also, many lines I have in the play are
one line questions such as “where are they?” “last night” “why not” “what do
you mean”, for those lines I need to slightly exaggerate their way I ask the
question as this would allow the audience to detect the inspectors desire to
learn the whole story of the island.
10/11/17
On this day we had our first hope springs run through with
music and lighting. As seems to be the norm now, the most resent rehearsal I
the best one yet. In this one there were some weak spots however only three of
them were partially due to me. At the start of the performance it was very slow
as those on stage forgot their lines and ques. I believe that this was due to
how we have been focusing on act 2 for the last few weeks and therefore our act
one would not be as well rehearsed. However, on this day I came up with the
idea to make a physical prop for Sam’s note as this would allow me to read the
note and quote it to the ringleader in a more realistic way rather than mime.
As seems to be the case my familiarity of my lines increased and I predict I
will be able to be able to do a perfect run through before the end of the
month.
13/11/17
On this day we started by creating phrases of puppetry in
the scene in which the parents argue about sending their child to hope springs.
Originally the actor playing the ringleader and I made a 24 count phrase which
used puppetry from the ringleader on the inspector to make them sit down and
watch the parent’s other phrases. Afterwards we were told to recreate the parent’s
puppetry phrases. This began as having two groups of two repeating the moves of
a group of three. As you can imagine this didn’t go as smoothly as we hoped. So
proposed the idea of having the two groups of two be reorganised into a group
of three with myself out of the picture sitting and observing the scene. I
thought this would make sense as my character is meant to learn and listen
intently to all the pupils’ stories. This Idea was somewhat implemented,
instead of myself being out of the group the ringleader was made to go out and
walk around smugly. I am still not fully on board with this idea, I believe
that manipulating the pupils and acting like their parents goes against the
characterisation of both the inspector and the assistant this is because the
assistant is never in a position of power and the inspector wouldn’t manipulate
the pupils at this point in the play and also not in a malicious way. There is
also a possibility of confusing the audience since we are multi rolling the
assistant and the inspector but without any lines, costume changes or even
lighting changes the audience may not understand what is going on and may lose
the immersion that was built up from the last 7 scenes of the play.
Unfortunately since I have no words in this scene I cannot make any audible decisions
however if I could I would try and husk my voice to try and simulate age and to
differentiate this character from my others.
14/11/17
On this day we shared our jobs presentation to the rest of
our class. Overall I believe I did a
fairly good presentation. I will elaborate, I thought the way I made a
conscious effort to not read off the screen and to walk around the space worked
well as it allowed me to engage with my audience more than I read off the
screen standing dead still. Also my anecdote about Harrison Ford played well
with my audience. This is of note as I did not intend to use it however I
thought of it on the spot and it was relevant to the topic. Also my use of
asking any questions at the end allowed the audience to ask queries in case any
information was not clear in the presentation. While there were others who did
this as well, chronologically, I was the first to do so on that day. However,
my presentation was far from perfect. I sutured multiple times during the
presentation and had to look at the screen twice during the presentation to be
prompted on what to say. I believe that this was due to how I had finished work
on my presentation two week prior and therefore was not as adverse in what I
had written and researched. To avoid doing this again I will revisit any
presentations I will make a day before and do a mock presentation allowing me
to become more familiar with my own material.
For reference here is my presentation:
And here is a video of me giving my performance: xxx
16/11/17
On this day we started by going over and eventually remaking
the final scene to hope springs. After running the scene through a few times
the class came to the shared conclusion that the scene didn’t feel like a
satisfying ending to the play due to how static the last scene was and how the characters
had very little freedom to interact with each other as most of the actors
couldn’t meet their eye line. I suggested to my teacher to have the idea that each
of the pupils would collect a small array of their items before leaving. This
would allow the actors to move and talk to others in a more natural way
therefore displaying the emotions of their corresponding characters in a more
obvious fashion than what the scene would have been previously. We combined
this idea with another which had all the pupils line up on the far staging
eventually to walk off stage ending the play. After running through this once I
had noticed a problem, since none of the bags, coats or bottles that we were
going to use for props were not white we would no longer be able to use
projections of images like we had previously planned. However, what this did
create was a metaphor of the pupils returning to themselves as when they start
to wear their own clothes it breaks down the all-white uniformity that was
present throughout the rest of the play. A simple fix for the projection
problem would to have it during the revel of the principal in the hope springs
cave, or the island voices that begin this very scene. There are a few other
things that we do need to consider in this scene though, since the pupils will
have their own property for the first time in the play it is important that
their bag and clothes especially match their personality such as having tight
or perhaps revealing clothing for pupil 1 or primarily black and punkish
clothes for pupil 4. After this we had a small about of character work. We
began by having the cast sort themselves into a line which measured the levels
of stress I inserted myself near the end of the line indicating that my
character would be in a low level stress at the end of the play since they
managed to stop the pupil coup on the island, but they would still worry about
the company covering up what happened and how the ringleader does not regret
their actions.
