So, this is my final (and once again late!) post to this blog. It's been a wild ride, with bumps along the way, but probably one of the most fun periods of my life. From TAPS to the TPPP, this has been a hell of a course!
"So the IB Theatre course is just four assignements you have to complete? No final exams? Sign me up, that sounds exactly like what I want, even if I don't know anything about Theatre. How hard can it be?" Oh how naïve I was. These four assignments have been some of the hardest and most time consuming projects I've ever worked on. But to say they were just hard would be unfair. After all, not only did they give a much clearer view of an art form, they also made me hone my skills in presentation, organisation, dedication to name but a few. These assignements, along with all the other activities allowed me to finally start taking risks, and seeing it pay off!
But enough about me, the most important things about this course were the experiences it offered to us as an ensemble. On reflection (wink wink nudge nudge), I have to say that the TAPS trip was one of the best school trips I have ever been on. As well as reinforcing our ensemble, it provided memories I will never forget, such as the girls (and Henry's!) obsession with Primark, letting the other schools know who was boss on the very first day, the sandwich from One Man Two Guvnors, the Indian restaurant (lovely food, just a tad... expensive!). An awesome trip with awesome people.
Speaking of awesome people, well, like I said at Ouroboros, "There were more when we started, but, well we lost some on the way!". Although we started as a group of six, our ensemble ended in a trio, Bekki Lydia and I, headed by Mr Fearnehough. I will forever cherish the fun times we spent in the "safe room", mucking about ( I mean of course, seriously working) with sticks and puppets and masks, clowning around (literally) and other nonsense (Serious IB Theatre work). As an ensemble we worked strongly to develop excuses in order to hand our work in late, me leading the charge (nearly ready, I swear, just needs one or two changes). No but seriously, it's been a great couple of years, all the fun and work we accomplished will make me smile for years to come. Special thanks to Mr. Fearnehough, for not only being a great teacher, but having as much fun as we did on this course.
I will miss the 2-hour practicals, the trackie wednesdays, the stick flexibility and patience exercises, but mostly, the people who made this such a fun course!
P.S: To the future IST IB Theatre students, enjoy this course, it'll be one of the most fun this school has to offer (as well as all the hard work that goes with it all that...)
Friday 11 July 2014
Monday 21 April 2014
The End of the IB Theatre Course
On Friday the 4th of April we completed our whole IB Theatre course by doing our PPP. This marked a big moment in our IB student lives and made me realize how close to the end we were. Now we've just started our study leave i've realized how lucky Theatre students are to have all their assessments during the last year and not as a final exam (now i can concentrate on 5 subjects rather then 6 which makes a big difference).
These past 2 years have been amazing, fun-filled but also hard and sometimes frustrating. We've become a much smaller group, starting from 6 and now just being 3. I found that during our last year we've discovered how to trust each other even more and have trust in each other. I myself started Drama in year 10 and loved it so much i wanted to continue it for IB, i was shocked and nervous at first to find that the IB Theatre course is much more detailed (and none of our pieces would be filmed on camera :O ) Even though Theatre in IB is much more demanding it's made me become who i am today. I've gained a lot of confidence which i never used to really have even before i started at IST. Year 10 and 11 helped me gain it, but IB Theatre has helped me gain my confidence a lot more ( even though on some presentations my voice still goes shaky, but i can do it 10 times better now).
IB Theatre i found is a much more social and energetic subject compared to other subject on the IB learner profile. Because it is so much more energetic and we did so many trust exercises and 'games' or warm up exercises we've come to create amazing memories we will never forget.
The first memory i can go back to is the TAPS ISTA TRIP TO LONDON. This trip was one of my favourite trips i have ever had. We gained 2 people in our group for this trip (Ms Mancey our English teacher and her son Henry). We created loads of memories from that trip, from being annoyed after being ripped of at an Indian Restaurant on the first night (even though tasted amazing), taking the underground to get to places, going into PRIMARK, eating at Pizza Hut, witnessing Lydia's short attention spams (which is not that long). Axel always commenting on something that i did :( Making friends in our workshop ensemble and so many more.
