Context for Unit 1/2:During the first 4 weeks of our course, we will be establishing the ground rules for successful approaches to creating theatre for an audience. We will explore a range of techniques and styles in devising a piece of theatre, which will be performed for an audience. We will look at how we select appropriate elements, the performance demands required as well as continually evaluating our progress and goals ahead of performance
. Also we will be establishing the ground rules for successful approaches to creating theatre for an audience. W e will explore a range of techniques and styles in devising a piece of theatre, which will be performed for a college audience. We will look at how we select appropriate elements, the elements, the performance demands required as well as continually evaluating our progress and goals ahead of performance.
. Also we will be establishing the ground rules for successful approaches to creating theatre for an audience. W e will explore a range of techniques and styles in devising a piece of theatre, which will be performed for a college audience. We will look at how we select appropriate elements, the elements, the performance demands required as well as continually evaluating our progress and goals ahead of performance.
Research for Unit 1/2:In my research we had to find out what the meaning of identity is and I would say identity is the person you are as an individual because no one can take that away from you. Also I had to find out how I would portray my character as I played many roles e.g. I was Anastasia's daughter, a student at the beginning of our piece and a poet. So the research I done was that I went away and I worked on the way I would talk and walk so when it came to performing everything would of been all under control.
Problem for Unit 1/2: So it was the day of our performance and one of our main cast member was running late so we had to think of what we were going to do so what we done was we begun the performance with our her then 10 minutes after she arrived so she took her spot and tried to pick up the pieces to create a great finishing piece.
Planning for Unit 1/2: Introduction to performance/production
Unit 1/2
On the first week we had our first acting class and we were working on our first assignment called identity with our teacher Rob. To do this we played games and had warm up to help us with our spacial awareness and other people around us is space awareness and our surroundings. Also on the same day we got to know our class mates that we are going to spend the rest of the year with, we got to know every ones names and our hobbies so we can build each others confidence. Also we done vocal warm ups but it put me out of my comfort zone.
On the following week we were given home work regarding our identity assignment which was due the following day, we had to write what identity means to us and this is what I said:
Identity, what does it mean to me? I'll tell you. To me identity is who you are as an individual like me I enjoy cooking for other people. But for some people their gender is their identity, like their was this girl from my secondary school and she was confused with what gender she prefers, so she called herself bisexual so at this point she knew what her identity was so she was fine. Including myself a 16 year old teenage girl born and raised in the UK but my parents were born and raised in Congo Kinshasa and my older brother was born and raised in Angola so that means I speak Lingala which is our home language I use to communicate with my mum. Also I was involved in a racial commit a while back which was "we don't want to play with you because your black" which hurt me as a person but I stayed strong with a new unique identity of being a different young black girl.
To make our identity performances as strong and united we need good skills which are:
1. confidence 2. voice projection
3. eye contact 4. memory
3. eye contact 4. memory
5. practice 6. creativity
7. use of space 8. respect
7. use of space 8. respect
9. thick skin 10. range
11. flexibility 12. imagination
13. face 14. communication
15. witty 16. body language
17. positivity 18. integrity
19. pacing 20. maturity
21. child like 22. control
23. good accent 24. gestures
25. time management 26. honesty
27. trust
As a class we all came up with these skills with our drama teacher Rob.
In our following lesson class with rob we done some devising work which is telling a story in group which would be about identity by using endless possibilities of telling stories. Then we used " yes and then...." to tell a story for example " Do you want to have some pizza" " yes, then we can have some Fanta with that"
Devising/telling a story
Endless possibilities of telling stories...….
- "Yes and then...…"
- One word story
- Improve-"setting the moon"??
- Physicality
The following week we done a performance regarding our identity piece were going to do in October then we received feedback from our teacher which was:
Feedback:
Picture-why you chose it and link your blog back to the lessons
Louder in the space
How we change roles
don't come out of role(changing from role to role)
Be careful when your volume is down vocally.
Stay in role
F E C
O N O
C E N
U R C
S G E
Y N
T
R
A
T
I
O
N
This says focus, energy, concentration.
Today in Robs lesson we performed our acting piece we created last Tuesday so that he can film it and improve it ready for our actual performance but he told us that we will continue with our acting pieces on Monday.
In Mandy's class we done some stretches to warm up our bodies, then we watched a clip about how men used to act in pubs which was all about physical theatre to give us some ideas on what to do for our identity performance which helped hugely. We then watched some other videos based around the same thing on physical theatre and on how they used to make silent movies back in those days.
In Rebecca's lesson on Thursday 20th we started to upload our blogs which was successful as I've produced a lot from then and now which is a good start in my own eye.
After that on Friday 21st we continued to add information and pictures to our blogs which is turning out to very outstanding for myself which I continue doing when I get home, by adding to my blog every single day.
Previously I've written a little something for you guys which I would like to present to you which goes a little like this:
Father, dad, daddy where have you gone because I can't see you from a distance please come back I miss you wait you can't cause your afraid of what you've done.
People, guys, youths, boys and girls why do we pick on each other don't you see it isn't right stop lets all just be friends right.
