4/12/2014 - Drama reflection

Today we went over our performance again, first with Mrs Christa, because Sein was at a performance, then with Sein.  The performance is starting to come together in my head, and it is starting to become easier to imagine that we will finish.

We went over the characterisation of both Marvalyn and Steve

Marvalyn -
     Needs to be in "nurse mode" at the start

Steve -
     Has moments where he speaks well rehearsed lines and moments where it is new conversation, and he isn't so good at those, need to be able to tell which is which

Drama reflection - 11/11/14 - Unit 4 First Lesson

Today we started reading our new scripted group performances,  Almost, Maine, we do not know yet who has which role, just that we will be performing one of the scenes with one other person.  We started reading the first scene/story (each scene is a little story by itself, they all have the common theme of love, and they all have something strange, for example the scene we are reading the girl's heart is broken so she carries it around in a paper bag) however we did not finish because we had a short second lesson as it's remembrance day.

The script is a bit funny, with the language and the awkward moments, where the characters just stand around saying "um".  The script is also quite weird, using the above example the girl is carrying her heart round in a paper bag.  The whole prospect is a bit worrying as well, our character will be chosen for us, and could end up with any character (well, I know that I will play a man, but still...), however it is also a relief because we don't have to pick our character and that will take out a bit of anxiety from the whole process.  Also I will have to perform with a strait face, saying these things and with the weirdness of it, it could pose a challenge.  I know that the performance time will be fifteen minutes, which is quite a long time.

Drama Class Reflection 31st October

We were missing Lulu again, as she was not at school.  Vic played Lulu's part as the two other people in her group were not here either.

We tested making bruises with makeup to further the effect of beaten up soldiers, and we will all wear army styled costumes, I will wear black camping trousers, and a short sleeved shirt as my "army" gear. I also wore the sling that I will be wearing for the actual performance.  We have made a few more changes to the script, just minor details, like I say "I'm sorry" at a certain point.

Todo:
          loop the heartbeat sound so it continues for the whole performance
          bring in army styled clothes

Drama class reflection

Reflection:

A brief description of the work, 

or what the reflective piece is about, it could be a day, or a piece of work

An explanation on why that was chosen, or just why it came out like it did (the above)

A "reflection"

What did I learn, how?  What did I achieve?  How did I use what I have learnt previously?

Today we rehearsed and amended our script, Lulu was not at school so I read her lines for her.

I have finished the starting sound for the performance, however I have ended up with three versions so once Lulu is back we will all choose which one together.  The track has the heart beat sound effect behind it, and we all recorded the "newscast" and I mashed them together. 

We decided that we will wear theatre blacks for the performance.  However we might not be able to perform in the area we decided we would like to, because Mrs Christa has chosen an area with better light and the black certain behind it, the spot may be better, because we know that the camera will be able to record there, however the area we wanted's lighting is a bit poor, it could help with the feeling of the performance, but it could make it hard to record there.

We have made amendments to the script, and will continue to do so, Mrs Christa said that we were dancing around the idea too much, and after we changed "There is nothing wrong" to "nothing happened" it sounded a lot better, and made the connection to the original news story a lot clearer. There were other small changes we made too.

Also to connect to the original idea better, Sein and my characters' have an injury, they hurt all over, but there is a specific injury, mine is my arm, and I will most likely have a sling on to stress that.

comments from class on the thing

add some kind of a beginning

we need to find a character (like a real-life one, for example a 40 year old man, they don’t need to be connected, we just need to have a character we can become)

pauses and reactions

I NEED TO ADD MORE PAUSES

There needs to be a catalyst that starts the first argument

the character needs to be more believable

need to add more lines

we need to organise some thing

we need to intwine our original (get it from Lulu)

thought - imagine that am on a life raft, can’t go anywhere but need to keep it balanced

Task:
         We performed what we have devised so far for Mrs Christa from our devised piece.  As a group we designed some more outlines for the performance and decided what we shall all be working on, which we will be fleshing out over the holiday (This weekend, and next weekend as we have China week in between) so we will have four days to complete the task.  We also discussed the technical aspects and what sounds and lighting we should have.

For the technical aspect we decided on a constant heartbeat, it would almost become background noise after a while, if the right sound file is chosen it could help create the atmosphere of being trapped, while also serving as a reminder that we are inside the body, as the different aspects of the psyche.  As for lighting we decided that we would go with a red, which we then amended to a dark dingy blood-red, as Lulu said "almost like a dungeon" with a trapped sensation (also the lighting arrangement, which normally hinders progress in an awkward circle, helps us create that trapped feeling) and an off-kilter colour, blood-red not normally being a lighting colour that would be seen helps show that something is not right.

To work on:
         Mrs Christa told us that we should progress emotionally slower.
I will slow down the transition from a character that seems emotionally stable to the wreck that the character actually is.  I might not actually get all the way by the end of the performance.

