11/10/16 1st lesson- Blocking

 Blocking- lesson 1

Page 22- This section of dialogue between Galileo and Scaramouche, directly after they have finished singing their duet, Under Pressure. The pair are confused about what Globalsoft have done to them and they are clueless to why they could possibly be of help to them.

I want to convey to audiences that in this scene Scaramouche secretly is willing to spend time with Galileo and find out why they are in demand. However she verbally sounds blunt and stand offish when talking to him. This shows her character is the type to play hard to get and not give too much of her emotions away to audiences and Galileo. “Don't call me baby” I will deliver this line quickly after Galileo calls her baby with a harsh tone, to show she is against the idea of being his ‘baby.’ This shows she can stand up for herself in a potentially vulnerable situation. 

Page 29-31 

This scene sees Galileo and Scaramouche getting to know one another on a personal level, exploring each other's personality traits and persona. Scaramouche shows her vulnerable side in this scene by telling Galileo that the GaGa girls hate her and that she feels as though she doesn't fit it. She puts on a front that this doesn't bother her and she is perfectly fine living life ‘alone’, however we can see from subtle hints that she is secretly after someone to share her life with and invest herself into. For example she states she has never had a real friend and would like one. On the other hand she stays composed and gives off the persona that she is judgmental and confident in herself and the person she is, for example “sounds like bollocks to me” and “you're an arrogant, self important arsehole!” I

I will deliver these lines with harsh and blunt tones, delivering the lines quickly, as if she knows she shouldn't be talking to Galileo in such a way. I will use my face to express the emotions too, by turning my head away from Galileo, showing she cannot look him in the eye when talking, maybe as she doesn't fully mean what she is saying. Scaramouche puts on an act to seem fearless however she is, at heart, after someone to accept her for who she is. 

On page 29 Galileo is talking about how he hears words in his head. During him speaking, I will be walking around him from a distance and looking at him, listening with interest into what he is saying. However when he stops she replies with “sounds like bollocks to me.” With this line I will make it look like she snaps out of a trance, almost in awe of what he is saying how ever when he stops, realising she is showing interest and therefore makes a conscious effort to cover up showing interest to him. This is another way of conveying to audiences that the energy she gives off to Galileo is not what she is necessarily thinking. 

Also last scene blocking with everyone, explain unity in this piece everyone hugging and being happy, it is a celebration

As our final task of the day, we did some experimenting with blocking for the final scene of the musical, We are the champions. We had the idea that the whole cast meet in the middle of the stage, singing the song and enjoying each other's company. We added in clapping, smiling, arm gestures towards one another and hugs to make it look as though we were united as one after finding the hidden rock and rediscovering genuine music after so many years of struggling. These ideas we found would work well for the end scene as they show unity within the community of rockers and Bohemian's. This is something we will further develop in lessons to come. I feel as though we have made a positive start today on blocking as I now have a better understanding of how I wish to play my character, Scaramouche. I now know I want to really make the contrast visually obvious to the audience between her thoughts about Galileo and the way she acts. I will do this through tone of voice, body language and facial expressions. My target for next rehearsal is to keep developing this idea of showing s contrast, and to find new ways of developing this. I will think about audience interaction and how I can relate to audiences to show the difference in her thoughts and the way she acts.

07/10/16 Media piece and Seven Seas of Rhye choreography

 In today's lesson we split it up our time, spending an hour on one dance project and after, spending the last hour on the other project. Our first hour was spent choreographing the Seven Seas of Rhye dance for WWRY and the second hour was spent developing the media ensemble dance piece we creating. 