No we all instead put our selves in groups like the peng girls/boys, geeks, goths what else, is there even a need to put yourself under a label it isn't even your identity.
I've been bullied it hurts at first but you then treat what there saying as a compliment, for me its made me into a strong, unique and a determined young black girl living in north London enjoying life.
Bullies you need to chill and enjoy life not with knifes cause it isn't fair loosing someone close to you it hurts watching them suffer.
Family, family what are they there meant to be the people you can talk to and tell them how you feel but how about if you can't and feel blocked from your speech what are you suppose to do commit suicide, self harm your self or what then I have no clue just talk thank you.
On Tuesday we had acting class and went through our devising piece to make it a perfectionist ready for the big day.
On the same day we had a lesson with Mandy what we done was that Mandy asked Rob if she can see what we have done so far so she can help so we used a sheet that we were given which was all about Laban's eight efforts showing:
Direction. Speed. Weight. Flow
Punch- direct- quick- heavy- bound
Slash- indirect- quick- heavy- bound
Dab- direct- quick- light- bound
Flick- indirect- quick- light- free
Press- direct- sustained- heavy- bound
Wring- indirect- sustained- heavy- bound
Glide- direct- sustained- light- free
Float- indirect- sustained- light- free
Using the words above we were asked to include it into our piece but before this Mandy asked us to show what we've done so far. Then our class mates gave us three of the words above for us to include it into our piece.
Then on Friday's lesson we were in 222 going through our devising piece without Rob's assistance but before all of that we played a game which was that Rob put on a song and each of us had to use our creative minds for us to get started with our piece as a class so that Rob can give us our feedback which was:
-focus needs to be much more on point
-just give energy as the role/character
-back ourselves
-weak/unfocused
-a bit unfocused
-during speech stay still/in role
-can't pull focus
-all be much more louder
-make people know what your character is
-Miya don't dance
-Be more involved
-Make bulling more nasty
-Elie slow down with your poem
-sit in neutral position
Then Rob gave us a skills list for this particular lesson which was:
+thinking ahead
+disciplined
+listening
+focused on playing the role
+the moment I enter the stage I'm in role
On Monday 1st October we were in the dance studio, then we saw our tutor come and tell us Rob isn't in so we had to be grownups and go through are performance on our own with two teaching assistant's there to lend a hand when needed which was helpful. It got to my part of me reading out my poem and I got some positive feedback from one of the teaching assistance which was that it was really impressive of me knowing my poem of by heart.
On Tuesday 2nd October I arrived to school and we were meant to be in 222 but unfortunately there was no teacher to take are lesson which means we've been sent back from us going through our devising work with Rob or individually as there was no one to let us into the room so I decided to go to the library to continue with my blog and start Rebecca assignment.
On Thursday we were in acting class with Rob going through our devising piece which was successful as he gave us some feedback regarding the work we were doing which was as I was standing on the chair Rob wanted me to add more emotion to my piece as I was standing on the chair.
I actually wanted to not stand on the chair as I felt a little uncomfortable but as Rob is the director I followed his instructions and continued.
On Friday we were in project development continuing with our blog as it is our priority at this moment. Then we had a lesson with Rob in 222 so we can continue rehearsing to begin with, Rob was going to be our audience so we can actually feel like we're performing to an realistic audience to do this we took our first position by all of us sitting at the back of the class and Anastasia reading out what identity means to her so we can continue making changes and corrections which is very beneficial to my needs as it makes me improve in the following lesson. Finally it got to my poem which still needs room for improvement as I will apply to in the coming future as the performance is on Wednesday 10th October. After that Rob have us our feedback that he always gives to us but to days was:
Direction. Speed. Weight. Flow
Punch- direct- quick- heavy- bound
Slash- indirect- quick- heavy- bound
Dab- direct- quick- light- bound
Flick- indirect- quick- light- free
Press- direct- sustained- heavy- bound
Wring- indirect- sustained- heavy- bound
Glide- direct- sustained- light- free
Float- indirect- sustained- light- free
Using the words above we were asked to include it into our piece but before this Mandy asked us to show what we've done so far. Then our class mates gave us three of the words above for us to include it into our piece.
Then on Friday's lesson we were in 222 going through our devising piece without Rob's assistance but before all of that we played a game which was that Rob put on a song and each of us had to use our creative minds for us to get started with our piece as a class so that Rob can give us our feedback which was:
-focus needs to be much more on point
-just give energy as the role/character
-back ourselves
-weak/unfocused
-a bit unfocused
-during speech stay still/in role
-can't pull focus
-all be much more louder
-make people know what your character is
-Miya don't dance
-Be more involved
-Make bulling more nasty
-Elie slow down with your poem
-sit in neutral position
Then Rob gave us a skills list for this particular lesson which was:
+thinking ahead
+disciplined
+listening
+focused on playing the role
+the moment I enter the stage I'm in role
On Monday 1st October we were in the dance studio, then we saw our tutor come and tell us Rob isn't in so we had to be grownups and go through are performance on our own with two teaching assistant's there to lend a hand when needed which was helpful. It got to my part of me reading out my poem and I got some positive feedback from one of the teaching assistance which was that it was really impressive of me knowing my poem of by heart.
