Wednesday, March 14, 2012
March 7th
March 1st
Today, I lost at zip zap boing. Again. For the third time.
Anyways, today was composed of warming up with a Jabberwockyfying activity and following up with practicing our plays. This activity had the goal of helping us forget about the literal meaning of the stuff in the Jabberwocky, and give everything our own, figurative meaning. I remember at first turning into part of the forest, a mushroom. However, when I understood the concept of being figurative, I turned into a bandersnatch, which I decided would be an angry cat. Omar and me, on all fours, started growling at each other's faces (I must say I turned into the cat for a second.). This activity helped me understand that our play should not be simply in a forest, 'The Jabberwocky's setting, but our own figurative understanding of it.
We got a lot done when practicing our play today. SInce we had to produce a small 'trailer' for Mr. Mouck, we decided to include small parts of our performance all the way to the climax, then leave the play hanging. This would be composed of the dad (Mohamed) warning his son (Lorenzo) of the dangers of love, and that he should never fall in it. Me and Sarah the JubJub Birds (women) would walk in after his father is done warning him, leaving him in a sticky situation: to love or not to love. For a second, the vorpal sword (Omar), the defense the son has just built against love from his father's warnings would let go off of Lorenzo (he has been holding on to him since the speech), implying Lorenzo's sudden temptation to ignore what his father has told him. We would then stop right then, stressing our audience with suspense! The however more important part of this was rehearsing our stage composition and setting. We settled for a forest setting (which I now realize was a quite literal idea, but don't worry, we changed it!), combined with the father staring out the window of his house (into the forest). We thought this would give a mysterious appeal to our play. I then tried to stress stage composition, by including a sense of power from Sarah and me when we walk up to Lorenzo by facing him and appearing to be taller, plus a triangle when we actually get to him to convey maximal power. We also made sure to include Lorenzo was sitting down when his father warns him, to make him seem vulnerable to such harsh advice. To make our play more believable, we are including Mohamed opening an imaginary window next to him, breathing in the fresh air (we will include more, this is just a beginning!). Expression will also be a big part of the storytelling: Mohammed must sound sad, as his hate for love has something to do with a lost wife. Since we were then short on time, we have not gotten much further (and didn't get to perform our trailer!), but I think we are on the right track to a good performance, and are applying what we have learned so far quite well.
Anyways, today was composed of warming up with a Jabberwockyfying activity and following up with practicing our plays. This activity had the goal of helping us forget about the literal meaning of the stuff in the Jabberwocky, and give everything our own, figurative meaning. I remember at first turning into part of the forest, a mushroom. However, when I understood the concept of being figurative, I turned into a bandersnatch, which I decided would be an angry cat. Omar and me, on all fours, started growling at each other's faces (I must say I turned into the cat for a second.). This activity helped me understand that our play should not be simply in a forest, 'The Jabberwocky's setting, but our own figurative understanding of it.
We got a lot done when practicing our play today. SInce we had to produce a small 'trailer' for Mr. Mouck, we decided to include small parts of our performance all the way to the climax, then leave the play hanging. This would be composed of the dad (Mohamed) warning his son (Lorenzo) of the dangers of love, and that he should never fall in it. Me and Sarah the JubJub Birds (women) would walk in after his father is done warning him, leaving him in a sticky situation: to love or not to love. For a second, the vorpal sword (Omar), the defense the son has just built against love from his father's warnings would let go off of Lorenzo (he has been holding on to him since the speech), implying Lorenzo's sudden temptation to ignore what his father has told him. We would then stop right then, stressing our audience with suspense! The however more important part of this was rehearsing our stage composition and setting. We settled for a forest setting (which I now realize was a quite literal idea, but don't worry, we changed it!), combined with the father staring out the window of his house (into the forest). We thought this would give a mysterious appeal to our play. I then tried to stress stage composition, by including a sense of power from Sarah and me when we walk up to Lorenzo by facing him and appearing to be taller, plus a triangle when we actually get to him to convey maximal power. We also made sure to include Lorenzo was sitting down when his father warns him, to make him seem vulnerable to such harsh advice. To make our play more believable, we are including Mohamed opening an imaginary window next to him, breathing in the fresh air (we will include more, this is just a beginning!). Expression will also be a big part of the storytelling: Mohammed must sound sad, as his hate for love has something to do with a lost wife. Since we were then short on time, we have not gotten much further (and didn't get to perform our trailer!), but I think we are on the right track to a good performance, and are applying what we have learned so far quite well.
Feb 29th - LEAP YEAR!!!