Seven Seas of Rhye

Firstly we established the type of movement we were going to be creating for this number in the musical. The song is sung by commander Khashoggi, who has the power to send Bohemian’s to the Seven Seas of Rhye as a punishment for holding too much musical information. As rock music is forbidden in the world (300 years in the future), Khashoggi is ordered to capture Bohemian’s, such as Galileo, who hears words which are song lyrics, by the Killer Queen as they could give away secret information about where the hidden rock could be hiding. Therefore for this song, Khashoggi is singing about is land and how he has he power to banish characters there easily. The movement, we decided, is going to be very restrained and we will create movement which make us look like we are struggling, under Khashoggi’s capture. We came up with the idea to perform movements as if we were captured in a bubble however able to make slightly movements as an escape for freedom. Everyone had to pick four freeze frames to hold for four counts at the beginning of the dance. I chose reaching movements, one to the right, to the left, straight upwards and one in front of my body. I made these reaching movements with my arms stretched out, with splayed hands as if reaching for help and support to escape the bubble of capture. We mere all on different levels, to show the stage was busy and give the audience lots of visuals to feed off of. I was sat facing away from the audience at the back, others were dotted around, some sitting and some standing. This also was used to show a contrast in levels. The audience are able to see everyone clearly in this formation as well, making spacing clear. 

The main motif, which we repeat in the dance, shows reaching for freedom from Khashoggi's power. Movements we show this through in the motif include reaching with splayed arms, contractions of the torso and moving around the space as a whole, utilising it well. Reaching with splayed hands and extended arms features multiple times in this number as it successfully conveys the idea of the need for freedom and the desire to escape. Also performing this move to audiences allows you as a performer to make eye contact with the front few rows of audiences, which makes them feel a part of the show. This reiterates to the audience, how much the characters want to escape, making them feel a part of the show as it is happening in front of their eyes. The contraction of the torso comes after the reaching movements, showing pain and the characters being pulled back into the state of being trapped and unable to escape. This following movement almost makes the audience feel sorry for the characters as they haven't been able to escape. The body contraction is followed by hunching over the body, to show being trapped and controlled by the Globalsoft corporation. Finally the idea of using the whole stage and having the performers spread out and scattered, makes the stage look busy, giving off the impression that the need for freedom is desired by everyone. The busier the stage, also shows just how many characters are controlled by Globalsoft. The more movement seen on stage, the more people is appears to hold. This is a great technique to ensure the stage looks full at all times, even if it isn't. 

Media piece 

We started off this hour by running through the material we had previously created to ensure it was fresh in our minds. The development we made today to this dance was inspired by Emily, Talia, Jaydee and Megan’s group work from an earlier lesson. This included them dancing as a four piece in a line. The line was staggered and look like a stair case, Megan being the top step, standing up and Emily being the bottom step, sitting on the floor. We were naturally split into groups of four, according to where we were placed on stage at the point in the dance where we are inserting this motif. The whole idea of this motif is to show passing a secret from person to person and the motif ends with the secret being back where is started however in a different form (a contrasting movement). This almost shows the idea of Chinese whispers, messages being passed from person to person, until they come out from the press, a totally different story to the original. 

The movement started with the floor people, which I included me, reaching coward with our arms in front of us, and scooping up the secret. We then turned around and passed it the next person. This invisible secret was gradually passed up and then down the group of four dancers, showing the journey of the secret. We used turns of the head and body with  sharp dynamic to convey how quickly and easily stories can be changed and manipulated. We had four groups of four mirroring each other and performing the same movement at the same time. This looked effective as it gave the piece more of an impact, showing the idea of stories being manipulated happens very often in the media. 

I feel as though today has been a successful lesson as we have created almost a minutes worth of the Seven Seas of Rhye number which we started just today and developed and expanded on the movement for the media piece. My target for next lesson is to use my body more when performing the WWRY piece, this will allow me to further develop my characterisation of someone trapped and wanting freedom. The more I commit to the movement with my body, the easier this will become. Another target for myself to improve on by next lesson is to work on my timing of a certain step in the WWRY piece. Each time we rehearsed it in class today, I started the step forward a count too early. I did this as it was where I naturally thought the beat was in the music. I will have to run this part through a couple of times to ensure my timing is the same as the rest of the cast’s. 

06/10/16 Choreographing an ensemble piece- Under Pressure

In today's lesson we had the task of vocally arranging and choreographing an ensemble number from WWRY in our double cast pairs. As Scaramouche I was paired with Amber and our two Galileo’s, Megan and Luke. This task was good practise for everyone as it allowed us to work in a group to figure out how each pairing wanted to perform their character. Everyone's interpretation of their character will be different and varied; this was the first chance we have had in the process so far to work with our partners and to see how we bounce off each other whilst performing. 

