Unit 3/4 - Silent Movie

Unit 3/4 - Silent Movie

Research

Silent movies are films that feature no sound in them, and we have been working on creating our own silent movie by watching videos in class. Most inspiration has come from Charlie Chaplin as he made comedy films. For example, one clip shows Chaplin doing over the top acting, and using extravagant facial expressions. He also does this with his body movements. Subtitles are key to silent movies, because they can progress the story. The audience/viewers can see what the actors are saying if the story is too plot heavy and require dialogue being used.     

Scene Breakdown of "Don't look at the light"

Scene 1 - Friend’s House - 4 friends are playing the Ouija board and ask 2 questions. 

This is what we say:  1.  Are there any spirits with us? 2.  Is something bad going to happen today? And the answer to each question was “yes”. They then stop playing. 

Scene 2 - Fun Fair - At the fun fair They decide to see the fortune teller. Ashley asks about her future, she is told that she will die in the haunted house. He then says if you chose to go in do not look at the blue light or else.

Scene 3 - Outside the haunted house - They decide to go to the haunted house, but Ashleigh does not want to enter because she’s afraid of what the fortune teller told her. But we convince her to go in. 

Scene 4 - Inside the haunted house - When they walk in one of the friends looks directly at the blue light that she was told not to look at, she then becomes hypnotised and unable to move, the other friend comes in front and looks at her trying to help her when told not to, then she becomes hypnotised after the first one. The friend that came out the hypnosis stood there in confusion. Whilst one of the friends tries to help the hypnotised friend. While helping the hypnotised friend she accidentally looked at her and fell into a deep sleep. After falling into a deep sleep all her friends went back to normal and were extremely worried about the friend that had fallen asleep and tried to wake her up. Whilst trying to wake the friend up the fortune teller appeared and told them that they were wrong to come to the house and they shouldn’t have come and explain that he wants everyone’s soul as he had already take the friend who had fallen into a deep sleep. One of the friends runs away to start up the car and the two friends left in the house started to argue about if they should leave the hypnotised friend or to run away and leave. 

Scene 5 – car - The 2 friends run out of the house and jump straight into the car; the fortune teller sends the hypnotised friend to go and get the 3 friends. 

Production Values

In class we have story boarded all significant scenes we had to include to film our silent movie as we wrote lines that were important to use as subtitles to the movie. We decided to go with our normal clothes except for my character which was the Fortune teller. Moreover, the fortune teller had a dominant role to the 4 friends as they walked around the haunted house. We thought about spacing and how the teens will move regarding the green screen behind them, as we didn't know how big it was going to be. The story board helped us go through scene by scene where the setting was and what we were doing, so we can have a clear structure on the story.

Props

• Tinfoil
•  Ball
•  Table
•  Chairs
•  Rose
•  plate
•  Ouija Board








































We found the props to be useful especially the crystal ball on a table, because they helped give a visual aid to the scene enhancing the vibe of a fortune teller seeing the future. I think this was significant, because this portrays how the fortune teller is dependent on it and using his powers to demonstrate to the people looking at it. We wrapped the tinfoil over the ball to make it look like a crystal ball on top of a plate. This made it stand out, because the foil was shiny and made it easier to place it on the plate. If we used a real crystal ball we would have to worry about it breaking or being placed on the table properly. I think this was a fantastic decision, because we won't worry about breaking it or dropping it while filming.         

 

Costumes 

• Scarf
Red Durag
Shiny Blazer
Shirt
Blaser
Black Trousers
Rose

The costumes are mainly for the Fortune teller as we try to make him look formal yet a little crazy, as we try to wrap a scarf around my head as a common trope to fortune tellers. This made me embody the character better as we tried to make him uncommon to the teens getting they're fortunes read. He wore a blaser portraying him to be mature and making him look more elegant and sophisticated which contrasts to how the teens dressed. I believe by doing so this makes you second guess if this person is posh and collective or weird and desperate to give people fortunes. I think having that look for the character makes it harder for the viewer to depict if the fortune teller was trying to help the teens or lead them astray. Furthermore, the questions they would ask would be if he was clueless himself on his visions. The rose was additional as we did not use them in rehearsals but on the day of filming which was the cherry on the top as this came convenient to the role of the fortune teller, and worked well with the scene. We decided it was best to keep the rose with my character.

