Monday, 27 February 2017
So Sing- rehearsal process and performance evaluation
So Sing performance
So Sing is a brilliant event based around music which celebrates the idea of people of all ages coming together to create music. At Worthing a College, we were lucky enough this year to host one of the evenings. We invited other students from different schools and performing arts academies to celebrate with us by performing some of their own material.
So Sing is a brilliant event based around music which celebrates the idea of people of all ages coming together to create music. At Worthing a College, we were lucky enough this year to host one of the evenings. We invited other students from different schools and performing arts academies to celebrate with us by performing some of their own material.
We spend two weeks as a ensemble, working together over several rehearsals to create our medley of songs. The songs we chose were all different and contrasted, showing off everyone's varied abilities in differing ways. Choosing four songs allowed us to work together an an ensemble with some people taking solos and duets, with everyone else backing them up vocally. This allowed us to explore working as a team and allowing everyone a chance to work as a member of the team to show what we were capable of. For example during the song human, we allocated three soloists; Luke, Nathan and Charlotte to sing a verse each whilst the rest of the ensemble repeated a humming sound, acting as a vocal instrument to support the soloists vocals. The ensemble humming allowed the soloists to hear a backing beat to the sing, separate from the piano and guitar sounds. This helped them keep in time and at a steady pace. Without the ensemble effort, there would age been no tempo to the instrumental, which would have taken away sound from the song, making it sound slightly bare and empty. Including everyone in this song allowed for no one to be left out. Being part of an ensemble is all about working as a team, and this is something we showed especially through Human.
Ultimately for the So Sing performance, I am expected to focus on my musical and physical skills. The musical skills will be shown through my use of voice; how I am able to sing within an ensemble, taking the role as a lead soloist and as an ensemble member. Secondly I will be assess on how I use my physical skills through dance and movement; showing how I interpret the songs through gestures and movement, also showing my enthusiasm through facial expressions and body language. I will
make a special effort to ensure these two skills are well combined, to create a well rounded performance. I will do this by ensuring I know all of the song lyrics and understanding how the movement ties in to the lyrics we will be singing. As well as this, I will need to make sure my performance fits with the efforts of the rest of the ensemble as this process is about creating a piece as a whole, not just as an individual. I will allow myself to do this by listening to the opinions of my fellow class members, watching and listening to how they perform certain parts of the performance, as well as working with certain members of the ensemble, one on one to develop certain parts.
make a special effort to ensure these two skills are well combined, to create a well rounded performance. I will do this by ensuring I know all of the song lyrics and understanding how the movement ties in to the lyrics we will be singing. As well as this, I will need to make sure my performance fits with the efforts of the rest of the ensemble as this process is about creating a piece as a whole, not just as an individual. I will allow myself to do this by listening to the opinions of my fellow class members, watching and listening to how they perform certain parts of the performance, as well as working with certain members of the ensemble, one on one to develop certain parts.
The four songs chosen to be sung in the medley are;
1) Human- Rag’n’bone man – I will be able to show my emotions through movement to this song as it is a raw song, about making mistakes as everyone does, as we are all human. I will use pained facial expressions to show desperation and struggle. I will look to my fellow ensemble members to emphasise the idea that we are all going to be suffering together.
2) Tears dry on their own- Amy Winehouse – this song is very female orientated and sends a strong message out to females everywhere that men can destroy us emotionally however we will always fight back and come out on the other side, stronger than ever before. I will make sure I focus on my solo verse, to ensure it shows the idea of female empowerment through use of riffing notes, showing off my abilities. To show I am also able to work within an ensemble here, I will work closely with Amber and Emily in rehearsals as we all have solos in this song. I will work with them both on this. We will offer each other feedback on our vocals, highlighting the positives of the song and points where we could improve. We will definitely spend some time together, getting the pitching and timing correct before the show. This sing is performed as a counter medley with Ain’t no mountain high enough.
3) Ain't no mountain high enough- Marvin Gaye- This song is performed as a counter melody with Tears dry on their own. This means the songs are sung as the same time, whilst accompanied by the same chords on the piano. You are required to have a full choir of singers to perform a counter medley to its highest potential, which we have. The song is a classic therefore I expect that we will be choreographing some movement to it, which will illustrate the lyrics we will be singing. This will allow audiences to fully understand our intentions behind the song through visual and heard aids.
4) Keeping your head up- Birdy – This will be out finale song for the medley, meaning that we, as an ensemble, will come together for a final time in the performance. I expect we will add in some
harmonies to this song, which will sound impressive as there are a lot of us in the choir. We will work together to create a great sounding part harmony, which would not be possible if we had a small group working on this piece.
harmonies to this song, which will sound impressive as there are a lot of us in the choir. We will work together to create a great sounding part harmony, which would not be possible if we had a small group working on this piece.
Today, we started the rehearsal with a counter melody to warm our vocals up. This is when two different songs can be sung together, with the same backing accompaniment. In this case, Kim played the same piano chords whilst we sung two different songs in different groups. We worked together as an ensemble by splitting off into two groups which both took a song. We sung two sets of songs, four songs in total for the counter melody warm up.
The songs were:
1) Pink- Just give me a reason AND James Blunt- You’re beautiful
2) Journey- don't stop believing AND Adele- Someone like you
At first it was a challenge to Sing both songs at the same time as it was easy to be distracted by the song the other group were singing. To solve this issue, each group had the chance to sing through their song twice, before we combined the two songs together. It was distracting hearing the other groups singing and this for some members of the ensemble, was off putting. Having the time to run through the song individually as a group, helped us pick up the melody of the song and becoming comfortable with it, before combining the two together. This was a brilliant way to build up the skills needed to work as an ensemble, as it allowed us to vocally contrast with the other group; we were able to pick up how to hold your own tune whilst other lyrics are being sung around you. This makes you as an individual, a more versatile performer and when working as part of an ensemble, prepared you to be focused on what you are doing at the same time as being fully aware of what is going on around you.
Amber, Emily and I all have a solo in the song ‘Tears dry on their own and decided to helped each other perfect our parts as they are from the same song. Amber and I partnered up for this process as
we both have similar range to our voices and worked together for WWRY, finding then that we worked well together as we compliment each other. We also added Emily to our partnership as she also has a solo in the same song, allowing us all to get feedback from one another to improve our contribution to the ensemble.
we both have similar range to our voices and worked together for WWRY, finding then that we worked well together as we compliment each other. We also added Emily to our partnership as she also has a solo in the same song, allowing us all to get feedback from one another to improve our contribution to the ensemble.
We took some time out, just us three to go over all three parts, suggesting to one another how to sing the verse. For example, the song is low which suited mine and Amber’s vocals, as we both have naturally lower voices. We are both able to hit high notes however our voices are able to reach low notes with ease. In comparison we found out that Emily struggled more than Amber and I on the lower notes to produce the sounds, so we had to come up with a solution together. We firstly came up with the idea of the three of us having radio microphones for our solos, to amplify the lower notes as we were unable to project them as loudly as we wanted due to their low tone. This idea fell through as we would have sounded much louder than the rest of the ensemble, making it unfair as our voices would have been overpowering everybody else's. Our second plan we though of, which Emily suggested, was to take the notes up higher, making them more reachable for our tenner voices. We decided to split the lines in the verse, keeping the first part of our solos to the original low pitch then increasing the pitch of the second part of the note. This sounded really professional as we were able to apply our ideas to the song, bringing originality to the piece. Working as a group of three, away from the rest of the ensemble, gave us the opportunity to work as a smaller scale group, improving our solo parts which would eventually benefit the overall performance of the ensemble. I feel as though we have worked well today to improve our contribution to the ensemble, giving each other points to improve, which lead to the idea of bringing the pitching higher.
Regarding the movement we put to the songs, our dance teacher, Kat, watched us perform the medley once through and gave us some ideas for movement following this. We ended up setting some movement today, putting some choreographed dance and gestural positions in place. We also decided that to some of the medley, we will improvise the movement as it will make a change for the audience to see lots of different actions going on at the same time. This also allows us as performers to express ourselves through naturally moving to the best of the songs we are singing. The freestyle movements
we performed allowed us to interact with one another, showing that we have built relationships within the ensemble, which is one of the factors which allows us to work together so well. To show this when improvising, I held short eye contact with other performers around me, including Izzy, Amber and Megan. This I felt, a brought s warm feeling and atmosphere to the piece, showing how well we work together as an ensemble and how comfortable we are around one another. Something else I did when free styling, was allow my body to move with the natural flow of the music, showing I fully understand the musicality behind it.
we performed allowed us to interact with one another, showing that we have built relationships within the ensemble, which is one of the factors which allows us to work together so well. To show this when improvising, I held short eye contact with other performers around me, including Izzy, Amber and Megan. This I felt, a brought s warm feeling and atmosphere to the piece, showing how well we work together as an ensemble and how comfortable we are around one another. Something else I did when free styling, was allow my body to move with the natural flow of the music, showing I fully understand the musicality behind it.
We choreographed some movement which the whole ensemble performed at the same time, to show our unity and ability to connect and understand each other’s movement. We performed reaching movements to Tears Dry on their own, showing emotion which illustrated the lyrics. We performed a palm raise for ‘Ain't no mountain high enough’ and a low movement of the hands with palms down to show ‘Ain't no river wide enough’ and the idea that the love they have for each other in the song is endless/bottomless and unconditional. When we performed these movements in unison as an ensemble, we were able to convey the idea’s behind the lyrics well as we had a large amount of performers, which gave maximum impact on the audience’s eye. The more performers and energy given, the stronger and more believable the performance will be.
SO SING- EVALUATION
On Friday 17th February, at Worthing College, we hosted our first ever So Sing event in the evening in our Sealight Theatre.
I made sure when the whole chorus were singing together in loud parts and during the counter melody songs, that I fully projected my vocals, using my diaphragm and breathe control to make my vocals really fill the room. I also made sure that when we were required to sing with more of a low and quiet tone, that I would do this at the same time as ensuring audience’s were able to hear the lyrics we were singing clearly, through use of articulation. I was at the front of the choir, in the middle part of the front row. This made my job of projecting my voice and lowering it when appropriate even more important as at the front, you are always relied upon by other choir members, behind you and towards the back. At the front you set the standard as a performer, which is a vital role in being part of an ensemble. I feel I was able to take on this role as I stayed calm and focused, ensuring that I was confident on my lyrics and movement. On the other hand I feel as though I was able to take a back seat when necessary. When the soloists sung their parts, I was able to refrain from taking the leadership role and drop back to being valid member of the chorus by clicking in synchronisation with the rest if the ensemble and singing to correct parts.
