1. Sound and Silence
In my scene there isn't really any silences or pauses. As there is a bomb about to go off Callum is very anxious to get Sephy out, and Sephy doesn't know what is going on and is quite scared so they don't have time to pause. They are constantly shouting to each other and hurting about.
2. Pitch
When Sephy says "Callum where did you spring from?" her voice gets higher as the sentence goes on, because she excited to see him but is also asking a question.
3. Pace
The pace is very fast a lot of head turning as one of us speaks then the other. But when Im doing direct address towards the audience at the beginning my pace isn't as fast, however it isn't really slow, there still aren't any breaks or pauses.
4. Intonation
When questions are made the pitch goes up. For example Sephy says "whats going on?" a lot, so her voce goes higher as she's asking a question but is also shouting.
5. Volume
The voice is most loud when Callum is arguing at Sephy shouting "Don't argue. Out! Come on!"or when Sephy shouts at Callum "Callum, enough!"
The voice is most soft when Sephy at the beginning is talking to the audience and says " I sipped my orange juice, grateful for the time alone", but there is still some annoyance in her voice.
6. Tone Colour
The quality of the voice is mainly cold and abrupt, and aggressive and hot. This is because they are both shouting at each other and Callum doesn't have much patience with Sephy as he wants to get her out of there quickly. An example of this is when Callum says " never mind you ruddy drink. You have to leave NOW."
7. Emphasis
Callum uses emphasis on the word "now" when he says "You have to leave NOW." He does this because he wants to make clear that they have to leave immediately.
Another example is when Sephy shouts " Callum, enough!" and emphasises the word "enough!" because she wants to make clear that she's annoyed and wants him to stop.
Sunday 28 September 2014
Long Term Target
My long term target is to become more in touch with my emotions on stage. I want to make the audience feel something when they watch me. I want to be able cry if necessary and bring the character to life. Im quite good at comedy parts but not so much serious roles. Which is a problem since I've heard Brit only do serious plays! But i am going to work so hard on this. Im going to audition for any parts that really push my abilities. And finally I'm going to listen to what the teacher says, take it all in and use it. I'm going to watch other people use what I think is good. This is very important to me so I hope i can by the end of the year write down on this blog that I have achieved this and I have made someone really feel something when they watch me.
lesson 3
25th September 2014
What I found really fun was the Rugby chant (Hacker) exercise. It involved us making up a chant in groups and going opposite another group and shouting it at each other. I really liked it because we got to work as a team and have a laugh in class. But it did have some reflection to the play. Naughts and Crosses are 2 different groups and are against each other, so by doing the chant it made us think that even though Sephy and Callum are friends they are on 2 different sides of a war.
As usual we started of by doing a warm up. Starting with body, we stretched and moved our mouths, imagining we were chewing gum. By warming up our body it helps us go from ourselves to our character more easily. Then we moved to our voice warmups, we worked on projection and articulation. We need to do this at the beginning so that when we go to rehearse we can make sure were loud enough but not shouting. And also so that the audience can understand what were saying. We after worked on breath control, this is important because we need to be able to say a whole sentence without stopping and have enough energy to do a whole performance.
After the warmup we worked on the sex scene. In this scene we are using the whole class. We each say a line from the script. This is a better way of performing this scene than just having 2 people, because it won't be that awkward for us and the parents watching, but also its a lot more effective and looks a lot better and interesting. We are still trying to get the order right, everyone is getting confused but I think were get it soon, we just need practise.
What I found really fun was the Rugby chant (Hacker) exercise. It involved us making up a chant in groups and going opposite another group and shouting it at each other. I really liked it because we got to work as a team and have a laugh in class. But it did have some reflection to the play. Naughts and Crosses are 2 different groups and are against each other, so by doing the chant it made us think that even though Sephy and Callum are friends they are on 2 different sides of a war.
For the rest of the lesson we worked on our scenes. I have achieved my target of learning my lines and staging it. I think the main target now is to really get the characters emotions into the scene and show how much they love each other and how scared they are. Because in this play Sephy and Callum can never feel safe or protected, through their whole lives they have been trapped in a society that won't let them be together. In this scene I think they finally realise how dangerous and scary the world they live in is. And what I want to do is show that fear and realisation of the world they come from. Because from this scene after they live their lives knowing this divide and the real horror it actually is.
Saturday 27 September 2014
Direct Address
In my scene I use direct address two times. The first time I'm walking up and down the middle of the stage looking to both sides of the audience making eye contact with everyone. This is good because when i look at the audience they feel more involved and more of a connection with the character.
