Unit 3 & Unit 4 Silent Movie & Clash of the concerts
This is a one act play about two hit men - Ben and Gus who are passing the time in a little room whilst they await their next job.
There is a clear higher and lower status dynamic between the two characters - Ben having the higher status. In class, we paired up to create a piece exploring status between characters further, The only direction given was that we would be two decorators doing a job whilst something "went wrong", there must be a clear hierarchy between the two characters and It must be performed silently.
we used mime techniques and body language to convey the status difference between them - the high status character used bold and powerful movements to express his superiority and the low status character moved timidly with smaller expressions and jumpy reactions to the high status character.
As actors there are a few challenges we face with the script which means enhancing our skill set in order to be able to perform the play in a more naturalistic way. It is a slow paced play and most of the dialogue between the two characters is nonsensical therefore as actors we have been learning how to make the play engaging and exciting with our delivery. This has meant working on our reactions , delivery and body language. Also, we have been working on clearly portraying and developing the different characteristics the two characters have. These are the traits we agreed on collectively.
Ben
- Condescending
- Sarcastic
- Bossy
- Controlling
- Passive aggressive
Gus
- Submissive
- Lazy
- Talkative
- Socially awkward
- Dopey
This has meant making sure that these aspects are portrayed well through the way we play the characters. A key note we received on this from the director (Rob) was "it's not what you say it's how you say it".
To perform the play we have been split into groups/pairs and been given a page/part each. I will be playing Gus. Most of our lessons have been rehearsing and developing the characters as much as possible. One of the ways I have been doing this is by trying to take my time whilst reading my lines as not to rush through the scene too quickly, saying the lines like it is the first time I thought of them and then reacting to my partners lines like it is the first time I have heard them, Remembering the reasons for why I am saying words and trying to ensure that I am reacting in a way true to my character. Because my character is of lower status, I am keen to get their approval and a bit on edge as to what the other characters response would be ( i.e. pretending I don't already know the next line).
Evaluation of The Performance
We had to perform the play in front of the rest of the performing arts department in the theatre on Thursday. My groups scene was first up, however there was some last minute panic as someone didn't turn up on time, this made me a little nervous but fortunately he showed up and we were able to go on stage.
Our scene went quite well, we were able to use a lot of the performance techniques we learned in the lead up to the show and in rehearsals. We were all in costume and felt prepared, we stayed in character without corpsing, projected our voices and I felt our characters reactions to each other and our delivery was strong.
Although I was quite nervous especially after the panic that one of our actors was not present, I feel that I managed to hold it together on stage fairly well. There was only one moment where I got a bit flustered and muddled some of the lines. However, I think I managed to improvise well and stay in character as best as I could.
I also see this as an opportunity to work on my improvisation skills and pre show nerves so that I am able to deliver a great performance despite any slips or unexpected circumstances as I know that there is always the possibility that something may go wrong but as an actor it is my role to ensure that the show goes on.
I think the rest of the performance also went quite well and I am really proud of everyone in the class for coming together and performing under the pressure of an audience . Although it did go well, I also could see that a couple of the performances didn't go as well as rehearsed.
One actor was so nervous on stage that he blanked out his lines and just repeated a line several times which lead to the scene not making very much sense, I felt sorry for him as he had worked really hard at preparing however I think his nerves got the better of him. There were also actors that fiddled and fumbled around on stage which made them look uncomfortable on stage and out of character to the audience. Voice projection was also something that some of the other actors could have improved on as it was a struggle to hear them, even from the front, which meant that again some scenes didn't make very much sense or were quite painful to watch. There were people that made little or no effort at all to arrive in costume. I feel that this let the performance down tremendously as costume is an integral part to any performance because it visually tells the story too. Also, in the industry a professional actor would not be able to perform or film without being in the costume that reflects their character so I feel that the people that for whatever reasons did not have costumes will need a better understanding that it is a necessary part of being a professional actor.
The second part of this unit has been about working in groups to create our own silent movie.
We started by looking at other examples and videos of some of the pioneers of silent movies and slapstick comedies such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. We looked at how they used body language, humour and movement to develop scenes and how as actors we could develop our abilities to match. Buster Keaton was big on keeping the jokes in his films organic and so therefore would only perform stunts one time and if the camera missed it or it didn't work well it was simply not included.
