Overall Evaluation

This Unit I have been developing my acting skills and performing in a play called Noughts and Crosses.

The Final Rehearsal

On Thursday 16th October 2014 I had my final workshop lesson before my performance, this involved watching the other classes performance and showing our performance as well. I really think that by watching the other classes performance it helped me develop my skills and my character. It made me think about Sephy's objectives a bit more and what she was trying to show in the first scene. I realised that the other group had a different way of showing Callum and Sephy's relationship. Their play was structured in a more abstract way and from their movements and emotions you could instantly tell what was happening and why.

From that I thought about how Sephy could tell her part of the story using her body language and emotion. In scene one Sephy had multiple thoughts that changed her mood and attitude, therefore, I thought it was best if I showed how she felt more with facial expressions and the way she responded to Callum using her body. I am proud to say I developed a lot on my Characterisation.

Looking at my long term target, I believe I developed mostly on my articulation and projection.  By using projection exercises in lessons when we stand at a  certain point in a room, face a wall and raise our voices loud enough for it to reach that wall. Putting pressure on our diaphragms and controlling our breathing was very useful because a lot of force was used on my diaphragm to project my voice and help me articulate my words so everyone could hear me. Making my mouth muscles relaxed and focusing on my breathing control helped me to pronounce every single word without tensing my faces.

I am certain I have achieved and developed my long term targets.

The Performance


What were the strengths of  your performance? Why?

My strengths of my performance were definitely projection because I was very clear with what I was saying and the audience was focused on what was happening in my scene. My placement and coordination was strong because the audience was able to see what I was doing and where I was around the box. Especially when it came to the part in my scene where I had to kiss my partner over the box. Thinking about the kiss, I definitely know one of my main strengths was my maturity when I had to kiss and I took it very seriously and did not break out of character.

How did the overall performance go?

Overall I think our performance was very strong as a group. Our focus was amazing, it was clear that we were all determined to achieve distinctions in our performance as well as any other parts in the unit and we all stayed in character through out our scenes and we acted in a  professional manner when we were not acting. Our story telling skills were strong and from the feedback I got from my parents they understood everything that went on and enjoyed our performance a lot.

What did another actor do that was effective?

I was really impressed with Jamie's performance as she showed Meggie's (Jamie's character) thoughts and her feelings through her facial expressions and the tone she set in her voice. You could instantly tell she was furious with the other characters. She was a very convincing character and I could really learn from this for future roles I take on.

What would you have changed/developed if you had to do the performance again?

To be honest I was so amazed by the performance last night I wouldn't change anything about it. But maybe to improve some people in the performance did forget some lines so maybe for them to rehearse a bit more and make sure they know their lines 100%, however, their partners in the scene did manage to pull it off by making it seem like it was meant to have a pause and by that it made the scene seem more intense and it was brilliant.

Unit 3 Acting Skill Overall Evaluation

Sherene Jordan

Sephy's diary entry about hers and Callum's experience.

Self evaluation 09/10/14

Throughout your blog you will be marked on:

 

P2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop

 

M2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop, setting achievable targets for improvement and reviewing progress

 

D2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop, setting achievable targets for improvement and evaluating progress

 

 

Workshop and rehearsal observations:

 

Which acting strengths have you been able to demonstrate today? How?

 

The acting strengths I have demonstrated today were:
-Articulation- by being very clear with what I was saying and it was easier for the people who were observing me to understand what I was saying in my scene.
-Staying in role- by keeping my focus through out the run through we did. I didn't break out laughing or did anything that would not show my character.

 

Which acting strengths do you need to develop based on the workshop today? Why?

 The acting strengths I need to develop are:

-Learning my lines- I need to work on this because there are points in the run through were I forget a simple line and I cant afford to forget now, especially when the performance is in exactly a week.
-Projection- I need to keep my projection through out my scene.

 

Set yourself three targets:

1.Be louder when delivering your lines because  all the audience need to hear every single word you say.
2.Make sure you know all your lines word perfect and when rehearsing don't miss any of them out.
3.Make sure your hair doesn't cover your face at any point.

 

Review of today's lesson 13/10/14

We started the second to last lesson with a very powerful debate about racial division. This excersise helped me realise how different people think towards different cultures. I learned that most people now a days think it is best not to have racial divides as it can result in war and cretes caos that could wreck the world more than it has done in the past. This also made me think about what the writer (of noughts and crosses) was trying to show us. The ways people would think and react to other races. Especially between white people and black.  

