Unit 1&2: Identity&Introduction To Production
Unit 1:
Identity
Introduction To This Unit
In this unit we will be looking at developing different skills and creating our own first performance piece. The theme will be 'Identity'.
Context&Planning
In my first lesson I had with our preforming arts teacher, Rob, our class done warm up activities such as walking around the room while making eye contact with each other since that is an aspect which all actors need. While walking around the room we all had to be aware of the space we had around us and use it as much as we could. Next we done a reverse activity which is were if Rob would say go we would stop and if he said stop we would go. We also done the same with jumping and clapping. The reason why we done this activity is to focus on our listen skills which is very important for actors. I liked this activity as it would test me and create a little challenge. Once we finished that activity we then needed to find our selves a pair and labelled our selves either A or B. Person A would put their finger four or five inches away from person B's nose and had the advantage of being able to control what person B would do. For example, person A could walk around the room, go down to the floor, jump up and down or move side to side and person B would have to mirror that exact move. After a few minutes the roles were reversed and person B would then be in charge. What I really enjoyed and found fun about this is that I got to build on my confidence and to act silly in front of people that none of us didn't know very well. Another skill that was worked on during this activity was eye contact, creativity, communication, child like, control, and trust. Lastly we then moved onto a scene we had to create in the pairs were in and the opening line would have to be "excuse me...". For example, a line could be "excuse me do you know where the bus stop is" or "excuse me do you have have the time". When we finished we all got the chance to perform our scenes in front of the class which was really fun and a great experience for me since I was performing in front of people who I don't know.
We done different warm ups such as standing on one leg and lifting the other while rotating our leg and trying to maintain our balance. Rob made us get into a slight crouching position and got us to imagine there was a pen on our back slightly above our bottoms and we would try to write our names. This activity was kind of funny since we were making ourselves look silly because of the movements our bodies were making.
For the last lesson of the day we focused on 'identity' and what we think it means to us as individuals. We then got into groups of 3 and had to create freeze frames of what we thought identity meant. We also done freeze frames of countries that Rob called out for example, if Rob were to say Paris we would try to create a freeze frame such as the Eiffel tower. Rob then switched the activity around to where we would come up with a country ourselves and make a freeze frame to represent that country and Rob would get 2 chances to guess which country it is.
In class we done more activities and vocal warm ups which were really helpful as it can help better my acting. First we played a warm up game called Zap Zap Boing! which was fun. We then went onto a breathing activity where we would have to stand neutral (our feet needs to be shoulder width apart) and when we breathed in we needed to push our stomach out and when we exhaled our stomach would come in. Another activity we did was where we had to put an imaginary piece of gum in our mouths and pretend to chew it. While chewing the imaginary piece of gum we had to hum really low, low enough for us to feel a vibration in our chest and if not then we weren't humming low enough. We then moved onto some vocal warm ups which consisted of saying letters such as CCC, GGG and MPB. While doing saying these letters we needed to make sure that our jaw stayed still at all times, our mouths had to keep the same distance and lastly our tongue had to flick off of the top of our mouth pallet. The more I said the letters, the more difficult it was but, I eventually got the hang of it. I found this activity very useful as it helps with speech articulation.
Today our class were focusing on diversing. This would be based on us telling stories and how we would be telling them. First we got into pairs or groups of 3 if needed and we had to come up with sentences that the next person could say "yes and then..." to. For example, I could say "lets go and watch a movie at the cinema" and then another person would have to continue on that sentence by saying "yes and then go to the park" and it would continue on. Once everyone finished we all got into a circle together and had to create a one word story. I found this activity educating as well as very challenging since you are only allowed to say one word and is on the spot to try and find a word that will fit in with the story as well as being creative with it. Our next task was improv and the setting was based on the moon. For this task only 2 people at a time were allowed on the stage and if you wanted to join in you would have to come up with a reason as to why a person who is already in a scene needs to leave. This activity was interesting as because it shows that there are endless ways of telling and showing a story especially when it comes to improv. Lastly we each got given numbers by Rob which were either 1 or 2. In these groups we had to act out the one word story that we all made up earlier in the lesson. This activity was funny and we all got the chance to work on our collaborative skills, communication skills and independence. It also helps us to build up our confidence to speak and perform in front of an audience.
