To start this lesson off, as usual, we had one of BTEC lead in a warm up, this time it was Beckies turn to lead the warm up session.
She decided to work, simultaneously on voice and movement, by giving our characters emotions to portray. She told us to think of a line that our character would say, and then walk around saying that line, in a particular emotion. For example, walk as if your character was sad, whilst saying your line in the same manner.
We went through happy, sad, angry, scared and surprised.
For this i chose the line "Hello my friendzzz..."
For happy, i just played up mischievous and cunning, as i think Chesh' would only be happy when he was getting his own way, or causing havoc. So i strode around purposefully, yet still delicately on the balls of my feet and toes, with a lot of arm movement thrown in because i like to make his mannerisms quite large and elegant looking, so when he strides, he strides through the air in a bound, and as his feet reach the floor, his arms carefully keep him balanced (key as cats have superb balance) As for the line, i read this with a slight chuckle in my voice as though he were pleased with himself, and to really live up to the cliche... like a cat that got the cream.
Next we did sad, which was harder to put to my character, as i had never envisioned him to be much of a one who had time to be sad, however, needs must and i attempted to put something to the character. I decided he would still attempt to have a spring in his step, but only every now and then, mostly he'd just drag his feet, and hunch his back severely. He would occasionally try to maintain some slyness and slickness but it would be lost in translation as his sadness interrupted his stride. I would say the line in a way that would be almost mumbled, because although the line is "Hello my friendzzz." in order to do this line, i thought he could being saying hello, purely out of politeness (though i don't believe he would be all that big on polite, being evil and all) but i thought that if he were to say it, much like the occasional dragging of his feet and tail (though of course, it's harder to show that without actually having a tail myself...) his voice would drag too, into a gentle mumble.
For the next one, angry, i decided to have my character fly into action, as i thought, if he were angry, he would move faster than he already does, meaning i had to swiftly dart around the room, in and out of people, charging towards whatever he was angry at. After all, he is a cat, if he were angry, i would think it only appropriate he would pounce. When i first tried to find inspiration for my character, i looked towards Scar from The Lion King, as he was a perfect role model to base this character around, and when he gets angry (which is often) he really gets angry. I figured it would be best to take inspiration once again from Scar and put it into Cheshire, and so his actions were very much like that of a much larger wild cat, as apposed to the kitten he sometimes pretends to be (a little like Puss In Boots from Shrek 2) As for the line, i think it was simple enough, i just made it sound cunning, devious and very much as though, even though he was angry, he was preparing for revenge, making the "Hello my friendzzz." sound very sinister.
We moved onto scared for our next emotion. Now i do think my character has tendencies to show cowardice from time to time, but i wasn't quite sure how to put it into action on this one, so i just improvised without thinking too hard on the matter. I ended up making him seem quite twitchy and nervous, as well as quiet and he would hide behind the things in the room, such as pillars, and even other people. Though if this is how i really feel the character would react, i am not sure, he would probably be similar, but not as twitchy perhaps. That seems far more characteristic of The White Rabbit.
Our last emotion to work with was surprised, for this i found the movements easy, as they were just more upright and unsure than usual, very similar to the way a meerkat stands whilst on lookout, but it makes them look very surprised. However, the line didn't really fit at all, but i just said it with a surprised tone anyway.
In the lesson we started to block Act 2 Scene 1, the scene where the good characters are feeling hopeless after the kidnap of Alice, The White Queen then attempts to cheer them up by singing "If You're Happy And You Know It..."
We decided to have an action for each character. As The White Queen started, she had the well known "Clap your hands!" command, to start the characters off, and to give the audience a chance to sing along.
We then created one for each character.
For Prince Charming, we had "If you're happy and you know it, strike a pose!" at which point all character strike a pose.
For Fairy Godmother, we had "If you're happy and you know it, make a wish!" followed by a wand waving action.
Then we had Red Riding Hood, who was hard to find one for, but in the end we decided as she is off to visit her grandma, we had "If you're happy and you know it, wave to gran!" at which point, an extra, dressed as an old lady would come out and say "Hello dear!" dressed as an old woman. But as this happens three times, we have 3 people dressed as old women appearing from different parts of the stage.
For Cinderella we had "If you're happy and you know it, sweep the floor!" and they all mime sweeping actions, this was because of Cinderella's past spent cleaning and cooking for her evil stepmother and stepsisters.
For Rapunzel we had "If you're happy and you know it, brush your hair!" but because this character has the tendency to be very Chavvy, Rachel, the girl playing her, improvised "If you're happy and you like totally know it, brush your hair!" which when she said it fast, and over and over again, was really quite funny and so has been kept in.