Stage Composition
Today, we looked at how the position of actors (sight lines, shapes. proximity, etc.) affects the way a scene is interpreted by an audience and the message that is conveyed. I must say I have seen this aspect of stage composition before, but never in such detail. In fact, Mr. Mouck showed us how different 'setups' of people on the upstage downstage rightstage leftstage (from the actor's perspective) will convey different emotions and stories. People were sent to the stage and were told to stand in particular ways. We all found it quite easy to interpret what the setup was 'conveying'. Some examples are the fact that when one person stands facing the audience, and the rest face away form the audience in a diagonal starting at downstage to going to upstage to that person, all of the attention is brought to him/her, often in a 'powerful' way. Also, when a group of people stand far away from one person, facing them, that person looks like hes ruling the group of people. When the opposite is true, the 'outcast' faces away from also turned around group, it looks like the one person is.. well.. an outcast. Other things we went over are the fact that even though your voice may sound louder when in the middle of the amphitheater, the difference is minute to your audience, so we need to keep our voices strong and articulate! It would be wise to apply of these skills to our Jabberwocky performance, especially stage composition in order to convey a greater meaning to our audience.
To apply our new stage composition skills, Mr. Mouck had Sua, Bukama, Sarah, Omar (and some other people) and me go on stage and convey the word 'aloneness' solely through stage composition. Though I was kind of stuck for a while, I realized that aloneness was related to the whole 'outcast' stage composition I was talking about before. I therefore had some of us form two couples who would stand far away from a little group of girls, facing away form us. Since I wanted to include some jealousy in the, I had us facing the happy couples instead of turning around. We were suddenly lonely, jealous girls and were watching two happy couples walk away without saying a word! Mr. Mouck did change a few aspects of the way we were standing, such as making ur little group of girls face in all different directions to give us a sense of pure disconnection form each other (and therefore making us even more lonely and realistic looking). I now know that without stage composition, our performance will be flat and boring possibly even confusing. Since we can only use the script f the Jabberwocky as or words, we mus use everything else we can to convey meaning...
Today, we looked at how the position of actors (sight lines, shapes. proximity, etc.) affects the way a scene is interpreted by an audience and the message that is conveyed. I must say I have seen this aspect of stage composition before, but never in such detail. In fact, Mr. Mouck showed us how different 'setups' of people on the upstage downstage rightstage leftstage (from the actor's perspective) will convey different emotions and stories. People were sent to the stage and were told to stand in particular ways. We all found it quite easy to interpret what the setup was 'conveying'. Some examples are the fact that when one person stands facing the audience, and the rest face away form the audience in a diagonal starting at downstage to going to upstage to that person, all of the attention is brought to him/her, often in a 'powerful' way. Also, when a group of people stand far away from one person, facing them, that person looks like hes ruling the group of people. When the opposite is true, the 'outcast' faces away from also turned around group, it looks like the one person is.. well.. an outcast. Other things we went over are the fact that even though your voice may sound louder when in the middle of the amphitheater, the difference is minute to your audience, so we need to keep our voices strong and articulate! It would be wise to apply of these skills to our Jabberwocky performance, especially stage composition in order to convey a greater meaning to our audience.
To apply our new stage composition skills, Mr. Mouck had Sua, Bukama, Sarah, Omar (and some other people) and me go on stage and convey the word 'aloneness' solely through stage composition. Though I was kind of stuck for a while, I realized that aloneness was related to the whole 'outcast' stage composition I was talking about before. I therefore had some of us form two couples who would stand far away from a little group of girls, facing away form us. Since I wanted to include some jealousy in the, I had us facing the happy couples instead of turning around. We were suddenly lonely, jealous girls and were watching two happy couples walk away without saying a word! Mr. Mouck did change a few aspects of the way we were standing, such as making ur little group of girls face in all different directions to give us a sense of pure disconnection form each other (and therefore making us even more lonely and realistic looking). I now know that without stage composition, our performance will be flat and boring possibly even confusing. Since we can only use the script f the Jabberwocky as or words, we mus use everything else we can to convey meaning...
Sunday, March 11, 2012
February 27th
The Jabberwocky
Today, we had a simple yet very difficult task to do: Decide what the Jabberwocky for our performance would be. Our brainstorming process was very simple: we sat in a circle, throwing out ideas, sometimes reasonable but flat and sometimes completely ridiculous. Finally, Bukama found the perfect one: Love! It made so much sense. The Jabberwocky, what the son has to beware of, would be love, and the JubJub bird would be women (Sarah & Me). The Bandersnatch woud be attraction (what snatches you into love) and the vorpal sword (Omar) would be the defense against love the boy has been taught to develop by his father (Mohamed). This is what the second stanza would be about: the father would tell his young son to beware of love and anything associated with it (we are not yet sure why) and therefore the son would develop a kind of 'defense' against it. In the third stanza, the boy grows up and is deep in thought on whether his love for women is still possible or not, and in the fourth stanza, a woman crosses his sight, sending love right to his brain. This is where we are kind of confused, but the vorpal sword will act upon the boy, stopping any feelings of love. The son wil then return to his father, explaining how he managed to refrain from love. This is all still very confusing, but I sense we have a good performance underway.