Rehearsals 

During the first rehearsals we have been using dialogue to understand how we will act in each scene so that we won't get confused. We also have been looking at ways to perfect our scenes by focusing on the character's goals. When we first developed the silent movie we didn't have Louis there, so I had to fill in two characters and it would have been played a lot differently as I would be the friend that back stabbed the others. Subsequently, when Louis came he filled in the fourth friend, and I stuck to the villain of the story. We added some new scenes that we thought was fitting to the story. For example, the Ouija Board scene in the house, and trying to polish other scenes with advanced dialogue to no dialogue. However, this was a struggle because we were used to speaking with lines and now we had to perform it silently. In the end we got the hang of it as we practiced over and over. Towards the day of the shoot it was much easier to know what happened next as we had a structure to the story that we followed.

What Went Well

I thought the scene that did well was the first scene with the Ouija Board as we knew what questions we had to ask and everyone's reactions to there being spirits set the atmosphere for the whole story. The next scene that we found was significant was when the teens visited the fortune teller. I believe this was one of our best scenes as we decided to show the dark side to the fortune teller. In my opinion, I think this is an important scene as it reveals the fate of Ashleigh and it shows a deranged side to my character depicting to the teens thinking he might be lying or an unstable mind. This is where we show a lot of facial expressions that are big, and that are excessive. Doing this will portray the emotions of the characters to the viewers.

Even Better If

 I think what would've been better was the confrontation between the teens and the Fortune Teller, because It feels that we may have rushed into it. When spoken with dialogue we tried to figure out why he would say not to go into the haunted house, and I thought about why he would go and hypnotise them at the end. I feel there would be a backstory where we won't have time to fit in a silent movie. This would portray the intention to the fortune teller and I believe the scene will play out better with dialogue than it being silent, if we had more time to work out what actions to do it wouldn't feel so rushed. Although the confrontation seemed rushed the story line carried over to the next scene. Next time, what I could work on is observing the atmosphere around me, because I was standing in front of a green screen I felt I didn't look around as much or take my time when doing some actions. A struggle for me was to be conscious of where the camera was as you can forget which angle the camera will be or to look directly at the lens. Overall, I enjoyed working on the silent movie and it has given me a wide perspective to how silent movies are played and what we can expand in the next project.

Planning of CPT Theatre

On Tuesday January 21st 2020 we are thinking about how we can fit the instrumentalists in the space.
We decided that we could place them towards the side of the stage next to the audience as this would be beneficial as we will have more spacing for the actors. Moreover we have to also think about props. For example, We have to include a table and chairs within the space given a table and chairs within the space given. I personally didn't think we would be able to get all 5 of us on the stage

On January 28th, we were discussing lighting for the show. First we made a scene breakdown of each lighting will be used.

A second year Production Arts student named Ezra came into our class to discuss lighting and sound for each scene. This was so it could play during our Silent Movies as he will set up lighting and sound. Ezra will help alongside the team at Camden People’s Theatre.

SCENE BREAKDOWN OF LIGHTING

Scene 1 - Friend's House 

The first scene with the Ouija we will use red lighting that moves across a red spotlight will light up covering over us.

Scene 2 - Fun Fair 

 When entering the Fun Fair, there will be colourful lights to convey the atmosphere, the lights will change at a slow pace.

Scene 3 - Fortune teller

When Louis mentions that one of the friends is going to die, a red spotlight will shine on him, there will be a flickering light on Louis when he laughs which portrays danger.

Scene 4 - Haunted House

A blue light will be used on the friends when they discover a blue light as this is a sign of them getting possessed.

Scene 5 - Car

White flickering lights will come on when Hanna and Amelia struggle to get the car ready. A black out will happen when Ashleigh tries to bang the window. This will end as a cliffhanger.

Evaluation 

On 3rd of March, we went to the Camden People’s Theatre where we performed our Silent movies to an audience. At first we tried to see how we could fit actors and music people in a 5x4 space.Unfortunately I couldn’t be in the performance of the planning stage for the silent movie but as an audience point of view I really admired the transitions they made. This was a key point we wanted to perfect when we were first given the assignment. During the process we worked with level 2 music students and they were using instruments for example piano and percussion to present the melody while we were miming our actions in the silent movie. What went well was the actors moving the props to transition to each scene, and how the actors would walk on the spot. Even better if they kept miming throughout faster paced scenes. For example, When Amelia and Hanna run towards the car, it’s unclear if they opened it properly with their arms.