We chose the song Under Pressure to perform to choreograph and perform to the class we all felt it gave each character, Scaramouche and Galileo an equal amount of song to perform and explore. The song also includes duet parts which enabled us to explore the dynamic of us performing as a pairing. As a group of four we went through two stages of rehearsing our chosen song, Under Pressure. We started off with the vocal side, practising who will sing each part and working out the emotion behind the song. Secondly we moved in to the dance studio and rehearsed the movement we were going to put with the vocals. This is when the performance came to life as we were able to interact within or pairings to achieve more chemistry and emotion on stage and through the song.

Today we spent roughly 40 minutes preparing the vocals of the song and within this time from start to finish, I could definitely hear an improvement from all four of us. The first couple of times we sang the song through, we all sounded okay however we soon picked up on the parts we needed to improve on before performing later in the lesson. We worked on developing the harmony sections of the song, which were towards the end. At first we had trouble figuring out where to pitch the female harmony note. We seemed help from our teacher who helped us find the note, which technically worked however sounded slightly odd when we first tried it. This was because it wasn't exactly 3 notes above the base note however was technically correct. Once Amber and I got used to singing this note against the make part, we became more confident with it and each time we rehearsed, it improved in quality. The volume and confidence of all four of our vocals improved through out the rehearsal time we were given today. We started off singing the song well however as the time went on, I could notice a difference in emotion and confidence behind the lyrics. As we became more comfortable with the song, the volume of our vocals improved which brought such character to the song. 

Next we developed the movement side of the number, once we had finished developing the vocal side. We decided to stage it in our casting pairs, Luke and I and Amber and Megan. We made this decision so we were able to explore the interaction with our partners. This will help the process building up to the show week as the more time we spend in our pairings ok stage, the better our presence and chemistry will become to our audiences. Working with our casting pair on the number also allowed us to learn how the other moves on stage. This is a positive as the more practise we get with our partner on stage, the more developed and comfortable we will look on stage on show week. Luke and I decided to do slightly different movements compared to Megan and Amber however this worked as the movement was similar however it showed the difference in how both pairings will play the characters. For example Luke and I did a simple walking movement which saw me walking backwards and him walking towards me whilst both of us were singing. This showed the chemistry and connection between the two characters. We showed this with facial expressions showing happiness and enjoyment, demonstrating to audiences their positive relationship. We held hands at several different points and walked forwards together, to show unity and confidence as a couple. Audience interaction was another element of the choreography that we included. This is a brilliant way to ensure the audience know they are a part of the content on stage and is always necessary in musical performance. We used clapping, eye contact and positive facial expressions to express to the audience that their participation is valid and welcome. 

The feed back we got after performing was positive- 

- You could see the chemistry between Luke and Holly starting to blossom through their body language and facial expressions whilst performing.

- The way the two couples performed on stage at the same time however interacted in their pairings worked well as you could see how both couples will interpret to roles differently.

- The harmony sounded strong and confident.

I feel today's lesson was successful as I have firstly learnt more about Luke and how he interacts with me on stage and I have picked up how to correctly execute a difficult harmony. Next lesson I plan to develop my quality of performing and take my stage presence to the next level by combining my movement and vocal skills in a more professional and accurate way. I will do this by learning the Under Pressure lyrics fully, this will allow me to fully concentrate on my movements and vocals, which will bring our characterisation naturally. 

S club 7 Presentation Evaluation

S CLUB 7 VIDEO






Firstly I was aware of a large amount of information about the band as they were significant figures in my childhood and through out growing up. I played the character Tina who I researched in depth to find out extra information about her such as how she got into the group, her life background and what she is doing now, in the present day after the band’s split. When blocking the staging of the piece, I played a large part in directing this, suggesting where each member of the band could stand on stage and inputting why it would look good to audiences. For example I came up with the idea of standing in a band formation at the beginning of he show, mimicking photographs of how S Club 7 would stand for paparazzi and press shoots. They all stood in a playful group, smiling and making silly gestures towards each other and the audiences. They would do this especially in their early career as they were a fun loving band with a young target audience. I suggested we do this to show that the band were young at the time and offered appropriate content and material to their young viewers. I also helped contribute to the order of which we showed events through out their career within our performance. We decided to take the chronological route as it made sense to show their process and how they started out as ‘pop’ stars and eventually moulded to more of an RnB style as they ch aged as people and matured.