In class we done different warm ups and performed our own scenes that we created based on the photos we picked in our groups. My group decided to do Alice In Wonderland with a slight message in it about the effects of doing drugs. After we all performed in our groups we sat in a circle and Rob gave us our feedback which was:
Some phonetics were given by Rob to remember were:
F- focus
E- energy
C- concentration
These tips we needed to practice in order to better our acting.
We then got taken to the theatre to do more warm up exercises such as rolling of the shoulders, chewing an imaginary piece of gum while humming really low (in order to feel a vibration in our chest) at the same time. After that we each performed our pieces of what identity meant to each of us. We done this in either pairs, a group or as individuals. I decided to do my identity piece by myself.
In acting today we played Zap Zap Boing and Splat as our warm up games which is great as these games tests my listening skills, attention, eye contact, reaction time, communication, voice projection etc.
We worked on our identity pieces that we need to perform in 3 weeks in front of other performance groups. My groups identity piece is about family problems. Ellie and I are playing Teenagers who are concerned about the Mother and Fathers relationship and since they're always fighting us teenagers think that there mother should leave the father and take the kids with her but, the mother refuses.
(video of our ending for Identity performance)
We got into a line and played a quick game of guess who. The way we played the game is where a person is picked or has volunteered to be the guesser and has to leave the room while the other students pick a celebrity to act out. Hints are allowed to be told and questions are allowed to be asked.
With Rob today our level 2 acting class joined classes with the level 3s and first years.
A woman who specialises is art also joined and brought a few objects with her for us to perform with while her and Rob filmed us.
We were either got picked or volunteer to go up on stage however, the rule is that only 2 people are allowed up on stage at a time, sometimes more if needed.
If either of us wanted to perform then we needed to use a prop that was brought in. We could either use it as a prop for our performance or tell a story about that certain prop. We also got the chance to be creative and use our imaginations for example, a wooden box could be used as a wallet or a jack in the box.
link to video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5EnnW4V_rQ
This workshop was a great experience as I got the chance to build up my confidence even more and had the chance to perform in front of an audience I was unfamiliar with. Since my performance was recorded I get the chance to look back over it all and see on what I can improve in the future.
In class firstly, we stood in neutral position in our circle then we began to roll our shoulders forwards and backwards as a quick warm up. Next we done tongue twisters which I found difficult at first. The tongue twisters we did were she sells sea shells on the sea shore and red leather yellow leather. These twisters I found hard to do but I eventually got the hang of it. In order for us to be able to get used to saying the tongue twisters we would need to put our tongues at the top of our mouths and flicked it by saying 'le' continuously. This activity is something that we have to practice otherwise it would be very hard to play different roles as an actor.
(One of the tongue twisters we done)
Lastly we got into our groups who we performed our 'identity' pieces with. Rob gave us around 10-15 minutes to practice, change around or add to what we already had done. Once our time was up we all sat down quietly in the audience while each of the groups went up to perform their identity piece while Rob recorded it on a small camera.
Today our class was in the theatre and as usual we done our routine warm ups and quick games such as 'it' however, in this games you were only allowed to walk away from the person who was 'it' and not run otherwise you would become 'it' yourself. The second game we played was where as person had to sit in the middle of the circle with a blindfold over their eyes and Rob's glasses case in front of them which they weren't allowed to touch. A person standing in the circle who then try and silently retrieve the glasses back while the blindfolded person would try and guess which side of the room the person is coming from.
Next we worked on trust exercises where we got into pairs and labelled ourselves A and B. Person A would stand directly in front of person B with their back facing them and their eyes closed. In order for person A to move person B would need have to tap them on the back, for them to stop they would need to be tapped on both their shoulders and for them to turn either left or right either one of their shoulders would need to be tapped according to which direction you would want them to go in. However, they're only allowed to turn 90 degrees when going either left or right. Once done we would switch turns. This activity I found really challenging and struggled since I would always think that I was going to bump into someone which I thankfully didn't. Another reason why I found this great is because it develops our skills on trust, honesty, confidence, use of space, communication, collaboration and control.
Lastly we worked on our identity pieces that we've been practising since we have to perform soon.