There's also many memories of the shows we went to watch, One Man Two Guvnors where we laughed in hysterics on our chairs. Damned by Despair which i can't remember much of, apart from being rudely awakened by the sound of a gun shot. Oh the Humanity where i still don't understand what the meaning was there. Ouroboros being amazed by the puppetry and the BERPI used. There's so many more memories that it would take hours to write down.
One thing i will remember is how our little ensemble of 3 managed to make Mr.Fearnehough go off subject on some lessons for about 45 minutes and always ended in laughter, those were the best lessons for us hehe. I will truely miss IB Theatre as i've found it to be the most comfortable and 'safe room' in the whole school. We've laughed a lot together but we've also nearly had meltdowns together.
I can't believe IB Theatre is over, i will miss going into that little bright yellow room (even though it would be better painted black :p ahahha) We've become closer as an ensemble but also as friends and i wont forget the memories that we're created during the 2 years and we all know that Mr.Fearnehough will never have an amazing class like ours ever again :D
Thank you Mr.Fearnehough :D
On Friday the 4th of April we completed our whole IB Theatre course by doing our PPP. This marked a big moment in our IB student lives and made me realize how close to the end we were. Now we've just started our study leave i've realized how lucky Theatre students are to have all their assessments during the last year and not as a final exam (now i can concentrate on 5 subjects rather then 6 which makes a big difference).
These past 2 years have been amazing, fun-filled but also hard and sometimes frustrating. We've become a much smaller group, starting from 6 and now just being 3. I found that during our last year we've discovered how to trust each other even more and have trust in each other. I myself started Drama in year 10 and loved it so much i wanted to continue it for IB, i was shocked and nervous at first to find that the IB Theatre course is much more detailed (and none of our pieces would be filmed on camera :O ) Even though Theatre in IB is much more demanding it's made me become who i am today. I've gained a lot of confidence which i never used to really have even before i started at IST. Year 10 and 11 helped me gain it, but IB Theatre has helped me gain my confidence a lot more ( even though on some presentations my voice still goes shaky, but i can do it 10 times better now).
IB Theatre i found is a much more social and energetic subject compared to other subject on the IB learner profile. Because it is so much more energetic and we did so many trust exercises and 'games' or warm up exercises we've come to create amazing memories we will never forget.
The first memory i can go back to is the TAPS ISTA TRIP TO LONDON. This trip was one of my favourite trips i have ever had. We gained 2 people in our group for this trip (Ms Mancey our English teacher and her son Henry). We created loads of memories from that trip, from being annoyed after being ripped of at an Indian Restaurant on the first night (even though tasted amazing), taking the underground to get to places, going into PRIMARK, eating at Pizza Hut, witnessing Lydia's short attention spams (which is not that long). Axel always commenting on something that i did :( Making friends in our workshop ensemble and so many more.
There's also many memories of the shows we went to watch, One Man Two Guvnors where we laughed in hysterics on our chairs. Damned by Despair which i can't remember much of, apart from being rudely awakened by the sound of a gun shot. Oh the Humanity where i still don't understand what the meaning was there. Ouroboros being amazed by the puppetry and the BERPI used. There's so many more memories that it would take hours to write down.
One thing i will remember is how our little ensemble of 3 managed to make Mr.Fearnehough go off subject on some lessons for about 45 minutes and always ended in laughter, those were the best lessons for us hehe. I will truely miss IB Theatre as i've found it to be the most comfortable and 'safe room' in the whole school. We've laughed a lot together but we've also nearly had meltdowns together.
I can't believe IB Theatre is over, i will miss going into that little bright yellow room (even though it would be better painted black :p ahahha) We've become closer as an ensemble but also as friends and i wont forget the memories that we're created during the 2 years and we all know that Mr.Fearnehough will never have an amazing class like ours ever again :D
Thank you Mr.Fearnehough :D
FINAL BLOG ENTRY !
So now we have finished everything for IB Theatre!
We started as 5 people , went up to 6 and then finished we 3.
I would say that IB Theatre took a lot of energy during the two years in comparison to all the other subjects.
