Making our new puppet:
Throughout the week Bekki and I focused on making our revised puppet. We included parts of the three puppets we'd previously looked at to make a better puppet. It was there I realised that skills learned in one subjects can be applicable in other subjects. For this project, I used incremental design to add design ideas to our puppet in order to make it better. Bekki was leading this activity in the same way that I will be leading sound design.
IPP Help
Despite the focal point of the week being the puppet, I also receved invaluable help for my IPP. I'm now certain of what I'm doing, which is leading a workshop on Strasberg's Method Acting. I will be training a non-actor into performaing a monologue from a naturalisitcs play that contains movement as well, meaning it will show the effects of Method acting.
Archery and Zen
For our work on our puppet play, we studied an extract from a book called "Zen in the art of archery" It details a man's journey to learn the art of archery from a Japanese master archer. The key quote from this text is "If
one really wishes to be a master of an art, technical knowledge of it
is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an
‘artless’ art growing from the unconscious’". This means that to truly achieve skill in something, it has to become an unconscious reflex, something that is done without thinking, like inner ear balance.
Script Study
This lesson, Bekki was sick but Lydia and I went through our jobs and then the script that Lydia had written. We
discussed our own personal roles and realised that the role of puppet
maker was not really Bekki's job. This is because even though I was
meant to be just helping to make it, both of us were making big
decisions and doing the same amount of work. It's good that we managed to work together on this but the problem with us producing an equal amount of work means it will be difficult for Bekki to use this in her TPPP, as she cannot claim sole credit.
As we went through Lydia's script, we noticed that she had included a lot of things that woul appeal to a young audience, which ties in exactly with our performance concept. However, there was something that we need to change, and that is the use of flashbacks. We started discussing alternatives but have not come down with a final solution yet.
PPP
We studied the markscheme and task requirements in depth, comparing to past papers and eventually, our own work. Although I only got a 4, it is important to remember that it was my first go after only a year of Theatre, meaning I can now rely on a lot more knowledge to use in my PPP. Furthermore, loooking at past papers and going through the marksheme highlighted wht I did wrong and what I need to do this time.
Monday 16 December 2013
Script and PPP
Tuesday 10th December:
This lesson, Bekki was sick but Axel and I went through our jobs and then the script that I had written.
We discussed our own personal roles and realised that the role of puppet maker was not really Bekki's job. This is because even though Axel was meant to be just helping to make it, both of them were making big decisions and doing the same amount of work. It is good to help eachother out but it means that it is hard for Bekki to stand up in her TPPP and take credit for the work that her and axel did together.
After, we went through the script that I had written.
There were quite a few problems with the tense that was used in the script because I had used flashbacks to go back in time when Monty tells his story to the children. A good thing about the script and something that we all said we would do was to include repetition, easy words, a good structure and a message. I did include these things into the script but I need to fix how I am going to tell the story and in what tense. We tried to come up with lots of ways to fix the problem of flashbacks and we did come up with a few:
Thursday 12th December:
Thursday Axel wasn't here so we just gave in our EE and changed all the little mistakes to make it better. I thought that it was actually a good lesson because I am so happy that I finally got my EE in and I do think that it is good that Mr Fearnehough points out all the little mistakes that to us don't mean much but we can lose little marks if we don't do it.
Friday 13th December:
We had a double lesson all to do with the PPP's. We first went through the marking criteria and the examiners notes. This helped because it helped us to understand what the little things we need to do from the examiners. After going through that help, I know for sure that my next PPP will be better.
We looked through other years PPP, seeing the mock ones and then knowing what they got for the mock and the real made me feel much better. My PPP was quite similar to Georgia's mock and for her real one she got a 6. I would love to have a 6/7 for my real one. We got back our mock PPP, i got a 4 but was 1 away from a 5. I did think about my PPP a lot but I could have spent more time on it. I feel much better knowing how to analyse my points more this time.
This lesson, Bekki was sick but Axel and I went through our jobs and then the script that I had written.
We discussed our own personal roles and realised that the role of puppet maker was not really Bekki's job. This is because even though Axel was meant to be just helping to make it, both of them were making big decisions and doing the same amount of work. It is good to help eachother out but it means that it is hard for Bekki to stand up in her TPPP and take credit for the work that her and axel did together.
After, we went through the script that I had written.
There were quite a few problems with the tense that was used in the script because I had used flashbacks to go back in time when Monty tells his story to the children. A good thing about the script and something that we all said we would do was to include repetition, easy words, a good structure and a message. I did include these things into the script but I need to fix how I am going to tell the story and in what tense. We tried to come up with lots of ways to fix the problem of flashbacks and we did come up with a few:
- filming and then playing back on the screen the flashbacks
- changing the tense
Thursday 12th December:
Thursday Axel wasn't here so we just gave in our EE and changed all the little mistakes to make it better. I thought that it was actually a good lesson because I am so happy that I finally got my EE in and I do think that it is good that Mr Fearnehough points out all the little mistakes that to us don't mean much but we can lose little marks if we don't do it.
