Year 13: New Beginnings!

RI UPDATE: SO far, I have written just under 1400 words but I have now realized I have two main problems with my draft. I have no images and I lack enough sources. However, there are two weeks until the deadline in which I can make those changes so I am fairly confident that I will be able to turn out a decent RI. As a task, I cannot say in all honesty that I enjoyed it. Nevertheless, it was quite interesting to learn about Noh theatre.

IP IDEAS: This is a thorny issue as I do not currently have many of those. I was toying with the idea of a monologue composed of different opinions on one subject, using verbatim and repeating the words of my interviewees. So far, that’s all I have, but stay tuned for more!

REFLECTION OF ME AS AN IB THEATRE STUDENT AT THE BEGINNING OF YEAR 13 (ARTWORK):

This is an anonymous piece of artwork found in Los Angeles in 2008. I chose this piece of artwork not only because I love street art but because I felt it represents me as a Theatre student halfway (or nearly) through the course. The rickety bridge represents my course right now as I try not to mess up. The black pit represents my worries of failure as I really want to succeed in this class. The fact that this piece of art is located on a street in Los Angeles is also significant because I sometimes feel that other people don’t realize how much of a commitment IB Theatre really is, making me feel slightly isolated.

REFLECTION OF ME AS AN IB THEATRE STUDENT AT THE BEGINNING OF YEAR 13 (PHOTOGRAPH):

I set up this picture to look like two things. One interpretation is that I am halfway through taking a leap of faith into the Theatre world. Another is that I am in a balancing act trying to play “the floor is lava”, where the lava represents my fears of failure.

Week 33: The Begining of a New Year

RI Status
Over the summer I have finalized my RI topic, Masks used in Antigone, and continued my research.
IP Ideas

1. A workshop exploring the effect of stance, movement, an facial expression on the stage picture
2. Directing a monologue with a volunteer actor
3. Assisting in props. with another student

Me Halfway Though IB Theatre Course

Artwork

• Fear of failure 
• Standing on the stage right before the curtain goes up: butterflies everywhere, nervous, petrified
• The light (success) is on stage to get to it I have to do something hard to succeed

In Class Picture 

In this picture I attempted to portray myself as drowning in a sea of confusion, overwhelmedness, and exams. I am surrounded on all sides and I am sinking in it. 

Friday: Today we did an exercise in which one person stood with their back to the rest of the ensemble. The rest of the ensemble was instructed to come up with a compliment for the other person. It was then repeated, word for word, by  different members of the ensemble in different ways until the other person felt that it sounded sincere and turned. 

What this Excercise did

• The importance of rehearsal- it tooks multiple tries for each turn for each person
• The actors have to be very convincing and rely heavily on the audiences suspension of belief because it is hard to accept a compliment that is not "meant" given for the sake of the compliment
• It was harder to accept the compliment from people I knew because I know how they act, how they give compliments, and what seems natural from them-not knowing the audience is a good thing for actors
• Culture can make how I see a compliment different- a play will have to change subtlely to be understandable to another culture
• The accent or the voice of the person who is giving the compliment can make a big difference-casting is important
• Strangely I was not as uncomfortable in  front of the group as I thought I was going o be
• I am a product of where I came from  and what I have experienced- some compliments of observations will mean different things to me
• It is sometimes hard to "fake" a compliment especially- new respect to actors/performers
• Sarcasm can be perceived by a short or breath-actors have to be very meaningful with every syllable and spacing

Beginning of Year 13 !

RI Update:

Right now, my RI has around 1,500 words and a rough annotated bibliography. I have a lot of research but I am starting to struggle to find more depth and therefore I feel as if I'm repeating myself. Tuesday in class we will be working on them and I am sure this will help me a lot. I thought the RI would not be that hard but I have struggled to connect things together and find lots of information. I am not sure if this is me or what I am researching about. 

Independent Project Ideas:

Last year, I was involved in Maria's IP which was immersive theatre. I really enjoyed it and we also did a bit of work on immersive theatre in TAPS so I would love to find out all about it myself as I think the approach Maria used was original and also very interesting. It is also very different from all my other work I have done so far in Theatre!

Reflection of me as an IB Theatre Student at the beginning of yr 13:

This painting is called "The Excitement Photograph" by Mike Savad.
I think that this painting represents me because the colours in the photo represent the excitement I have for what I am going to learn this year and also for finishing this year! The paint is quite a mess and this represents the worry about how I am going to handle everything and it can also represent how I think my brain might be feeling at one point. There are lots of different colours which can symbolise the amount of new things I will learn during this year of Theatre. The dark blue underneath all the colours and at the top represents the calmness which is what I am hoping for at the end. 

These two images represent how I feel at the beginning of year 13. The first image (left) shows how I feel like I am going to be surrounded and suffocated by work but I am curious and anxious to finish but curious about what I will learn. The second image (right) shows that the hands represent the amount of work trying to hold me back but I am reaching out towards my future and dream and that it what I am aiming for. That is what is making the work worth while and I can get through it.

First Lesson of IB Theatre in Year 13 !!