Olivia made a small mistake, forgetting one of her last verse lines in her solo in ‘Ain't no mountain’. This was a mistake that Izzy picked up on, she helped her by signing the correct line with her to help her remember and give her some confidence and peer support. By Izzy stepping in her so professionally, without making a fuss over the mistake, it ensured that the whole ensemble did not lose our sense of performance and team work. You have to look out for every member of your team, supporting one another throughout the rehearsal process and as well, in the performance which is what Izzy did here. She helped the ensemble stay focused and on track, allowing for the piece to keep its professionalism. Izzy's actions showed that she could look after herself as a performer as well as her team mates, which is a vital skill needed to be a successful performer in an ensemble piece.
I feel as though my solo part in the performance, to a verse in Tears dry on their own, showed that I was a polished, all round performer. Not only did I sing the lyrics to the song, I made sure I allowed my body to hear the musical melody, reacting to this through movement. I did not have any set choreography for this verse, everyone else my stepping to one side and clicking, then repeating this over and over again, to the other side and back. I allowed for my arms to express the way I was feeling when singing the song; I let my head roll back and eyes shut naturally, as this showed I was really feeling the lyrics and getting into the song. I allowed my arms to rise and fall, to show mynatural love for singing as this was my natural movement reaction; I let this happen freely. I also slightly adapted my voice sound to the R’n’B / Jazz style that the song originally sounds like. By this, I do not mean I completely changed the sound of my voice as this would not have been true to myself. By this I mean that I ensured I sung the verse with a slight influence/twang of the two genres, showing the versatility within my voice. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, being at the front of the ensemble leaves you with the responsibility of setting the standard high for the rest of the performers. The rest of the ensemble will also be listening and watching how you deal with the solo ( your reaction through movement and vocals.) This means that taking the solo role and lead role is a vital element to completing the ensemble as ultimately you need to guide the rest of the ensemble, demonstrating professionalism through your actions, which I feel as though I did well.
Overall, I am very proud of the whole ensemble for working as a team, using patiences and enthusiasm throughout the rehearsal process and the final performance to achieve a successful ensemble piece. I was able to encourage and support team members when being a soloist/ team leader and was able to contribute to being an equal member of the ensemble by staying fully focused and cooperated at all times. We did well to make a successful ensemble piece through hard work, dedication, friendships and equality.
WWRY EVALUATION
WWRY 1
WWRY 2
WWRY 3
WWRY 4
WWRY 5
WWRY 6
WWRY 7
WWRY 8
WWRY 9
WWRY 10
WWRY 11
WWRY 12
WE WILL ROCK YOU- EVALUATION
On Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th January 2017, we performed We Will Rock You, the musical over four performances, 4.30pm and 7.30pm on each day. I played Scaramouche for the first two performances and swapped to my off cast roles, as a chorus member for the second two shows. I feel as though I had a lot to offer when playing both characters and this showed through my performance and interaction with fellow performers and audience members.
I feel as though when playing Scaramouche, I was able to take on a leader role on stage, bringing huge amounts of confidence, enthusiasm and charisma to my character, which I felt helped encourage other members of the cast to put their all into their performance. Playing a lead role in such a big musical requires you, as the actor to really throw yourself into the role as you automatically set the bar of performance quality for the rest of the cast. I feel as though I really worked well with Luke, who played Galileo to do so. Luke and I are good friends and therefore already have a good connection. We perform well together as we are committed and also ensure we put in extra rehearsals prior to the show to ensure we have perfected our ensemble efforts towards performing.
Whilst playing my chorus roles on the second night, I feel as though I was a good team player and really worked well with my fellow cast members to create an ensemble piece. By this I am referring to the fact I felt I was on hand to help anyone back stage who had for example lost a prop or needed help getting into their wigs for the Yuppies. I was also able to interact with my fellow cast members well on stage if something went wrong. I was able to take hints and improvise in small sections where necessary if something did not quite go to plan with the blocking or with the band.
SCARAMOUCHE EVALUATION
Something that went well regarding my acting was the way I interpreted Scaramouche with a slightly modern approach. For example when Scaramouche was angry with Galileo, I made a conscious effort to deliver my lines with rough aggression, making full use of the swear words in my script. If I had not made a statement out of the bad language, this would not have given off a realistic image of modern day arguments between couples. I made my time of voice sound harsh, by elongating the bad language and making the rest of the words in the sentence sharp and short, adding emphasis to the bad language.
I also feel as though I showed a lot of character emotion through my facial expressions. Facial expressions are definitely one of my strong points and I like to play to my strengths here. You can tell a lot from a character by looking at their expression therefore I did research into my lines, fitting them to expressions. For example, I used my tongue at one point and ran it along my teeth, to show aggression building up inside her. I also utilised a fair amount of eye rolls and eye brow raises as these are typical ways that females show exasperation towards males, something Scaramouche displayed to Galileo regularly through out the course of the musical.
Something I could have improved on regarding my acting would have been my confidence with lines. I feel as though I knew my specific lines well however I did struggling with learning my cue lines. This problem occurred mainly when it came to mine and Luke’s scenes as the content of the lines was very repetitive and the same sort or wording was used over and over again. This lead to my confusion; I would muddle up which line came before and after Luke’s line and this became difficult as they were so similar. I feel as thought this confusion got in my way I'd characterisation slightly. I would find myself concentrating on my lines that I would momentarily loose my character expression, coming out of character in stage. This is unprofessional and to improve for next time I will make sure I spend a few hours, sit down and write out my cue lines, learning them just as well as my own character lines. This will allow me to preempt my following line, allowing myself to prepare this line in advance rather than panicking moments before delivery.
I feel as though I positively contributed towards working as an ensemble by taking responsibility for Scaramouche vocally and leading the ensemble where necessary. I feel as though my vocals have really improved over the course of this process. Towards the beginning I had my doubts as to whether or not I would have been able to hit some of Scaramouche’s notes however I have definitely proved myself wrong. I have put in a lot of effort leading up to the show and feel proud of myself that I was able to give the vocal performance that I did. Some of the noes Scaramouche has, are different to the notes sung in the ensemble backing her e.g. In Somebody to love with the Teen Queens and in Bo Rhap with the whole cast. This is her opportunity to show off her vocals, showcasing to audiences that she is indeed the lead role and has strong vocal abilities. I feel as though I was able to perform these notes and riffs as I had built up the confidence over the past few months. Regular rehearsals with Amber (playing Scaramouche as well) have contributed to my confidence improving as we have helped each other where necessary, giving advice and tips on how to hit some of her difficult notes and what sounds best for our individual vocals.
To make my ensemble contribution to the performance better when playing Scaramouche, I feel as though I could have been more aware of the happenings back stage. I found myself pacing around the back stage area, pre thinking my following scene and the lines/songs/movement I am about to perform. Looking back, I should have spent less time on this and focused more on ensuring all of the off casts members were ready to be on stage when appropriate, with the correct props in place as costume fitted. The blue wigs which the Yuppies wore to compete their outfits, were problematic, taking a considerable amount of time to put on and arrange. This is something I could have even helping with, rather than pacing and worrying about myself. To improve this I need to remember to be more aware of what is going on around me backstage by putting my nerves to aside and allowing myself to help others before going on stage. This will also distract me from thinking about what I am performing next on stage, allowing my mind to rest before preparing to go on stage.
I feel as though I interacted with the audience well by making eye contact with audience members when singing, especially during ‘Crazy Little Thing’ which is a fun song. We wanted the audience to be singing along and interacting with us by clapping and generally enjoying themselves. As well as holding eye contact which made the audience feel part of the performance itself (breaking the fourth wall), I made sure I turned my body towards the audience when dancing and interacted with my partner. A mixture of the two gave me a balance between looking after the audience and ensuring my character connection with Galileo stayed strong. When facing the audience I made a special effort with my facial expressions, showing that Scaramouche was expressing her passion for her new found love, Galileo and making it clear that she was keen to share this with the world. I feel as though I brought confidence to this number, showing to audiences that I was enjoying myself and really getting into my character. I feel as though this is what made my audience interaction so successful.
Looking back, to improve my audience interaction I could have directed more of Scaramouche’s one liner jokes out towards the audience, making eye contact with a certain members as if talking to them. I played Scaramouche as quite a relaxed and care free character, despite her under lying confidence issue. For her to be making jokes to outsiders (audience members) at Galileo’s expense, would have worked well as she likes to be hear by a wide range of people as she tries not to care about people’s opinions. There was one line that I did do this with however I naturally performed it in the last show, only then to realise it would have really worked if I had thought of it sooner. This line was “He didn't have any complains about that last night.” Which was an innuendo. The audience really appreciated this as it was relatable and comical, due to the fact I delivered the line as I'd Galileo was not in the room or aware that she was saying it about him.
CHORUS EVALUATION- YUPPIE, TEEN QUEEN, GAGA KID AND BOHEMIAN
Something that went well regarding my acting was the way I really threw myself into all of the roles. I over exaggerated the expressions, body language, line deliver and movement
which worked well for the musical. For example when playing the Yuppies as saying “Oh no” and “That is great”, I made sure to properly pronounce the line to ensure my speech was clear for audiences to hear and my movements were certain and non hesitant to show professionalism as confidence in my performance.
When playing a Bohemian, we had to freestyle rock dance to the instrumental part in Bohemian Rhapsody. If I had performed this half heartedly, the movement would have looked incorrect and I would not have brought any energy to the overall performance. To avoid this, I made sure I let my body go, release any tension in my back and neck, allowing for my head to roll and body to be free from my legs. This movement was not set therefore I also feel as though I used my previously learnt improvisational skills effectively, being socially aware and taking into account movement my fellow cast members were performing. This made my acting performance well rounded, by showing that I was aware of actors around me and that I had the ability to react on the spot to their movements, when not set.
Something I could have improved on regarding my acting would have been keeping a straight face during ‘It’s a kind of magic’. This scene did not go to plan as we had restricted space to perform our set choreography therefore before going o stage, we made a mutual decision as actors to make the dance comical, as a posed to it looking under rehearsed when the movement inevitability went wrong. We did this by putting on a cheese like smile through out the dance, making the Yuppies look even more programmed and robotic than usual. This really work as we got a positive reception from the audience, as thy were laughing and smiling along with us throughout.
To improve however, I needed to have kept a straight face through out the performance. Even though we were smiling and having fun as actors, I did let a laugh slip out a couple of times during the performance, which was negative and unprofessional from me as this broke my character. For next time I will have to learn to control my natural reactions to last minute changes, by preparing myself for change by not getting to comfortable with arrangements until on stage.
I feel as though I positively contributed towards working as an ensemble by holding the ability to work with my fellow cast members and perform as a group, even if something did not go quite to plan. I was able to communicate and interact with my class mates on stage to cover up any points which went wrong. If someone in the chorus sung the wrong part, I did not react to this, I carried on with my own performance.
On stage as an ensemble we sing We are the champions. No specific movement was choreographed for this however we all came together in the centre of the stage, wrapping our arms around each other to make the atmosphere more communal and celebratory. This was improved on the spot on the opening night and this is what we stuck with for the rest of the performance. When it first happened, we didn't not react to the chance, but simply went along with the movement, which looked natural and really worked with the lyrics and meaning to the song.