Tweedle Dum is on stage at this point, sulking and being upset about not finding his brother sooner, i put forward the idea of The White Queen singing her line again but tripping up Tweedle Dum so when she gets tot the line "and you know it..." she would fall off stage and say "I'M OKAY" so the song would go "If you're happy and you know it *crash* I'm okay! (still in tune)" But we finished the session before deciding what to do fully with that.
We later did an after school lesson where we worked on blocking Act 2 Scene 2, in which we worked on basic staging of characters, and spacing, plus many physical, visual jokes, such as The Red Queen standing over Alice whilst wearing a long dress, meaning Alice is stuck inside her dress. The Red Queen, knowing Alice has the book on her persons still, reaches under the dress to get it and pulls out a number of other items before finding the right one. This joke however, can only work if everything looks right, for instance, the dress must be long enough, and the timing has to be spot on for it to be funny. These are the things we have been working on.
Wednesday 21 September 2011
Friday 16 September 2011
BTEC Performing Arts - Pantomime Posters.
In a previous lesson i came up with an idea for posters to advertise the pantomime, as my production role has been script writer, and will be makeup artist, i will have nothing to do in the gap in between, as the script is finished, and makeup has been planned, but it will now not come into play until performance, and dress rehearsal, i offered to be an odd job person, helping with costume, props, set, publicity, and anything that really needed an extra pair of hands, as i didn't think it very fair - or very fun for me! If everyone else had to work the entire length of the panto, and i only had to do my work at the very start, and very finish, so whilst in a lesson working on publicity, i offered my idea to create posters.
My idea was not to create a single poster, but rather a collection of posters, one poster for each character/s so, for example, the mad hatters poster would consist of the top half of his head, his hat included - naturally, his eyes looking up, towards the title, that is written across the hat on editing software. Other characters, such as the two tweedles, would share a poster, characters like mine, The Cheshire Cat, would have only the smile, photoshopped to be without the rest of the face, and edited to be stretched further than it was. This would then be placed against a purple background. Sarah, who plays cinderella suggested just having her sparkly shoe (her glass slipper) for her poster, and i believe that for some characters, simply something that represents them would also work as a poster.
I was asked to create a draft version of the poster for my next lesson, which i have just done now, this was done on a very bad webcam, where as the real ones will be done properly, with makeup and with an SLR camera and more time and editing, so it will not look as rough as these. This is what i created in about 10-20 minutes a moment ago.
My idea was not to create a single poster, but rather a collection of posters, one poster for each character/s so, for example, the mad hatters poster would consist of the top half of his head, his hat included - naturally, his eyes looking up, towards the title, that is written across the hat on editing software. Other characters, such as the two tweedles, would share a poster, characters like mine, The Cheshire Cat, would have only the smile, photoshopped to be without the rest of the face, and edited to be stretched further than it was. This would then be placed against a purple background. Sarah, who plays cinderella suggested just having her sparkly shoe (her glass slipper) for her poster, and i believe that for some characters, simply something that represents them would also work as a poster.
I was asked to create a draft version of the poster for my next lesson, which i have just done now, this was done on a very bad webcam, where as the real ones will be done properly, with makeup and with an SLR camera and more time and editing, so it will not look as rough as these. This is what i created in about 10-20 minutes a moment ago.
I also had to keep in mind budgeting, so i looked for a few websites, to save going around printing centers, trying to haggle for a cheaper deal, i remembered how much cheaper it can be to order online, i found a site that sells 50 A5 posters for £21, or 50 A4 for £24, and seeing as there was only £3 difference, i decided we could probably manage the bigger ones, but i will discuss this with the group, as bigger does not always mean better. But for future reference, for myself and the rest of the group, this is the link.
To the A4 Size
To the A5 Size
I will, very obviously discuss this with the class in the next production lesson that we have, on Monday, and hopefully, the idea shall be well received and the prices deemed not too expensive.
BTEC Performing Arts - Lesson Two
16th September 2011
In this lesson i led the warm up, because the previous lesson, led by Kate, had been used to practice the physical aspect of the character, i instead took this lesson to work on vocals, not just for the rest of the class, but for myself too.
I had each person read a line that their character says, first in their natural voice, then in their character voices, i did this because i think it would help to show the contrast, and i find that it also helps to add characterisation characterization because it makes you think about how you want your character to come across, and then we decided to play the game where you have to sit in a circle, and look at another person, get up, and walk to them, they then have to get out of their chair, find someone else, and do the same thing. Usually the game is a focus activity, and uses no vocal skills at all, as it is silent, but in this one, we said our lines and acted as our character as we did so, going forward to other people, meaning we were constantly moving and talking as our character would.