Still Moments
Still moments
Still moments are when the actors freeze on stage and the audience really get a chance to properly reflect on what the characters in the play are feeling and doing.
We use it my scene, when Callum is pulling Sephy out of the mall and they freeze when Sephy is explaining what they are doing as well as after when they are running and talking. We obviously couldn't run in the scene because we would be running into the audience, so by freezing but still talking we can make it seem like were running by using are voices, but also the audience can hear us properly and see what are facial expressions are. If we were running it would be harder to project are voices and the audience wouldn't have time to see our faces.
Still moments are when the actors freeze on stage and the audience really get a chance to properly reflect on what the characters in the play are feeling and doing.
We use it my scene, when Callum is pulling Sephy out of the mall and they freeze when Sephy is explaining what they are doing as well as after when they are running and talking. We obviously couldn't run in the scene because we would be running into the audience, so by freezing but still talking we can make it seem like were running by using are voices, but also the audience can hear us properly and see what are facial expressions are. If we were running it would be harder to project are voices and the audience wouldn't have time to see our faces.
Traverse Theatre
Traverse Stage facts
1.The Traverse theatre can fit a lot of people.
2. It is a form of theatrical stage in which the audience is predominantly on two sides of the stage, facing towards each other.
3. The stage is also commonly known as an alley or corridor stage.
4. In some traverse stages, one end of the stage space may also end in audience
5. The ends of the stage are much larger than the traverse stage itself allowing for more space for actors, sets, and scenery
What is good about it
1. Greater projection of voice
2. Every action is visible to both sides of the audience
3. Intimate staging and allows the actors to use the audience for effect
4. Audience can see actors facial expressions clearer
5. Audience feel more involved
6. Gets the audience more involved
What people say about it
Disadvantages for the audience:
---Once an actor walks past one part of the audience, the actor's back will be to the audience.
---It's not really convenient to place scenery on the stage. So, very minimal and small pieces of scenery can be placed on the stage.
Disadvantages for the actors:
---Very minimal and small pieces of scenery can be placed on the stage.
---Traverse stages are usually high off the ground. So, the front row audience might not be able to see very well.
Advantages for the audience:---Intimacy between the audience and actors.
---The audience can see the actor's entire body and hear the actors clearly.
Advantages for the actors:---Intimacy between the audience and actors.
---Scenery can be placed on the back wall.
How we use Traverse Staging
In my scene, me and my partner stand opposite sides of the stage. This will make the audience be constantly looking from one of us to the other. This is good because it gets the audience more intrigued, and they will be more concentrated to the scene.
It is helpful for us as actors, because we have to concentrate more on facing the audience. I have to do this when I am directly addressing the audience.
By using Traverse staging in our running part of the scene we can make it easier for the audience to see us as well as making it look a lot more interesting.
Examples of Traverse Staging
1. fashion catwalk
2. 1991 The Derby Playhouse Community Theatre mounted a large scale production based on the events on Christmas Day in the trenches of World War 2 in 1914. The German and British armies (composed of a cast of hundreds) faced each other across the stage.
1.The Traverse theatre can fit a lot of people.
2. It is a form of theatrical stage in which the audience is predominantly on two sides of the stage, facing towards each other.
3. The stage is also commonly known as an alley or corridor stage.
4. In some traverse stages, one end of the stage space may also end in audience
5. The ends of the stage are much larger than the traverse stage itself allowing for more space for actors, sets, and scenery
What is good about it
1. Greater projection of voice
2. Every action is visible to both sides of the audience
3. Intimate staging and allows the actors to use the audience for effect
4. Audience can see actors facial expressions clearer
5. Audience feel more involved
6. Gets the audience more involved
What people say about it
Disadvantages for the audience:
---Once an actor walks past one part of the audience, the actor's back will be to the audience.
---It's not really convenient to place scenery on the stage. So, very minimal and small pieces of scenery can be placed on the stage.
Disadvantages for the actors:
---Very minimal and small pieces of scenery can be placed on the stage.
---Traverse stages are usually high off the ground. So, the front row audience might not be able to see very well.
Advantages for the audience:---Intimacy between the audience and actors.
---The audience can see the actor's entire body and hear the actors clearly.
Advantages for the actors:---Intimacy between the audience and actors.
---Scenery can be placed on the back wall.
How we use Traverse Staging
In my scene, me and my partner stand opposite sides of the stage. This will make the audience be constantly looking from one of us to the other. This is good because it gets the audience more intrigued, and they will be more concentrated to the scene.