I also feel as though I did my best to help any fellow team members with back stage, ensuring everyone had their correct props and costume present with them when necessary. If someone did not have or could not find something they needed then I would make a special effort to help them find it, after I had sorted myself out with costume and props.
To make my ensemble contribution to the performance better, I could have toned down my vocals as I feel as though at some points, I did not take into consideration my fellow performers. For example during We Will Rock You and Bohemian Rhapsody, I did get carried away by singing notes louder, above the rest of the ensemble’s volume and I performed some vocal tricks (riffs) which were not meant to be added. I feel as though this happened because I was so in the moment when performing that I forgot I was not playing Scaramouche, as changing my vocal to contrast to the ensemble vocal is what I would have done when playing her. For the future, I need to remember when to take a step back and allow for my vocals to be mixed in with the rest of the ensemble, making me more a part of the group effort. I need to be able to find a balance between performing to the highest quality I can at the same time as being an enable member; finding equality, rather than showing off my skills.
I feel as though I interacted with the audience well by interacting with my fellow chorus members. For example it was enjoyable for the audiences to watch the chorus members working together well, with everyone's movements looking sharpe and vocals all in time. I feel as though we were very together as a whole ensemble and this showed through our performance. Audience’s will always enjoy a performance if the actors know what the are doing and perform movement confidently, which is what I did, definitely. I was also able to confidently take a step forward, showing my character personality coming through the ensemble. For example all of the Bohemian’s would have had different personalities therefore I created a bubbly and outgoing personality for mine, through use of random arm gestures and a light facial expressions whilst singing.
Looking back, to improve my audience interaction I could have ensured I was fully confident with the timing for the movement to Somebody to love when playing a Teen Queen. The issue with this was that I was facing the audience, head on and all movements I performed, I had to direct to audience members. There were points when I felt unsure as to what the next movement was so I would look to other performers. This looks unprofessional, especially as I was at the front and clearly visible to all audience members. They would have seen my eye line go off track, distracting them from watching Scaramouche, the main point of focus. To improve I will for future, I will make sure I spend more time on my off cast roles and learn the dances to the point I could recall them on own, without the prompt of other cast members. This will increase how the audience view your performance quality, making me look professional and polish within my performance.
Overall in conlusion to this evaluation, I am very proud of my performance, both on and off cast. I feel as though I really threw myself into both roles, enjoying them both which showed through my confident movements and facial expressions on stage. To have imporved my perfromance in heinsight, I would have spent more time learning my cue lines to ensure my delivery was seemless and flowed well.
WWRY 2
WWRY 3
WWRY 4
WWRY 5
WWRY 6
WWRY 7
WWRY 8
WWRY 9
WWRY 10
WWRY 11
WWRY 12
WE WILL ROCK YOU- EVALUATION
On Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th January 2017, we performed We Will Rock You, the musical over four performances, 4.30pm and 7.30pm on each day. I played Scaramouche for the first two performances and swapped to my off cast roles, as a chorus member for the second two shows. I feel as though I had a lot to offer when playing both characters and this showed through my performance and interaction with fellow performers and audience members.
I feel as though when playing Scaramouche, I was able to take on a leader role on stage, bringing huge amounts of confidence, enthusiasm and charisma to my character, which I felt helped encourage other members of the cast to put their all into their performance. Playing a lead role in such a big musical requires you, as the actor to really throw yourself into the role as you automatically set the bar of performance quality for the rest of the cast. I feel as though I really worked well with Luke, who played Galileo to do so. Luke and I are good friends and therefore already have a good connection. We perform well together as we are committed and also ensure we put in extra rehearsals prior to the show to ensure we have perfected our ensemble efforts towards performing.
Whilst playing my chorus roles on the second night, I feel as though I was a good team player and really worked well with my fellow cast members to create an ensemble piece. By this I am referring to the fact I felt I was on hand to help anyone back stage who had for example lost a prop or needed help getting into their wigs for the Yuppies. I was also able to interact with my fellow cast members well on stage if something went wrong. I was able to take hints and improvise in small sections where necessary if something did not quite go to plan with the blocking or with the band.
SCARAMOUCHE EVALUATION
Something that went well regarding my acting was the way I interpreted Scaramouche with a slightly modern approach. For example when Scaramouche was angry with Galileo, I made a conscious effort to deliver my lines with rough aggression, making full use of the swear words in my script. If I had not made a statement out of the bad language, this would not have given off a realistic image of modern day arguments between couples. I made my time of voice sound harsh, by elongating the bad language and making the rest of the words in the sentence sharp and short, adding emphasis to the bad language.
I also feel as though I showed a lot of character emotion through my facial expressions. Facial expressions are definitely one of my strong points and I like to play to my strengths here. You can tell a lot from a character by looking at their expression therefore I did research into my lines, fitting them to expressions. For example, I used my tongue at one point and ran it along my teeth, to show aggression building up inside her. I also utilised a fair amount of eye rolls and eye brow raises as these are typical ways that females show exasperation towards males, something Scaramouche displayed to Galileo regularly through out the course of the musical.
Something I could have improved on regarding my acting would have been my confidence with lines. I feel as though I knew my specific lines well however I did struggling with learning my cue lines. This problem occurred mainly when it came to mine and Luke’s scenes as the content of the lines was very repetitive and the same sort or wording was used over and over again. This lead to my confusion; I would muddle up which line came before and after Luke’s line and this became difficult as they were so similar. I feel as thought this confusion got in my way I'd characterisation slightly. I would find myself concentrating on my lines that I would momentarily loose my character expression, coming out of character in stage. This is unprofessional and to improve for next time I will make sure I spend a few hours, sit down and write out my cue lines, learning them just as well as my own character lines. This will allow me to preempt my following line, allowing myself to prepare this line in advance rather than panicking moments before delivery.
I feel as though I positively contributed towards working as an ensemble by taking responsibility for Scaramouche vocally and leading the ensemble where necessary. I feel as though my vocals have really improved over the course of this process. Towards the beginning I had my doubts as to whether or not I would have been able to hit some of Scaramouche’s notes however I have definitely proved myself wrong. I have put in a lot of effort leading up to the show and feel proud of myself that I was able to give the vocal performance that I did. Some of the noes Scaramouche has, are different to the notes sung in the ensemble backing her e.g. In Somebody to love with the Teen Queens and in Bo Rhap with the whole cast. This is her opportunity to show off her vocals, showcasing to audiences that she is indeed the lead role and has strong vocal abilities. I feel as though I was able to perform these notes and riffs as I had built up the confidence over the past few months. Regular rehearsals with Amber (playing Scaramouche as well) have contributed to my confidence improving as we have helped each other where necessary, giving advice and tips on how to hit some of her difficult notes and what sounds best for our individual vocals.
To make my ensemble contribution to the performance better when playing Scaramouche, I feel as though I could have been more aware of the happenings back stage. I found myself pacing around the back stage area, pre thinking my following scene and the lines/songs/movement I am about to perform. Looking back, I should have spent less time on this and focused more on ensuring all of the off casts members were ready to be on stage when appropriate, with the correct props in place as costume fitted. The blue wigs which the Yuppies wore to compete their outfits, were problematic, taking a considerable amount of time to put on and arrange. This is something I could have even helping with, rather than pacing and worrying about myself. To improve this I need to remember to be more aware of what is going on around me backstage by putting my nerves to aside and allowing myself to help others before going on stage. This will also distract me from thinking about what I am performing next on stage, allowing my mind to rest before preparing to go on stage.
I feel as though I interacted with the audience well by making eye contact with audience members when singing, especially during ‘Crazy Little Thing’ which is a fun song. We wanted the audience to be singing along and interacting with us by clapping and generally enjoying themselves. As well as holding eye contact which made the audience feel part of the performance itself (breaking the fourth wall), I made sure I turned my body towards the audience when dancing and interacted with my partner. A mixture of the two gave me a balance between looking after the audience and ensuring my character connection with Galileo stayed strong. When facing the audience I made a special effort with my facial expressions, showing that Scaramouche was expressing her passion for her new found love, Galileo and making it clear that she was keen to share this with the world. I feel as though I brought confidence to this number, showing to audiences that I was enjoying myself and really getting into my character. I feel as though this is what made my audience interaction so successful.
Looking back, to improve my audience interaction I could have directed more of Scaramouche’s one liner jokes out towards the audience, making eye contact with a certain members as if talking to them. I played Scaramouche as quite a relaxed and care free character, despite her under lying confidence issue. For her to be making jokes to outsiders (audience members) at Galileo’s expense, would have worked well as she likes to be hear by a wide range of people as she tries not to care about people’s opinions. There was one line that I did do this with however I naturally performed it in the last show, only then to realise it would have really worked if I had thought of it sooner. This line was “He didn't have any complains about that last night.” Which was an innuendo. The audience really appreciated this as it was relatable and comical, due to the fact I delivered the line as I'd Galileo was not in the room or aware that she was saying it about him.
CHORUS EVALUATION- YUPPIE, TEEN QUEEN, GAGA KID AND BOHEMIAN
Something that went well regarding my acting was the way I really threw myself into all of the roles. I over exaggerated the expressions, body language, line deliver and movement
which worked well for the musical. For example when playing the Yuppies as saying “Oh no” and “That is great”, I made sure to properly pronounce the line to ensure my speech was clear for audiences to hear and my movements were certain and non hesitant to show professionalism as confidence in my performance.
When playing a Bohemian, we had to freestyle rock dance to the instrumental part in Bohemian Rhapsody. If I had performed this half heartedly, the movement would have looked incorrect and I would not have brought any energy to the overall performance. To avoid this, I made sure I let my body go, release any tension in my back and neck, allowing for my head to roll and body to be free from my legs. This movement was not set therefore I also feel as though I used my previously learnt improvisational skills effectively, being socially aware and taking into account movement my fellow cast members were performing. This made my acting performance well rounded, by showing that I was aware of actors around me and that I had the ability to react on the spot to their movements, when not set.
Something I could have improved on regarding my acting would have been keeping a straight face during ‘It’s a kind of magic’. This scene did not go to plan as we had restricted space to perform our set choreography therefore before going o stage, we made a mutual decision as actors to make the dance comical, as a posed to it looking under rehearsed when the movement inevitability went wrong. We did this by putting on a cheese like smile through out the dance, making the Yuppies look even more programmed and robotic than usual. This really work as we got a positive reception from the audience, as thy were laughing and smiling along with us throughout.
To improve however, I needed to have kept a straight face through out the performance. Even though we were smiling and having fun as actors, I did let a laugh slip out a couple of times during the performance, which was negative and unprofessional from me as this broke my character. For next time I will have to learn to control my natural reactions to last minute changes, by preparing myself for change by not getting to comfortable with arrangements until on stage.
