Academy Time 24th October

 In Academy time today, I carried on helping make the trees but also decided to make some flowers for different scenes!

 To make my flowers, I used a yoghurt pot, tissue paper, thin netting, glue, tape and a green straw. First of all, you tape the green straw to the inside of the yoghurt pot. Next you cover the yoghurt pot in a coloured piece of tissue paper and tie with netting.  Then you get a different coloured tissue paper and secure the tissue paper around the yoghurt pot and straw. You then tape the different colour tissue paper around the yoghurt pot to make it look like a flower. However, after a few attempts using tape, I decided to use the glue gun to secure this last bit of tissue paper. At first, I struggled to use the glue gun but eventually found that it was quite easy to use. I found out that this last process of attaching the different coloured tissue paper is made easier if you use a glue gun and looks a lot better aesthetically.

Singing Workshop with Stefan

 Today we took part in a Singing Workshop with Stefan. We did several activities all of which were focused around improving our singing abilities.

 First of all, we were told to lay down with our knees bent and to place our hands on our stomachs. We were told to breathe into our diaphragms as this is the correct way to breathe whilst singing. We then had to make a 'Zzzz' sound for as long as we possibly could with one breath. We then did the same but with a hissing noise. We then made quick powerful noises like 'Sha sha' and 'Pa pa' to see the difference between the two different types of sounds. We then got up into a crouch position, then into an 'ape' position and then into standing up straight. It was obvious that it got harder to control your breathing as you got closer to standing up as you can't feel your diaphragm as much.

 We then took part in a humming activity as a group. Stefan was playing the piano and we had to hum back what he was playing. Doing this in a big group made us feel more relaxed but we then split into three groups to hum the tune in those individual groups. We then learnt how to hum the Sweeney Todd song. This activity enhanced our musical memory as we had to learn the tune and later on learn the actual words....

 We then learnt the actual Sweeney Todd song. We sang this as a whole group and then in smaller groups. We discovered that some notes were too high/slow for certain people so we were told to sing in the minor or major- whichever one we could hit. After learning the song, Stefan wanted us to characterise our voices more. He told us to emphasise the consonants of the words and sing softly to make us sound more victorian- as Sweeney Todd is set in Victorian times. This leads on to the final thing we did in the workshop- characterising your singing voice.

 Stefan then taught us the importance of characterisation of the voice. He asked for volunteers to stand in front of everyone and sing 'Kumbaya'. He gave the volunteers are scenario and they had to sing the song as if they were that character by using voice only. The rest of the class had to shut their eyes. Stefan gave them scenarios which included apologising and falling out with a friend who had just got with her boyfriend. This activity was important and very helpful as it emphasised that we are studying Musical Theatre which means that when we sing we need to learn how to portray a character. For example, it's all very well if you can sing 'Mama Mia' very well but if you can't portray your character through your voice, your not going to be successful. No matter how great a singer you are, you won't ever make it in theatre if you can't characterise your voice.

Kim- Production Arts 18th October

Today we read through the whole of the Snow Queen and were told which set scenes we were in charge of creating. We found that we were in charge of creating the forest scene and the Royal Castle!

PLAN for the Forest scene- two tall trees, campfire, cage and the board at the back is painted green and brown (trees). We decided that the two trees should be really tall and we needed to include a campfire as this is where the robbers assemble. 

Here is me and Sarah starting to make a tree for the forest scene: We made this with a long tube and wrapped newspaper round it to give it the shape of a tree! We used tape to stick it on as this was the easiest and most effective way of doing so. We also began starting to attach branches (wooden bamboo sticks) with duck tape as this was stronger then normal tape and held the branches in position better.

Rachel- 16th October 2012

Today was our first lesson of assessment week and to start the lesson we did an hours research to help us with our written task which we did today also! After the written task we decided who would play who our performance of the Snow Queen (I'm playing Kai) and we also started putting together final scenes- The robber scene! This was important as the Snow Queen is only a month and a half a way! We decided that in the robber scene there should be a link to the Snow Queen and Kai on the sleigh. Kai is sent by the Snow Queen to inform the robbers that Gerda is on her way through the forest so they should rob her. We also decided that Gerda picks up different items throughout her journey that she needs in order to free Kai at the palace- a key that opens any door, a sack of 'embers' to melt the snow and a magical flower that puts others to sleep.