The character not deteriorating completely could change the character's believability and/or impact, it could both strengthen or weaken the character, by not showing the whole deterioration it could not carry the whole impact of the almost madness that takes over the character, on the other hand completing the deteriorating could be taking it too far.

Character + plot + line development

My character:
     I am playing the part of the brain that says there is nothing wrong, whether or not it believes it.
     (We are going with the three parts of the brain idea)

Starts off:
     Seeming fine
     With the words "Nothing's wrong"

Slowly disintegrating over the time of the performance.  Because of the strain (not sure if that is the right word) of deluding them(/my)self into at least saying (if not believing) that there is nothing wrong.



Lines and stuff:
(This will most likely be changed/replaced/completely ignored when we compile lines later)

Starts with my speech:
"Nothing's wrong
Nothing
"


Then Sein
"Something is wrong" -> "We need help"
Then Lulu
"Something is wrong" -> "We can deal with this on our own"
(I have forgotten which of the others goes first)



Then characters meet
They do not see each other, but they realise they are there
we are symbolising this with a sound collage (is it?)
Lulu - "We mustn't tell" (or equivalent)
Sein - "We must tell" (or equivalent)
These two lines build, one after the other, untill...
Me - "THERE'S NOTHING WRONG"
The lines then build, as a three, one after the other
(but at some point I might say "nothing" or "there's nothing")
(this shows the instability of my character, the others are saying the same thing, but mine is changing)
untill they get to the high point when I scream
"SHUT UP"
and then say timidly
"there's nothing wrong"

NOTE:
Progress emotionally slower

IDEAS:
Don't talk for a bit, just kinda try to escape
Try to convince others of point of view
Maybe stuck on boxes
Noise:
          Heart beat
Lulu can say to me something along the lines of "No, there IS nothing wrong"
or she can "egg me on"



The end:
Sein - "I am going to tell, we need help"
Sein tries to walk away
Lulu grabs her
Lulu - "No, you can't tell, you can NOT tell"
Sein screams "help"
Lights go out



Suggestions and stuff:
If the first speeches (apart from mine, because that will make my character seem wrong from the start) start of with the same line, but end on different conclusion, it could make where each character stands on the problem easier for the audience to understand.

Form of theatre
- Absurdism - NO, and if you didn't get it the first time NO
- Children's theatre - doesn't really fit our theme, plus it takes longer to write
- Naturalism - no, because we will be using the normal conventions, and we might change locations
- Surrealism - maybe, depending on our desired outcome
- Realism - maybe, depending on our desired outcome

Desired outcome
What do we want the audience to feel?
- Questioning relationships (between characters)
- Perception of reality


Ideas
Step 1 - Kill or be killed
Step 2 - Competition for everything

Step 3 -
    Places were we pretend that there are no competition
    Family
    Teachers?
Step 4 - Lost?
           - Combining ideas
           - Maybe absurdism :(

RESTEP TIME!!!

Step 1 - Social media and absurdism
Step 2 -
             Good, saying things you can't normally say, BUT we aren't doing the good

RESTEP TIME AGAIN!!!

Step 1 - 3 parts of the brain
             like a split personality
             one part wants to get help
             two don't for their separate reasons
                          to discuss later

what is reality

dangers of getting help vs. not getting help

questioning why people don't want to get help, or even let people know
or why people don't ask

:( absurdism :(

TODO talk to SeIn

In class ideas for betrayal

- Group of friends
- back stabbing
- Family
- Pain
- Students
- Girls
- Kill or be killed
- Secrets
- What is real

IDEAS
Lulu's ideas
     Social media betrayal

Realism, Naturalism, Absurdism, and Surrealism

Realism
Realism has:
       Believable characters.
       Authentic costumes that fit the characters and locations.
       We (both as an audience and as actors) are more used to realism, because realism had a major influence on western plays and movies.
       The stage (or set) is often believable.

Note: The word believable is used within the confines of the play, there could be elements of magic, or something else, but if the characters believe it and the world seems real then the word believable fits.

Most of our performances that we do/have done are in the realistic style, we seem to be wired to think in this way, it being very hard for us (as we have shown in class) to adjust anything to be (for example) Absurdist.

Naturalism
Naturalism is more realistic than realism.
The characters are often lower class, as opposed to the middle class of realism.
Stage time generally equals real time, so a three hour show would be three hours in the world of the play, but the absolute maximum time would be a day.
Costume, sets, and props are very thought out, attempting to be perfect for the time period of the performance.
Generally Happens in one place, however it could still be a main place, for example inside a house, and just outside the front door.
Often the characters are "victims of their circumstance".
There can be Taboos explored, for example suicide or prostitution

Absurdism
Absurdist plays often seem to have no plot, that is not to say they have none, what happens is the plot, however the plot does not follow the usual style.
Absurdism has pauses, where as a normal play, if a waiter is called then they would come, however in an Absurdist play, if the waiter is called there could be a delay between the words being said and the waiter coming, that is not to say that either the waiter will not come immediately, or even not come at all.