I feel as though I positively contributed towards working as an ensemble by holding the ability to work with my fellow cast members and perform as a group, even if something did not go quite to plan. I was able to communicate and interact with my class mates on stage to cover up any points which went wrong. If someone in the chorus sung the wrong part, I did not react to this, I carried on with my own performance.
On stage as an ensemble we sing We are the champions. No specific movement was choreographed for this however we all came together in the centre of the stage, wrapping our arms around each other to make the atmosphere more communal and celebratory. This was improved on the spot on the opening night and this is what we stuck with for the rest of the performance. When it first happened, we didn't not react to the chance, but simply went along with the movement, which looked natural and really worked with the lyrics and meaning to the song.
I also feel as though I did my best to help any fellow team members with back stage, ensuring everyone had their correct props and costume present with them when necessary. If someone did not have or could not find something they needed then I would make a special effort to help them find it, after I had sorted myself out with costume and props.
To make my ensemble contribution to the performance better, I could have toned down my vocals as I feel as though at some points, I did not take into consideration my fellow performers. For example during We Will Rock You and Bohemian Rhapsody, I did get carried away by singing notes louder, above the rest of the ensemble’s volume and I performed some vocal tricks (riffs) which were not meant to be added. I feel as though this happened because I was so in the moment when performing that I forgot I was not playing Scaramouche, as changing my vocal to contrast to the ensemble vocal is what I would have done when playing her. For the future, I need to remember when to take a step back and allow for my vocals to be mixed in with the rest of the ensemble, making me more a part of the group effort. I need to be able to find a balance between performing to the highest quality I can at the same time as being an enable member; finding equality, rather than showing off my skills.
I feel as though I interacted with the audience well by interacting with my fellow chorus members. For example it was enjoyable for the audiences to watch the chorus members working together well, with everyone's movements looking sharpe and vocals all in time. I feel as though we were very together as a whole ensemble and this showed through our performance. Audience’s will always enjoy a performance if the actors know what the are doing and perform movement confidently, which is what I did, definitely. I was also able to confidently take a step forward, showing my character personality coming through the ensemble. For example all of the Bohemian’s would have had different personalities therefore I created a bubbly and outgoing personality for mine, through use of random arm gestures and a light facial expressions whilst singing.
Looking back, to improve my audience interaction I could have ensured I was fully confident with the timing for the movement to Somebody to love when playing a Teen Queen. The issue with this was that I was facing the audience, head on and all movements I performed, I had to direct to audience members. There were points when I felt unsure as to what the next movement was so I would look to other performers. This looks unprofessional, especially as I was at the front and clearly visible to all audience members. They would have seen my eye line go off track, distracting them from watching Scaramouche, the main point of focus. To improve I will for future, I will make sure I spend more time on my off cast roles and learn the dances to the point I could recall them on own, without the prompt of other cast members. This will increase how the audience view your performance quality, making me look professional and polish within my performance.
Overall in conlusion to this evaluation, I am very proud of my performance, both on and off cast. I feel as though I really threw myself into both roles, enjoying them both which showed through my confident movements and facial expressions on stage. To have imporved my perfromance in heinsight, I would have spent more time learning my cue lines to ensure my delivery was seemless and flowed well.
WWRY dance evaluation
WWRY DANCE EVALUATION
Over the course of 4 performances of We Will Rock You, I was involved in many dance numbers including Another One Bites the Dust, Play the Game and Killer Queen.
I was a Yuppie for Another one bites the dust, one of Killer Queen’s minions. The choreography was the same for every dancer as we wanted to portray the idea that Killer Queen has control over all of the Yuppies, in a robotic/non naturalistic way. Therefore unison and accurate timing is what was expected of us in this dance. For this dance I was expected to be fully in time with the music and with the rest of the dancers as this was the main way we showed our characterisation, through synchronisation. This gave the impression that all of the Yuppies were under the control of Killer Queen, almost brainwashed by her. This was also portrayed through our matching outfits- black short sleeved top, metallic sliver leggings and short blue wigs.
WWW?- I feel as though as a whole, we worked well as an ensemble to create a believable image of robotic characters controlled by Killer Queen. Throughout I ensured that I held my body well by supporting my back and maintaining strong posture. This helped convey the idea that the Yuppies are impossibly perfect as they are robots and not real. I also really brought a lot of characterisation to the role; I used my knowledge of the meaning behind the song and how Killer Queen delivered her lines and interpreted it in a powerful and sassy way. To show this, I used my whole body when walking during the dance, making it into more of a strut like action, with my shoulders back, head held high and and body swinging in unison with my legs which were controlled.
EBI?- If I could have improved on something looking back, I would have made sure that I was confident with the timing/ certain movement that I was required to perform in the middle of the dance number. This part saw all of us Yuppies on our knees and striking two positions. The first was on the knees with the body held up right and both arms out to the side as if hailing their Queen. The second was on the knees with the body lent over the legs with the hands splayed out on the floor, again as if hailing their Queen. For me the confusion came from changing the oder of movements and the timing a couple of times before we eventually set the final timing which was that every Yuppie would perform the same movement as the same time. I found it challenging to remember this as we have been rehearsing it with every other Yuppie in the line, doing the opposite movement to add extra effect by making the movements seems bigger. This would have drawn attention to the fact that the Yuppies were praising their Queen. However at the last minute we decided to change it so that the timing would be more simple as we were struggling to ensure everyone was doing the correct movement at the right time. For next time, I will be sure to recap over any chances or alterations which are made before the performance to ensure I am fully confident with all the movements I perform so I can commit to them all with out hesitation.
For the ‘Killer Queen’ dance, I played a Yuppie therefore robotic like characterisation was expected of me. The same outfit was worn through out the performance, which helped portray the idea that all of the Yuppies were under Killer Queen’s control. This dance
captured the idea that Killer Queen’s minions, the Yuppies, have be almost programmed to support her, looking up to her as as their ‘God’. The lyrics in the songs such as “She’s guaranteed to blow your mind” and “extraordinarily nice” really portrayed the idea that the Yuppies are the Queen’s biggest fans and will do anything in their power to support and please her. We did some research into these lyrics through out the rehearsal process, fitting our movement ideas to the lyrics. For example “guaranteed to blow your mind” was fitting to the Yuppies grabbing their heads with both hands, one after the other and following this, shaking their heads as if they were showing what effect the Killer Queen will have on you.
WWW?- I feel as though I put all of my energy and effort into performing the movements to this dance. The move to were very fitting the the lyrics and in some places, visually illustrated the meaning behind them. For example “She’s a Killer Queen” was accompanied my the right hand moving across the neck in a ‘death action’ followed by both hands moving up to the top of the head, making a crown shape. Also, “Gunpowder, gelatine” was accompanied my both arms shooting up, fully extended with the head following and then a side to side motion downwards, bringing the arms down in a ‘jelly like’ way as the body does so to. All of these movements would not look good if I have been doing them half heartedly as this would not have shown any enthusiasm or expression. I made sure I really threw myself into the movements by using my whole body and focus, making my performance believable and enjoyable for audiences to watch.
EBI?- If I were to perform this dance again, I would add more audience interaction into the dance movement I performed. I would have done this by focusing more of the movements I performed, out to the audiences using rotation of my body and projection through facial expressions and body language. This is one thing which would have really pushed my overall performer quality up to the highest standard.
For the dance to ‘Play the Game’ I was also a Yuppie. This dance followed on from Killer Queen, therefore the character stayed the same. This contrasts slightly to Killer Queen as it is more of a relaxed dance as it shows her softer and more sincere side. However saying this, the Yuppies are still there to portray the idea that she is their ‘owner’ and that anything she does, they will agree with and stand by her with. We choreographed slower movements to this song, to ensure the audience were able to distinguish between the two different moods behind the songs. We used gentle palm raises when Killer Queen would perform high/impressive notes, to show the Yuppie’s really appreciating her and making sure she is the centre of attention.
WWW?- Something that went well for me during this dance was my use of focus, which I felt really brought my performance together. On lyrics songs by Killer Queen including “love” we performed a palm raise. Without using your head and following your hands with your eye line, this movement does not have the same effect. I made sure that I followed my eye line up with my hands each time I performed it as this adds a sense of professionalism to the dance and really polishes off your performances as a dancer. The use of eye line also adds meaning to the movement you are performing, almost as if it adds a sense of prestige to the movement which is a positive.
EBI?- To improve on my performance if I were to do it again I would ensure I was fully confident with the lyrics to the song. On the whole I did know them however there were a couple of words which I would get mixed up, slightly throwing me off from concentrating on the movements I was performing. This only slightly effected my overall performance though, making me hesitate when transitioning between movements as I was trying to also concentrate on finding the correct lyrics. I will in future ensure I know every lyric I am singing, down to each minor detail.
Another dance I performed in was ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’ however this time I played a Bohemian. They are a totally different type of character compared to the Yuppies. Where the Yuppies all hail the Queen and wear identical clothing, the Bohemians rebel against this ‘norm’ and wear whatever they please, putting together colours such as purple, red and green which all clash. They are also against the Killer Queen as they want to find where on Planet Mall living rock is hidden however Killer Queen does not want them to fins out and will do anything in her power to stop them doing so. This song is sung by Khashoggi who is the Killer Queen’s second in command. When she is not there, he deals with the Bohemians and passes on messages from Killer Queen to the rest of Planet Mall. The dance was based around the idea that all of the Bohemians will one day be caught out trying to find the living rock and sent to the SevenSeas of Rhye, where they will have their soul sucked out of them, never returning the Planet Mall again. The movement expected of me for this dance differs to the others. I was eXpected to act sloppy and lifeless with my movements, almost in a drunken manner. This really helped portray the idea that Khashoggi has the power and ability to take the life away from anyone who disobeys Killer Queen on Planet Mall.
WWW?- I feel as though I portrayed the character well by making my movements heavy. For example at the end of the song all of the dancers sing “Oh I do like to be beside the sea side, oh I do like to be side the sea” which is accompanied with all dancers sitting cross legged on the floor with both bands on their knees, palms facing upwards. I made sure that hunched my body over myself and also pulled a confused and dazed facial expression. This helped give off the impression that my character was drunk and really disoriented.
EBI?- I feel as though this was the most under rehearsed piece of the musical. This is because when we had been choreographing and rehearsing the dance in the months leading up to the show week, we had been practising it with the backing track. When it came to rehearsing with the band, the music sounded really different to what we were used to dancing to. Luckily this was the only piece which was badly effected by this. The band played the piece a lot faster compared to the original soundtrack which initially put everyone’s movement out of time. When it came to the performances, each night the band played the song at slightly different times, which left us as performers in the deep end as it was difficult to work out the timing to the movement we knew so well on the spot. This has definitely taught us that for next time, we really need to address the switch over from rehearsing with backing track to live band at an earlier date. This will prevent timing issues from arising at the last minute, giving us all more time to get used to the new sound, making this mistake less likely to reoccur.