20/11/17
Today we began by segmenting the class into group’s
corresponding on what extra role of our play we would take on; I was in props
and painting. I then, which the help of a few others, went through the play and
listed all of the props needed for the play here is the table:
All the props have their appearance catalogued by their
Scene(s) and a page number. Later on I went out with another member of the
props group and got: 2 notebooks, a mop, a sponge, a dustpan and brush, a
duster, 2 flashlights and a clipboard. I will source the rest of the props and
paint them at a later date. After the break we decide to run though the last
two scenes once more. For the most part I was silent on stage or off stage entirely;
however, this was the day I had not one mess up on my lines or cues, which I am
proud of.
21/11/17
On this day we were tasked to include the sources of all of
the claims we made in our presentation I
made this table to do so:
Claim
|
source
|
Additional explanation if needed
|
There are 100,000 actors in LA
|
https://hollywoodsapien.com/2012/07/05/how-many-actors-are-in-l-a/
|
N/A
|
1/40 of LA’s population is acting
|
http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/los-angeles-population/
|
If the city is has 4 million people in it and 100,00 actors you can
work out it to be 1/40 by simplifying 100,000/4,000,000
|
Actor employment decrease
|
http://work.chron.com/job-outlook-actor-10218.html
|
For the last few years the rate of jobs crated has decreased at a
larger rate each time meaning soon it will decrease unless there’s
significant change in the industry
|
Acting casting is biased
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewashing_in_film
|
n/a
|
Freelance actor salary is $54000
|
https://www.wetfeet.com/articles/salary-surprises-for-people-working-in-the-arts
|
n/a
|
Perfoming arts educator salary is $48000
|
n/a
|
23/11/17
On this day we began by painting all of the props required
for hopes springs, surprisingly myself and a few others managed to paint all
the props needed in one session. However, looking back at some of the props
they might need a second coat of paint as you can see some of their original
colour shine through.
After a break and helping out the year above us with their
musical we went onto our own dance show in a week. We gave it a run though
without rehearsing it before, however there were no mistakes that I noticed
from myself or anyone else. I believe that this is due to how we have been
working on this five minute dance show since the start of our course in
September. I am confident that all will go well on Tuesday when we are
performing our piece; even more so as we are doing a tech run beforehand as
well.
24/11/17
On this day we had a full run though of hope springs, this
was undoubtedly useful to allow us to view how ready our group is for the show
in less than two weeks. The run was far
from perfect; ill list the problems and potential solutions to them here:
During the family scene where we all copy the phrase of
physical theatre that the group that are speaking are doing we all struggle to
follow along with the movements and have to keep watching them rather than
facing the audience. This is due to how we have only run though these scenes
once before and as a result are not a familiar as we should be with the scene.
To rectify this we need to rehearse this part of the play as many times as possible
in the time we have.
The dialog between the ringleader and I is not as fast paced
as it could be. This is due to both of us not being as familiar with our queues
for our lines as we should be I will try to fix this by running our scenes
together before or after class so that we can make it more smooth in the final
performance.
The island voices are undoubtedly a weak point in our play.
They struggle to go in order sometimes skipping multiple lines, the parts that
are meant to be in unison are not, and the energy of their delivery is not as
good as it needs to be. To improve this I would suggest grouping those with
unison lines together and have them repeat the lines mentioned multiple times
until all of the actors can unify their voices well enough and also easily
recall their unison line.