In the first year there were a lot of presentations and research tasks that helped us prepare for our final assessments. Then in year two, it was just assessment after assessment after exam....
It was really hard work but hopefully it will be worth it.
I don't think I am going to talk much here about what I learnt from IB Theatre because you all saw that in my TPPP but I did gain a huge amount of confidence, trust and determination from theatre. I thought I was already confident but I realise now how much it has grown even more.
I will miss our first year trackie Wednesdays and the Stanislavski relaxation exercise (catching up on sleep). I will miss being the eldest, tallest and trying to be the peacemaker between Axel and Bekki, although I feel I probably provoked most of their arguments and banter. I won't miss Mr Fearnehough when he is a perfectionist about where my fullstop or dash goes on my reference (don't stop though because it was a good thing)!. I will miss Mr Fearnehough!! Drama has always been my favourite class since year 7 therefore Mr Fearnehough has always been ONE or maybe my favourite teacher since then! I think he learnt a lot from our IB class too such as not talking as much at parent teacher meetings. I think Mr Fearnehough will miss our banter that we had. YOU WILL NEVER HAVE A CLASS LIKE OURS AGAIN :)
I will definitely come back and visit though. Like I said to you the other day when I was walking to your room with no shoes on " I feel like this place is my home".
Now I feel like this is getting too cheesy...
I am going to miss our little team we had. I think we gained a lot of trust through the course. An example of this was me touching axel's bum in the massage task and also all of us including Mr Fearnehough seeing Axel's nipples on the last day.
Let's not forget our trip to London! Probably my favourite trip to be honest...
Remember when we got ripped off on the first night in the Indian? Then there was Axel's claw, Henry's burping, farting, eating habbits OH MY GOD! Bekki needing a mother so she held Mrs Mancey's hand. Mr Fearnehough being a complete diva when walking into TaPs the first time to show all the other schools who is boss. Then there was most of us asleep at Damned by Despair until the gun shot went off. Halley and Abby's first experience in Primark. Bekki and I almost crying when Mr Fearnehough said we could go into Primark for half an hour. Then also being across the road from Primark everyday <3
It was a really good and hard two years. During them I could only think of the bad and tiring parts but right now I acually cannot think of any of the bad/annoying/tiring moments that we had.
Thank you for everything Mr Fearnehough! At least next year you don't have to deal with any theatre assessments because you don't have a Year 13 theatre class!
You have been the biggest diva and also the most helpful teacher in the school!
Thank you Bekki & Axel for being two amazing friends that I am going to miss soooo much, yes even you Axel!
Also thank you to Halley, Abby, Mary and even Henry. Halley was a spirited American who forced One Direction to be on during class, Abby for giving really amazing idea for our "Love Wins All" play, Mary for making us laugh so much that one day in class to the point Mr Fearnehough was on the floor crying but I don't actually remember what we were laughing about now and then to Henry for being so much fun on the trip and actually keeping in contact.
LOTS OF LOVE
LYDIA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
P.S I don't even care if this was really cheesy.
We started as 5 people , went up to 6 and then finished we 3.
I would say that IB Theatre took a lot of energy during the two years in comparison to all the other subjects.
In the first year there were a lot of presentations and research tasks that helped us prepare for our final assessments. Then in year two, it was just assessment after assessment after exam....
It was really hard work but hopefully it will be worth it.
I don't think I am going to talk much here about what I learnt from IB Theatre because you all saw that in my TPPP but I did gain a huge amount of confidence, trust and determination from theatre. I thought I was already confident but I realise now how much it has grown even more.
I will miss our first year trackie Wednesdays and the Stanislavski relaxation exercise (catching up on sleep). I will miss being the eldest, tallest and trying to be the peacemaker between Axel and Bekki, although I feel I probably provoked most of their arguments and banter. I won't miss Mr Fearnehough when he is a perfectionist about where my fullstop or dash goes on my reference (don't stop though because it was a good thing)!. I will miss Mr Fearnehough!! Drama has always been my favourite class since year 7 therefore Mr Fearnehough has always been ONE or maybe my favourite teacher since then! I think he learnt a lot from our IB class too such as not talking as much at parent teacher meetings. I think Mr Fearnehough will miss our banter that we had. YOU WILL NEVER HAVE A CLASS LIKE OURS AGAIN :)
I will definitely come back and visit though. Like I said to you the other day when I was walking to your room with no shoes on " I feel like this place is my home".