It is helpful for us as actors, because we have to concentrate more on facing the audience. I have to do this when I am directly addressing the audience.
By using Traverse staging in our running part of the scene we can make it easier for the audience to see us as well as making it look a lot more interesting.
Examples of Traverse Staging
1. fashion catwalk
2. 1991 The Derby Playhouse Community Theatre mounted a large scale production based on the events on Christmas Day in the trenches of World War 2 in 1914. The German and British armies (composed of a cast of hundreds) faced each other across the stage.
Friday 19 September 2014
HOMEWORK 2 (warm up)
Lesson 2Why should an actor warm up their body and voice?
An actor should warm up their body, because they use it a lot in theatre. If they do not warm up their body they can pull a muscle during the performance. As well as not getting their bodies prepared for the activities they will be facing, so they will get tired a lot quicker then they normally would if they hadn't of warmed up.
An actor should always warm up their voices, because thats what they use they most. They have to get their voices exercised and prepared for all the talking they will have to do. They also need to get their breathing under control so they are able to perform whole sentences without having to stop and gasp for air before they carry on.
Lesson 2
Lesson 2
In todays lesson we started with a warm up. We did stretches and exercised our face by pretending to chew gum and be a cat.
We then worked on the status of the characters in the play, going from 1-5. 1 being the worst off and 5 being the most richest.
We learnt that the 1s walk with their heads down and backs hunched as they are embarrassed of who they are. In the play white skinned people would be 1s.
We also looked at how 2s are more upright then 1s but still quite down and sad looking. These people would be like Ryan, because he is healthy but ashamed of who is and what he has done.
We worked on 3s being normal, everyday people with a lot more goals then 1 and 2s, because they are more likely to achieve them, as they have more money and more education. We also said that they walk more upright but not with complete pride. People like this are Meggie, Callum and Jude. This is because they have a lot of ambitions in life but find it hard to achieve them.
4s are a lot more proud of themselves and have obviously achieved in life, these people are like teachers and Sephys mum. Because they have the power to boss people around, but are not the most powerful. I think they always try to seem a lot more powerful then they actually are, they do this for self pride and status.
Finally 5s are the most powerful, and therefore walk around with complete pride, loving everything about themselves and looking down on everyone else knowing they are so much better then them. People like this are Sephys dad, as he is Deputy Prime Minister and has a lot of power.
We also worked on articulation and pronunciation by doing warm up exercises on the floor and also in groups performing tongue twisters in different types of music styles.
And finally we worked on our scenes in our groups. Some people performed theres and we gave them helpful feedback, so they can improve their piece.
In todays lesson we started with a warm up. We did stretches and exercised our face by pretending to chew gum and be a cat.
We then worked on the status of the characters in the play, going from 1-5. 1 being the worst off and 5 being the most richest.
We learnt that the 1s walk with their heads down and backs hunched as they are embarrassed of who they are. In the play white skinned people would be 1s.
We also looked at how 2s are more upright then 1s but still quite down and sad looking. These people would be like Ryan, because he is healthy but ashamed of who is and what he has done.
We worked on 3s being normal, everyday people with a lot more goals then 1 and 2s, because they are more likely to achieve them, as they have more money and more education. We also said that they walk more upright but not with complete pride. People like this are Meggie, Callum and Jude. This is because they have a lot of ambitions in life but find it hard to achieve them.
4s are a lot more proud of themselves and have obviously achieved in life, these people are like teachers and Sephys mum. Because they have the power to boss people around, but are not the most powerful. I think they always try to seem a lot more powerful then they actually are, they do this for self pride and status.
Finally 5s are the most powerful, and therefore walk around with complete pride, loving everything about themselves and looking down on everyone else knowing they are so much better then them. People like this are Sephys dad, as he is Deputy Prime Minister and has a lot of power.
We also worked on articulation and pronunciation by doing warm up exercises on the floor and also in groups performing tongue twisters in different types of music styles.
And finally we worked on our scenes in our groups. Some people performed theres and we gave them helpful feedback, so they can improve their piece.
Character Profile
SEPHY
Name - Sephy
Gender - Female
Clothing - Expensive designer clothes. Mainly bought by her mother. Wears head band in hair a lot. Trainers and sometimes slip on shoes. Wears skirts and dresses which are quite pretty and young.