While this is a more specific criticism, it is still an area
of improvement. During the second scene of act two Jamie who plays Pupil 2
fails to build up any anger to pupil 9 before he tries to hurt them. As a
result it seems like Pupil 2 is overreacting and completely changing their
entire mood at a moment’s notice. To improve I would suggest that Pupil 2
should react more aggressively and sarcastically towards pupil 9 in the moments
leading up to this.
When the inspector re interprets Sam’s note to be a hidden
message there is not much reaction from the people who are not speaking. I
don’t think this works as in the play this note sparked the entire coop of the
island and as a result the revelation that they were wrong about the note
should illicit more of a reaction that what we currently have. I would suggest
that people like the ringleader pupil 5, pupil 6 and pupil 2 get angry at the
inspector believing that the inspector is trying to trick them. While at the
very same time have pupil 1, pupil 3, pupil 9 and pupil 8 freak out at the
reveal and distance themselves from the other pupils while there aren’t enough
lines in the play to allow every pupil to communicate we could have a low level
of everyone talking like we did when the ringleader first comes on.
During scene 6 of act 2 those on stage forgot that Sam
needed to say a monolog before they said their next set of island voices as a
result the monolog was skipped. This is an easy fix, we notify the rest of the
group that this happened and run though it again to make sure that is does not
happen again.
There was another part that was skipped, in the final scene,
after the island voices no one spoke this was a real problem as it make the
final scene look even more odd and unrehearsed than it already is which is
quite some amount unfortunately. To rectify this I would have us have the start
of our next lesson siting in a circle trying to do a line only version of the
last scene to make everyone more comfortable with their lines.
In the first scene of act 2 the character of Sam breaks down
and is forcibly removed off stage. As of now this part is not as emotional as
it should be. This is meant to be the breaking point for Sam’s character and is
meant to display how emotionally damaging being in this correctional facility
is, however Sam’s lines as well as the staffs lines are all flat. Not only that
but the way that Sam is carried off stage does not look violent enough and also
takes too long. I have already talked to those in charge of lighting and we
came to the conclusion that using strobe lighting would intensify the scene and
also act as a way for us to hide the currently poor manner that Sam is taken
away. However, in our latest run though this was not used and I believed the
scene suffered due to it.
In our latest run through we were only partly in costume.
While I was technically all in white my shoes and tie that I ordered online did
not arrive then and as a result my costume looked peculiar. There were also other
who were missing parts of their costume like flip flops or undershirts and
alike. Unfortunately I believe there was only one person fully in costume which
is reason to worry as the first show is 12 days away. Unfortunately there is
nothing I can do in regard to my costume, it is on its way and I will have to
wait for it hopefully it will come in time.
Also, my teacher talked about the idea of re-blocking the
first scene I am in where we give exposition on the island. I believe that is a
good idea as right now it does not exactly go well together. To make the scene
more interesting you could have the inspector and the assistant doing something
physical, such as sorting through paper or on a computer.
Looking back on the rehearsal it is clear that I do tend to
put my back to the audience more than I should. This should be an easy fix; I
just need to turn my body so that the audience get a profile shot of me rather
than by back.
In the run though there was a struggle from pupil 5 to get
my phone out of my pocket I believe that this was due to how we had never done
a costume run before and as a result misguided where the pocket on my trousers
were. To change this Lily, who plays
pupil 5, and I should practice her stealing my phone a few times so that motion
becomes better.
27/11/17
On this day we spent it fixing a few of the problems of the
hope springs performance in the very start before my first scene and the two
final scenes. As a result most of this did not apply to me however; I do
believe this was necessary as on Friday I went into detail on how these scenes
didn’t works as in the run though we skipped large amounts of dialog and even
one of Sam’s monologs. As a result I
spent moments of the lesson practicing the two scenes exclusively between the assistant
and me. At the end of the lesson I made the request of having the next lesson
go over the family dance as I believe that is the part of the show that needs
the most improvement.
30/11/17
At the start this lesson I was given the
task of directing the island voices scenes as they were quite poor in the last
run though. I believe I did a good job, however they did not need too much
directing rather they needed line prompting but by the end of the hour, we
managed to go through each island voices scene and managed to do one run though
without any failures.