Today, we had a simple yet very difficult task to do: Decide what the Jabberwocky for our performance would be. Our brainstorming process was very simple: we sat in a circle, throwing out ideas, sometimes reasonable but flat and sometimes completely ridiculous. Finally, Bukama found the perfect one: Love! It made so much sense. The Jabberwocky, what the son has to beware of, would be love, and the JubJub bird would be women (Sarah & Me). The Bandersnatch woud be attraction (what snatches you into love) and the vorpal sword (Omar) would be the defense against love the boy has been taught to develop by his father (Mohamed). This is what the second stanza would be about: the father would tell his young son to beware of love and anything associated with it (we are not yet sure why) and therefore the son would develop a kind of 'defense' against it. In the third stanza, the boy grows up and is deep in thought on whether his love for women is still possible or not, and in the fourth stanza, a woman crosses his sight, sending love right to his brain. This is where we are kind of confused, but the vorpal sword will act upon the boy, stopping any feelings of love. The son wil then return to his father, explaining how he managed to refrain from love. This is all still very confusing, but I sense we have a good performance underway.
February 24th
Gripes
Involving the power of complaining and being aware of what is happening around you, I must say 'Gripes' was an interesting game to play. It was based on the concept of everyone complaining loudly, then Mr. Mouck would pick out a 'solo' and only that person would complain loudly while the others would quiet down. Since we were supposed to 'let out' something that was annoying, Gripes felt... good. This game, to my opinion and remembrance, was supposed to help us feel more confident about performing on stage and help us project our voices. I remember feeling embarrassed at the beginning of the game, like if everyone else could listen to me only. I then realized I couldn't really make out what anyone else was saying, so I figured it was the same vice-versa, and enjoyed yelling out my annoyances!
Always say 'Yes'! Partner Acting
During this activity, we stood in two lines, the person directly across from us our partner. The main objective was to have one of us come in with an action and a setting in mind, and our partner would then come in, accept what we saw and join our action in a logical way (saying yes to our idea). The purpose I believe was to not only teach us to imagine a setting and action we could be doing in that setting but to be able to integrate ourselves in someone else's setting and ideas, depending on what we understood they were doing, a major part of improvisation. When it was my turn to come in, I remember knowing exactly what i wanted to do: to be be an animal. Omar happily joined in and chased me around the room, him a dog and me a cat. Though I had come up with the original idea, Omar had developed it with a simple bark, so I took off from his idea and became the angry cat. The same occurred vise versa (and I may be mixing days up because I remember I was never Omar partner's twice in a row) when Omar came in, jumping around and I interpreted it to be a pogo stick. Omar accepted my idea and we were both pogo sticking around the room, though this was probably not what Omar had started off with. Overall, the games we have payed on both the 22nd and today make me realize that if you always say yes to a partner's 'suggestion', your performance will not only be more believable but more developed and interesting.
Involving the power of complaining and being aware of what is happening around you, I must say 'Gripes' was an interesting game to play. It was based on the concept of everyone complaining loudly, then Mr. Mouck would pick out a 'solo' and only that person would complain loudly while the others would quiet down. Since we were supposed to 'let out' something that was annoying, Gripes felt... good. This game, to my opinion and remembrance, was supposed to help us feel more confident about performing on stage and help us project our voices. I remember feeling embarrassed at the beginning of the game, like if everyone else could listen to me only. I then realized I couldn't really make out what anyone else was saying, so I figured it was the same vice-versa, and enjoyed yelling out my annoyances!