As soon as we got into class we had to set up chairs to get in role as if we were actually performing in front of the other performing arts classes on our due date. Some groups got the chance to rehearse their identity pieces whilst others watched and took notes. We still got the chance to work on our vocal projection, spacial awareness etc.
In our last lesson which was movement class which we had with Mandy we also got the chance to perform to her what we had done so far. She gave each of us feedback which really helped. To make it even realistic Mandy told us to add in some Laban expressions/movements that we practised earlier on in the lesson. The movements we learnt were DAB, FLICK, GLIDE, SLASH, WRING etc. This really improved our performance as it really brought out the emotion each of our characters are feeling in that exact moment throughout the scenes.
It is currently our 2nd week on our class rehearsing our identity pieces and they're better each time. We have been rehearsing non stop which is good since it keeps our scenes fresh in our memory.
Firstly we started with simple warm ups such as dancing to Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk. While dancing we had to add our own moves. We went around in a circle and took it tuns to do our own silly dance move which everyone had to copy.
When we all finished rehearsing our class feedback was to focus more during each others performances, don't move around or get distracted, practice the open scene more and during speeches stay still. My personal feedback was to get more into character and live my parents arguing as if it were a reality.
Since Rob wasn't in class today my tutor put me in charge of the class. We all managed to rehearse over scene without messing around. This gave me the chance to work on my leadership skills as well as communication skills.
In our movement class with Mandy during our performances we got the chance to use the actions she taught us in order to improve each scene. We each got feedback from Mandy as well as our classmates.
Problem Solving
Since our groups identity piece is mainly focused around the parents and their arguing, I didn't feel that I had many lines to really express myself in my identity performance. How I moved pass this was to make up a script and to add in more lines for myself and my classmate who plays my sister. This gave me a chance to build up on my confidence as I will get to express how I feel on my surroundings and express my view on things during my future performance.
Evaluation
DAY OF THE IDENTITY PERFORMANCE!
On Wednesday we:
Identity
Introduction To This Unit
In this unit we will be looking at developing different skills and creating our own first performance piece. The theme will be 'Identity'.
Context&Planning
In my first lesson I had with our preforming arts teacher, Rob, our class done warm up activities such as walking around the room while making eye contact with each other since that is an aspect which all actors need. While walking around the room we all had to be aware of the space we had around us and use it as much as we could. Next we done a reverse activity which is were if Rob would say go we would stop and if he said stop we would go. We also done the same with jumping and clapping. The reason why we done this activity is to focus on our listen skills which is very important for actors. I liked this activity as it would test me and create a little challenge. Once we finished that activity we then needed to find our selves a pair and labelled our selves either A or B. Person A would put their finger four or five inches away from person B's nose and had the advantage of being able to control what person B would do. For example, person A could walk around the room, go down to the floor, jump up and down or move side to side and person B would have to mirror that exact move. After a few minutes the roles were reversed and person B would then be in charge. What I really enjoyed and found fun about this is that I got to build on my confidence and to act silly in front of people that none of us didn't know very well. Another skill that was worked on during this activity was eye contact, creativity, communication, child like, control, and trust. Lastly we then moved onto a scene we had to create in the pairs were in and the opening line would have to be "excuse me...". For example, a line could be "excuse me do you know where the bus stop is" or "excuse me do you have have the time". When we finished we all got the chance to perform our scenes in front of the class which was really fun and a great experience for me since I was performing in front of people who I don't know.
We done different warm ups such as standing on one leg and lifting the other while rotating our leg and trying to maintain our balance. Rob made us get into a slight crouching position and got us to imagine there was a pen on our back slightly above our bottoms and we would try to write our names. This activity was kind of funny since we were making ourselves look silly because of the movements our bodies were making.
For the last lesson of the day we focused on 'identity' and what we think it means to us as individuals. We then got into groups of 3 and had to create freeze frames of what we thought identity meant. We also done freeze frames of countries that Rob called out for example, if Rob were to say Paris we would try to create a freeze frame such as the Eiffel tower. Rob then switched the activity around to where we would come up with a country ourselves and make a freeze frame to represent that country and Rob would get 2 chances to guess which country it is.