After the break, I was then told to devise
an alternate way of playing the first scene I am in, as my teacher is not too
fond of how she originally blocked it. As we had recently been given, a small
note from the writer of the play to include something Christmas related with the
assistant. As a result, I came up with the idea to have the inspector sit down
on a chair with a laptop as the assistant enters with Christmas music allowing
the audience to infer both the setting of the play and the assistant’s
personality at the same time. Then the assistant looks over the inspector’s
laptop then giving the queue for the dialog to kick in. However, if we choose
to do this scene this way we would need a white laptop to fit in with the rest
of the props and costume.
After a break, we went into another dance
lesson. We began with doing a filmed warm up in which our teacher would teach
us a sequence of moves and then we would do then in time with a partner in
front of a camera. In this, I was annoyed with myself by how I forgot a roll at
the end of my sequence of moves thus needing to go back down after I had picked
up myself from the floor. However, I will try to rectify this in future lessons
by practicing these warm up sequences while I am in line to perform to the
camera. Here is a link to my warm up xxx
After this had ended, we learnt a new
phrase in which we were constantly on the floor and continued our motion
throughout. I learnt this phrase without too much trouble.
Later we were given the task of creating a
piece of physical theatre with the theme that two people were manipulating the
third. I was the first to suggest a move; I came up with the idea of having the
two manipulators push the knees of the third person with their legs allowing
the third person to go from a neutral position to a second position. I did this
a way to subtly display power through levels as the two manipulators would be
higher than the third person due to their position. I also had the idea to then
push around the second person, as this would further develop the idea that the
third person was under the will of the two others in the group. Others had
their ideas and we all incorporated them into the piece, I believe that this is
an example of how well we worked as a team in this part of the lesson.
We were later instructed to teach the
phrase we made to the rest of the class. I had the idea to segment the piece
into thirds and have on person from the group teach one third each, however one
of my members disapproved of this method and given how we had no time to
discuss this I could not convince them. As a result in the video you can see
that were are segments in the video where others cut my sentences off or even
talk over me. This is to be expected as without a clear structure in most
scenarios there will be conflict, in this case between who is teaching the rest
of our class. To try and avoid this happening again I will try and propose a
similar idea to my splitting the phrase into thirds to the group in question
but at a nearer time as seconds before we go into teaching is not the most
opportune time to suggest teaching methods in hindsight. However, I do think we
still managed to teach effectively, we explained moves which others found
difficult and helped them one on one to assist them with the more involved
moves. Here is a link to this video x
1/12/17
On this day we did a tech rehearsal for
hope springs. Not only was it a good way to see how we could use lighting and
such in our performance it was also a great way to see how the show has managed
to improve from last week.
To begin with, August and I have managed to
re-block the first scene of the inspector and the assistant we used Christmas
music when the assistant comes on dancing, this allows the audience to gather
the setting and the assistants characterisation much better than the former
blocking. In addition, the addition of the laptop and how the assistant is
standing up the whole time gives a lot more freedom to the scene as it was
formerly very bland with just two people sitting talking to each other.
Also, work I did on directing the island
voices on Thursday clearly paid off, the scenes were noticeably a lot more fast
passed and engaging than before however they still have an energy that needs
addressing . More specifically the unison lines between island voice 2 and 3
need a lot of work due to how they both paraphrase their lines it fails to work
in unison, as it does not mesh due to how they are literally different words.
We also managed to rectify the problem with
pupil 2semmingly switching their emotions on a whim in the cleaning scene of
act 2. We did this by having pupil 2 shout at pupil 9 rather than try and
physically hurt her, which is what was previously blocked.
The problem with the group not knowing the
family physical theatre phrases was also solved this week, due to how we had a
lesson dedicated to that. In this run though, it looked amazing compared to
last week. There was the problem of one of our cast being sick that day so as a
result my group had to mime manipulating their third member however as long as
we have a full cast during the two performances this should be fine.
We also changed the part in which the
inspector re interprets Sam’s note in act 2. In this, the inspector would now
face the audience and the rest of the pupils would create a semi-circle around
them closing in throughout the scene. I believe that this was the right choice
as it allows the scene to be more dynamic as before it was just two people
standing in place. Also, this gets rid of a problem I mentioned earlier where
the majority of my time on stage is spent in profile to the audience or to the
back of it, not allowing them to read my face and distinguish the emotions I
portray in character.
