Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Blogologues: Rough Draft Reflection

Last Thursday was our run through performance. On a whole, our performance was not as good as it should have been. Our content was good and we were quite confident but there were many problems and errors in our scenes. The main goal of the whole production was to act out the Internet. Most of us did not do justice to this as it seemed memorized. We had most of our lines done and we were quite confident. Our transition bits did not work too well as they weren’t really transitioning into the next scene. We did not know the other person’s content well enough to be a part of their scenes. Even though we had our parts in our ensemble members scenes memorized, we had a hard time acting it out, as we didn’t practice well enough. We have very talented ensemble members who are really good actors. In order to do a better performance, we need to understand everyone’s script and also the running order. We need to memorize all our lines well and help each other’s performances. 

My performance did not meet my expectations and it could have been performed better. The feedback I got from my teacher was: I looked offstage a couple of times as I waited for my ensemble members to play their parts. Since they did not understand/know my scene well enough, they did not know which part they needed to act in. I was too concentrated on the fact that my group members did not know their lines, rather than articulating my lines properly during my scene. My eye contact with the audience was good and it held the audiences attention. The transition bit for my piece did not work well as the lines were not memorized enough. We did look quite confident when we were on stage and tried to improvise the lines. My physical acting was minimal, as I had to stand and rant, even though I could have done more with my hand gestures to show anger and frustration. In terms of my communication, I speak very fast but I tried to slow down as much as possible. Also, I am terrible at doing accents therefore I could not fully get into my character. I also thought my scene felt quite memorized rather than an actual “19 year old Chinese kid”. I did not give enough time for the audience to connect with my character and feel the emotions I was trying to show. I was personally engaged throughout the rehearsal and I tried to keep my ensemble members as on track as possible. We figured out our blogs very early which helped us out a lot while editing the scenes. 

There are major improvements I would like to make to my rough performance in order to make it better for my final performance. Firstly, I would like to speak slowly and articulate my words properly in order to give the audience enough time to connect with my performance. I need to make more physical movements and use the stage better. I don’t want to stand in one place 24/7 as it looks really boring. I want to make better eye contact with the audience. If my ensemble members mess up during the performance, I want to move on and make sure my lines are perfect. This would hold the performance in place. I will make sure I don’t look offstage to see what’s going on and if the projections are all right. I will keep moving forward. I want to do justice to the person who wrote the blog and show how annoyed he was at the time of writing.In terms of helping my other ensemble members with their scenes, I will memorize their lines and their staging perfectly and help if anyone forgets their lines. In terms of the transition bits, none of them worked well as it did not transition from one scene to another. It was quite a mess. I forgot to do the transition bit for Saniya’s scene and due to that we had to quickly move on. We did stick to the theme of our performances but there was not a good flow in the scenes. We definitely need to change that and make sure they are actual transition bits.

The member of my group who I chose to critique was Saniya. She worked really hard throughout the rehearsal stages and the initial staged of our group work. She chose the perfect piece for the first scene of our performance. In the run through, Saniya was quite confident. She had most of her lines memorized and she remembered them well. The problems with her performance were the fact that she spoke to fast and it felt too memorized rather than an acting scene. Due to this the audience members had a hard time connecting with the performance. Secondly, she speaks quite softly thus it’s hard for the audience to hear her but that problem is easily solvable using a microphone. Saniya’s Blogologues requires the ensemble members to act a lot as she has scenes in between. This is quite hard for the group members as we tend to forget the sequence but knowing her script well would fix this problem. Other than that, Saniya was much more confident than before with her performance and it was good as a whole.

On a whole our group works well together. There is a good combination of people who don’t get distracted by one another and we listen to each other’s opinion and ideas. Everyone gives input on what he or she wishes to do and we incorporate it in. Sometimes there is a bit of slacking but on a whole it’s the best combination of people I have worked with. Ryan Saniya and I were committed with the whole performance throughout and we were engaged all the time. Vanessa and Hamza were a little lazy sometimes but they came around. Other than that, the group works hard and we have very good content.  If everything goes accordingly, the final performance will be great.
 



Thursday, May 22, 2014

Blogologues: Task 8

Link to my performance : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0jei6JTGFA&feature=youtu.be

The theme for our performance was Annoying Parents. The blog I had chosen was a blog by a Chinese immigrant to USA. He was complaining about the over expectations of his parents and how he finds them annoying. The whole performance is based on annoyance, anger, disappointment and resentment.
In this rough draft performance, I used exaggeration and an angry tone to portray the anger of the person. I tried to communicate to the audience by acting as if I’m complaining to them and explaining my situation. I tried to use techniques, which would show how I’m angry, annoyed and overall quite disappointed.
Some of the positives of my performance would be the fact that I was loud. I showed my anger and my disappointment with my facial expressions. I had hand gestures and some movements throughout the performance.
Some of the areas of improvement I would suggest for my next performance is the most obvious factor, my speech. I was quite fast and I understood what I was saying but it was probably hard for my peers to understand. I tried my best to speak as slow as possible but it was quite difficult. I will practice this for my final performance. Another improvement I could make is having a better body language. I could make better use of the stage.
The main goal for my performance is to be confident and make sure my lines are not forgotten. I want to speak slowly and articulate my words properly in order for the audience to understand. Lastly, I would like to do justice to the annoyed blog writer and portray his feelings well.

If these improvements are made for my final performance, hopefully it will be great.
Peer evaluation:

I'm evaluating Saniyas rough draft performance. Her performance was good overall. She is a quiet person in general and she was quite loud in this performance. She memorised her lines well and she seemed confident in front of the camera. It was really funny how she was narrating the scene as well as acting as the annoying parent. Some constructive feedback would be to definitely be louder. She could also articulate her words better in order for the audience to understand. Other than this, it was a good performance and making these changes would make it even better for the final performance.

Blogologues: Task 7





Sunday, May 11, 2014

Blogologues: Task 6

    The production role that I have for this piece of work is a director. There are many jobs that are related to my production role. A director is needed in businesses, theatrical productions, agencies and even hospitals. Directors are extremely important because they plan the whole thing and they are supposed to keep people on the right path. They fix the goal, which they want, people to work towards and achieve. They have to have everything planned afore hand in order to carry out the goal. Directors are extremely important in theatrical companies. The director’s task is to ensure that all aspects of the production are in line with each other in order to accomplish the goal of the production.
 There are many responsibilities as a director and they are very important in order to make the production possible. Communication, organizational and collaboration skills are vital in this production. The director cannot do all the tasks on their own therefore they need to thoroughly explain what their ensembles need to do in order to create the production effectively.
The director needs organizational skills in order to plan everything ahead and explain what their ensembles need to do. They need to properly collaborate with their ensembles and get their feedback as well in making the production. The director must remember that this is a group work and not only done by one person. Some of the learner profile attributes that the director must possess are communication, open-mindedness and thinkers. My role as director is important in the overall success of the group’s performance since I have to lead the group. In order for a successful performance the group must work together and listen to each other’s feedback and form the production as a whole.
 I think I’m quite well equipped for this role since I have good organizational skills. I need to work on my communication and collaboration skills better since I have a tendency to be bossy with my ensembles. In order to do so, I need to trust my group members and form a mutual agreement while doing work. These are the things, which I need to practice on in order to make my production role better.
Initial ideas and goals:
-       Pick out the blogs and transition elements
-       Print out the blogs and transition elements
-       Start acting out lines and staging
-       Fix the props
-       Rehearse
-       Perform