Me and Lizzy (the snow queen) decided that the Snow Queen has total power over Kai. We decided to make it so he only speaks when he's told to and other than that he simply stares into open space and talks monotone. this was effective as it made it look as if Kai was in a trance and being controlled. We did this to make Kai seem powerless and what made this even more effective is that it made the Snow Queen look even more powerful.  This is suitable as we want the snow queen to look as powerful and evil as possible! 

Here is a plan of the scenes and characters/actors in our performance of The Snow Queen:

Sam- Class Dance 9th October 2012

Kim- Production Arts 11th October 2012

 In todays lesson we did presentations, wrote mind maps about ideas for Snow Queen and came upstairs to the computer room to find set ideas and make up/costume ideas for our performance of Snow Queen.

 First of all, we did our presentations of the chosen part of theatre we had researched- I did lighting. I spoke about all the different qualifications you can get in Theatre Lighting, what abilities you need in order to be a lighting engineer and also how much lighting engineers earn over the course of a year. I now need to research a particular job and find out what their day to day jobs are.

 When we came upstairs to find set, costume and make up ideas for the Snow Queen, I went on my pinterest account with Abbey and we found lots of cool stuff.

Here is an idea for Snow Queen make up:

Here is an idea for the Snow Queen's crown, its made of chicken wire and beads:

Here is a costume idea for the crow: 

Here is balloons we could use for the set and a mask idea for Snow Queen: 

The rest of my Snow Queen ideas: https://pinterest.com/josephgibbs/

Rachel- 9th October 2012 (and Farm Boy)

 In todays lesson we experimented with Frantic Assembly's chair duet techniques and filmed a sequence which included elements of the technique.

 First of all, we were in TDCA and spoke about Farm Boy- the performance we went to watch last night at the Connaught Theatre. What was interesting about Farm Boy was that it was a duologue- only 2 actors: The Boy and his Grandad. The boy played 5 characters- younger version of himself, grandad as a boy, grandma, farmer and Harry. Grandad played just 2- himself at various ages and his dad.

 It had a very minimal set which was actually very effective. There was simply 5 props/set: tractor, tool box, photo, chair and a pillow/cushion. Each piece was used simply yet effectively. For example the tractor didn't come alive until the end although it was used  throughout, the tool box was simply used to sit on and it was also used to take the photo out. The photo was of  the boy's grandma- his granddad used the photo to explain stories about his wife; the boys grandma. The pillow/cushion was used to take on a different character and the chair was used to sit on but also to depict a horse and a plough! 

 The sound used in Farm boy was minimal. It had a recorded piano accordiament every now then to support the acting. I felt as if the music wasn't particularly important as the acting was strong enough to tell the story on it's own. The acting built it's atmosphere on it's own. The use of the tractor sound at the end was particularly effective as the tractor had sat on stage throughout the whole performance but it hadn't done anything. At the end when it started working- the tractor sound signified that it was working and it gave the tractor life. 

 The lighting was simple but effective. They used blue gels (up to 6) to help create atmosphere. There was also a single light bulb hanging in the middle of the stage to show the only light in the barn. There were lights above the front of the audience and then just infront of the stage and then above the actual stage. What I liked about the lighting was that every time the scene changed, so did the lighting. Much like the sound used in Farm Boy, I feel like the lighting was simply there to support the acting- the lighting wasn't especially important as the acting and storyline was great- the actors would've been able to tell the story without lighting or sound!

 The actors used voice and movement very effectively- particularly voice. When the play starts the boy has a Leeds accent (we learn that he grew up in Leeds because his father didn't like the countryside) and the grandad has a west country accent (he's lived on a farm his entire life). The boy used giggling and a higher pitch to show himself as younger and used fidgeting and a craning neck (staring up at grandad) to show the younger version of himself to be immature and young. He also used a higher pitch and faster pace when he was showing his Grandad's Mother. This was effective as it was completely different to any other voice he had used in the rest of the play and his 'small flappy hands' and feminine body language emphasised the fact that he was now playing a woman.