In class we done more activities and vocal warm ups which were really helpful as it can help better my acting. First we played a warm up game called Zap Zap Boing! which was fun. We then went onto a breathing activity where we would have to stand neutral (our feet needs to be shoulder width apart) and when we breathed in we needed to push our stomach out and when we exhaled our stomach would come in. Another activity we did was where we had to put an imaginary piece of gum in our mouths and pretend to chew it. While chewing the imaginary piece of gum we had to hum really low, low enough for us to feel a vibration in our chest and if not then we weren't humming low enough. We then moved onto some vocal warm ups which consisted of saying letters such as CCC, GGG and MPB. While doing saying these letters we needed to make sure that our jaw stayed still at all times, our mouths had to keep the same distance and lastly our tongue had to flick off of the top of our mouth pallet. The more I said the letters, the more difficult it was but, I eventually got the hang of it. I found this activity very useful as it helps with speech articulation.
Today our class were focusing on diversing. This would be based on us telling stories and how we would be telling them. First we got into pairs or groups of 3 if needed and we had to come up with sentences that the next person could say "yes and then..." to. For example, I could say "lets go and watch a movie at the cinema" and then another person would have to continue on that sentence by saying "yes and then go to the park" and it would continue on. Once everyone finished we all got into a circle together and had to create a one word story. I found this activity educating as well as very challenging since you are only allowed to say one word and is on the spot to try and find a word that will fit in with the story as well as being creative with it. Our next task was improv and the setting was based on the moon. For this task only 2 people at a time were allowed on the stage and if you wanted to join in you would have to come up with a reason as to why a person who is already in a scene needs to leave. This activity was interesting as because it shows that there are endless ways of telling and showing a story especially when it comes to improv. Lastly we each got given numbers by Rob which were either 1 or 2. In these groups we had to act out the one word story that we all made up earlier in the lesson. This activity was funny and we all got the chance to work on our collaborative skills, communication skills and independence. It also helps us to build up our confidence to speak and perform in front of an audience.
In class we done different warm ups and performed our own scenes that we created based on the photos we picked in our groups. My group decided to do Alice In Wonderland with a slight message in it about the effects of doing drugs. After we all performed in our groups we sat in a circle and Rob gave us our feedback which was:
- Think about the picture you've chosen and why
- Link what you've done to skills
- Focus on volume of use of body
- Think about what worked and what didn't
- Keep the volume up
- Keep head up at all times
- Be louder in the use of space that you have
- Freeze come out of role
- Change from role to role
- Cheating the space
- When talking over each other make sure to hear the other person
Some phonetics were given by Rob to remember were:
F- focus
E- energy
C- concentration
These tips we needed to practice in order to better our acting.
We then got taken to the theatre to do more warm up exercises such as rolling of the shoulders, chewing an imaginary piece of gum while humming really low (in order to feel a vibration in our chest) at the same time. After that we each performed our pieces of what identity meant to each of us. We done this in either pairs, a group or as individuals. I decided to do my identity piece by myself.
In acting today we played Zap Zap Boing and Splat as our warm up games which is great as these games tests my listening skills, attention, eye contact, reaction time, communication, voice projection etc.
We worked on our identity pieces that we need to perform in 3 weeks in front of other performance groups. My groups identity piece is about family problems. Ellie and I are playing Teenagers who are concerned about the Mother and Fathers relationship and since they're always fighting us teenagers think that there mother should leave the father and take the kids with her but, the mother refuses.
We got into a line and played a quick game of guess who. The way we played the game is where a person is picked or has volunteered to be the guesser and has to leave the room while the other students pick a celebrity to act out. Hints are allowed to be told and questions are allowed to be asked.
With Rob today our level 2 acting class joined classes with the level 3s and first years.
A woman who specialises is art also joined and brought a few objects with her for us to perform with while her and Rob filmed us.
We were either got picked or volunteer to go up on stage however, the rule is that only 2 people are allowed up on stage at a time, sometimes more if needed.
If either of us wanted to perform then we needed to use a prop that was brought in. We could either use it as a prop for our performance or tell a story about that certain prop. We also got the chance to be creative and use our imaginations for example, a wooden box could be used as a wallet or a jack in the box.
link to video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5EnnW4V_rQ
This workshop was a great experience as I got the chance to build up my confidence even more and had the chance to perform in front of an audience I was unfamiliar with. Since my performance was recorded I get the chance to look back over it all and see on what I can improve in the future.