Overall, there is no doubt that this run
though was leagues better than the previous Fridays’ one. However, that does
not mean that there is nothing to improve on, there are still many issues and we
will have 20 hours of rehearsal to fix them before the final show.
Vocally, I did fairly well on this run
though. For my staff 1 character I over articulated and stressed my t’s and s’s
so that the authority and the annoyance was correctly portrayed to the
audience. I believe that this correctly
contrasted with the stoic and scheming character of the inspector. I believe
you can see the best part of my performance at least vocally in the scene where
the inspector re interprets Sam’s note as I play it somewhat sarcastically and
cocky, which I think works in this scene as I use the ringleaders tactics
against them I can add to this by using
their tone of speech as well. To improve vocally I think I need to
project my voice more especially near the end of act 1. This is due to how I either
am mainly in profile to the audience or turned back to them. As a result my
voice need to rebound at least one surface to get to the audience ergo, I need to
project more so that every single word of my dialog is comprehensible.
Here is a link to act 1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QvgVHOBhqQ
Heres a link to act 2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEBlN87udhQ
04/12/17
On this day,
we began by working on our blogs and revising he island voices scenes. After
this, we had a small amount of time to do a tech run, which was not as
successful as I had hoped due to how long it took to put all of the set and
lighting in place, we literally had one hour of tech rehearsal that day. In the
small part of the show that was rehearsed that day I was not on the stage at
all, however I tried to help the best I could by stepping in for those who were
not in the room so that we could figure out which spotlights to use. We really
need to be as productive as possible next lesson as due to parents evening
being on that day we literally have only nine hours of rehearsal left before
the show.
05/12/17
On this day
we began by doing an entire tech run of the play, as it is a tech heavy piece
this took about 5 hours to do. As a result we only had time to do one run
though after this before we would have to leave due to the teachers being
needed for parents evening.
The run
though did give us a good indication on what parts need work; for example, the
first scene that the inspector and assistant are on . This is due to how in
today’s tech run though we cut the principal voice over therefore august who
plays the assistant struggled with her lines in that scene as almost all her
queues got cut. To rectify this I will run through this scene as many times as
I can with her. I have also come up with an idea for if she forgets everything
in the performance due to nerves, as long as she says “we’ll be gone all day I
suppose” the scene will be able to end shortly due to how all lines thereafter
correspond to something the other has said. While there may be skipped sections
of this script if this occurs this should not be too much trouble as scene
directly before this establishes the idea of hope springs as a correctional
island. Also the scene after would allow the audience to pick up that the
inspector and assistant were sent there to look at the communication situation
from context.
Another part
that needs work is the part where the inspector re interprets the meaning of
Sam’s note. Before today, this scene was very static however today we have re
blocked, the scene and I believe that it looks better as a result. However, the
scene is still being held back by how the scene kept stalling due to how people
forget their lines or the sequence that they go in. To rectify this I would
create a line circle of everyone in that scene and have them go over just the
lines of the scene about ten times this way all those involved would become
more familiar with their lines and queues and therefore would decrease the
probability of the scene stalling in the future.
06/12/17
Today we did
yet another run though of hope springs. In my opinion, this run though was not
as good as the run though we did the day before. However, it was still quite
well revised from those watching and our teachers. That being said there were
many things that I would have liked to improve, here are some of them.
The first
half was longer than expected, taking about 50 minutes; this was mainly due to
how our teacher needed to stop some people intermittently to give last minute
directing notes. However, to avoid having this problem I have created multiple
contingency plans for the scenes in which the cast struggles with. For example,
in the first scene that the inspector and the assistant show up, August who
plays the assistant struggles with the order of her lines due to how the principal
voice over was taken out only two days before the first show. The plan is that
if she cannot recall what line happens next she should skip to the line “we’ll
be gone all day I suppose” as this would allow the scene to end without too
much of a jarring effect on the audience. Or another when the inspector first
arrives on the island, if for some reason the scene stalls I would need to say
“should we follow you then” the scene would then soon end. While this scene is
not as problematic as the former I mentioned thee have been times where this
plan was necessary. I intend to use this technique in the cleaning scene and
the reinterpretation of Sam’s note, as those two scenes are undoubtedly the
most problematic part of our play. I could do this by informing Tamsin, in the
role of Pupil 6, that in case the cleaning scene stalls she should interject
with the line “Family meeting!” as this would change the cleaning scene into
the next one. Or for the scene where the inspector reinterprets Sam’s note
Jamie in the role of pupil 2 should give me Sam’s note as soon as possible as
this would allow me to skip onto “It’s even worse…” line if need be, which has
happened before.