 The Storytelling in the play was effective despite the fact is was non-linear. Despite having lots of different 'scenes' and telling the story in a jumbled up order, it was easy to follow and clear to understand.

 The play was clearly aimed at an older audience as it used old fashioned humour and made references to war, sherlock holmes and tin tin. However, I feel that through the boy going to Australia and University, it was clear that they also wanted the younger audience to be interested too. I think this was effective as it broadened the audience. 

 Overall, I thought the Farm Boy was a very nice play. I liked the fact that it had just 2 actors and that they told the story through movement, voice and using props. I liked the simple approach used to perform the play- particularly the lighting and sound! I'm very glad I went to watch!

 After an hour in the TDCA discussing Farm Boy, we went back to the drama studio where we were shown Frantic Assembly's chair duet techniques. These techniques involve two or more actors sitting on chairs next to each other and incorporates human manipulation. The technique works in counts of 3- so each part of the piece had to incorporate 3 movements which needed to include manipulation! In pairs, we put together a 24 count movement sequence. The moves that me and my partner Emily included standing up and walking round the chair, arm movements/manipulations, leg movements/manipulation, floor work, hand movements/manipulations AND we even included manipulation by using my leg. We then put all of the different pair's work together and added transitions to make it look professional. For example, mine and Emily's transition onto the stage involved pushing the pair behind us off stage sideways and then putting one leg on the chair and then twisting onto the chair. Our leaving transition was Max and Beth grabbing our arms and pushing us off stage in a way that made us twirl round- so we left the stage spinning. We had one run through in the group and then it was filmed. Learning the Frantic Assembly's chair duet technique was effective as it made us realise that we could involve this in our piece. We watched videos of this technique being used/performed professionally and it looked great! It gave us ideas which helped us when we split into groups to put the technique into scenes that we had already put together.....

 My group of me, sarah, max, matt, abbey and lizzie had already put together The Finn lady scene in another lesson but we now had to put Frantic Assembly's technique into it! We did put our own twist on the technique as it wouldn't had fit in with our piece otherwise. The first time we used this technique is when Max enters the finn lady's house. They sat next to each other on the chairs and portrayed her force feeding of him. Lizzie (who plays Finn lady) used quick fast manipulation and puppetry to emphasise her nature. We used the technique to show the Finn lady's aggression and and anger at the fact Max wont eat her stew as it tied in with the background story we had created- that she gets incredibly angry- sometimes kills you, if you refuse to eat her stew. Me, Matt, Sarah and Abbey also used the technique, although it was more of a movement sequence- I feel like we could have done it more effectively. To start with, we decided that we should stay in a grid shape to make sure that we don't move too far away from the chair duet technique's 'stationary' element. However this didn't go completely to plan although it did at the beginning. We used the technique to show how no one wanted to go into the Finn lady's house as they were scared. They pushed each other in front and twisted them to make it look more effective. We also used cannon as well as the manipulation. If we were to do it next time, I believe we could come up with a way of incorporating actual chairs into mine, sarah, matt and abbey's part as I feel like we strayed too far away from the original concept of Frantic Assembly's chair duet technique!

Kim- Production Arts- 4th October 2012

 Today was our first lesson on Production Arts with Kim.

 First of all we drew self portraits of ourselves. Then, in groups, we drew a huge picture of a theatre with everything you would expect in a theatre- a stage, front of house, lighting and sound block,  dressing rooms, seating, a bar, refreshments, ticket sellers and also where the Deputy Stage Manager would be standing. We were then told to put our self portraits on the area that you were most interested in- I put mine on the dressing rooms as I am interested in costume. This gave us an idea of everything that is in a theatre and the amount of people that are involved and have jobs there.

 We then went on the National Theatre website and viewed videos from the 'Discover More' pages. We watched an interview with the lighting designer at the national theatre who talked about moving lights and we also watched a video on flying- we watched a scene where actors were on harnesses and were floating as if they were underwater- moving lights were also used to give the effect of being under water. There was a big screen which enabled the lights to make it look like they were under water.