In class today we performed an Absurdist piece, we turned a coffee-shop scene that we had developed last lesson and turned in to the absurd.  We first came up with an idea, which we quickly replaced with a convention that we wanted to test, to turn on it's head.  I found this first part to be among the hardest, not only did we have to come up with quick instantaneous ideas, which I am not good at doing, but they had to be absurd.  We then changed our scene to fit the convention we were testing (it was that Children are not usually allowed in public alone, usually it is just adults alone).  After we had accommodated to that the plot of the scene proceeded to become weirded and weirded untill it was almost hard to see how we had got there from a coffee-shop.  I found that I do not like absurdism, in the sense that it is (for me) harder to perform, devise and understand, the latter of these I quite like when I have to do a performance.

Memories, Images and feelings that this song provokes in ME

Happiness
Bravado
Reaching further
Reminds me of the energetic moment after coming of stage
The low pulsing note was disconcerting
Stardom
Abstract colours flashing
Slowly building

Brainstorming words based on fame

My words
Known
Reasons
Needed
Wanted
builders (not the job)
Memorable
Contributors
Strivers
Lost
Gone
Permanent
My words are not Celebrities, the words are for famous people, I see fame and celebrity as different things.


My photo:
(its from tavaana.org)

Brainstorming words for 1 minute from an image

My:

Love,
Regret,
Hope,
Asking for love,
Imperfection Vs Perfection

Others:

Meaningless

Pose

Heart-ships

Drunk

Kneeling

Confidence

Cornered

Class 4 - Reflections

We have learnt a lot in the past three lessons, definitions of useful words, and names of old, and new, ways we can improve our drama.  It has been lots of fun, but its hard to think that its been but four short lessons since we started, and we have come so far.  Todays lesson was fun, even though we only got through one of the stimuli.

Definitions

 Action/plot/content (the story, the characters and/or the theme(s) of the drama).
􀁲 Forms (the way the story is told, the characters are portrayed and/or the themes are depicted).
􀁲 Climax/anti-climax (building and/or releasing tension in the drama and/or a sense of
expectation).
􀁲 Rhythm/pace/tempo (the rate at which the action moves along and the extent to which this changes).
􀁲 Contrasts (for example stillness versus activity/silence versus noise).
􀁲 Characterisation (the means used to portray a role using vocal and physical skills).
􀁲 Conventions (using techniques such as slow motion, freeze-frame, audience asides, soliloquy, establishing one part of the space as one location and a different part of the space as another).
􀁲 Symbols (the representational use of props, gestures, expressions, costume, lighting, and/or setting. For example, blue lighting to represent night time, a white costume to represent the innocence of a character).
Still image (for example one person might act as a sculptor and position individuals in the group in relation to one another to create a still image).
􀁲 Thought-tracking (stopping individuals during an in-role activity and asking them to reveal their inner thoughts at that particular moment).
􀁲 Narrating (providing a spoken commentary that accompanies stage action, or a story being related by a character).
􀁲 Hot-seating (a technique used to deepen an actor’s understanding of a role. The individual sits in the ‘hot-seat’ and has questions !red at them that they then answer from the point of view of their character).
􀁲 Role play (an individual pretends to be someone else by putting themselves in a similar position and imagining what the person might say, think and feel).
􀁲 Cross-cutting (creating a scene(s) and then re-ordering the action by ‘cutting’ forwards and backwards to different moments).
􀁲 Forum-theatre (a scene is enacted and watched by the rest of the group. At any point in the drama, observers or actors can stop the action to ask for help or refocus the work. Observers can step in and add a role or take over an existing one).
􀁲 Marking the moment (having created a piece of drama work, individuals identify a significant moment in the piece. This can be done in discussion, marked by freezing the action, using captions, inner thoughts spoken out loud, using lighting to spotlight the
moment, etc. The moment will be significant for the individual in terms of revealing an understanding, an insight or evoking a feeling about the issue or idea being explored).

Class 3 - reflection

The lesson was not the most fun, sitting down the whole time, however it was educational, and it was useful to go over all the terms.  The warmup was hard to get my head around (I was out first all three times, every time with the word "bow"), I kept getting confused between the action of getting on the floor, the confusing bit I think being the word, bow, between both meanings: bowing, I connected with the getting on the floor; and the front of the ship.

Class 2:
Reflecting on what we did in class:

I didn't enjoy the still image that much, I'm not to good at standing in one position in one spot (but thats my body strength), nor am I too good at coming up with ideas on the spot.  The forum-theatre was hard to wrap my head around, coming up with words and actions on the spot, and having the constant threat that a character might be added or removed (it felt almost like a threat).  I did enjoy the narration, screaming at Kate, but I feel that it could have been done allot better, the narration felt like it was pushed in at the last moment (which thinking about it is exactly what happened) and the "children" could have had more to do rather than just hiding behind boxes.

However, overall the lesson was enjoyable.

First Post

First post on my drama blog!!!