All of the above dances I took part in when I was off cast. When on cats, I played Scaramouche. In the dance to ‘Crazy little thing’, we did not have a lot of set choreography. Instead, we decided it would work best for the dance if we all improvised the movements as the style would have been difficult to set. The movement was jazz/swing like, everyone had a partner and performed happy movements around the stage such as clapping, clicking, low turns, side steps and bounces. The idea behind these movements was to convey the idea of being extremely happy, finding love and sharing it with the world. For this style of movement, you really have to let your body be free and loose as a performer. You can not be stiff or shy away from any movements. I feel as though I was really strong at throwing myself into the character, naturally allowing my body to be fluid which complimented the movement style. I made sure I had a happy expression on my face at all times by smiling and really relaxing into the movement which made me seem confident and showed enthusiasm.
WWW- I made sure that I kept the movements going at all times, which made my performances look fluid through out. The challenge was that there was no set movements, they style of jazz and swing gave us the guidance as to what movements were expected of us. I made sure I was always confident when initially going to start a movement which ensured I did not look as though I was holding back or did not know what I was doing. I feel as though I had good extension through my legs when performing jazz like kicks, around in a circle whilst holding my partners arm. I also made sure I pointed my toes at the point of extension to make my performance look more rounded and professional.
EBI- To improve in my performance in Crazy little thing, I would have utilised my partner in more of an effective way. Instead of dancing on my own for the majority of the time, I should have been doing more contact work with Luke, which would have really pushed the idea of portraying falling in love (Scaramouche and Galileo.) We would have put in a lift, I would have run up to Luke, jumped into his arms with a leg either side of his body, he would have moved his body forward and back, pushing me back and off onto the frown at the end. This is an intimate jump, showing their affection and is also a very jazz like jump, which would have added to the sense of community going on as everyone was performing the same style. We did originally plan to add in this lift however when it came down to actually performing the number, we found ourselves having a limited space to perform in, therefore we backed out. Looking back, spacial awareness and management is something else that I could have improved on in the dance. We should have had more rehearsal time in the performance space, which would have prevented a key movement from being missed out.
Over the course of 4 performances of We Will Rock You, I was involved in many dance numbers including Another One Bites the Dust, Play the Game and Killer Queen.
I was a Yuppie for Another one bites the dust, one of Killer Queen’s minions. The choreography was the same for every dancer as we wanted to portray the idea that Killer Queen has control over all of the Yuppies, in a robotic/non naturalistic way. Therefore unison and accurate timing is what was expected of us in this dance. For this dance I was expected to be fully in time with the music and with the rest of the dancers as this was the main way we showed our characterisation, through synchronisation. This gave the impression that all of the Yuppies were under the control of Killer Queen, almost brainwashed by her. This was also portrayed through our matching outfits- black short sleeved top, metallic sliver leggings and short blue wigs.
WWW?- I feel as though as a whole, we worked well as an ensemble to create a believable image of robotic characters controlled by Killer Queen. Throughout I ensured that I held my body well by supporting my back and maintaining strong posture. This helped convey the idea that the Yuppies are impossibly perfect as they are robots and not real. I also really brought a lot of characterisation to the role; I used my knowledge of the meaning behind the song and how Killer Queen delivered her lines and interpreted it in a powerful and sassy way. To show this, I used my whole body when walking during the dance, making it into more of a strut like action, with my shoulders back, head held high and and body swinging in unison with my legs which were controlled.
EBI?- If I could have improved on something looking back, I would have made sure that I was confident with the timing/ certain movement that I was required to perform in the middle of the dance number. This part saw all of us Yuppies on our knees and striking two positions. The first was on the knees with the body held up right and both arms out to the side as if hailing their Queen. The second was on the knees with the body lent over the legs with the hands splayed out on the floor, again as if hailing their Queen. For me the confusion came from changing the oder of movements and the timing a couple of times before we eventually set the final timing which was that every Yuppie would perform the same movement as the same time. I found it challenging to remember this as we have been rehearsing it with every other Yuppie in the line, doing the opposite movement to add extra effect by making the movements seems bigger. This would have drawn attention to the fact that the Yuppies were praising their Queen. However at the last minute we decided to change it so that the timing would be more simple as we were struggling to ensure everyone was doing the correct movement at the right time. For next time, I will be sure to recap over any chances or alterations which are made before the performance to ensure I am fully confident with all the movements I perform so I can commit to them all with out hesitation.
For the ‘Killer Queen’ dance, I played a Yuppie therefore robotic like characterisation was expected of me. The same outfit was worn through out the performance, which helped portray the idea that all of the Yuppies were under Killer Queen’s control. This dance
captured the idea that Killer Queen’s minions, the Yuppies, have be almost programmed to support her, looking up to her as as their ‘God’. The lyrics in the songs such as “She’s guaranteed to blow your mind” and “extraordinarily nice” really portrayed the idea that the Yuppies are the Queen’s biggest fans and will do anything in their power to support and please her. We did some research into these lyrics through out the rehearsal process, fitting our movement ideas to the lyrics. For example “guaranteed to blow your mind” was fitting to the Yuppies grabbing their heads with both hands, one after the other and following this, shaking their heads as if they were showing what effect the Killer Queen will have on you.
WWW?- I feel as though I put all of my energy and effort into performing the movements to this dance. The move to were very fitting the the lyrics and in some places, visually illustrated the meaning behind them. For example “She’s a Killer Queen” was accompanied my the right hand moving across the neck in a ‘death action’ followed by both hands moving up to the top of the head, making a crown shape. Also, “Gunpowder, gelatine” was accompanied my both arms shooting up, fully extended with the head following and then a side to side motion downwards, bringing the arms down in a ‘jelly like’ way as the body does so to. All of these movements would not look good if I have been doing them half heartedly as this would not have shown any enthusiasm or expression. I made sure I really threw myself into the movements by using my whole body and focus, making my performance believable and enjoyable for audiences to watch.
EBI?- If I were to perform this dance again, I would add more audience interaction into the dance movement I performed. I would have done this by focusing more of the movements I performed, out to the audiences using rotation of my body and projection through facial expressions and body language. This is one thing which would have really pushed my overall performer quality up to the highest standard.
For the dance to ‘Play the Game’ I was also a Yuppie. This dance followed on from Killer Queen, therefore the character stayed the same. This contrasts slightly to Killer Queen as it is more of a relaxed dance as it shows her softer and more sincere side. However saying this, the Yuppies are still there to portray the idea that she is their ‘owner’ and that anything she does, they will agree with and stand by her with. We choreographed slower movements to this song, to ensure the audience were able to distinguish between the two different moods behind the songs. We used gentle palm raises when Killer Queen would perform high/impressive notes, to show the Yuppie’s really appreciating her and making sure she is the centre of attention.
WWW?- Something that went well for me during this dance was my use of focus, which I felt really brought my performance together. On lyrics songs by Killer Queen including “love” we performed a palm raise. Without using your head and following your hands with your eye line, this movement does not have the same effect. I made sure that I followed my eye line up with my hands each time I performed it as this adds a sense of professionalism to the dance and really polishes off your performances as a dancer. The use of eye line also adds meaning to the movement you are performing, almost as if it adds a sense of prestige to the movement which is a positive.
EBI?- To improve on my performance if I were to do it again I would ensure I was fully confident with the lyrics to the song. On the whole I did know them however there were a couple of words which I would get mixed up, slightly throwing me off from concentrating on the movements I was performing. This only slightly effected my overall performance though, making me hesitate when transitioning between movements as I was trying to also concentrate on finding the correct lyrics. I will in future ensure I know every lyric I am singing, down to each minor detail.
Another dance I performed in was ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’ however this time I played a Bohemian. They are a totally different type of character compared to the Yuppies. Where the Yuppies all hail the Queen and wear identical clothing, the Bohemians rebel against this ‘norm’ and wear whatever they please, putting together colours such as purple, red and green which all clash. They are also against the Killer Queen as they want to find where on Planet Mall living rock is hidden however Killer Queen does not want them to fins out and will do anything in her power to stop them doing so. This song is sung by Khashoggi who is the Killer Queen’s second in command. When she is not there, he deals with the Bohemians and passes on messages from Killer Queen to the rest of Planet Mall. The dance was based around the idea that all of the Bohemians will one day be caught out trying to find the living rock and sent to the SevenSeas of Rhye, where they will have their soul sucked out of them, never returning the Planet Mall again. The movement expected of me for this dance differs to the others. I was eXpected to act sloppy and lifeless with my movements, almost in a drunken manner. This really helped portray the idea that Khashoggi has the power and ability to take the life away from anyone who disobeys Killer Queen on Planet Mall.
WWW?- I feel as though I portrayed the character well by making my movements heavy. For example at the end of the song all of the dancers sing “Oh I do like to be beside the sea side, oh I do like to be side the sea” which is accompanied with all dancers sitting cross legged on the floor with both bands on their knees, palms facing upwards. I made sure that hunched my body over myself and also pulled a confused and dazed facial expression. This helped give off the impression that my character was drunk and really disoriented.
EBI?- I feel as though this was the most under rehearsed piece of the musical. This is because when we had been choreographing and rehearsing the dance in the months leading up to the show week, we had been practising it with the backing track. When it came to rehearsing with the band, the music sounded really different to what we were used to dancing to. Luckily this was the only piece which was badly effected by this. The band played the piece a lot faster compared to the original soundtrack which initially put everyone’s movement out of time. When it came to the performances, each night the band played the song at slightly different times, which left us as performers in the deep end as it was difficult to work out the timing to the movement we knew so well on the spot. This has definitely taught us that for next time, we really need to address the switch over from rehearsing with backing track to live band at an earlier date. This will prevent timing issues from arising at the last minute, giving us all more time to get used to the new sound, making this mistake less likely to reoccur.
All of the above dances I took part in when I was off cast. When on cats, I played Scaramouche. In the dance to ‘Crazy little thing’, we did not have a lot of set choreography. Instead, we decided it would work best for the dance if we all improvised the movements as the style would have been difficult to set. The movement was jazz/swing like, everyone had a partner and performed happy movements around the stage such as clapping, clicking, low turns, side steps and bounces. The idea behind these movements was to convey the idea of being extremely happy, finding love and sharing it with the world. For this style of movement, you really have to let your body be free and loose as a performer. You can not be stiff or shy away from any movements. I feel as though I was really strong at throwing myself into the character, naturally allowing my body to be fluid which complimented the movement style. I made sure I had a happy expression on my face at all times by smiling and really relaxing into the movement which made me seem confident and showed enthusiasm.