She wears her clothes at first with pride, because she likes them and thinks there quite nice. But to her she has always worn very nice clothes and has had a wide selection to choose from, so she hasn't really taken notice of it. And also Sephy isn't one to judge people by their clothes, and so they weren't a massive part of her life. But as the play goes on she starts to see that she is very fortunate to others in her clothing and actually she becomes embarrassed of them. For example when Sephy attends Lynettes funeral, she turns up in a designer, expensive black dress, which people at the funeral mock her for but also get afforded by as they think she is showing off about the fact she can afford nice clothes and they can't. I think this is where Sephy realises that she is higher class to others and she despises that. So from here she starts wearing her clothes feeling ashamed and embarrassed for reasons she can't help.
In the script Callum says to Sephy " Thank God. It took me almost an hour to find you". This shows that Callum really does care for Sephy and would do anything to save her life. And by saying " Thank God" shows you that he is so relieved to of found her safe, and that she really does mean something to him.
In the script Sephy says "Mother was driving me nuts!". She gets annoyed with her mum because her mum keeps wanting to buy her lots of shoes, and Sephy doesn't like this. And I think this is because of the reasons I was stating before about how now she feels embarrassed about wearing nice clothes because her friends can't afford them and she feels spoilt. She also says that her mum was "enjoying herself" and from this you get the impression that Sephy and her mother are very different in the fact that Sephy is embarrassed of everything she has but her mother on the other hand is very grateful and likes to show off about it by buying nice clothes and accessories.
In the script when Callum runs up to her she seems very happy to see him. I know this because she says "Callum! where did you spring from" with the emphasis on "Callum!". So from this you can tell Sephy really like the company of Callum and loves spending time with him.
During the script when Callum is trying to get her out she says " but I haven't finished my drink" and this shows that even though she feels bad for being as fortunate as she is, she still would rather drink her drink then go off with Callum. And this to me tells me that she still has this part of her that sees money over friendship.
Later on in the script once the bomb has gone off Sephys first words our "Mother! Oh my God!". This shows me that even though Sephy gets frustrated with her mother when she wants to constantly waste lots of money on clothes for her, that she doesn't need, she still very much loves her and doesn't wish her any harm.
Saturday 13 September 2014
Homework 1 (Double Cross by Malorie Blackman - book trailer)
How do the character's body postures help to inform you of their statuses?
In the clip, the character Tobey when talking to McAuley had a very different body language to when he was talking to Callie. When he was talking to McAuley he hardly gave him eye contact and was a bit hunched over with his head down, and his arms were by his side. This shows that Tobey was scared of McAuley but wanted to look stung and confident infrot of him, and thats why he didn't not make eye contact and had his arms down by his side so he wouldn't fight with them and look nervous.So from this I can guess that McAuley is a higher status then Tobey. When Tobey was talking to Callie his body language was different, as his back was straight, he wasn't hunched and made clear eye contact with Callie, and the character Callie did the same. I can assume from this that they both are on the same status.
The character Dan seemed to be like Tobey when talking to McAuley, but more nervous. He did not make any eye contact with McAuley and neither Tobey, he also had his head facing downwards the whole time. This tells me that McAuley had a higher stays then Dan as well.
The character McAuley was always upright and made eye contact with Tobey when he was talking to him. This shows that he wasn't afraid and felt confident. So from this i can conclude that Tobey has a lower status then McAuley.
what does it tell you about the type of people they are?
It tells me that the character McAuley is quite powerful and a very scary man, and that if you were to get involved with his business that he runs, you will get in a lot of trouble.
It tells me that the character Tobey is normally not the kind of boy that does things against the law. It tells me that he is very scared to talk to McAuley but feels that he has to and that the only reason he is going to McAuley is to do something that he feels is the right thing to do.
In the clip, the character Tobey when talking to McAuley had a very different body language to when he was talking to Callie. When he was talking to McAuley he hardly gave him eye contact and was a bit hunched over with his head down, and his arms were by his side. This shows that Tobey was scared of McAuley but wanted to look stung and confident infrot of him, and thats why he didn't not make eye contact and had his arms down by his side so he wouldn't fight with them and look nervous.So from this I can guess that McAuley is a higher status then Tobey. When Tobey was talking to Callie his body language was different, as his back was straight, he wasn't hunched and made clear eye contact with Callie, and the character Callie did the same. I can assume from this that they both are on the same status.
The character Dan seemed to be like Tobey when talking to McAuley, but more nervous. He did not make any eye contact with McAuley and neither Tobey, he also had his head facing downwards the whole time. This tells me that McAuley had a higher stays then Dan as well.