When I talked
to my teachers about the run though they gave some notes to work on; they
stated that they all enjoyed the new delivery of the line “this is going to get
worse for you, all of you” which I now play as imposing rather than how I
formerly played it in a matter of fact way. They also talked to me about how my
volume did dip down near the end of act 1, I believe that this is due to how in
that part of the play I mainly have one or two word interjections such as
“that’s right”, “no”, ”the programme” or “and then?”. As a result, it is very
easy to throw these lines away and I need to focus on not doing that. Another
note was to reduce the time that I spend with my back to the audience which I
have already written about extensively about in my blog. I believe this is such a big issue due to the
blocking of the play. The majority of the time in the play I am stationed stage
left with myself being closer to the audience than another actor, excluding the
assistant in some cases, as a result to even meet their eye-line I need to face
them which has the effect of turning away from the audiences gaze. However, I
will still try to face the audience by perhaps taking allocated time to look at
whichever pupil is speaking to me and then look back to the audience’s general
direction intermittently so they can see me.
There is only
a few minutes left before the start of our first show, and I will write my
thoughts on it after it is done.
The first
showing of hope springs has been done. The general opinion from those I asked
who were watching was that it was a very engaging and entertaining play. My
other cast members are of the belief that this was their best run through yet,
however I am not of the same mind. I stuttered on my second line in the play,
as I ran offstage as staff 1 I hit a chair creating a loud noise that broke
immersion, the delivery of my lines in act one wasn’t as good as they were the
very same day in rehearsals. The one thing I am happy with though was my idea
of the contingency plans. The one I created for the first scene with the
assistant and inspector was used, and so was the one in the scene of the
reinterpretation of Sam’s note. I asked two people about whether they thought
anything peculiar happened in these scenes, and they said nothing of the sort
as a result this part of my preparation was a success.
To avoid
stuttering my second line in the play I will become more familiar with the queues
before it, not learning the one directly before it but the two previous lines
to that as well to allow me to be sure that it is my time to speak as the staff
1 character.
To avoid
crashing into the chair as I run off stage right I will instead run off stage
left, as there is enough room to go off that way. Compared to just a curtain to
hide behind which is already hiding three other props.
I believe the
reason that my line delivery was not as good during the first showing was due
to nerves, this makes scene as my delivery in the second act was similar to how
it was before and therefore satisfactory. I think this may be a problem that
needs no action, due to how I have already done a run though before I believe
that
How do you
plan use vocal techniques?
I mainly use
vocal techniques to either distinguish which character I am, or to display the
level of confidence that the inspector has during the play. I use articulation
and the sharpness of my voice to party the staff character as different from
the inspector. I use dotted pacing at
the arrival scene to portray how the inspector is taken aback from the pupils
and then later in the scene where the inspector re interprets Sam’s note I use
pacing to display how confident the inspector is in the belief that Sam is
alive.
07/12/17
On this day,
we had our final showing of Hope springs. The general belief of the cast is
that last days showing was slightly better, however I again disagree with the
general attitude. I personally belief that this show was leagues ahead of our
former as there was no noticeable stalling points in the show and very little dialog
skips.
The
contingency plans I had created for some of the more problematic scenes were
not nessercary as the scenes played out, as they should apart from one or two
line skips. I believe that this was due to how we had run though those scenes
so many times to avoid something going wrong we became more comfortable with
those scenes than the other scenes that we did not focus on. This acts as an
example of my classes progress through rehearsal.