As a group we came up with the idea of taking a comedic approach to our performance as we feel this will help us remember all of the information we include when it comes to forming the essay at the end of the project. We decided to perform the events of the band’s career and their highlights in chronological order, demonstrating to the audience how they became the band they are know as today. To make the devising process flow nicely, we decided to split the group up into four separate groups and designate a section of research to each group. This allowed the informative side of he performance to be broken down for the audience, allowing them to understand the content.


We split up the research part of the project to make the work load evenly spread between us all. For example Bryleah and Jordy researched the Miami 7 TV show, following with Luke and Talia researching the band's top hits. After this Amber and I researched the formula of S Club and how each member represented a certain type of character or person in the time they were making music. This made the band more relatable to the target audience of teenagers and the band almost adapted what they wanted to the music they produced. This means that S Club were pop based for the main part of their career. We then went on to research the social changes at the time and how these effected the style of music that the band produced. They transitioned to RnB music, when Paul Cattermole left the band.

I have discovered that splitting up the work load we received as a group really helped us to make the work we produced of a high quality. This technique also allows for different peoples opinions and interpretations of the research to be found, giving the presentation a new and fresh dynamic. Working as a team and supporting one another has also come to light through out this process. Listening to everyone's individual ideas and blending them with other thoughts also allows for new concepts to be created, improving he quality of your work even more.

I feel my group worked well together by listening to each other's ideas and making compromises where necessary. Also entering the project with a positive mind set helps make the process more enjoyable for everyone. Another aspect of the dynamic in our group that went well was including comedy in our performance. Now, I will be sure to remember the humour in our performance, and therefore remember all of the information linked to it. This is a positive learning strategy as it has helped me improve my memory.

If we were to do it again I would definitely assign more time to the project as I feel in the rehearsals we were slightly rushed for time. From an audiences point of view, we could have spent more time working on our transitions between scenes, this would have improved the quality of our performance and made it easier to follow and interpret.

04/10/16 Working as a freelance in the industry

• No matter how hard you work in the industry and how many qualifications you gain, kick starting a fully successful career in the industry is more difficult than it may firstly appear. It is one thing knowing how to act however to start your career, you must have the skills to build an acting career. This includes being clued up about publicising yourself through marketing, social media with the end goal of getting bookings for jobs.
• Technology has changed rapidly over the past decade; we now have the ability to edit together footage, allowing us to show off our best moments. In the past, a show reel was not seen as a vital part of an actors portfolio however now a days, allowing potential casting directors and employees to view your past works, showing off your talent in different lights. In the past a head shot was enough to demonstrate to casting directors your 'look' however this is no longer substantial when a show reel offers so much more.
• To gain as much experience as possible for a career in the industry, drama school is one of the best routes to go down. This gives you credibility for the future, showing you have taken your education to the highest level possible.

Personal goals and how to kick start my career today- 

Ways to stay connected and promote yourself-

 

Looking into three ways to promote yourself and kick start a career in the industry- 

1) Online presence (Instagram) – having public online presence is a vital element to have as a freelance performer. Online platforms allow you to self promote your talent to potential clients, contacts and all of your friends and family (your fan base too). If you get this part of self promotion correct, it could lead to gaining contacts, jobs and you can even be scouted if you're photos and information are in the right place at the right time. Instagram is one of the fastest growing forms of social media and is quickly becoming a favourite in the industry. It provides everyone with a free, quick and simple way of sharing photographs with everyone on the app. There are a few rules you must follow if you are to run a successful public Instagram account to promote and publicise  yourself to the industry and its clients. Firstly you must ensure you put all of your personal social media accounts on a private setting, meaning only the accounts you accept to follow you will be able to see the content. The reasoning for this is because you must be careful what you share with the online world. If for example you posted a controversial tweet a year ago about a topic a client maybe had a contrasting opinion on, this could jeopardise your chances of A) landing yourself a job and B) keeping your history clear with contacts in the future. You can share what you wish to however on a private setting therefore the two accounts won't get mixed up and confused. 