The character McAuley was always upright and made eye contact with Tobey when he was talking to him. This shows that he wasn't afraid and felt confident. So from this i can conclude that Tobey has a lower status then McAuley.
what does it tell you about the type of people they are?
It tells me that the character McAuley is quite powerful and a very scary man, and that if you were to get involved with his business that he runs, you will get in a lot of trouble.
It tells me that the character Tobey is normally not the kind of boy that does things against the law. It tells me that he is very scared to talk to McAuley but feels that he has to and that the only reason he is going to McAuley is to do something that he feels is the right thing to do.
Thursday 11 September 2014
Lesson 1
In todays lesson we started by doing basic exercises to warm up our body. We started by pretending to chew gum which warmed up our mouths and then we did lots of different shapes and movements with our body, like when we got on all fours and pretended to be cats and hissed at each other to exercise our mouths. I liked beginning with that because it got the awkward tension out the room by embarrassing ourselves in front of each other. We the worked on our breathing, we did this by breathing in then slowly letting it out. After we practised our articulation, by saying A, E, I, O, U. But to try to interpret Naughts and Crosses into our exercise we said A, E, I, O, U to each other in way a character in the play would say it. This was good because we were able to start thinking about the play and the characters while working on our articulation. We then worked on projection and pitch, we sang words like "moo" and "me", we sang them in different pitches and at different volumes.
After the warm up we started to think about the play. We had to walk around and talk to people like we were equal, we did this by constantly flattering each other. This I think symbolised the Crosses, by them being the best and the main reason of the play, equality, but changed it so everyone was equal.We then had to go from 1-5, 1 being the least important to 5 the most important. In the play 1 would be the Naughts and 5 would be the Crosses. I liked being the numbers in-between, because they were the most interesting to me. This is because you had to think more about them, as the 1s are very poor and sad and the 5s are very rich and happy. For me I liked being in the middle, because your not poor but your not rich your just happy as you are, you don't live on the street and you don't live in a mansion with loads of friends and a lot of parties to go to. You have a very normal life with no high expectations and your not constantly looking down on people, your just you and go on in life. I also liked this because in the play you don't really think about the middle people, so it was interesting to think about them as well.
To end the lesson we got in groups of 5 and prepared freeze frames. The first time I did it with my group we had 3 sentences but could only choose 2 words in each sentence to use in the scene. What was interesting was that everyone used the same words but all had different scenes. I liked from this activity being able to create a scene with only 2 words and freeze at the end but still can show a lot about the characters and the play in the short space of time. We then did the same thing but used the whole sentence and had to do it in slow motion. What was good about doing it in slow motion was that you could see every movement and facial expression a lot clearer and when you performed it made you think more about that then you normally would.
Friday 5 September 2014
My acting skills and things I can develop
I find taking directions very easy and I think that it is something I am very good at. I am quite good at learning lines as well, I can normally learn a monologue in under a day. I think I'm better at comedy more then serious acting, but I'm not sure as I've mainly only done comedy parts. I really like developing characters and I think I'm quite good at it as I've done a lot in the past. I like to embody the characters emotions and bring them to life with actions or facial expressions on stage. I like doing acting where you cannot talk but only use actions, Ive done it only once in the past, but I found very enjoyable and I liked how you can show a lot about a character and not use words, I believe that is one of my strong points.
My not so strong points are definitely accents! I always get them mixed up or just sound really silly!!! I don't think I'm very good at playing characters who are really sad, I find it hard to cry on queue in front of people, but i never have really performed parts like that before. I like doing improvisation but I think i need to develop my skills, I need to try to think quicker on my feet and come up with a wide range of ideas and characters.
I find taking directions very easy and I think that it is something I am very good at. I am quite good at learning lines as well, I can normally learn a monologue in under a day. I think I'm better at comedy more then serious acting, but I'm not sure as I've mainly only done comedy parts. I really like developing characters and I think I'm quite good at it as I've done a lot in the past. I like to embody the characters emotions and bring them to life with actions or facial expressions on stage. I like doing acting where you cannot talk but only use actions, Ive done it only once in the past, but I found very enjoyable and I liked how you can show a lot about a character and not use words, I believe that is one of my strong points.
My not so strong points are definitely accents! I always get them mixed up or just sound really silly!!! I don't think I'm very good at playing characters who are really sad, I find it hard to cry on queue in front of people, but i never have really performed parts like that before. I like doing improvisation but I think i need to develop my skills, I need to try to think quicker on my feet and come up with a wide range of ideas and characters.
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