Friday 13th December:
We had a double lesson all to do with the PPP's. We first went through the marking criteria and the examiners notes. This helped because it helped us to understand what the little things we need to do from the examiners. After going through that help, I know for sure that my next PPP will be better.
We looked through other years PPP, seeing the mock ones and then knowing what they got for the mock and the real made me feel much better. My PPP was quite similar to Georgia's mock and for her real one she got a 6. I would love to have a 6/7 for my real one. We got back our mock PPP, i got a 4 but was 1 away from a 5. I did think about my PPP a lot but I could have spent more time on it. I feel much better knowing how to analyse my points more this time.
Sunday 15 December 2013
Zen and The PPP
Being Zen:
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel is a book that Mr.Fearnehough talked to us about when we first started to work on puppetry and concentration. We had already worked on this book and on the 1st of October i wrote 'the key quote he read out to us was ‘If one really wishes to be a master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an ‘artless’ art growing from the unconscious’. My first reaction to this was that a person has to keep on pursuing their own goals in order to succeed. A person has to overcome exhaustion and keep their own beliefs in what they can do' After reading a chapter of the book, we found out that the man in this book tries archery and tricks the master but the master refuses to work with him because he had let him down. I realized that for concentration especially you cannot force something to be perfect. If something will happen it will, we cannot push ourselves to be perfect if we have just started doing something. I find this relates to me because when we first started working on concentration and we did some exercise which made us do something for quite a while, i found i lost concentration. Reading the rest of the chapter of the book i realized also that it takes practice to be perfect, no one can be perfect on the first go, practicing is what will make a person perfect and this is done for everything (dance, acting, playing football and even doing a presentation).
Relating back to what i said in October about the quote my first reaction still sticks with me that a person has to keep pursuing their own goals in order to succeed, pursuing their goals here would be practicing.
PPP:
On Friday 13th (oouuuh) in our double lesson we worked on the PPP. We went through the marking criteria and the examiners report on the past PPP's.
We first did a Mock PPP last year when i did it i really thought i had put in a good effort in what i did and included everything that was necessary for a performance. I soon realised when we were going through the examiners report that i had missed out quite a few silly things and i wasn't very specific on what i wanted, such as:
- The lighting - in my PPP i had not but for my lighting what i exactly wanted and no dimensions or on what power the lighting would be.
- Words- i used a lot of words which on the moment when i was doing my PPP was what i first thought off. These words were simply descriptive and sometimes were not really explaining what i was trying to portray.
From the fed back i have got from Mr.Fearnehough i am much clear on what to do also because i had a practice im more comfortable in what im doing. It was also helpful to see past students work to see the aspects they had included in their PPP's and how much detail was added.
The one thing i need to try my best now is talking about why i have chosen specific things to use and i cannot just use it to look pretty. I need to explain everything and i need to be clear on why im using it and also i need to explain correctly because one thing i could write about could be read differently by someone else and my idea might not be so clear.
Being Zen:
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel is a book that Mr.Fearnehough talked to us about when we first started to work on puppetry and concentration. We had already worked on this book and on the 1st of October i wrote 'the key quote he read out to us was ‘If one really wishes to be a master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an ‘artless’ art growing from the unconscious’. My first reaction to this was that a person has to keep on pursuing their own goals in order to succeed. A person has to overcome exhaustion and keep their own beliefs in what they can do' After reading a chapter of the book, we found out that the man in this book tries archery and tricks the master but the master refuses to work with him because he had let him down. I realized that for concentration especially you cannot force something to be perfect. If something will happen it will, we cannot push ourselves to be perfect if we have just started doing something. I find this relates to me because when we first started working on concentration and we did some exercise which made us do something for quite a while, i found i lost concentration. Reading the rest of the chapter of the book i realized also that it takes practice to be perfect, no one can be perfect on the first go, practicing is what will make a person perfect and this is done for everything (dance, acting, playing football and even doing a presentation). Relating back to what i said in October about the quote my first reaction still sticks with me that a person has to keep pursuing their own goals in order to succeed, pursuing their goals here would be practicing.
PPP:
On Friday 13th (oouuuh) in our double lesson we worked on the PPP. We went through the marking criteria and the examiners report on the past PPP's.