Hamilton Review/Report

Hamilton: Review/Report

1. Alexander Hamilton was an orphan who had a rough childhood, and by the age of 19 he goes to get an education. He was half/British and half/French and part Scottish. After his mother died, his father took his estate and left him penniless. What was important was his writing that bought him attention, and he was also quarrelsome with people. He also criticises Aaron burr to not being committed to any beliefs. Hamilton was a part of the revolutionary war and was George Washington’s right hand man. Due to differences Hamilton is shot by Burr from a confrontation that Hamilton has endorsed Jefferson as president making Burr angry at him. Hamilton is an important figure, because he is one of the first founding fathers of the United States. He has also co-founded the first bank in North America. 

2. The main characters of Hamilton are: Alexander Hamilton the protagonist of the story. Aaron Burr the antagonist of the story who faces Hamilton in a duel, The Schuyler sisters, mainly Elizabeth who marries Alexander (Eliza) and Angelica. John Laurens who dies for Hamilton during the war with Lafayette and Hercules along side them. Jefferson, who goes up for president and rivals Alexander, Madison and George Washington. To start with the main subjects are Politics, Blackmail, Secret Affairs, Wars. A big central theme throughout the musical, I believe is Legacy as it portrays Alexander doing everything he can to protect what he has built. The story tells how Alexander rose and fell from grace.

3.  The different ways used to tell the story are the songs rapped and sung throughout the musical. The genres consist of Hip Hop, R&B and Pop to tell their story, and also the ensemble who perform the dance numbers and backing vocals help convey the characters emotions. Lighting is also used to progress the story along as it can indicate the moods of other characters and can suggest the time of day.

4. The musical styles I heard was an acapella and rap for when Lafayette, John and Hercules go inside the pub, the Schuyler sisters that has a destiny child twist to it giving it a modern pop take to the song, and Helpless takes inspiration in the R&B and is heavily influenced by the 1998 Brandy and Monica. These genres are used throughout the musical as we see them being sung by different characters.

5. Personally I think this is very different to other musicals as this takes a modern look at the biography of Alexander Hamilton using Hip hop to tell the story is something that not a lot of musicals have done. I think this is a brave move, because most musicals love to stick to traditional opera style songs that many young kids and teens may find boring or repetitive. Normally, musicals use spoken dialogue during songs and also most don’t sing continuously throughout. I also believe this was unique and makes Hamilton stand out than other musicals. The ensemble stands out miraculously as they make the songs more enjoyable to watch as an audience.

6. Significantly, the character’s performances that stood out to me was Eliza’s “Burn” as you can hear the pain in her words and anger she’s feeling, bottling them up inside. Hearing her made me think she was either going to burst in rage or tears, and I think the tone of her voice was done very brilliantly and also made me feel sorry for not only her but their son Philip as well. This made me think how was Eliza going to forgive Alexander for the affair. Another character that stood out was Angelica, because in “Satisfied” she shows her true feelings for Alexander, however chooses to suppress them as he isn’t as wealthy of a man to marry as the oldest daughter she has to marry someone who can provide money. I think this made her character stand out as she tries to make others happy instead of putting her own happiness first. I also think King George 3rd made a comedic approach as the lyrics in his songs aren’t serious and makes his character more loose and carefree. Finally I believe Lafayette’s character stands out in “guns and ships” as there is a lot of character development as he raps, because in the beginning he couldn’t pronounce some words and is rapping which shows how far he has come.

7.  People were surprised in “satisfied” as they weren’t expecting Angelica to have feelings for Alexander, and I was shocked to find that Hamilton isn’t always satisfied. People were cheering when the dance numbers for “my shot” came around and the character of Hercules got into his character. When King George comes on the audience laughs at how comical and calm he acts as he sings. Also when Alexander cheats on Eliza the audience was shocked to learn that he would publicly expose himself just for his legacy. I think Philip dying was a depressing moment as I believe that Eliza and Alexander still had some tension towards each other that they resolved soon after. When Thomas Jefferson came trying to get an applause ironically the audience applauded making his entrance very big. Finally when Alexander gets shot I’m at the edge of my seat thinking is this how he is going to die, as one of the ensembles resembles a bullet with her hand flying to Alexander. 