On Tuesday 2nd October I arrived to school and we were meant to be in 222 but unfortunately there was no teacher to take are lesson which means we've been sent back from us going through our devising work with Rob or individually as there was no one to let us into the room so I decided to go to the library to continue with my blog and start Rebecca assignment.
On Thursday we were in acting class with Rob going through our devising piece which was successful as he gave us some feedback regarding the work we were doing which was as I was standing on the chair Rob wanted me to add more emotion to my piece as I was standing on the chair.
I actually wanted to not stand on the chair as I felt a little uncomfortable but as Rob is the director I followed his instructions and continued.
On Friday we were in project development continuing with our blog as it is our priority at this moment. Then we had a lesson with Rob in 222 so we can continue rehearsing to begin with, Rob was going to be our audience so we can actually feel like we're performing to an realistic audience to do this we took our first position by all of us sitting at the back of the class and Anastasia reading out what identity means to her so we can continue making changes and corrections which is very beneficial to my needs as it makes me improve in the following lesson. Finally it got to my poem which still needs room for improvement as I will apply to in the coming future as the performance is on Wednesday 10th October. After that Rob have us our feedback that he always gives to us but to days was:
+Stand still-don't dance
+Don't commit to it or under play because it won't look realistic
+Whatever you do, do it with conviction
+Strong piece just go for it
+Focus and commit to the work
+Don't dig a hole for yourself
+Be aware of the use of space and don't stage presence
+Speak up
This was all the feedback we were given to by Rob on Friday 5th October.
On Monday 8th October we had our first acting class of the day with Rob at 11:00 in the theatre as our production is this Wednesday so Rob was giving us extra tips by stopping and starting it each time so he can make changes and add bits to it to improve it.
On Tuesday 9th October we were in 222 with Rob but first we done a warm up exercise which was that Rob put on a song and we had to do a move to get us started with our lesson for today. Then we began our rehearsal lesson of the day which we went through it twice but the second time sir gave us some feedback regarding our performance we done the second time round while he was making notes which was:
- Focus
- voice, articulate and projection of voice
- Eye lines
- Movement
- confidence, keep your head up
- projection
- Avoid your back to the audience
- Pay the role you're playing
- not really being natural
- Be alive physically on the stage
- Think about what your saying
- Don't corpse (laugh)
- Sloppy at the start
- Energy is lovely
- Take your time (pauses) (don't rush)
- Don't fidget
- Be a bit louder
- Take dialogue a bit further
On Thursday 11th October we were in 222 with Rob about to start our evaluation to do so we done something similar to speed dating by us sitting face to face in pairs giving each other our own verbal feedback which went in the right direction by us seeing what we think of each other which also went well.
Level 2 "identity" evaluation
At the start of this unit I was shy and didn't have a lot of confidence in what I was doing but I wanted to change that and become a confident and determined young girl. When I wrote my own poem which was featured in our final piece I felt like I became a changed person in who I became and who I wanted to become which is a drama teacher in the future. Also other people could see something different about me in how I used to be and how I am on stage in front of people which improved gradually by the feedback I got from my class mates and the skills I've gained which was: Trust, use of space, fix skin, control, time management, voice projection, memory, confidence, practice, respect, witty, child like, flexibility, integrity, maturity, gestures, honest, imaginative, communication and eye contact which all came from my class mates. Then they gave me a more elaborated feedback which was that my confidence grew gradually, I'm not shy anymore as I've found myself as a person and who I want to become and going to become in the coming future, also that I had control over the audience in poem, good time management, my peers told me that I need to be more child like, I progressed and come out my shell, I showed I wanted to bring awareness to my piece, I had had a balance control over my character, the audience noticed that I was playing the role of a child and lastly someone told me that I played a child very well which I strongly agree on and will continue to be the actor that I am and will become and I can't wait to continue performing with the amazing class and teachers we have.
Context unit 3/4: We have commissioned a project requiring a 2/3 silent films with original scores, which are to be performed with live acting and music at an external venue, (hopefully The Camden peoples theatre) and internally here at the college. This is a real commission and must be approached professionally. You will be working as a team with both musicians from L2 music and students from L2/3 creative media, as well as meetings with the directors to discuss proposals with the project management. The sessions and assignment will fulfil a unique experience for you as actors realising the disciplines of both work to a camera and collaborative work in the performing arts sector.
Research unit 3/4: So to research for the silent movie we watched YouTube videos so we can combine different techniques that their using so we can create our own silent movie. By watching YouTube I saw that a few of these were doing a similar thing which were:
1/ The tramp-Charlie Chaplin
2/Nosferatu
3/The cabinet of Dr Cagliari
4/Harold Lloyd &Buster Keaton comedies
Problem solving unit 3/4: So Rob told us we had to get into groups for our silent movie by using the props we were given to by Rob himself we had to create a 2/3 minute performance but it got to the day of our performance and some people didn't have a partner so Rob decided to combine the rest of the class together to create a piece which ended up really well as we filmed and polished it up.
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