Always say 'Yes'! Partner Acting
During this activity, we stood in two lines, the person directly across from us our partner. The main objective was to have one of us come in with an action and a setting in mind, and our partner would then come in, accept what we saw and join our action in a logical way (saying yes to our idea). The purpose I believe was to not only teach us to imagine a setting and action we could be doing in that setting but to be able to integrate ourselves in someone else's setting and ideas, depending on what we understood they were doing, a major part of improvisation. When it was my turn to come in, I remember knowing exactly what i wanted to do: to be be an animal. Omar happily joined in and chased me around the room, him a dog and me a cat. Though I had come up with the original idea, Omar had developed it with a simple bark, so I took off from his idea and became the angry cat. The same occurred vise versa (and I may be mixing days up because I remember I was never Omar partner's twice in a row) when Omar came in, jumping around and I interpreted it to be a pogo stick. Omar accepted my idea and we were both pogo sticking around the room, though this was probably not what Omar had started off with. Overall, the games we have payed on both the 22nd and today make me realize that if you always say yes to a partner's 'suggestion', your performance will not only be more believable but more developed and interesting.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
February 22nd
3 Chairs
The main aspect of today's games was to be able to create an imaginary environment around us. The first game consisted of sitting on chairs in groups of three, and standing up all at the same time for the same reason. Since we could not speak, it is needless to say that it was very difficult to start, or, in other cases, to agree on a subject, which inevitably led to much confusion and awkwardness. I found that the best way to start, end, or progress through this game was through eye contact, in order to understand what your partners are doing and develop on that. However, if the scene stays silent for too long, I found it was a good idea to be spontaneous, and 'convince' your partners into your sudden idea.
I remember when everything did not go as smoothly as expected: I was with Jean Louis and Omar, and we were having a classic case of silence. I waited for an idea from my partners, but since none came, I suddely thought of a rollercoaster. I thought that the gesture of holding the machine thingies that hold you down on your chair as they fall was universal (it was not.) At first, I thought they had caught on, but Omar proceeded to strangle himself with his elevated hands : He had thought I was committing a weird act of assisted suicide the whole time. This is when I failed: I completely fell out of character and rejected Omar's idea, almost telling him what mine was. Long story short, we ended our improvising with Omar choking on the pill I had given him to stop him from killing himself. I now realize that I must ALWAYS SY YES when acting, no mater how odd and confusing the suggestion is.
The Room
Our second task was to imagine a room, really picture where everything in that room is, basically, make it real to us, and walk into it, doing 'something' that represents where we are. I immediately inclined towards a kitchen: I would run into the room to get my burnt cake out of the oven, decide to make pancakes, make some pancakes and miserably fail at turning my first one around: it would stay stuck on the ceiling. This is exactly what I did, and truly felt like I was in that kitchen, a bit annoyed about my burnt cake, but I experienced one problem: I was not sure whether I should speak or not. At the moment, I felt like saying things aloud but deemed it would be wiser not to, since no one else had. However, looking back over this, I realize that talking would have made my performance much more believable, and that it did not matter what other people did since everyone's performance was different. Plus, many more people would have understood the burn cake part...
I am not sure why I have used so many commas in this entry.
The main aspect of today's games was to be able to create an imaginary environment around us. The first game consisted of sitting on chairs in groups of three, and standing up all at the same time for the same reason. Since we could not speak, it is needless to say that it was very difficult to start, or, in other cases, to agree on a subject, which inevitably led to much confusion and awkwardness. I found that the best way to start, end, or progress through this game was through eye contact, in order to understand what your partners are doing and develop on that. However, if the scene stays silent for too long, I found it was a good idea to be spontaneous, and 'convince' your partners into your sudden idea.
I remember when everything did not go as smoothly as expected: I was with Jean Louis and Omar, and we were having a classic case of silence. I waited for an idea from my partners, but since none came, I suddely thought of a rollercoaster. I thought that the gesture of holding the machine thingies that hold you down on your chair as they fall was universal (it was not.) At first, I thought they had caught on, but Omar proceeded to strangle himself with his elevated hands : He had thought I was committing a weird act of assisted suicide the whole time. This is when I failed: I completely fell out of character and rejected Omar's idea, almost telling him what mine was. Long story short, we ended our improvising with Omar choking on the pill I had given him to stop him from killing himself. I now realize that I must ALWAYS SY YES when acting, no mater how odd and confusing the suggestion is.
The Room
Our second task was to imagine a room, really picture where everything in that room is, basically, make it real to us, and walk into it, doing 'something' that represents where we are. I immediately inclined towards a kitchen: I would run into the room to get my burnt cake out of the oven, decide to make pancakes, make some pancakes and miserably fail at turning my first one around: it would stay stuck on the ceiling. This is exactly what I did, and truly felt like I was in that kitchen, a bit annoyed about my burnt cake, but I experienced one problem: I was not sure whether I should speak or not. At the moment, I felt like saying things aloud but deemed it would be wiser not to, since no one else had. However, looking back over this, I realize that talking would have made my performance much more believable, and that it did not matter what other people did since everyone's performance was different. Plus, many more people would have understood the burn cake part...
I am not sure why I have used so many commas in this entry.
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