We first did a Mock PPP last year when i did it i really thought i had put in a good effort in what i did and included everything that was necessary for a performance. I soon realised when we were going through the examiners report that i had missed out quite a few silly things and i wasn't very specific on what i wanted, such as:
- The lighting - in my PPP i had not but for my lighting what i exactly wanted and no dimensions or on what power the lighting would be.
- Words- i used a lot of words which on the moment when i was doing my PPP was what i first thought off. These words were simply descriptive and sometimes were not really explaining what i was trying to portray.
From the fed back i have got from Mr.Fearnehough i am much clear on what to do also because i had a practice im more comfortable in what im doing. It was also helpful to see past students work to see the aspects they had included in their PPP's and how much detail was added.
The one thing i need to try my best now is talking about why i have chosen specific things to use and i cannot just use it to look pretty. I need to explain everything and i need to be clear on why im using it and also i need to explain correctly because one thing i could write about could be read differently by someone else and my idea might not be so clear.
Friday 6 December 2013
Script Writing for our play!
Tuesday I was off sick so I didn't have this lesson...
Thursday 5th December:
I have been allocated at script writer for our piece. I am excited to have this task as I mentioned in the blog before this one. On Thursday I got on with writing the script. The first act I found was the most important because I wanted to get the wording right and get the use of repetition for the next acts. I had to come up with key lines that I would be able to use later on in the script.
I only got up to Act 1 on Thursday, so tomorrow my aim is to finish the script with all movement and music points into the script.
Friday 6th December:
Today we first discussed the PPP when it is about to come and it was good to be reminded of the PPP because it was so long ago since we did the mock ppp. I also had a question about the IPP because a lot of my work is on word documents and I didn't think that this was the good way to brainstorm so I asked if we could do the IPP on a big sketch book just like we would for the PPP. The IPP and PPP are quite similar because you will go through the process in the creation of a piece or workshop.... But the ppp you never get an end results performed whereas for the IPP all of your ideas will be true.
After this discussion, I got on with my script. I managed to finish it before the end of the lesson which I was happy about. I feel pleased with the script but I hope that everyone else finds it good enough to use for the recording and for the actual piece. I have tried to incorporate repetition, a message, audience interaction, key lines so that the message gets into the children easier and they understand well. We want them to have fun and be educated and I think that the script is key for this to happen because it has to be educational but enthusiastic. I also added him some facts about the ideas too e.g. how many people are starving in the world. This fact will shock them and maybe make them want to change more.
Thursday 5th December:
I have been allocated at script writer for our piece. I am excited to have this task as I mentioned in the blog before this one. On Thursday I got on with writing the script. The first act I found was the most important because I wanted to get the wording right and get the use of repetition for the next acts. I had to come up with key lines that I would be able to use later on in the script.
I only got up to Act 1 on Thursday, so tomorrow my aim is to finish the script with all movement and music points into the script.
Friday 6th December:
Today we first discussed the PPP when it is about to come and it was good to be reminded of the PPP because it was so long ago since we did the mock ppp. I also had a question about the IPP because a lot of my work is on word documents and I didn't think that this was the good way to brainstorm so I asked if we could do the IPP on a big sketch book just like we would for the PPP. The IPP and PPP are quite similar because you will go through the process in the creation of a piece or workshop.... But the ppp you never get an end results performed whereas for the IPP all of your ideas will be true.
After this discussion, I got on with my script. I managed to finish it before the end of the lesson which I was happy about. I feel pleased with the script but I hope that everyone else finds it good enough to use for the recording and for the actual piece. I have tried to incorporate repetition, a message, audience interaction, key lines so that the message gets into the children easier and they understand well. We want them to have fun and be educated and I think that the script is key for this to happen because it has to be educational but enthusiastic. I also added him some facts about the ideas too e.g. how many people are starving in the world. This fact will shock them and maybe make them want to change more.
Monday 2 December 2013
Our puppet play and the IPP
Tuesday 26th November:
On Tuesday, Bekki wasn't there so we compared and contrasted the puppets we had used in the masterclass to a puppet that the art teacher had made in order to find the best qualities in puppets. We did this before making our own so that it would be the best it could be. This is working by influence, where we take good ideas from different sources to make an even better project. This is very important to our production as it relies on the realism of the movement of the puppet. As there are only three of us and we can only use the one puppet, making it the focal point of our play.
The best features in a puppet we now realise after reflection are:
- ease of movement
- joints facilitate movement
- facial features
- correct, realistic proportions
- breathability
- light
Thursday 28th November:
Today we had a talk on our IP's, which we are very behind on. At first I was set on running a workshop on Strasber's Method, but after revising my action plan with Mr. Fearnehough I decided to direct a short extract of Ibsen's "A Doll's House". This talk was very helpful because it made the IPP much clearer for me and I'm now certain of what to do.
Friday 29 November:
Today we carried on with our development for ideas for our new puppetry piece.