WWW- I made sure that I kept the movements going at all times, which made my performances look fluid through out. The challenge was that there was no set movements, they style of jazz and swing gave us the guidance as to what movements were expected of us. I made sure I was always confident when initially going to start a movement which ensured I did not look as though I was holding back or did not know what I was doing. I feel as though I had good extension through my legs when performing jazz like kicks, around in a circle whilst holding my partners arm. I also made sure I pointed my toes at the point of extension to make my performance look more rounded and professional.
EBI- To improve in my performance in Crazy little thing, I would have utilised my partner in more of an effective way. Instead of dancing on my own for the majority of the time, I should have been doing more contact work with Luke, which would have really pushed the idea of portraying falling in love (Scaramouche and Galileo.) We would have put in a lift, I would have run up to Luke, jumped into his arms with a leg either side of his body, he would have moved his body forward and back, pushing me back and off onto the frown at the end. This is an intimate jump, showing their affection and is also a very jazz like jump, which would have added to the sense of community going on as everyone was performing the same style. We did originally plan to add in this lift however when it came down to actually performing the number, we found ourselves having a limited space to perform in, therefore we backed out. Looking back, spacial awareness and management is something else that I could have improved on in the dance. We should have had more rehearsal time in the performance space, which would have prevented a key movement from being missed out.
Week beginning 2/01/2017 Pre show week
This week it is all go as we are counting down the days until we perform our first show of We Will Rock You.
Me and Luke spent some time together in the theatre with Elizabeth, singing Who wants to live forever. This is a song which Luke and I had been having some issues with, relating to timing, intonation and pitching. The piano score that Elizabeth will be reading when playing for the shows is slightly different to the backing track that Luke and I have been learning it from. Having some time aside to rehearse with the piano has been really beneficial for us both today as we have been able to smooth over some errors. For example Luke has been struggling to pitch a few of his notes in this song and even when he sung with the piano today towards the beginning of our rehearsal, he was still filming this difficult. However I could hear where he needed to pitch the notes, as one of my strong points is knowing how to fit vocal notes to musical accompaniment. I would sing him the note, he would copy me and we carried this on until he was eventually was able to sing the note she was struggling with, without me vocally assisting him.
Luke and I were finding the timing in the middle of this song tricky as the song naturally transitions from a slow pace, to a more upbeat and vocally challenging part. Elizabeth broke the timing down, demonstrating vocally and on piano to us the precious timing of the notes and how to control them. This really helped me understand as when I hear someone else getting it right, I am able to pick it up fairly quickly.
Me and Luke decided to work out some of the blocking in the stage space in the theatre. We ran through all of our scenes that we perform together in the second half of the show. We decided that between us, we felt mutually confident on the first half of the musical therefore decided it would be best to focus on the second act for our benefit.
The second act scenes which Luke and I (Galileo and Scaramouche) perform in together, are quite intimate and personal al towards each character, which naturally leaded to Luke and I facing one another in the centre for a lot of our stage time. After running through these scenes and discovering this, we also came to acknowledge that this was restricted the audiences’ view at times because the audience are going to be sat in a traverse seating plan. We therefore had to rethink where we would be placing ourselves on stage, avoiding blocking audience view however keeping the intimacy and tension between the characters.
We firstly tried out the idea that Luke and I would direct more of our lines out to the audience and with this, turning our bodies to face them, rather than being faced towards each other for the majority of the time. This allowed for the audiences to see our facial expressions and body language in character; the audience were no longer restricted by our positioning. However when we tried this out a couple of times with different scenes, we decided that facing our characters away from each other really took away from the idea that they were in that specific moment together and sharing their feelings and emotions. Instead, we decided to add more movement to the scenes, keeping the intencity between the characters, facing each other. The movement, e.g. Changing positioning on stage regularly, added atmosphere to the piece by giving the audience more to look at. The movement also allowed for the positioning of the characters to changed up regularly, ensuring all of the audience are able to see different angles of Luke and I, not just a couple of angles which would have really restricted the view of the audience members.
Following developing the blocking of the scenes in the second act, Luke and I went on to develop working the emotion we add to our characters, including aggression towards each other and passion. Galileo and Scaramouche spend a large majority of the second act at each other’s throat. Scaramouche feels as though Galileo has got what he wanted and is now treated her in a bad way and sees her to be vulnerable due to her gender. Galileo is getting tired of Scaramouche making acquisitions towards him about taking her for granted and using her, therefore ones get verbally aggressive towards her. Kim, our director gave us both a note that we need to be more aggressive and passionate towards each other in character, just letting go and really focusing on channeling intensity towards each other. We did this by ensuring the eye contact between Scaramouche and Galileo was held for a long time and fixated with strength. Long spearing eye contact is a universal theme; everyone knows this is due to an intense atmosphere, therefore the audience will be able to instantly pick up on the fact that there is tension between the pair.
Something that we found developed nicely over the period of this rehearsal was a natural increase in volume to our voices when arguing in a couple of the scenes. This was almost like a ‘crescendo’ of our vocals however it was in spoken word rather than singing lyrics. This really helped build an atmosphere in the room, reinforcing the idea to the audiences that they were in a heated discussion. I feel as though this also really encouraged the idea that the end of the show ‘climax section’ was around the corner and this I feel will help audiences to follow and stay with the story line.
Amber and I spent some time together in the dance studio, singing through our songs and helping each other to hit the vocal notes that we were both struggling with. We firstly sung Somebody to love. We found the one of the last notes most difficult to nail. We are planning to spend some time with Kim later on in the hope that she will help us in finding a way to hit the note. Amber and I have been really honest with each other through out this whole process. This has allowed us to really make the most of each other's help, ensuring that we both give our very best performances when we perform next week. For example today, Amber advised me to not riff on a couple of the notes in Hammer to Fall as she felt it took away from the raw emotion behind the song. I would not have noticed this on my own as I really enjoyed singing the riffs therefore I had forgotten about characterisation here. I told Amber that she needed to slightly bring down the volume of one of her notes in Who wats to live forever, as it sounded more meaningful to the meaning behind the piece, sung softly as it was a gentle subject, ( loving each other through the impossible.) I feel as though we have worked together well as a team, positively contributing to one another's development, vocally.
Following this, we requested that we spent some time with Kim in the theatre, practising the high note at the end of Somebody to love. This was the one note that we had both been unable to achieve to a high quality when we focused on perfecting notes earlier in the dance studio. We tried out a variety of different techniques that Kim suggested to us including using our head voice and softening the note, using mixed voice, singing the note with an airy chest voice and using our chest voice fully however remember to take a long, deep breathe from the diaphragm.
Amber and I used team working skills to help each other find our preferred way of singing the note ‘too’. We used a trail and error method; we would take it in turns to sing the note each of three ways that Kim had previously suggested to us. We then gave feedback to one another straight after, giving our opinion as to whether or not it sounded strong enough to be used. Considering this and what felt comfortable for us singing it, we came to a mutual decision as to which technique we would use to sing the note. I decide to sing the not in a mixed voice, as the head voice alone sounded really good however did not have enough volume for a stage musical. Amber decided to sign the note in a supported chest voice as the mixed and head voice sounded too airy for her.
Today we did rehearsals for the movement that goes with the song, Headlong. Jaydee and Olivia struggled with the timing for the dance so Luke and I stepped in, to helped them smooth over their uncertainties. We went over the same movements a number of times until they both got the timing and understood how the movement fitted to the music. It was best for Luke and I to help the girls with their timing issues as opposed to anyone else whole knows it e.g. Another member of the other cast or our dance teacher, Kat because all four of us will be performing the dance together on stage therefore we needed to get used to everyone's way of moving and ensure all the movements were performed correctly and that the timing flowed with this idea.
Next week is show week! I am really looking forward to performing as both Scaramouche and in the chorus for my off cast role.
Me and Luke spent some time together in the theatre with Elizabeth, singing Who wants to live forever. This is a song which Luke and I had been having some issues with, relating to timing, intonation and pitching. The piano score that Elizabeth will be reading when playing for the shows is slightly different to the backing track that Luke and I have been learning it from. Having some time aside to rehearse with the piano has been really beneficial for us both today as we have been able to smooth over some errors. For example Luke has been struggling to pitch a few of his notes in this song and even when he sung with the piano today towards the beginning of our rehearsal, he was still filming this difficult. However I could hear where he needed to pitch the notes, as one of my strong points is knowing how to fit vocal notes to musical accompaniment. I would sing him the note, he would copy me and we carried this on until he was eventually was able to sing the note she was struggling with, without me vocally assisting him.
Luke and I were finding the timing in the middle of this song tricky as the song naturally transitions from a slow pace, to a more upbeat and vocally challenging part. Elizabeth broke the timing down, demonstrating vocally and on piano to us the precious timing of the notes and how to control them. This really helped me understand as when I hear someone else getting it right, I am able to pick it up fairly quickly.
Me and Luke decided to work out some of the blocking in the stage space in the theatre. We ran through all of our scenes that we perform together in the second half of the show. We decided that between us, we felt mutually confident on the first half of the musical therefore decided it would be best to focus on the second act for our benefit.
The second act scenes which Luke and I (Galileo and Scaramouche) perform in together, are quite intimate and personal al towards each character, which naturally leaded to Luke and I facing one another in the centre for a lot of our stage time. After running through these scenes and discovering this, we also came to acknowledge that this was restricted the audiences’ view at times because the audience are going to be sat in a traverse seating plan. We therefore had to rethink where we would be placing ourselves on stage, avoiding blocking audience view however keeping the intimacy and tension between the characters.
We firstly tried out the idea that Luke and I would direct more of our lines out to the audience and with this, turning our bodies to face them, rather than being faced towards each other for the majority of the time. This allowed for the audiences to see our facial expressions and body language in character; the audience were no longer restricted by our positioning. However when we tried this out a couple of times with different scenes, we decided that facing our characters away from each other really took away from the idea that they were in that specific moment together and sharing their feelings and emotions. Instead, we decided to add more movement to the scenes, keeping the intencity between the characters, facing each other. The movement, e.g. Changing positioning on stage regularly, added atmosphere to the piece by giving the audience more to look at. The movement also allowed for the positioning of the characters to changed up regularly, ensuring all of the audience are able to see different angles of Luke and I, not just a couple of angles which would have really restricted the view of the audience members.
Following developing the blocking of the scenes in the second act, Luke and I went on to develop working the emotion we add to our characters, including aggression towards each other and passion. Galileo and Scaramouche spend a large majority of the second act at each other’s throat. Scaramouche feels as though Galileo has got what he wanted and is now treated her in a bad way and sees her to be vulnerable due to her gender. Galileo is getting tired of Scaramouche making acquisitions towards him about taking her for granted and using her, therefore ones get verbally aggressive towards her. Kim, our director gave us both a note that we need to be more aggressive and passionate towards each other in character, just letting go and really focusing on channeling intensity towards each other. We did this by ensuring the eye contact between Scaramouche and Galileo was held for a long time and fixated with strength. Long spearing eye contact is a universal theme; everyone knows this is due to an intense atmosphere, therefore the audience will be able to instantly pick up on the fact that there is tension between the pair.