Now I feel like this is getting too cheesy...
I am going to miss our little team we had. I think we gained a lot of trust through the course. An example of this was me touching axel's bum in the massage task and also all of us including Mr Fearnehough seeing Axel's nipples on the last day.
Let's not forget our trip to London! Probably my favourite trip to be honest...
Remember when we got ripped off on the first night in the Indian? Then there was Axel's claw, Henry's burping, farting, eating habbits OH MY GOD! Bekki needing a mother so she held Mrs Mancey's hand. Mr Fearnehough being a complete diva when walking into TaPs the first time to show all the other schools who is boss. Then there was most of us asleep at Damned by Despair until the gun shot went off. Halley and Abby's first experience in Primark. Bekki and I almost crying when Mr Fearnehough said we could go into Primark for half an hour. Then also being across the road from Primark everyday <3
It was a really good and hard two years. During them I could only think of the bad and tiring parts but right now I acually cannot think of any of the bad/annoying/tiring moments that we had.
Thank you for everything Mr Fearnehough! At least next year you don't have to deal with any theatre assessments because you don't have a Year 13 theatre class!
You have been the biggest diva and also the most helpful teacher in the school!
Thank you Bekki & Axel for being two amazing friends that I am going to miss soooo much, yes even you Axel!
Also thank you to Halley, Abby, Mary and even Henry. Halley was a spirited American who forced One Direction to be on during class, Abby for giving really amazing idea for our "Love Wins All" play, Mary for making us laugh so much that one day in class to the point Mr Fearnehough was on the floor crying but I don't actually remember what we were laughing about now and then to Henry for being so much fun on the trip and actually keeping in contact.
LOTS OF LOVE
LYDIA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
P.S I don't even care if this was really cheesy.
Monday 24 March 2014
Final Blog Entry....
"Be a Hero"
This was our bunraku inspired play that we performed to an audience of year 2 and 4 classes of our school that also attended the workshop and short performance which three puppeteers from the Handspring Puppet Company. The point of the performance was to be entertaining and educational which links to Brecht's Epic Theatre of a play being educational.
Our play was educational as it taught the audience what was right and wrong about food and water waste and also about recycling. We tried to aim the play towards them by using language that they would be able to relate to and understand, including excitement such as a super hero, lots of movement like dancing with music and also audience interaction where some children came up on stage to help place a badge on the puppet and also join in with speech and dancing.
We got taught the concept of "BERPI" from the three girls from the handspring puppet company. There were advantages and disadvantages to the way we used and succeeded in berpie during our performance:
BREATH- during a performance, the puppet should be breathing at all time, it should never be still. As I was the foot puppeteer, for me the breath job is much easier but it can also still be difficult. You cannot move the feet too much because it is unrealistic unlike making the chest just breath naturally. So the feet can be confusing when and if you should keep them moving when on the stop to make the "breath aspect more true".
EYELINE- this is another aspect that has to be constant during a puppet performance. The puppet needs to have direct eyeline with the audience and other props on the stage. If a puppet isn't looking at its book properly then the realism of the puppet will disappear and the audience will remember it is just a puppet. As I was foot puppeteer, I could not control the eyeline but I did still understood the tactic and kept the keep in line with the eyeline to make sure the body of the puppet is correct.
RHYTHM- Bekki, Axel and I all had to work together to get the rhythm of the puppet correct. A moment in the play the puppet had to have good rhythm was our little dance scene when Nick the puppet became a hero. I choreographed a little easy dance number for the puppet but it was a little too hard on the beats to the music to move the puppet in a realistic way so "can't remember who it was" came up with a more simple solution which was good and we all understood it. This meant that our puppet was more in rhythm to the music and also in time with eachother.
PHYSICS- We all worked together to move the puppet correctly but sometimes during the performance we weren't perfect in making the puppet move very realistic but i think that this was partly our fault and partly the puppets fault as it was difficult to move.