8. In the Q&A The actors spoke about how they get into character by doing exercises, and how it helps them stay focus before a show starts. Moreover being on stage means you have to be persistent and to remember "the only way you know that you are giving your all is to do better than yesterday ". One of them says to themselves in the mirror that they can become the character they are playing by repeating "you are this character", and portrays belief in themselves. When you don't believe the person you are acting differs from you, the audience won't believe it either. I think belief helps you broaden your mentality to fully embody your character.

9. The challenges that I found was that there is going to be a lot of competition, and that you will have to be working long hours and not having to see your families. Actors will have to start early and finish late at night. 80% of actors are not at work, and you will have to find jobs elsewhere to receive income. You will also have to work on projection on your voice so it can reach the back of the audience. They will also want you to be punctual, and the ability to analyse roles from different contexts.

10. Lin Manuel Miranda wrote all the songs in the musical, and it took him a year to write “my shot” he read the biography of Alexander Hamilton and after reading the first 2 chapters he was picturing a musical in his mind. The musical received so much success and critical acclaim.

11. The message that Hamilton left us is don’t take life for granted, because it could be too short. You shouldn’t limit yourself, because you can exceed your dreams. It also shows that you shouldn’t put other people’s happiness before yours.  Moreover, you should stand by your beliefs. Hamilton also teaches us about making a name for yourself, and sharing your story with other people. They also teach us about camaraderie and about working together to get your voice heard. This message shouldn't be forgotten, because people belittle themselves on what they can or can't do leading to them not being able to find weaknesses about themselves or having the confidence to improve their attitude.  

12. An actor must be able to take rejection, and also keep moving forward to the next audition. I will take this to my training by never giving up, and trying to stay consistent. Also by going out of my comfort zone and trying out different roles. Also by being punctual and enunciating every word I say. Overall this will become a routine for me to familiarise myself with that can help me get a clear structure of what I must do. For example, finding work that can help with my confidence: Spoken words can help share your work with the audience and voice your opinions. Another one is writing your own script and performing it with classmates that can help with creativity and imagination. This is what I will take forward with me to the next project!              

Unit 1 - Identity

Identity

What We Have Learnt In Class

• Flexibility
• Good Posture
• Good Listening 
• Eye Contact
• Being Clear
• Memorising
• Openness
• Motivation
• Facial Expressions
• Staying in Character
• Confidence 
• Projective Voice
• Body Language
• Determination
• Teamwork
• Never giving up
• Stage presence
• Concentration
• Emotion memory
• Dramatic analysis
• Observation

What is Verbatim 

Verbatim theatre is used as a platform for people who wouldn’t normally be able to use it, to express their voice, and to share their story or an event they have experienced. This allows students to be able to brainstorm a realistic character so they can produce dialogue of that person. They would also use this by analysing a person’s gestures, physicality and facial expressions. Actors that will use Verbatim theatre will replicate the person’s speech patterns in a conversation. Students would also have to imitate their accent as well as pauses and repeated words. The process of this is to create an authentic piece other than most playwrights that are based on true events, therefore giving off their own twist. 

Verbatim theatre, meaning word for word uses spoken words from real people. Actors will play as them with no changes to the dialogue usually from recordings or interviews. These testimonies are later used to construct the play of that explained topic. Sometimes an individual will work with a writer to tell their story. Verbatim theatre is similar to documented theatre/plays such as Rolf Hutchhuth’s Der Stellvertreter (The representative known in America as the Deputy) Which premiered in West Berlin in 1963 and Peter Weiss’s The Investigation (1965). These German documentary productions had a great influence on British documentary theatre. https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/genres/verbatim-theatre-iid-2551

Subsequently when Verbatim theatre is used there is realism to the piece. Verbatim gives out a narrative of truth to the play and gives you facts on how people have viewed in their lifetime. “ Verbatim plays offers the truth and authenticity to the audience that even the most well crafted and researched plays can’t,'' says writer and director Robin Belfield. This would also have to take skill to listen and observe the way people speak, and listen to the testimony to make sure it is “represented accurately”. There is also debating of which words can be placed within the final performance and ones that don’t make it in. As a result this would require the person to choose highlights of lines/moments that stand out!  