I tried to make my character speak very clearly, but i, myself, naturally talk very fast, so it involves me attempting to slow down my speech, to make it a lot more obvious what i am saying, though i know that sometimes, words can become lost if i talk too quickly, meaning it is hard to understand me.
I try to make sure my character talks with an extremely posh accent, sometimes rolling R's or emphasising them to make a purring sound, however, he is still very well spoken, and speaks reasonably slowly (at the very least compared to how i talk regularly) he also talks with an extreme air of arrogance, and makes sure everybody knows how highly he thinks of himself, often talking in a sarcastic, patronizing or insulting manner, even to his friend The Red Queen, who is often too ditsy to even notice it.
In the two lessons we had, we blocked scene 5, ran through a few times and then attempted to run through the whole thing, however, we didn't quite make it to the very end, as we ran out of time, and act one is considerably long once put together, meaning that it's hard to fit it all in sometimes.
I got some notes as feedback at the end of the lesson, i was told that during my second line, wherein Cheshire introduces himself, i am told to more clearly word what i am saying, this is down to the fact that this line has been written for this character to speed through it, giving the audience a runthrough that is just too fast to understand, or to take in properly, so that when he gets to the end of the line "Any questions? No? Okay! Moving on!" he is almost cutting the audience short, not giving them time to fully understand it, however, i am debating reading this line slowly, because as funny as it would be to read it extremely fast, i am worried people watching may just assume, what with my natural nature to talk fast, that i am simply nervous, and therefore talking even faster than usual, and the joke may just be lost. I also think that slowing it down will give me time to breathe, and spread out the monologue as i descend the stairs, through the audience and onto the stage. So i agree with the feedback that this bit must be clearer, especially as it is the characters first appearance and the first time the audience ever meet him, i think the first impression has to be understandable and fully audible.
My strengths in these lessons were:
-I was on task for the entirety of both of these lessons, contributing ideas, and discussing how my vision as writer, with the vision of the director, to try to create some sort of equal vision for it.
-My physicality as the character remained constant throughout performance, and i ensured that i reacted, not just acted, so that even when i had no lines, or wasn't doing anything, i was still clearly in character.
My weaknesses were:
-My vocal clarity, as well as constancy and projection still need work. While i know the sort of voice i want my character to have, i still find myself worrying that it will sound too similar to my own voice, and it won't come across the way i want it to, i think i have to work on this in my own time, away from the rest of the class, which can also be a good time to practice learning my lines so that i don't have to worry about that, as i strongly believe that may be holding me back vocally, and obviously physically, if i am carrying around a script. It is much harder to fully be the character, if you are holding the script and having to check back and read it every three seconds, so once i have fully learnt my lines, it will become far easier to embody the character, physically, vocally and mentally.
In this lesson i led the warm up, because the previous lesson, led by Kate, had been used to practice the physical aspect of the character, i instead took this lesson to work on vocals, not just for the rest of the class, but for myself too.
I had each person read a line that their character says, first in their natural voice, then in their character voices, i did this because i think it would help to show the contrast, and i find that it also helps to add characterisation characterization because it makes you think about how you want your character to come across, and then we decided to play the game where you have to sit in a circle, and look at another person, get up, and walk to them, they then have to get out of their chair, find someone else, and do the same thing. Usually the game is a focus activity, and uses no vocal skills at all, as it is silent, but in this one, we said our lines and acted as our character as we did so, going forward to other people, meaning we were constantly moving and talking as our character would.
I tried to make my character speak very clearly, but i, myself, naturally talk very fast, so it involves me attempting to slow down my speech, to make it a lot more obvious what i am saying, though i know that sometimes, words can become lost if i talk too quickly, meaning it is hard to understand me.
I try to make sure my character talks with an extremely posh accent, sometimes rolling R's or emphasising them to make a purring sound, however, he is still very well spoken, and speaks reasonably slowly (at the very least compared to how i talk regularly) he also talks with an extreme air of arrogance, and makes sure everybody knows how highly he thinks of himself, often talking in a sarcastic, patronizing or insulting manner, even to his friend The Red Queen, who is often too ditsy to even notice it.
In the two lessons we had, we blocked scene 5, ran through a few times and then attempted to run through the whole thing, however, we didn't quite make it to the very end, as we ran out of time, and act one is considerably long once put together, meaning that it's hard to fit it all in sometimes.