Following a large amount of Instagram accounts is a brilliant idea as it widens your chances of creating contacts as a larger amount of people are going to be able to see your content. Also the more accounts you follow, the larger the number of followers you will receive in return. The more people viewing your content the better, you never know who could see a photo and pass it on to another in the industry. For example when I created my Instagram account, I followed a wide range of accounts relating to the industry. This included; celebrity, television, actors, cancers, singers, models, fan pages, directors, photographers, high street brands, scouts, theatre companies, agencies and even food chain accounts. This broadens the range of people you may receive following you back. For example I have had follows from accounts such as; friends and family, photographers, fashion designers, fashion bloggers, independent clothing companies and scouts. The range puts you in a strong position for potential jobs.

2) Applying to be a runner on a set as work experience- as an actors having had experience of working in front of the camera is of course essential however the importance of knowing how everything works behind the scenes of a shoot is equally valuable to performers. This demonstrates to us what each member of the behind the scenes crew are looking for in the performers. This allows you to take a step back and take in this information and learn some tips too. You can apply to companies through work experience and they may be able to set you up with an upcoming shoot you are able to attend and be a runner for. This may simply include making tea and coffee for the vast and crew however you are able to take a different view on the set up. You could learn firstly how a director’s mind works, allowing you to perform efficiently in upcoming jobs you do as an actor. You will also get to appreciate the amount of time and effort camera operators and lighting crew put into the production. They never get enough credit for the work they do however this experience will allow you to appreciate what they do and will teach you to be patient on set. 

3) Staying connected to industry links you already have and creating new ones- This is one of the most important tips for an actor to take on board. The saying goes ‘sometimes it's not what you know, it's who you know’ and this couldn't be any more accurate for us in this competitive industry. Once working with a client, whether is be a low budget group of students for a student film or a large director from a nationally know company, sending a letter to them following up working with them is one of the bets ideas, as it ensure they remember you, in the letter (sent by email) I would include your email address, a thank you for accommodating and working with you, a compliment to their company and a subtle way of expressing to them that you would like to work with be again. This keeps you fresh in their minds so if any new projects come up with a role you would fit, they know you are reliable and have previously shown interest. Even if no jobs occur, if they are conversing with other industry employers, your name could be mentioned if you have made a positive impression from the outset and with reference to the email, they can easily put you in direct contact. 

30/09/16 Starting the final piece

Following on from our last dance lesson, we started with the same warm up we learnt last week, seeing whether we had made the improvements we needed to make the warm up more technically correct. Last weeks target for me to have improved this week was to ensure I know which leg to head with on the roll to the floor at the end of the phrase. This week I had indeed made this improvement, remembering each time I danced the warm up which leg to lead with. This is a positive, showing within a week I have progressed and now the warm up for me is stronger and more accurate. 

Last week we all split off in to pairs and solos to create some movement material around a quote or an article taken from the media. I had some ideas from movement however I wasn’t fully satisfied that my quotes would allow me to create enough movement to put together a full length solo piece. In conclusion I ended up pairing up with Amber, learning what she had created last week and going on to developing this with her as a duet piece. We took inspiration from Sia’s music video Big Girls Cry, which includes manipulation and controlling on a girl shown through physical contact to her face. The girl’s hands take control of the facial expressions she pulls and the way her head moves. This we figured would be a good starting point for us as the media is centred around controlling the consumers. The duet we created had two parts to it; one standing section which started off the piece, creating large movements with our bodies to represent the consumers being individuals, totally un influenced by the media. We performed moves such as round kicks showing an open mind and leg pushes showing strength, mentally and physically. The second part of the dance was floor based, we created manipulative movements, using our hands to control our facial movements, as if it wasn’t our hands on our faces. This shows the media over taking the minds of the public in a negative light. 