As an ensemble, we chose different roles to make the devising of our play faster. We figured out the important aspects that are involved in our piece which is:
As an ensemble, we chose different roles to make the devising of our play faster. We figured out the important aspects that are involved in our piece which is:
- script
- LX
- puppet
- Shadow Puppetry
- Music and Sound
Sunday 1 December 2013
IPP and getting on with our new play!
Tuesday 26th November-
Today Bekki wasn't here but Axel and I had the chance to look at all three puppets we had in the drama room and reflect on them. We thought about the strengths and weakness of each puppet under the sections of Aesthetics and Manipulation.
Doing this task really helped us to understand what we need to do to have the best puppet possible for our new production. We thought it would be best to just create a whole new puppet so that we could get the all the best features together in one puppet.
The best features in a puppet we now realise after reflection is:
Thursday 28th November-
Today was meant to be the deadline for our first IPP draft.
We all know and understood that we had not done much of our IPP's. It is very bad that we haven't and Mr Fearnehough has extended the deadline which will be really helpful.
Personally, I have struggled to be getting on with my IPP because we have had a lot of work and when the deadline is long for something, you don't do as much as you should for it because you have other homeworks that are in earlier. I struggle to find the time to do anything more. After talking about it, I have a clearer idea of what an IPP should look like and where to start and develop my ideas. I actually like the thought of the task, I wish that we just had open time to do it!
Right now, I have brainstormed about my ideas and I have a concrete idea that I would like to do. I understand what I need to do to develop that idea now and I know what steps I have to do next.
I am happy that we did talk about the IPP. Mr Fearnehough said that he will regularly ask to see our IPP work now and I don't really mind that to be honest. I find that it will be better to make me get on with it and it will also be good to have chances to ask for help.
Friday 29th November-
Today we carried on with our development for ideas for our new puppetry piece.
We decided that it would be good to give ourselves roles for the making of this production. We know our actual story and message. We figured out the important aspects that are involved in our piece which is:
I spent the second hour of the lesson doing a complete outline of the play. During this, I did have to stop and think would this actually work. For example, the shadow puppetry. We need two people to hold the two small puppets of Angel and Devil but we also need to hold up a white sheet for the screen. Thinking about it and all the possibilities, I realise that it is possible and this helped me to be able to move on and continue using the shadow puppetry.
When writing my script, I need to remember:
Next lesson, I will be able to start writing the script and I should get a lot done in an hour I hope!
Today Bekki wasn't here but Axel and I had the chance to look at all three puppets we had in the drama room and reflect on them. We thought about the strengths and weakness of each puppet under the sections of Aesthetics and Manipulation.
Doing this task really helped us to understand what we need to do to have the best puppet possible for our new production. We thought it would be best to just create a whole new puppet so that we could get the all the best features together in one puppet.
The best features in a puppet we now realise after reflection is:
- able to move
- good joints
- facial features
- good propertions
- easy to make breathe
- not very heavy
Thursday 28th November-
Today was meant to be the deadline for our first IPP draft.
We all know and understood that we had not done much of our IPP's. It is very bad that we haven't and Mr Fearnehough has extended the deadline which will be really helpful.
Personally, I have struggled to be getting on with my IPP because we have had a lot of work and when the deadline is long for something, you don't do as much as you should for it because you have other homeworks that are in earlier. I struggle to find the time to do anything more. After talking about it, I have a clearer idea of what an IPP should look like and where to start and develop my ideas. I actually like the thought of the task, I wish that we just had open time to do it!
Right now, I have brainstormed about my ideas and I have a concrete idea that I would like to do. I understand what I need to do to develop that idea now and I know what steps I have to do next.
I am happy that we did talk about the IPP. Mr Fearnehough said that he will regularly ask to see our IPP work now and I don't really mind that to be honest. I find that it will be better to make me get on with it and it will also be good to have chances to ask for help.
Friday 29th November-
Today we carried on with our development for ideas for our new puppetry piece.
We decided that it would be good to give ourselves roles for the making of this production. We know our actual story and message. We figured out the important aspects that are involved in our piece which is:
- script
- LX
- puppet
- Shadow Puppetry
- Music and Sound
I spent the second hour of the lesson doing a complete outline of the play. During this, I did have to stop and think would this actually work. For example, the shadow puppetry. We need two people to hold the two small puppets of Angel and Devil but we also need to hold up a white sheet for the screen. Thinking about it and all the possibilities, I realise that it is possible and this helped me to be able to move on and continue using the shadow puppetry.
When writing my script, I need to remember:
- target audience
- repetition
- key lines
- easy language to understand
Next lesson, I will be able to start writing the script and I should get a lot done in an hour I hope!
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