RI Update:

Over the summer i managed to do the RI on Kathakali dance movements, the research itself is completed but i still have to do the annotated bibliography for the sources that i used for the research. I managed to find a play from Kathakali that has been one of the focus's in the research. Whilst writing up what i had read on internet websites i found that it wasn't as bad as i first thought it was going to be. I'm happy so far with how much I've got done.

Independent Project Ideas: 

-  directing a monologue
-  directing a few workshops for drama students, teaching them about a theater practice.

Reflection on being an IB Theater Student half way through the course:

 We were told to choose an image that we thought represented us as an IB theater student half way through the course for this i choose this painting

 This painting is an abstract painting and i think represents well how i feel at this stage of the course. The areas of this painting shows the colours from warmer colours (yellow and orange) and colder colours (blue and purple), to me the warmer colours portray what i know and what i have learnt so far and the colder colours represents the areas where i still have to work on to understand completely. The white colour around it is the areas where is still don't know about things but which i will be able to learn and by the end of IB it would be all colourful. This painting is a bit blurry this shows that even though i have good knowledge of things they still need touching up in order to complete the course. I also have an image of myself but that has not been uploaded yet.

Set Design Reflection:
 At the end of this set design project I have realized that my final scale model will change significantly from my initial ideas. At the start I had some ideas that I thought I would be able to create but throughout the process of actually making the scale model I found something’s did not work and I had to change them.

A second thing I learnt is that there is a lot of process before actually making a scale model. At first I thought the set design would be the most difficult but in the end I thought the designers grid was most difficult because there was a lot of things I had to include and I had to think ahead.

A third thing I learnt throughout this set design project that you have to have a proper understanding of the play and the significance of proper characters. I understood the character Mother Courage so I was able to link her character to the set.

Next time I could approach this differently by having more ideas on the different scenes I could do to scale model. And I could look at the significance of scenes in more detail to get a better Idea of the play.

Set Design

After i do my set design of Mother Courage by brecht and give a feedback on my work and i learned many thing in doing this set design. Here's is my set design that i made, i choose the last scene in Mother Courage because it has more things happen at the end.

 

 



 



I learned something from doing this Set design in Mother Courage is that to become more CREATIVE on the props that be used in the play the colors and style which is really important, and I learned to be WIDER THINKER because I make it like choosing the good scene in mother courage and make it simple scene just by putting the main idea in the scene that I used to make as my set design. I also learned CHANGING IDEAS because at first I decided to make a big stage, big cart to put I think it doesn’t work and it’s too annoying to have a big stage and cart where the audience can’t see the whole thing so I change it to make it a normal stage and cart so that it is really good to look at on stage and also the color of stage where at first I want it brown but I change it to black by analyzing the play.

 In improving my set design next time the first thing to do is to make it ANALYZE so that it is really clear to me what I’m going to do, and make the ideas SPECIFIC so that there is no difficulties in doing set design and I need also to be CONTENTED on what I choose that I don’t want to waste time changing many things that can affect all things set design and make my idea finalize before I started making my set design so that I can’t forget everything include in the scene.



 

 

 

 

 

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                This set design is for scene two in Brecht’s “Mother Courage” which takes place inside the general’s tent. The design concept behind the set is the idea of the timelessness of war. For that reason design elements from a variety of time periods and geographic locations have been included to show that war and conflict have happened throughout the world and history.

                In the design most of the stage is under fabric which is suspended above the stage to represent the general’s tent. The fabric is a deep purple which has historically been associated with European monarchy, who fought in countless wars, bleeding their respective countries dry for land, resources, or to save their own crowns. Hanging down from the tent is a transparent section of fabric that separates stage left and stage right which have been fashioned into a kitchen set-up stage right(where Mother Courage works), and the general’s office stage left. The transparent divider physically separates the two sections to show the distinct positions of high ranking military officials versus the somewhat lowly positions of military cooks and attendants; however its material is transparent to show that the two sides are still very aware of the presence of the other and are still somewhat dependent on the other.

                In the kitchen set-up three distinct time periods are represented in its design. The walls are covered in tan striped wallpaper which is a classic element from 1970s home design. The neutral colors also harken back to the natural elements necessary in a kitchen. The metallic pots, though a contemporary staple in kitchens, first appeared during the Bronze Age and thus recognize its rich history that was also touched by war. The stove is a retro piece from 1950s Americana design.The stage left section of the general’s tent also has three distinct elements from periods in time. The silk screen wallpaper is from representative of Chinese silk that was traded on the Silk Road. Another use of silk is in the general’s luxurious seat, except this style comes from 18^th century France and the court of Louis XIV. Attached to a panel on stage left is an animal skin that comes from the design of medieval gathering/banquet halls.

                Above the suspended tent is a giant clock styled like a Victorian pocket watch that literally stares down at the stage and audience, giving a visual representation of the passing of time and continuation of war. Another element of time comes in the form of the sign post, downstage right, which literally signposts the audience through projections which show the name of the proceeding scene and the upcoming scene as well as the time remaining in the production. The money on the table in the general’s office represents the corrupt wealth that comes with war. To bring home the idea of the timelessness of war a speaker on the back wall of the stage will constantly be broadcasting snippets of radio broadcasts of current affairs and wars. By using the current news the audience will realize that war is happening now and will continue to happen unless something is changed.