https://youtu.be/4NhKWZpkw1Q - inspiration

Kat liked the look of our duet and how we had interpreted the idea of the media and fitted it to a piece of dance. However she had the idea to split up the duet in to two sections- the standing section which Amber took as a solo and the floored section which I took as a solo. All of the dance pieces everyone had created over the past two lessons have been with the main aim to be fitted together into one ensemble dance piece based around the media which will be the final piece for this unit. We will also be performing it at the Winter Dance Show in the middle of December this year. My solo (section 2) now starts off the show, I am curled up in the centre of the stage, in a fetas position, engulfing myself in my body facing stage left. Everyone else in the class at this point has formed a semi circled, facing different directions standing in neutral around the room. This conveys the idea that everyone who has access to the media has a different opinion and interpretation about what is currently being talked about. I perform a distorted crawl forward, followed by me ending up on my knees, bringing my arm and hand across, I front of my body, as if following an invisible story in the press, showing its natural progression. 

Instead of using pre recorded music through out the dance piece, Kat had the idea to have people on stage saying the odd sentence about the media, to set an informative yet chilling atmosphere for our audience. We tried this out and it worked really well, especially as I was able to perform my solo in complete silences which allowed me to take time with the movements as a musical backing track at this point could have  restricted my ability to make it free and prolonged. 

Following on from this we created some gestural movements as a class, which we performed as an ensemble. For example we fitted some specific words to moves, almost visually representing what was being said through a gesture. For example when Amber spoke the word ‘power’ everyone lifted their head. This is a very simplistic movement however has powerful because seeing everyone do it in sync, gives the impact that the whole stage is  included and part of the movement. 

In conclusion I feel as though we have made good progress as a whole class today with regards to getting the final dance piece up and running. We had created a solid minutes worth of material and we plan to eventually incorporate parts of everyone’s material into the dance at different points. Our target for next week is to continue developing this piece and to carry on thinking about how the media allows us to believe different stories about current affairs and events. A personal target for myself is to  think about why am I performing the moves that I do in my solo, allowing me to explore the movement in more detail with passionate and emotion expression and presence. 

29/09/16 Read through and organisation

In today’s lesson following a cast read through o the first act of the script, Kim explained to us that part of our unit includes us having to organise and fill all of the extras casting in the musical by working out which characters we need to cast and holding auditions to fill these spaces. 

Initial thoughts on the script- the script includes a large amount of sarcasm, which we have decided to full embrace and act, so it almost becomes cheesy and predictable almost. We have figure this is the best way to interpret the script a half hearted effort to show sarcasm always come across in a weak and poor way. This is because it is more difficult for the audience to judge whether the humour is meant to be present, putting them in an uncomfortable position. My character especially, Scaramouche is humorously sarcastic, to the point where she has a permanent guard up, blocking people she interacts with emotionally effecting her. It is also clear to me that she finds it difficult to allow others in to her life and to know information about her personality and preferences. For example her responses to certain characters are blunt and could be interpreted as stand offish and rude.

To ensure everyone is aware of which characters we need to cast, our task was to set out a chronological list of the songs from We Will Rock You and with help from our scripts, figure out all of the characters involved in every song. We labelled each song with either an E for ensemble or S for solo. This will make it easier for us to reference in the casting process, ensuring we are all aware of which songs need some extras from the year 12 class. 

To ensure the whole class were organised and prepared to arrange auditions for the parts in the close future, we were assigned a section of the chorus to focus on in our double cast pairings. Amber and I who are playing Scaramouche, are taking care of the GaGa kids, who feature in 2 songs and various scenes. Amber and I had a discussion about the type of character the GaGa kids are and what we would be looking for in the auditions from the year 12s. We want the candidates to have the ability to copy direct movements and simple spoken words and work together as an ensemble. The GaGa kids are under the control and influence of the Killer Queen who runs the Globalsoft corporation, which sees all citizens being clones of one another, acting and dressing the same way. For example during the song ‘Radio Ga Ga’ , all of the Kids perform the same actions which requires team work. They also need to work well with the other members of the GaGa Kids to ensure their actions look in synchronisation. The attributes we are looking for which could indicate this to us from the audition would be enthusiasm, corporation and willing to listen to us and be a part of the production.