We also looked at how the work of the jokes created by silent movie starts have become lived on to become classic and Incorporated modern day comedies.
We were put into pairs and asked to devise a silent piece with a clear status dynamic between the two characters. Altin played a painter/decorator that I had hired and I was treating him badly as he did the work as a higher status character. We played around - swapping between high status and low status characters and used a range of different scenarios to help us develop our characters more. We worked on making our movements bigger and clearer - even if they felt over exaggerated as there is no dialogue it is important to physically express your characters thoughts and feelings.
After a week of working on silent improvisation and working on our ability to create scenes with no dialogue we began working towards creating a short scene using an actual green screen and props.
We based it off the some of the work we were doing with dumb waiter and the characteristics and status dynamic between Gus and Ben - two hit men passing the time in various ways as they are waiting for a call about a job.
I also found that a lot of the body language techniques and features from the personality work we did surrounding Gus and Ben in the Dumb Waiter came to be useful when creating a silent movie it is important to be clear with your actions and body language what type of character or scenario you are trying portray so both parts of the units linked together nicely and I was able to take valuable skills from it.
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In this lesson, we looked at Britney Spears' E! Documentary called I Am Britney Jean. The Show followed Britney during the production process of her hit Las Vegas Show and all the different elements that go into the production of it.
We learned a lot from watching this documentary mainly about how much work actually goes into producing a show or event and the amount of people it takes to pull all the different aspects together.
Although it is Britney's show and it is her ideas that show is made from, there are also many other people working together to create the show.
Also, we learned about how productions are funded by investors and how the marketing teams promote the show in order to sell tickets and regenerate profits from as many areas possible. We talked about the stages of planning a big production and all the different things that would need to be organized and in what order. For example, deciding what production you were going to put on , what target audience it is aimed at, investors, venue , ticket prices , advertising etc. Then, we also looked at how other celebrities have marketed their own events and ways they have used ambiguity and tactics to gain interest around there shows, such as only putting a link to tickets as apposed to actual prices which may deter buyers unwilling to spend a certain amount.
Baring all these factors in mind, we were split into groups and asked to start coming up with ideas for a production of our own we would create for any artist or band of our choice. My Groups choice was Rihanna and we worked together on creating an initial poster advertising a concert we'd be putting on for her. We started by googling a nice picture of her to make the main attraction of the poster and began coming up with basic ideas for venues, dates and sponsors.
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I also worked independently to create my own poster advertising a show for Rihanna, incorporating more of my own ideas and style. I looked at her social media to get a good sense of the way she promotes herself and found pictures from campaigns used most frequently to try and create a poster accurate to how I envision real one for her would be that also matches her as an artist - and would sell. I also thought about all the things that you may be included on a poster such as:
- Artist
- Venue
- Dates
- Sponsors
- Review
- Link to tickets
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My Individual Poster For Rihanna's Show
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Today we worked together again as a group to start coming up with initial ideas for the 3D stage we will be creating for our chosen artists concert. We had paper, pens, tissue paper and other artistic materials to start outlining a 2D design.
My group decided to look at pictures and videos from other Rihanna productions to find some inspiration and we found a few great designs that we thought we could base our stage off of, this is the one that my group decided to choose:
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Iheart Radio Performance - 2015
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We really liked the originality of the performance and felt that it would be the perfect starting point for our own production.
To start, we drew out what the stage would look like and all the different features we wanted it to have and came up with ideas about what we wanted it too look like on a poster sized sheet of paper. We began looking at colour themes and lighting ideas as well.
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In this lesson, we brought out the 2D designs that we made previously and as a group began developing and designing 3D models of a stage for the concert we would be putting on for our chosen artist.
Rebecca gave each group a cardboard box and showed us how to cut it out so that it would look like a stage. Then, I cut out black card to fit the inside of the box so that it looked more stage like. After this, we had the basic structure of our stage.
Afterwards, we began cutting out bits of green tissue paper to match our chosen colour theme and stuck on the inside of the box to represent strobe lighting. Finally, I drew and cut all the letters spelling Rihanna and stuck on black card and tissue paper to go inside the stage to represent Rihanna headlining the show.
In the next lesson, we will continue designing the stage until we have a finished product.
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