INSPIRATION- in berpi, this doesn't mean the inspiration for the play but it means the inspiration in a prop. The puppet has to see something and be inspired to use it, show emotion in its face by the way it moves it has to have emotion.
After the performance, the audience reactions were good and i felt that we did get our message across and entertained the kids. This was our aim but i think that we could have definitely performed with the puppet much better. We could have created a better puppet and practised more. Even though we struggled and it should take us 30 years to learn how to control a puppet properly, I think we learnt a lot of theory but our techniques need to be put to practice and we need to have had a better puppet like the one in handspring puppet company.
As this is my final blog " kinda" i might write another one after the TPPP, I think that this two year theatre class has showed me a lot of things! It showed me what hard work really can be haha physically(zen work) and mentally (RI, IPP.....omg)
I realised how much I actually liked learning about theatre practices and all the different parts of theatre that I want to carry on in the future but it has also built my confidence in acting which will be good for uni.
Also we had a lot of laughs throughout the two years :D:D
This was our bunraku inspired play that we performed to an audience of year 2 and 4 classes of our school that also attended the workshop and short performance which three puppeteers from the Handspring Puppet Company. The point of the performance was to be entertaining and educational which links to Brecht's Epic Theatre of a play being educational.
Our play was educational as it taught the audience what was right and wrong about food and water waste and also about recycling. We tried to aim the play towards them by using language that they would be able to relate to and understand, including excitement such as a super hero, lots of movement like dancing with music and also audience interaction where some children came up on stage to help place a badge on the puppet and also join in with speech and dancing.
We got taught the concept of "BERPI" from the three girls from the handspring puppet company. There were advantages and disadvantages to the way we used and succeeded in berpie during our performance:
BREATH- during a performance, the puppet should be breathing at all time, it should never be still. As I was the foot puppeteer, for me the breath job is much easier but it can also still be difficult. You cannot move the feet too much because it is unrealistic unlike making the chest just breath naturally. So the feet can be confusing when and if you should keep them moving when on the stop to make the "breath aspect more true".
EYELINE- this is another aspect that has to be constant during a puppet performance. The puppet needs to have direct eyeline with the audience and other props on the stage. If a puppet isn't looking at its book properly then the realism of the puppet will disappear and the audience will remember it is just a puppet. As I was foot puppeteer, I could not control the eyeline but I did still understood the tactic and kept the keep in line with the eyeline to make sure the body of the puppet is correct.
RHYTHM- Bekki, Axel and I all had to work together to get the rhythm of the puppet correct. A moment in the play the puppet had to have good rhythm was our little dance scene when Nick the puppet became a hero. I choreographed a little easy dance number for the puppet but it was a little too hard on the beats to the music to move the puppet in a realistic way so "can't remember who it was" came up with a more simple solution which was good and we all understood it. This meant that our puppet was more in rhythm to the music and also in time with eachother.
PHYSICS- We all worked together to move the puppet correctly but sometimes during the performance we weren't perfect in making the puppet move very realistic but i think that this was partly our fault and partly the puppets fault as it was difficult to move.
INSPIRATION- in berpi, this doesn't mean the inspiration for the play but it means the inspiration in a prop. The puppet has to see something and be inspired to use it, show emotion in its face by the way it moves it has to have emotion.
After the performance, the audience reactions were good and i felt that we did get our message across and entertained the kids. This was our aim but i think that we could have definitely performed with the puppet much better. We could have created a better puppet and practised more. Even though we struggled and it should take us 30 years to learn how to control a puppet properly, I think we learnt a lot of theory but our techniques need to be put to practice and we need to have had a better puppet like the one in handspring puppet company.
As this is my final blog " kinda" i might write another one after the TPPP, I think that this two year theatre class has showed me a lot of things! It showed me what hard work really can be haha physically(zen work) and mentally (RI, IPP.....omg)
I realised how much I actually liked learning about theatre practices and all the different parts of theatre that I want to carry on in the future but it has also built my confidence in acting which will be good for uni.