Something that we found developed nicely over the period of this rehearsal was a natural increase in volume to our voices when arguing in a couple of the scenes. This was almost like a ‘crescendo’ of our vocals however it was in spoken word rather than singing lyrics. This really helped build an atmosphere in the room, reinforcing the idea to the audiences that they were in a heated discussion. I feel as though this also really encouraged the idea that the end of the show ‘climax section’ was around the corner and this I feel will help audiences to follow and stay with the story line.
Amber and I spent some time together in the dance studio, singing through our songs and helping each other to hit the vocal notes that we were both struggling with. We firstly sung Somebody to love. We found the one of the last notes most difficult to nail. We are planning to spend some time with Kim later on in the hope that she will help us in finding a way to hit the note. Amber and I have been really honest with each other through out this whole process. This has allowed us to really make the most of each other's help, ensuring that we both give our very best performances when we perform next week. For example today, Amber advised me to not riff on a couple of the notes in Hammer to Fall as she felt it took away from the raw emotion behind the song. I would not have noticed this on my own as I really enjoyed singing the riffs therefore I had forgotten about characterisation here. I told Amber that she needed to slightly bring down the volume of one of her notes in Who wats to live forever, as it sounded more meaningful to the meaning behind the piece, sung softly as it was a gentle subject, ( loving each other through the impossible.) I feel as though we have worked together well as a team, positively contributing to one another's development, vocally.
Following this, we requested that we spent some time with Kim in the theatre, practising the high note at the end of Somebody to love. This was the one note that we had both been unable to achieve to a high quality when we focused on perfecting notes earlier in the dance studio. We tried out a variety of different techniques that Kim suggested to us including using our head voice and softening the note, using mixed voice, singing the note with an airy chest voice and using our chest voice fully however remember to take a long, deep breathe from the diaphragm.
Amber and I used team working skills to help each other find our preferred way of singing the note ‘too’. We used a trail and error method; we would take it in turns to sing the note each of three ways that Kim had previously suggested to us. We then gave feedback to one another straight after, giving our opinion as to whether or not it sounded strong enough to be used. Considering this and what felt comfortable for us singing it, we came to a mutual decision as to which technique we would use to sing the note. I decide to sing the not in a mixed voice, as the head voice alone sounded really good however did not have enough volume for a stage musical. Amber decided to sign the note in a supported chest voice as the mixed and head voice sounded too airy for her.
Today we did rehearsals for the movement that goes with the song, Headlong. Jaydee and Olivia struggled with the timing for the dance so Luke and I stepped in, to helped them smooth over their uncertainties. We went over the same movements a number of times until they both got the timing and understood how the movement fitted to the music. It was best for Luke and I to help the girls with their timing issues as opposed to anyone else whole knows it e.g. Another member of the other cast or our dance teacher, Kat because all four of us will be performing the dance together on stage therefore we needed to get used to everyone's way of moving and ensure all the movements were performed correctly and that the timing flowed with this idea.
Next week is show week! I am really looking forward to performing as both Scaramouche and in the chorus for my off cast role.
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Work expereince week
My work experience week was spent helping backstage at a AmDram Pantomime in Littlehampton. I worked there for four nights, helping with setting up the stage with set and props, ensuing the actors were ok at all times, costume changes and make up.
Being backstage and helping with all of the behind the scenes operations was a change for me as I am used to performing and being on stage. Backstage is not something I have ever spent a whole performance working on and this is partly the reason why I decided to experience it in y work experience.
I feel as though this week has given me a better understanding of how backstage operates, which will definitely ensure I am able to appreciate how hard they work and the effort that goes into what they do.
I really enjoyed doing the Dame’s make up with Izzy. We had a template of what the director was looking for within the make up look however we used our knowledge that stage make up must be over exaggerated and non naturalistic if the audience are to see it clearly.
Setting the props on stage for the actors was the next job I have to do. Ensuring that the props (two arms chairs) were in the correct place for the actors to use was essential. I know this because of my experience on stage, as an actor. Therefore I took this previous knowledge and applied it to the job in hand. I listened very closely to my directions form the backstage manager, and made a special effort that I placed my chair in exactly the same spot for each performance.
Following this, I had to wait patiently back stage in the wings to hand the actors their props (fine dining food) and wait for them to pass them back to me when they had finished. I was already aware of the importance of this job as being an actor myself, having the correct props readily available to you on your cue is so important. I took this into consideration and ensured I stayed back stage in silences, waiting to take any sudden change or directions given/signalled to me by one of the members of back stage crew.
From my experience working back stage on a performing arts piece rather than being on stage, I have definitely learnt a lot about how the whole production works from a different point of view.
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience however it has definitely confirmed to me that performing is what I prefer doing, which is a positive.
This process has taught me the importance of considering back stage responsibilities, especially as I am going through the freelance route. Over my first year of freelancing as a performer, I would be more than happy to take on a runner job, back stage at a theatre production or TV show. This work experience week has well prepared me for this if I ever had the opportunity to work as a runner. I know am well prepared to work quickly under pressure and follow exact details to benefit the actors. This step will hopefully lead to me building my contacts, which hopefully will lead to building my way up the ladder and transition from runner jobs, to extras, to main parts.
I will definitely put this work experience on my Performing CV as it shows versatility and open mindedness in a performer.
Legal/financial demands
When starting out as a freelance performer, you are essential starting up your very own business. Like any other business, you are legally bind to follow the correct legal and financial demands of the law.
In this post I will be exploring the information, facts and figures behind Personal Liability Insurance, Contract law, Agents, Tax returns, Casting directors, Unions and Book keeping.
In class, we were assigned one of the areas to look into and research in detail, before feeding our findings back to the rest of the class. We found this was an effective way of researching as to do each one individually would have taken much longer and would have been pointless as this makes everyone's work load too big. The positives about doing it this way were that we all found out something that we would perhaps have not found out if we were to have researched each area by ourselves. Also sharing information is a positive way of finding more information out about each area in a fair manner.
In this post, after the feeing back of information in these presentations, I have summaries each area below and stated the importance, facts and figures behind each area.
PL Insurance
Having PL insurance as a self-employed actor is essential as it protects you if you cause any damage to the public or public property by accident. For example, a magician would have to take out PL insurance in case he caused damage to a member of the audience when performing a trick. This insurance would cover the damages. The insurance company would have to pay out for the damage caused which without, the magician would have had to pay for out of the money invested into the business. All of this considered, I would definitely invest in PL insurance as it could potentially save you, as a self-employed performer, a lot of money in damages as accidents do happen, especially in such a busy industry.
Agents
It is really important to have yourself an agent when working as a freelance performer add they are constantly promoting you and what your skills set had to offer. It can be difficult to constantly be promoting yourself when working as updating your online presence on a daily basis can be difficult as there are so many platforms you should be active on. The agents’ job is to ensure you are constantly attending auditions which, for all different kinds of roles which really helps to boost your name out there into the industry and also keep your name fresh, in the minds of casting directors.
Tax returns
If you keep a record of all your receipts from products that you have purchased in relation to furthering your business as an actor, then you are able to claim back your tax from these products at the end the tax year, every April. This is a positive as starting out as a freelance performer will be expensive, especially in the first year therefore getting all the money back possible is a bonus and can then be invested back into your business.
Casting directors
Casting directors are the main people that you want to have on your side as an actor working in the industry. After having worked with them once, if you have made a positive impression on them, then they will remember your name and if a role comes up that they think you would be suited for, they could get in contact with you and ask that you turn up to the audition for the role. For this reason, it is so important to make a lasting impression on casting directors by being easy and reasonable to work with by turning up to meeting and shoot dates on time, ensuring that you have all of your lines learnt allowing the shooting process to go run fluidly and overall, be a happy and positive person to be around. Having a memorable personality, is also one of the keys to success. If you made the casting director laugh, then this is something they will remember. Why would they want to be working with an actor who is bland and does not spark a conversation easily with when they could be working with an actor with a bubbly personality who has the same acting abilities and fits the role well too. Being social and confident is the key to success in this industry.
Union
Being with a self-employed or acting union gives you, as an independent individual, a safety barrier to fall back on to if you get yourself into any financial or contracting trouble. For example, Equity are a good union for actors. If you are flown out of the country on a job and when you arrive, the job is not what you expected and the company who are employing you did not include specific details in the contract, then equity will ha e for you to fly back home and will get you safely and securely out of the contract. You have to pay Equity a joining fee and a fixed amount per month/ year and after this, you are free to ask them any questions throughout your time with them, contacting them at any time you please.
Book keeping
Ensuring you keep a record of your receipts from products
you have purchased to further your business as a freelancer performer, is key because
you are able to apply for a tax return at the end of the tax year in April. It
has been suggested to me that you keep all bank statements, receipts and
invoices in a folder, sectioned off appropriately. This will help you at the
end of the year when to comes to calculating how much you are owed and this
also ensures you have proof of the purchases/ truncation. With no proof, you
will not get the tax money back which will be really helpful as you can invest
it back into your business to help it develop and grow even more so.
Contract law
For the safety of your career and to ensure you are not agreeing to anything you are unhappy with, reading all of the contract for every job you are considering taking is essential. Even though it can be a lot of paper work to get through, the importance of reading it is vital.
The reasoning behind this is that contracts can be very different, even if they are for the same type of job e.g. Acting role. The differences could be minor or major. Minor differences could be how much you are getting paid. However bigger differences if not seen, can lead to a lot of confusion and possibly the actor getting ripped off.
Some types of contracts for acting jobs are very internal and ask that you do not work on any other project whilst you are filming/associated with their role. The reasoning they give for this is firstly they want you to be the face of their product or character, and only known for that. If you are working other projects at the same time, especially if both projects are shown on TV, there is a danger that the actor’s face is going to overlap in jobs. This means the face would not be exclusive to one project, taking away the magic if you like, behind the character role. Secondly they may not want the actor to be displaying on forms of social media that they are working with the certain company. This can be for privacy reasons and also to avoid the character/product and the ideas behind it, being leaked or stolen y another company/exposed to the press.
On the other hand, some companies have the total opposite mind set to this. These companies will encourage actors that they have cast in their projects to be active on their social networking sites, updating and informing their audiences of their relations to the company. This gives the company and project free promotion as the actor is likely to have a growing/ large social media following. Also these companies may encourage their actors to be actively auditioning and working on other projects at the same time as working with them. This allows for the actors not to be restricted to one job and allows them to be constantly working, learning and earning money which furthers their career, experience and opportunities.
If an actor had two job offers which were similar to the two examples I have given, the later example which allows them to be working on other projects and be active on their social media sites would be the job to go for. However if the actor had not paid much attention to the contract provided with both job offers, the wrong decision could easily have been made.