I got some notes as feedback at the end of the lesson, i was told that during my second line, wherein Cheshire introduces himself, i am told to more clearly word what i am saying, this is down to the fact that this line has been written for this character to speed through it, giving the audience a runthrough that is just too fast to understand, or to take in properly, so that when he gets to the end of the line "Any questions? No? Okay! Moving on!" he is almost cutting the audience short, not giving them time to fully understand it, however, i am debating reading this line slowly, because as funny as it would be to read it extremely fast, i am worried people watching may just assume, what with my natural nature to talk fast, that i am simply nervous, and therefore talking even faster than usual, and the joke may just be lost. I also think that slowing it down will give me time to breathe, and spread out the monologue as i descend the stairs, through the audience and onto the stage. So i agree with the feedback that this bit must be clearer, especially as it is the characters first appearance and the first time the audience ever meet him, i think the first impression has to be understandable and fully audible.
My strengths in these lessons were:
-I was on task for the entirety of both of these lessons, contributing ideas, and discussing how my vision as writer, with the vision of the director, to try to create some sort of equal vision for it.
-My physicality as the character remained constant throughout performance, and i ensured that i reacted, not just acted, so that even when i had no lines, or wasn't doing anything, i was still clearly in character.
My weaknesses were:
-My vocal clarity, as well as constancy and projection still need work. While i know the sort of voice i want my character to have, i still find myself worrying that it will sound too similar to my own voice, and it won't come across the way i want it to, i think i have to work on this in my own time, away from the rest of the class, which can also be a good time to practice learning my lines so that i don't have to worry about that, as i strongly believe that may be holding me back vocally, and obviously physically, if i am carrying around a script. It is much harder to fully be the character, if you are holding the script and having to check back and read it every three seconds, so once i have fully learnt my lines, it will become far easier to embody the character, physically, vocally and mentally.
BTEC Performing Arts - Lesson One
To begin this lesson, Kate led us in a warm up to develop our characters. She decided to create a warm up wherein we all formed two lines, facing each other, and each person would have to walk down the center as their character would walk. They would then receive advice on how to walk more like their characters and then work on that. I walked as my character would. As my character was The Cheshire Cat, i thought about the possibility of walking on all fours, however, doing this is only good for walking short distances, as the human body isn't designed to walk in that way, so it is only good for going a short distance, so when it comes to walking upright, i decided to walk slightly on my tiptoes, with a bounce in my step, to mimic the way a cat's paw would look.
This is how a cat's paw looks midway through it's walk cycle.
This is how a persons foot would look whilst trying to mimic a cat's paw.
This is how a cat's paw looks midway through it's walk cycle.
This is how a persons foot would look whilst trying to mimic a cat's paw.I had to walk like this to make my character very light on his feet, he has to be light because he is, after all, a cat, and he has to be slender, and sleek, however, he is also very slumped over, as felines have very prominent shoulders and spines, though it is more prominent in wild cats, such as lions and tigers. However, you only see these shoulders, or 'scapula' when the animal is prowling, stalking prey, but i would play this character as if he were permanently stalking something, as the character is evil, and i would like him to appear long, slender, boney and constantly up to something. I pay such close attention to the physicality of the character because i believe that without physical characteristics, the character is not a character, in any aspect of performance, but especially in Pantomime, as every character has to be larger than life and over the top.
You can clearly see the bones of this cat here, humans have the same bones, but due to our upright walking stance, ours have evolved to be smaller and not as noticeable, so to compensate, i have instead, decided to arch or hunch my back.
As The Cheshire Cat is well spoken and elegant, i wanted that to come across in his mannerisms also, as well as being catlike, he has to be rather regal, after all, he is constantly at the side of The Red Queen, he also views himself as being highly intelligent, more so than anyone else in the entire show, so his air of arrogance has to be clear, as well as all of the other things.
I decided that the character walks on the tips of his feet, with his back varying between arched and hunched, depending on what he is doing, and who is interacting with, but he will also be very light on his feet, very quick, swift and slender.
I was not given anything to improve on, so i have no notes on this, but i think this is just down to the amount of time i spent creating a character for myself outside of class, so that by the time it came to coming back to school and rehearsing, i would not have to waste time developing it, because i would already have it created.
The warm up was good because we had the chance to work on, and assess our characters, and each other characters, so we could improve on them.
After we did this, we then rehearsed up to scene three of act one.
On thursday evening, we did an after school session, in which we rehearsed scenes one to four.
I think my strengths in these lessons was my physicality as my character, but my weaknesses were my vocal projection and my stage presence. I think my stage presence will improve once i get better at projecting my voice, but i think the lack of presence is to do with the fact that the scenes are freshly blocked and so i haven't yet had time to fully plan every movement that i do onstage, so there are moments when i stand, feeling unsure about what i should be doing when i am not speaking.
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