What is good about Verbatim theatre is that it is direct quotes of people that lived through certain events. This way it will not get changed or adapted into any other source since this is a duplication of the original it will try to get as close to the original as possible. Without turning it to a writer’s choice of events and ideas to intrigue the audience.

What Have you studied on Identity in class ?

In class we have been looking at the theme of identity, and required us to use verbatim theatre to explore different styles, of real perspectives, from people’s viewpoints. For example, interviews, news articles and other people’s personal writing like an autobiography. First we were introduced to some games to expand our improvisation, so that we are able to think of ideas on the spot which will later assist us on ideas for identity. Normally, we do warm ups each session to get us active, and to ensure that we have good posture. Also some techniques to improve our breathing by putting our left hand to our stomachs breathing in and out from the belly or with a partner putting their right hand against your stomach and their left hand on your shoulder. Another technique would be to lay your whole body against the floor and try breathing in and out. This is to help project our voices, because if we don’t have a loud voice the audience won’t be able to hear us. The next step would then be to articulate our words correctly and clearly by not speaking too fast, and pronouncing words properly. An example would be by using “tongue twisters”, so we can get use to articulating our words, and exercising our tongue. For our Verbatim we have been interviewing our relatives questions: Where they were brought up? How they found their workplace? What made them happy? What made them angry? Etc. I recorded my mum by audio and her Verbatim is going to play in the piece. I am going to do a verbatim on Alice’s uncle who talks about growing up in Sierra Leone that is similar to how   my mum’s interview plays.

Rehearsal

During class we were rehearsing our devised piece for Identity, and we were working on poses to represent ourselves. Next we had to work on three still images, and I was paired up with Kenroy, and Aso. When we all worked together people were laughing and giggling and it was harder to move the scene forward. While we did this the current scene portrayed us giving compliments to Hanna. My first line originally was “ I like your hair” to “Have you lost weight” as I thought it would be more interesting to use, and was an example from our tutor. Furthermore, As others appeared next it was difficult not to laugh at how some others approached Hanna, because people were eyeing at each other and it was problematic as I couldn’t stop smiling. I needed to choose six lines for my verbatim, and I was deciding which ones to choose. I also thought I wouldn’t be able to remember each line as I picked big chunks for it. In addition, the next scene came and I was playing an old man with Alice as my old partner watching a street performance. I believe this scene was done really well, because no one was corpsing and got into their role as an audience. I used shocked facial expressions to indicate my character was enjoying the performance. Towards the end of the performance our tutors thought it would be a good idea to include a dance. I thought this would be a fantastic end to the performance, and decided to learn it. Henok choreographed the dance and taught it to a few students that wanted to take part. In the end it was me and Kenroy who had the motivation to learn all the steps to the routine.  

Evaluation 

In the performance what went well was my ability to stay in character as I was able to remember all of my verbatim without stuttering. I believe I handled feedback well as I walked around the room while I spoke and was able to transition to my next character. Another thing I found that I liked was my interaction with other characters in the background. As Henok was speaking his verbatim I portrayed the physicality of a primary school kid playing in the background when speaking with Alana. When Adina asks us to show her her class, we decline her offer by waving our hands signalling for her to go away. Moreover as we circle around her I thought this was a significant scene as the audience's reaction to Adina on the floor empathised with her and Taija who helped her up. Another scene I found that was significant was the Charlie Chaplin performance from Shadhut. I personally loved this scene as I act like an old married couple with Alice. I crouched down holding an imaginary cane to portray an old man holding unto Alice’s arm. When shadhut sneezes me and Alice stare at him in disgust backing away from him. A disadvantage to this was we couldn’t be seen to begin with, and it was much harder to see our facial expressions. Moreover in the next scene When Aso is talking about social media I try to interact with Adina taking pictures on our phones, as I thought it would be best to not sit alone without doing anything. Finally it was time to perform the dance, Although there were minor technical difficulties as the song didn’t start on time I thought it would be best to improvise and say “ D.J play the song” as a way to tell the audience it was purposely done. I believe the dance was well received as everyone from the audience was cheering and we got some amazing feedback. Even better if I knew the staging of the performance beforehand as I appeared to be out eye shot. I felt very frustrated as it meant I couldn’t get any feedback if I was in formation correctly. Next time for my next project I will try to articulate my words clearly and know the spacing on the stage.