Reading the contract thoroughly allows the actor to gain one up on the company, being able to see exactly what is being offered to them. If during the process of working for the company, something on the contract is not being followed properly, the actor is then well within their rights to bring this up and question the company. If the actor had not read the contract thoroughly in the first place, they may not have been aware that they were being wrongly treated. This is another reason as to why it is so important to read every contract you are committing to before you sign it.
Contacts database
In a performer' first year of freelancing, there are a certain amount of contacts in the industry that you must know and be in contact with to make your business successful.
In this post, I will state all of the contacts you need and why they will be such an important part to your first year of freelance work.
As this would be my first year as a freelance performer, I will be on a limited budget. Therefore, I will be looking for friends I can rely on to help me out, along with low budget industry professionals which I can negotiate some good deals with.
Contact database
Agent- I will be looking for an agent who can represent me as an all round performer, for acting, singing and dancing. I will be looking for an agent who is free of charge, as these are usually the best agents who will be able to find you the most work. They may ask for a percentage of the amount you make from each job as their payment, which is reasonable if they manage to get you lots of work.
Photographer- I have friends who are photography students. They are always working on different projects and shooting different styles, including portfolio style photographs. I will have them as a key contact so I can update my headshot as often as I need to. I can also get some on site shots, as well as the classic studio pictures.
Make up artist- One of my closets friends is a make up artists therefore I would call on her if I ever needed my make up and hair done for a portfolio shoot. This is not an essential contact to have however as she is a convenient to me, I will make full use of my resources available to me.
Media production specialist- I have a close friend who is studying creative media production and film studies. He is really skilled at editing videos and helped me when I was creating my show reel. If I ever need him to help me re create my show reel or edit a promotional video, I will definitely use his skills as they will be free of cost.
Photographer- I have friends who are photography students. They are always working on different projects and shooting different styles, including portfolio style photographs. I will have them as a key contact so I can update my headshot as often as I need to. I can also get some on site shots, as well as the classic studio pictures.
Media production specialist- I have a close friend who is studying creative media production and film studies. He is really skilled at editing videos and helped me when I was creating my show reel. If I ever need him to help me re create my show reel or edit a promotional video, I will definitely use his skills as they will be free of cost.
Accountant- it is not essential to have an accountant personal in your first year as this can be an expensive contact to maintain. If this is not in your budget, then your accounts is something you will have to do yourself. (Full analysis and information in legal post.)
Legal help from Equity- Equity are a company who you pay to ensure you are treated fairly in the industry as companies and individuals can ill treat you, just like in any other serious and competitive industry. Once you have paid them, you are able to contact them as frequently as you like, asking them to check over a contract deal or to advise you on whether or not a job is worth taking or not. They have the power to get you out of bad agreements and deals, almost like a lawyer would. You pay them in return for legal back up and a trust worthy voice to listen to.
Marketing plan
Having a strong marketing plan is key to kick starting a freelancing career and more importantly, key to ensuring your career stays on track and is able to grow.
Today, social media is one of the world's most current ad popular past times fro people all over the world. Apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube and Pinterest are used everyday by millions of people and therefore are the perfect platfroms to use to promote yourself.
I use the majority of the apps I mentioned to enhance my freelance profile. Traditional methods are also still just as effective such as word of mouth references, both which I use within my marketing plan.
I have explained exactly how I am currently using these platforms and how I plan to further my success and career with them in my discussion video, which is linked under this unit.
Facebook- Performer page and jobs pages
Snapchat- Story option to share videos with friends
Instagram- posting photographs and using story option
YouTube- Vlogging and uploading singing videos
Twitter- tweeting and reaching out to a wider audience
References- from Fererro Roche advert
Forecast timeline
I am going into the industry as an all round performer as I feel as though I am a strong singer, dancer and actor. There is no point just promoting myself as one of the three disciplines as I am trained and confident in them all.
However I do have an idea of what skills I want to prioritise over others;
1) Studio films- this is my biggest dream, to be a professional film actress. Therefore this is my end goal and the idea I prioritise over any other.
2) TV drama (sitcom)- next, I have always loved watching sitcoms and really admire the style of acting that is required for shows like this. Failing my first option, TV acting is my next priority and would love to pursue a career in this.
3) Musical theatre- I am trained as a musical theatre performer and if the on screen acting approach does not work out for me then musical theatre performing is what I will fall back on. I love combining singing, dancing and acting altogether to create one performance.
4) Singer- I have a passion for singing and making music. I love writing songs and this is something I would be willing to explore in more depth.
5) Mini series- this is a great way to start off your career and to make contact in the industry. Once you have committed to one mini series, it opens doors to other series as directors often work on lots of different projects.
6) Soaps- being a soap opera actor could restrict you to only performing as one role at a time and not working on any other projects along side this. However this is a good way to establish yourself.
7) Cruise performer- this is a semi professional way of getting a vast amount of experience, performing to live audiences on a nightly basis. I would like to start out with a job like this as I feel it would ease you in to the industry, allowing a heavy work load in a semi professional environment.
Where do I see myself in the next 5 years? (Ideal situation)
Through out the whole process, I will be regularly uploading to my YouTube channel, whilst my audiences is constantly growing each year.
1) Year 1 (19 y/o)
* Cruise ship as singer/dancer- 6 months
* Student films- 4-6 in total
* AmDram musical production- 3 months
* Constantly auditioning for adverts and commercial work (Agent)- 2 per week
2) Year 2 (20 y/o)
* Constantly auditioning for adverts and acting work (Agent) 1-2 per week
* Work in ensemble of musical production on West End- 3 month
* Cast in mini series- 1 month filming
* Student films- 5 in total
* Back up dancer on X Factor- 1 series contract
3) Year 3 (21 y/o)
* Cast in soap opera role- 5 year contract
* Appear on reality TV as actress- I'm a Celebrity get me out of Here
* Singer- record some mix tapes to send to stream for free online
* Backup dancer going on tour with Rihanna- 2 months
4) Year 4 (22 y/o)
* Sitcom- 4 month filming time
* Singing career takes off, free streaming music is noticed
* Have several supporting tour offerings, take two which last 1 month each.
* Have auditions for studio films, not successful
* Mini series- 1 month filming
5) Year 5 (23 y/o)
* Film career takes off, land first studio film lead role- 4 months filming- film is successful and second film is made and I am cast in the same role, rolling into year 6 (long term contract)
* Singing career carrying on, offers from record labels however decide to stay solo and stream music for free.
I will be going freelance next year when I have completed my college courses. This is how I would love the next 5 years to pan out. I am looking forward to watching my career grow.
However I do have an idea of what skills I want to prioritise over others;
1) Studio films- this is my biggest dream, to be a professional film actress. Therefore this is my end goal and the idea I prioritise over any other.
2) TV drama (sitcom)- next, I have always loved watching sitcoms and really admire the style of acting that is required for shows like this. Failing my first option, TV acting is my next priority and would love to pursue a career in this.
3) Musical theatre- I am trained as a musical theatre performer and if the on screen acting approach does not work out for me then musical theatre performing is what I will fall back on. I love combining singing, dancing and acting altogether to create one performance.
4) Singer- I have a passion for singing and making music. I love writing songs and this is something I would be willing to explore in more depth.
5) Mini series- this is a great way to start off your career and to make contact in the industry. Once you have committed to one mini series, it opens doors to other series as directors often work on lots of different projects.
6) Soaps- being a soap opera actor could restrict you to only performing as one role at a time and not working on any other projects along side this. However this is a good way to establish yourself.
7) Cruise performer- this is a semi professional way of getting a vast amount of experience, performing to live audiences on a nightly basis. I would like to start out with a job like this as I feel it would ease you in to the industry, allowing a heavy work load in a semi professional environment.
Where do I see myself in the next 5 years? (Ideal situation)
Through out the whole process, I will be regularly uploading to my YouTube channel, whilst my audiences is constantly growing each year.
1) Year 1 (19 y/o)
* Cruise ship as singer/dancer- 6 months
* Student films- 4-6 in total
* AmDram musical production- 3 months
* Constantly auditioning for adverts and commercial work (Agent)- 2 per week
2) Year 2 (20 y/o)
* Constantly auditioning for adverts and acting work (Agent) 1-2 per week
* Work in ensemble of musical production on West End- 3 month
* Cast in mini series- 1 month filming
* Student films- 5 in total
* Back up dancer on X Factor- 1 series contract
3) Year 3 (21 y/o)
* Cast in soap opera role- 5 year contract
* Appear on reality TV as actress- I'm a Celebrity get me out of Here
* Singer- record some mix tapes to send to stream for free online
* Backup dancer going on tour with Rihanna- 2 months
4) Year 4 (22 y/o)
* Sitcom- 4 month filming time
* Singing career takes off, free streaming music is noticed
* Have several supporting tour offerings, take two which last 1 month each.
* Have auditions for studio films, not successful
* Mini series- 1 month filming
5) Year 5 (23 y/o)
* Film career takes off, land first studio film lead role- 4 months filming- film is successful and second film is made and I am cast in the same role, rolling into year 6 (long term contract)
* Singing career carrying on, offers from record labels however decide to stay solo and stream music for free.
I will be going freelance next year when I have completed my college courses. This is how I would love the next 5 years to pan out. I am looking forward to watching my career grow.
Showreel
A showreel is a short video (3-5 minutes), containing examples of a performers work showing to potential employers eg casting directors.
Having a strong showreel behind you as a performer is one of the most important key pieces of material you can have. The showreel will be seen by casting directors and employees, showing them your skill set in one compact video.
The aim of a showreel is to showcase your best moments as a performer, so that the casting direxctors are able to see you as a performer at yoru best and to see what you are capable of.
To demonstrate examples of showreels, I have chosen three showreels to analyise, which I have found on YouTube; one which is good, one which is average and one I do not think is very strong at all.
MY SHOWREEL ANALYSIS PRESENTATION
1) LYNN bEAUMONT, bad showreel
2) AMBER KENNEDY, avergae showreel
3) JOANNA SCHOLES, good showreel
Overall from my findings in this project, I have found that I am now fully aware of what a strong showreel looks like and what needs to be included.
I am an all round performer and would like to include the following footage in my showreel;
- Clips from musicals to show acting; Jack, In To The Woods, chorus, Rent and Scaramouche, WWRY.
- Clips from musicals to show vocals; Scaramouch WWRY and chorus, Rent.
- Home singing clips, to show contrast in voice from musical songs.
- Dance clips from y A level dance class
- Dance clip from music video, Reverse by Harleighblu.
- Acting from short film, Utopian You.
- I will also include a simple headshot at the beginning of the showreel, along with my full name, height, date of birth and email.
Taking all of these facts I have explored into consideration, I have created my very own showreel that I believe shows my takent and skill set off in a positive light.
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