Also we had a lot of laughs throughout the two years :D:D
Wednesday 26 February 2014
Be a Hero
Even though our blogs had slip a bit during these last few
months we were hard at work on our puppet play ‘Be A Hero’. This play came
about after we had performed to the primary students that had attended our
workshop in November. We based our piece be a hero from our performance we did
on that workshop day and what the audience would be interested in. We thought that our piece should have a
message to it so that it would encourage the primary students in a playful and
fun way to do something. We decided on doing a piece about being more
economically friendly in our everyday lives.
As we came up with the performance concept for our piece we
started to include BERPI which is an aspect of Bunraku the three puppeteers
that came to us for the workshop has taught us. BERPI stands for Breath, Eye
line, Rhythm, Physics and Inspiration. I believe that during our piece BE A
HERO we were able to create during our piece.
BREATH- As I was holding the pelvis of the puppet because
during the process the neck where Axel would be holding it fell apart I focused
on the breathing of the puppet and for most of the piece remembered to bring
life into the puppet so making it breath properly.
EYELINE – As Axel was the head puppeteer he was in charge of
the head movement and the eyeline of the puppet. If the eyeline is not focused
on the audience and not looking at a specific object when it should be this can
ruin the whole effect of the puppet and it will seem less alive. Axel was
successful in controlling the eyeline as I saw throughout the piece he kept
moving his heads when the script mentioned a specific object and kept the
eyeline well with the audience.
RHYTHM – We all worked together on the puppet in the piece
so that its rhythm was successful. We planned to always start with the right
leg and when the puppet was walking to do opposite arms and legs each time. I
feel we were successful in this as I was focused also on this aspect of the
puppet. Another part of the rhythm was keeping the puppet up and not for it to
look like he was slouching this would of created an unreal effect again so I
was in charge of this when I was holding the pelvis.
PHYSICS – As a whole team we worked together to make the
puppet better from what we started off with initially. We found out together
lots of different techniques we could use to make the puppet better to
manoeuvre.
INSPIRATION – Our inspiration for the puppet was from what
our initial puppet was like, the puppet we were able to hold after the puppet
show we had gone to watch with the three puppeteers and an example of a puppet
which they did. We worked together trying to figure out the pro’s and con’s and
figured out what would be best for our end puppet Nick.
The audience reactions were very encouraging after our piece
as we saw the primary students joined along clapping and were interactive
throughout. We got a good applause at the end and we saw that throughout the
piece the children were actually listening and paying attention to what was
being said in the piece which was pleasing to see. When the children has to
leave to their lesson a little boy commented ‘awwhhh noooo’ which to us we thought
it was funny then realised how encouraging it was and he must of enjoyed the
piece a lot of his reaction was like that. The teacher’s reactions were
encouraging also one teacher said that we should perform it to more students
from primary which would be good as it would give us more experience
manipulating the puppet and the other primary students to experience something
they don’t usually experience. Another teacher questioned us about the puppet
itself at the end of the piece and she was so impressed with how we made it and
said ‘we made it look so easy’ which was also encouraging to hear. Because as a
quote says ‘you must suffer in order for the puppet to live’ I know axel’s
hands were suffering, Lydia was in an uncomfortable position at the feet and I
was having to hunch over sometimes to grab the hand but also remember to hold
the pelvis.
I think we succeed very well in showing our message to the
audience as they were attentive throughout joined in at the interactions
moments planned and said they really enjoyed it. I think the interaction made
it more exciting for the children to learn about being economically friendly
and that it is so easy for them to be heroes too.
I think it was a great way to finish the whole 2 years of
the IB course off. We finished on a high with very good feedback. This project
is one of the projects that have made me realise my own strengths and
weaknesses with the building of the puppet especially as some days the puppet
would be in perfect shape but some days just fell apart which was frustrating
and it felt like I was always tapping an arm or a leg back together. I’m glad I
took on the role of the puppet maker but I knew I had a lot of responsibility
on my shoulders some days I was happy to fix Nick but others I didn’t as I felt
he was like a clinger boyfriend taking up my time but now he doesn’t anymore
(haha)
Monday 16 December 2013
Making our new and revised puppet and getting some help with the IPP
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.
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.
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.
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