From this excersise I have formed a personal opinion about racial divides and linked it to how Sephy would see it from her point of view in the story. Since she is a very strong minded person and she believed that there was a possible chance of herself (a cross) and Callum ( a nought) to be together she would of believed there shouldn't be a racial divide no matter what; throughout this play she was defending that belief. 

09/10/14 discussion and feedback

We are having an in depth discussion and feedback session. We are talking about how we could develop and improve our scenes a bit more. My feedback from the director was to consistently stay in role and keep my projection throughout the whole scene. 

I thought about my feedback on Monday and it was similar to the feedback I got today, I really need to start focusing and try harder to pull through with my projection and articulation. 

Workshop Lesson 02/10/2014

Today in theatre we went through the whole play. We also peer assessed each others performances and looked at subtext.

What is subtext?
-Subtext is an underlying and often distinct theme in a piece of writing or conversation.
It was hard to find the subtext of the script when pretty much the subtext is what the scene is saying in the first place. Callum wants to see if him and Sephy have a possible relationship. From that I can not see if there is an alternative to this scene. In my opinion I don't think  our scene has changed.

From what I got back from my peer Aaron (the person who peer assessed me) I achieved a merit from confidently delivering my lines and showing my characters personality very well. If I am able to project more and show more imagery in my performance then I am certain I will be close to on my way to achieve a distinction.

Self Evaluation Sheet 02/10/14

Throughout your blog you will be marked on:

P2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop

M2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop, setting achievable targets for improvement and reviewing progress

D2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop, setting achievable targets for improvement and evaluating progress

 

Workshop and rehearsal observations:

 Which acting strengths have you been able to demonstrate today? How?

The acting strengths I have demonstrated today were:
-projection- by listening and taking in the advice and notes my teacher gave me, telling me to make my voice louder so everyone could hear me.

 -learning lines- by taking time to go through the script with my  partner multiple times. Sometimes I read my lines through as if I was play my character and some times I would normally just read the lines. From constantly reading my lines I automatically learned them.

-staying in role- by never breaking out by laughing or getting distracted by the people around me.

 

Which acting strengths do you need to develop based on the workshop today? Why?

 The acting strengths I need to develop are:

-Articulation- because I got so feedback from my peers and I was told at some points I tend to mumble and not make any sense. So I need to work on being more clear with my words.

-Use of pause- because there are a few pauses in my scene and I mistakenly miss those pauses and skip to the following line. I need to work on making those pauses not awkward and using them to create dramatic tension between the two characters.

-Relaxation- because I speed up my text sometimes so I need to relax and let the scene flow.

Set yourself three targets:

1. I need to be more clear with my lines and articulate my words more.
2. Use the pauses in the scene to create tension and drama between the character.
3. To slow down and relax when going through my lines. Speak as if I was in a conversation.

Lesson 8 25/09/2014 self evaluation

My targets for next lesson:

Looking back at lesson 6 on the 19/09/2014

In this lesson we concentrated on our characters and bringing our scenes to life. We went into our groups and interpreted our scripts to see where are scenes are set? What was the aim of our characters (what ours characters wanted)? Also how we are first going to stage it.

Tim and I looked at our scene and realised this scene was about Sephy and Callum working out if there could be a possible relationship between each other. Then confirming after their first kiss that there is no possible way for them to be together. Afterwards they have a general discussion about Callum getting into Heathcroft.

Since our class agreed to base all scenes around an irrelevant box, we decided to put the block in between the two characters and used it to represent the distance between them and the relationship. It is the visual resemblance of the obstacle that is blocking both Callum and Sephy being together.

Self Evaluation Lesson 6 18/09/2014

Throughout your blog you will be marked on:

P2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop

M2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop, setting achievable targets for improvement and reviewing progress

D2 Present an on-going review of acting skills, describing strengths and areas to develop, setting achievable targets for improvement and evaluating progress

Workshop and rehearsal observations:

Which acting strengths have you been able to demonstrate today? How?

The acting strengths I have demonstrated today were:
- Coordination- I have used this by knowing where the scene is set and using that knowledge to figure out where each character has to be, around the box at different times.
-Characterisation-  I have used this by knowing who my character is and doing deeper research about her and what she wants in this scene.

Which acting strengths do you need to develop based on the workshop today? Why?

The acting strengths I need to develop are:
-Balance- because I need to use all the space that is available on the stage in my scene.
-Focus and Control- because I need to get into character which will help me learn my lines and positions quickly, and with focus and control and can become this character and bring more features when I am acting.

Set yourself three targets:

1.Is to learn the majority of my lines off by heart and start building my character up as I go along.

2.To focus on my  pace and figure out the timings of the scene and make sure that the scene is not ragged out to be to long or to short.