In class firstly, we stood in neutral position in our circle then we began to roll our shoulders forwards and backwards as a quick warm up. Next we done tongue twisters which I found difficult at first. The tongue twisters we did were she sells sea shells on the sea shore and red leather yellow leather. These twisters I found hard to do but I eventually got the hang of it. In order for us to be able to get used to saying the tongue twisters we would need to put our tongues at the top of our mouths and flicked it by saying 'le' continuously. This activity is something that we have to practice otherwise it would be very hard to play different roles as an actor.
(One of the tongue twisters we done)Lastly we got into our groups who we performed our 'identity' pieces with. Rob gave us around 10-15 minutes to practice, change around or add to what we already had done. Once our time was up we all sat down quietly in the audience while each of the groups went up to perform their identity piece while Rob recorded it on a small camera.
Today our class was in the theatre and as usual we done our routine warm ups and quick games such as 'it' however, in this games you were only allowed to walk away from the person who was 'it' and not run otherwise you would become 'it' yourself. The second game we played was where as person had to sit in the middle of the circle with a blindfold over their eyes and Rob's glasses case in front of them which they weren't allowed to touch. A person standing in the circle who then try and silently retrieve the glasses back while the blindfolded person would try and guess which side of the room the person is coming from.
Next we worked on trust exercises where we got into pairs and labelled ourselves A and B. Person A would stand directly in front of person B with their back facing them and their eyes closed. In order for person A to move person B would need have to tap them on the back, for them to stop they would need to be tapped on both their shoulders and for them to turn either left or right either one of their shoulders would need to be tapped according to which direction you would want them to go in. However, they're only allowed to turn 90 degrees when going either left or right. Once done we would switch turns. This activity I found really challenging and struggled since I would always think that I was going to bump into someone which I thankfully didn't. Another reason why I found this great is because it develops our skills on trust, honesty, confidence, use of space, communication, collaboration and control.
Lastly we worked on our identity pieces that we've been practising since we have to perform soon.
As soon as we got into class we had to set up chairs to get in role as if we were actually performing in front of the other performing arts classes on our due date. Some groups got the chance to rehearse their identity pieces whilst others watched and took notes. We still got the chance to work on our vocal projection, spacial awareness etc.
In our last lesson which was movement class which we had with Mandy we also got the chance to perform to her what we had done so far. She gave each of us feedback which really helped. To make it even realistic Mandy told us to add in some Laban expressions/movements that we practised earlier on in the lesson. The movements we learnt were DAB, FLICK, GLIDE, SLASH, WRING etc. This really improved our performance as it really brought out the emotion each of our characters are feeling in that exact moment throughout the scenes.
It is currently our 2nd week on our class rehearsing our identity pieces and they're better each time. We have been rehearsing non stop which is good since it keeps our scenes fresh in our memory.
Firstly we started with simple warm ups such as dancing to Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk. While dancing we had to add our own moves. We went around in a circle and took it tuns to do our own silly dance move which everyone had to copy.
When we all finished rehearsing our class feedback was to focus more during each others performances, don't move around or get distracted, practice the open scene more and during speeches stay still. My personal feedback was to get more into character and live my parents arguing as if it were a reality.
Since Rob wasn't in class today my tutor put me in charge of the class. We all managed to rehearse over scene without messing around. This gave me the chance to work on my leadership skills as well as communication skills.
In our movement class with Mandy during our performances we got the chance to use the actions she taught us in order to improve each scene. We each got feedback from Mandy as well as our classmates.
Problem Solving
Since our groups identity piece is mainly focused around the parents and their arguing, I didn't feel that I had many lines to really express myself in my identity performance. How I moved pass this was to make up a script and to add in more lines for myself and my classmate who plays my sister. This gave me a chance to build up on my confidence as I will get to express how I feel on my surroundings and express my view on things during my future performance.
Evaluation
DAY OF THE IDENTITY PERFORMANCE!