From watching
both the first nights play and the second’s night’s play on video, it is clear
that I paraphrase the end of my lines a lot less. The reason that I had
previously gotten into this habit is to keep the dialog of any of my characters
alive, as saying the same line for batem every single rehearsal, does not give
you as much freedom to immerse yourself with a character compared to slightly
paraphrasing. However, in rehearsals for hope springs it became clear that this
practice could not continue as by not having the exact same words at the end of
some of my sentences others were confused and could not recall which line was
next for them to say. To rectify this I have made sure that the end of my lines
correspond to those in the play to allow me to engage with my characters by
feeling what I say next, but also not allow this to affect other actors
negatively. This is most clear in the first scene the inspector is in, the
first night I took a few liberties especially in the “private company” monolog
but in the second, i quoted it without fault.
In the first
night, I had the problem of stuttering my second line of the play. I rectified
this by doing what I planned to do, which was learn the three lines that are
former to mine as this would allow me to be sure it was my time to talk. As you
can imagine this plan worked and I did not repeat this flaw for the second
show.
What also
happened in the first night was that when I ran off stage for the first time to
hide between the wall and certain on the right of the stage, I collided with a
chair that was also behind the certain which created a loud noise, which broke
the immersion of the audience. I voided this happening again in the second
showing by having myself run off stage left instead where there is a lot more
room to stand than the alternative.
Vocally, I believe
that this was my best performance yet. I kept my volume consistent throughout
the entire show, which was a problem I had doing in the rehearsals before the
first showing. I also managed to make a clear distinction between the inspector
character and the staff 1 character by using my articulation and stressing
certain consonants to my advantage. I also believe the delivery of some of my
lines were much better suited to my character than the first showing. In the
first one i portrayed the inspector character as getting angry and frustrated
with the ringleader in the fifth and sixth scene of act 2, whereas in the
second one I portrayed the character as being more calm but still maintaining
the same level of control. This works well as in the first showing of the play
it sometimes felt like a shouting match between the ringleader and I, whereas
in the second showing the contrast between the characters works well because
even though the ringleader is more aggressive in speech than the inspector,
they still end up being usurped by the inspector.
There were
parts of our performance that I wish I could have fixed. Such as the hair nets
for the pupil characters. We lost a large amount of them in the second show and
they were black and therefore did not match the all-white style of the rest of everyone’s
costume and the staging. To fix these I would have ordered them in white and in
surplus to avoid this problem. Then again, I am not overly sold on the idea of hairnets
in general; they do not seem to add anything to the performance and do not add
to the tone to the play. If we were to do this all again I would have suggested
not spending money on these to conserve money. Also speaking of costumes, the
flip-flops of the pupils were also problematic. Some pupils did not have flip-flops
whereas others did have them but were not white and therefore, did not match
the rest of peoples costumes (excluding the black hair nets). What I would have
done, was to prioritise costume near the start of the performance production
and create a deadline for it before December. This would make sure none of
these problems would arise again.
11/12/17
On this day,
we were told that we have one week until the blog deadline. While some others
where stressed I was not, as I have consistently been able to keep a daily
record of every lesson I am in, in extensive detail. All I need to accomplish
in this week is to film the political and entertainment speech, evaluate both
of them and link the archer’s audio. I
have no doubt that I will be able to accomplish this in the period given.
18/12/17
On this day I
uploaded my recordings of my two scripts onto YouTube here are the links:
Wild boar rant
Political tax enforcement
Listening back on the two recordings, I noticed some issues.
I the political one, I recorded in the changing rooms of my college. This obviously
was a mistake the flat mirrors on the walls made the sound echo that picked up
in the recording. To try to rectify this problem for the wild boar rant I moved
into the box office. However, this created an entirely new issue; the room has
a faint hum in it due to how the base of the sprinkler system is in that
room. If I were to do this again, I would
have chosen a different location and to avoid having people interrupting me I
would come into college as early as possible.
Another issue was that I sometimes mispronounced words
causing me to have to go back on them. This is due to how I have little to no
editing skills therefore I didn’t have the option of merging the flawless parts
of multiple recordings, and settled on one recording that was satisfactory. If
I were to do this, again I would research into video editing or hire an editor
so that the first option I mentioned would be feasible.
Even with, these flaws I am satisfied with the way the
recordings turned out, I made a clear distinction with my voice between the two
scripts. I did this by having a higher pitch and a faster pace with a manic
tone on the boar rant; and a more slowly paced and calmer toned one for the
political tax enforcement script.
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