3.To practice on my projection and make sure people can hear what I am saying.

Lesson 4 Sephy's Facebook Profile

Here is the first stage of Sephy's Facebook profile there will be more stuff added on as we continue to research her personality.

Lesson 4 my long term target is...

Lesson 2 post 4

In the last part of the lesson we were put in pairs (mainly boys with girls) and we had to explore a scene between the two main characters Sephy and Callum. We were all given the task to act out this scene and see who has the high status and who has the lower status. We also had to use the skills we have learnt in the workshop to bring the scene to life and to show each characters personality status. 

My partner (Roary) and myself acted this scene out as if Callum had the higher status and Sephy had the lower status, because in this scene Sephy is trying to explain herself to Callum who is obviously angry at her. We also showed status by their body language and the way they positioned theirselves. For example we had Sephy's body facing towards Callam, however, Callum has his body facing away from her. 

Each pairs were asked to perform their scenes and the rest of the class were expected to take notes on what they thought was good about theirs scenes and what they could do to improve. Here are some of my thoughts: 

-Benji and Roseby- this scene was pretty much different from the others. Most of the other scene showed Sephy as a guilty and vulnerable person, however, in this piece they showed Sephy as really aggressive as well as Callum. You could tell they both wanted to be right so they argued until one of them gave up. It was original.

A pair that I thought could of improved was:

-Tim and Anya- their voices were very good and their emotions were dry strong as well but they should work on the staging a by more since they were everywhere it was a bit hard to keep forcus on what they were doing. 

I managed to develop skills in how to show status other than saying certain words that would make you sound like a particular person. 

Sherene Jordan.

Lesson 2 post 3

At the start of the three hour workshop, we warmed up our bodies and voices. This excersise was called 'Clear The Space' and it was an amazing way how to warm up your body, because we had to stay forcused at all times and only concentrate on the teachers voice and the instructions that she gave us I follow. It helped us mentally and got our minds working . It helped us physically because it helped drain all the existing tension that was in our bodies and made us feel way more relaxed. 

As actors we need to physically warm up because it makes us become more focused and relaxed. We are able to develop self control and can easily get into character. 

When warming up our voices we also developed self controll and it helps us loosen our mouths in order to be able to articulate every word we speak. Our voices are one of the most important features we have as an actor because without our voices we wouldn't be able to say our line.

After the vocal warm ups my voice felt loose an very powerful because I was able to pronounciate and speak out loud clear enough for people to hear and understand me.

Sherene Jordan. 

Lesson 3 post 01

This was my chosen scene in the play: scene 1.

Lesson 02 Post 01

In our second lesson of theatre unit 3 acting skills, we got assigned to get into pairs and try and work on how we could turn these few lines into a scene with status. My partner Roseby and myself read through the lines and discussed how status could be applied to it. As we observed other discussions, our class mates were having, we realised most ideas were based around stereotypical high school children (popular kids and not popular kids) and general high status people (rich and famous) and average people. 

We talked about different ways people can have high statuses and low statuses without having lots of money and be very popular in higher stage primary school/ high school etc.

I later suggested that status can occur in different people at all ages. For example, this can be shown in little children. We agreed that children can be very happy and hyper and also very sensitive and quiet. The happier and hyper child can represent high status because of his/hers confidence and joy as for the sensitive and quiet one can represent low status as for this character might not know many people and they might have a sad life. 

Later we performed to the group our little improve and contributed our ideas about status and received positive and agreeable feedback. Our classmates understood how the childish characters showed status. 

Sherene Jordan.

Noughts and crosses- Picture 01

Here is a little cheeky picture of the script we are working on for noughts and crosses.

Homework 01 Lesson 01

Hello there,
Welcome to my blog on Theatre- Unit3 Acting Skills. I will be posting and discussing topics and tasks that I did in theatre; also completing and posting homework or any pieces of coursework that is relatable to this subject.

My first piece I would like to discuss are my acting skills audicts. I believe that my acting skills are good, with the way I can briefly study a character and somehow bring it to life. I would put emotion into it and make the lines of the character mean something to the audience, however, this could be massively improved if I focus on different techniques of how I can study a character and make it come to life, with more than just emotions and lines. To be honest, I believe one of my weaknesses is that I am not great at showing a character's side of a story as well as I most probably could. This is most probably because I concentrate on the character only and not how this character fits in the story line, what is the characters backstory etc.

What I am aiming for this unit is to develop my acting skills to a further extent to make a piece of work more interesting and get the highest possible grade I can possibly get in this unit.

Target: Distinction

Thanks for reading,
Sherene Jordan  x