On Wednesday we:
- Waited outside the theatre once we entered the college
- Once we entered the theatre we were told which rows to sit in according to our course
- Level 2 Performing arts were all told to sit on the 2nd row
- Any pieces of jewellery had to be removed (ear rings, necklaces, lanyards)
- We were talked to by charlie (the program manager) about what would be happening within the next 1-2 hours
- We had to sat in silence throughout each performance
- When it was our turn to perform our 'identity' piece we got out chairs for us to sit on and made sure to put them back once finished
- When we were sitting on the chairs we had to sit neutral (with our feet flat on the floor and our hands on our laps) and not move around so that we don't distract the audience from watching the performance
- Once all the performances were finished we had another short talk from charlie as well as some feedback from our teacher Rob
The audience's reaction during my performance was positive as while I was performing I got some laughter.
The skills that I've learnt and developed over this unit are:
The skills that I've learnt and developed over this unit are:
- Confidence
- Voice projection
- Eye contact
- Memory
- Practice
- Creativity
- Use of space
- Respect
- Thick skin
- Imagination
- Communication
- Witty
- Body language
- Positivity
- Pacing
- Maturity
- Child like
- Control
- Gestures
- Time management
- Honesty
- Trust
- Face
My weaknesses are:
How I will use this experience in the future is to continue to use and express my emotions through the use of the skills I've developed over the past 5 weeks. This experience I found very helpful as it guides me to focus on what my strengths and weaknesses are. It also helps me to understand what I need to work on in the future in order to better myself as an actor.
- Confidence
- Positivity
- Thick Skin
How I will use this experience in the future is to continue to use and express my emotions through the use of the skills I've developed over the past 5 weeks. This experience I found very helpful as it guides me to focus on what my strengths and weaknesses are. It also helps me to understand what I need to work on in the future in order to better myself as an actor.
What will help me next is to work on my weaknesses to better my progress on my performances. Even though I've developed skills such as creativity and have shown that in my performance I could still work on that to where I make to audience feel my sadness or anger. I could do different warm up and activities for example, Zap Zap Boing since it helped me with my voice projection and confidence as well as helping me to feel comfortable in my working space amongst my peers.
There were many skills that my peers said I've developed over the past 5 weeks however, the main ones were:
- Voice projection
- Confidence
- Creativity
- Use of space
- Witty
- Body Language
- Memory
- Thick Skin
- Control
- Eye contact
This feedback that I received from my peers is very helpful as it highlights my strengths and weaknesses and shows what I need to work on in order to improve my performances.
The day after our performance in the drama studio we sat in pairs as Rob gave us each pieces of paper so we could review our identity pieces. As well as receiving feedback from Rob we also received feedback from our peers.
My identity performance really boosted my confidence and made me have a better view of my acting. Once I finished my performance I felt like a huge amount of weight was lifted off my chest. During my performance I forgot about the audience and the comments I might have received during my scene. I am a person that lacks a huge amount of confidence, a person who has a lot of self doubt, a person who has low self esteem etc. and for me to go up on stage and perform in front of a huge audience of people that I don't know is a big step for me and I'm proud of my self for doing that. Even though after my 'identity' performance is done I know I still lack confidence however, I have taken a step forward and will continue to do so.
Unit 2:
Introduction To Production
Introduction To This Unit
In this unit we will be focusing on the different areas of the production in a theatre such as Lighting, Costume design, Hair and Make-up etc.
Context
In our classes with Rebecca we have been focusing on different areas of production. These areas are hair and make-up, costume design, lighting technician, sound, props, set design, script writer, backstage crew, audio/visual producers and stage managers etc.
We got the chance to pick which ever area of production we wanted to focus on and got into those groups. For example, I chose to focus on costume design. The people who picked the same area of production worked in groups and began to do some research on that certain area. We all had to search for:
Once each of the groups done their research and our time was up we all had to feedback to the class about what we found out about our production.
Research and References
Our next lesson which was project development with Rebecca we were given a questionnaire sheet to complete whilst watching a Brittany Spears documentary on her life experience.
In our next lesson we watched some YouTube videos of what the different areas of production consisted of as well as watching some live shows from Diversity, blue men group, light balance and more. We were given each a piece of paper to write down which area of production we saw during each of the performances. We then had a class discussion based on the areas we saw and our opinions on it.
Problem Solving
Our homework from Rebecca was to pick an area of production (either the same or different) and research about it and then write an essay which had to be at least 750 words. In our essay we needed to include an introduction, the topics we had to search for before and an evaluation. I still chose to do costume design since it was an interesting area of production for me and I knew there would be interesting information on it.
I found this task difficult, especially when it came to writing my essay.
I went to many websites to find different research based on costume designers which most of it was repetitive information. This then turned out to be really stressful for me as I thought that I would end up failing this unit by not being able find any information, or to write a 750 words essay or even write an essay in general. I was really close to giving up on writing my essay however, I decided that I wasn't going to quit without trying and five in an essay regardless or the quality and quantity of it and I'm glad I did.
Evaluation
Overall, I didn't really find this unit that challenging. I was confident in the production that I picked. The only part that worried me was finding the correct information for my essay and making it 750 words. Since I had to find information on costume design and then change it into my own words, it became difficult for me especially since it was 750 words to change, and about a production area that I didn't know much about. In the end I put all my worries aside and wrote the essay. This unit was quiet interesting since I was looking at the different production areas and finding out what they can do, how they help to put together and performance and the difference they can make. This unit helped me realise that it's not just that actors that bring a performance to life but, also different productions as well. You can't really perform a play without a production designer or producer etc.
The day after our performance in the drama studio we sat in pairs as Rob gave us each pieces of paper so we could review our identity pieces. As well as receiving feedback from Rob we also received feedback from our peers.
My identity performance really boosted my confidence and made me have a better view of my acting. Once I finished my performance I felt like a huge amount of weight was lifted off my chest. During my performance I forgot about the audience and the comments I might have received during my scene. I am a person that lacks a huge amount of confidence, a person who has a lot of self doubt, a person who has low self esteem etc. and for me to go up on stage and perform in front of a huge audience of people that I don't know is a big step for me and I'm proud of my self for doing that. Even though after my 'identity' performance is done I know I still lack confidence however, I have taken a step forward and will continue to do so.
Unit 2:
Introduction To Production
Introduction To This Unit
In this unit we will be focusing on the different areas of the production in a theatre such as Lighting, Costume design, Hair and Make-up etc.
Context
In our classes with Rebecca we have been focusing on different areas of production. These areas are hair and make-up, costume design, lighting technician, sound, props, set design, script writer, backstage crew, audio/visual producers and stage managers etc.
We got the chance to pick which ever area of production we wanted to focus on and got into those groups. For example, I chose to focus on costume design. The people who picked the same area of production worked in groups and began to do some research on that certain area. We all had to search for:- what the job consist of
- how much money they own
- who they work for/with
- skills required
- where they work/roles
Once each of the groups done their research and our time was up we all had to feedback to the class about what we found out about our production.
Our next lesson which was project development with Rebecca we were given a questionnaire sheet to complete whilst watching a Brittany Spears documentary on her life experience.
In our next lesson we watched some YouTube videos of what the different areas of production consisted of as well as watching some live shows from Diversity, blue men group, light balance and more. We were given each a piece of paper to write down which area of production we saw during each of the performances. We then had a class discussion based on the areas we saw and our opinions on it.
Problem Solving
Our homework from Rebecca was to pick an area of production (either the same or different) and research about it and then write an essay which had to be at least 750 words. In our essay we needed to include an introduction, the topics we had to search for before and an evaluation. I still chose to do costume design since it was an interesting area of production for me and I knew there would be interesting information on it.
I found this task difficult, especially when it came to writing my essay.
I went to many websites to find different research based on costume designers which most of it was repetitive information. This then turned out to be really stressful for me as I thought that I would end up failing this unit by not being able find any information, or to write a 750 words essay or even write an essay in general. I was really close to giving up on writing my essay however, I decided that I wasn't going to quit without trying and five in an essay regardless or the quality and quantity of it and I'm glad I did.
Evaluation
Overall, I didn't really find this unit that challenging. I was confident in the production that I picked. The only part that worried me was finding the correct information for my essay and making it 750 words. Since I had to find information on costume design and then change it into my own words, it became difficult for me especially since it was 750 words to change, and about a production area that I didn't know much about. In the end I put all my worries aside and wrote the essay. This unit was quiet interesting since I was looking at the different production areas and finding out what they can do, how they help to put together and performance and the difference they can make. This unit helped me realise that it's not just that actors that bring a performance to life but, also different productions as well. You can't really perform a play without a production designer or producer etc.
Comments
Post a Comment