Research on Lighting, Costume and Directing Jobs in Theatre:

 LIGHTING: lighting jobs in theatre may sound very simple but in fact they are VERY complexed! If a lighting engineer makes a mistake EVERYONE in the theatre will notice.  You can get qualifications in lighting too- BTEC National Award (NA) in Stage Lighting, Rigging and Operation, BA in Theatre Practice in Lighting Design, BA in Theatre Practice in Production Lighting OR BSc in Lighting Design and Technology.

Lighting Engineers need to have: 
- ability to work as part of a team
- creative vision
- ability to follow instructions closely
- good at manual work
- good mathematical ability
- comfortable with heights
- good level of personal fitness and endurance
- great communication skills

Full time Lighting engineers can earn up £30,000 a year!!

Puppetry, masks and other props

In this post I will out on pictures of the different things we have made in our academy time for our performances:



This was a prototype of the robber's mask! We first made the initial shape with newspaper and then went over with black masking tape- for the real thing we are going to use black felt (hopefully!).











This was made by Beth. She attached pieces of plastic together to make the shape of a bird. She painted over black and attached ribbon to make it look like feathers. She then stuck it to a piece of bamboo and VWALA- you have a puppet!!












These are the reindeer antlers and ears- the antlers are made from chicken wire covered in newspaper and glitter! The ears are cut out pieces of foam and painted grey with glitter! BEAUTIFUL!

Rachel- 2nd October 2012

 Today was an extremely important lesson! We read through the snow queen, decided which parts we wanted to put in our piece, made a synopsis and tried our different ideas out!

 To start with we read through the Snow Queen for the first time! It wasn't the ENTIRE snow queen play as Rachel had written the main parts of the story as we are performing to nursery children which means we don't want the piece to be too long. The play tells the story of a girl called Gerda and her travel to find her friend Kai who has been stabbed by the Snow Queen- his heart turned to ice and everything he sees that is good turns to evil! She travels through many different places (including Lapland!) and meets many people which include a Flower Witch, a Prince and Princess, a Crow, a Finn Woman and of course- the Snow Queen! We listed all the characters in the play and all the different settings and eventually decided what parts of the play we were going to put into our piece. We also put in transitions of movement between each scene! We thought that this movement sequence could be portrayed by puppets! Gerda will be shown travelling from each 'world' in different ways! Below I'll write which way she will travel. We decided that we should have 6 scenes:

Scene 1) Grandma telling story to Gerda and Kai/ Goblins break mirror/ Snow Queen stabs Kai

(Transition- Gerda walking up the river.)

Scene 2) Gerda meets the Flower Witch

(Transition- Gerda is walking)

Scene 3) Gerda meets the Prince and Princess and befriends a helpful Crow!

(Transition-  Gerda is flying on the crow)

Scene 4) Gerda is robbed but befriends the Robber Girl and meets the Reindeer

(Transition- Gerda rides Reindeer)

Scene 5) Gerda visits the Finn Woman

(Transition- Gerda climbs up the ice)

Scene 6) Gerda saves Kai

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 After this, we got into little groups and put together our own ideas for a certain scene. Me, emily and Sarah put together a short piece which could be used as the Flower Witch. Emily was the Flower Witch, Sarah was Gerda and I was the Flower Witch's young son. We created a background story for the Flower Witch and her son which helped shape the scene and help the audience understand the Flower Witch and what she does! Basically, The Flower Witch has one son called Joey (obviously). Their husband was eaten by an evil flower (they live in flower land- there are flowers EVERYWHERE and there are thousands of species. The Flower Witch is very lonely and she's desperate to make her family bigger. I think that our use of the background was effective and I think she would definitely incorporate this into our piece. For example, her son says to her 'Are you lonely. I mean you've tried to kidnap so many girls' and the flower witch snaps! It's clear that this is a sensiive spot for the witch and that she's tried to take girls before- not just Gerda. She puts a spell on Gerda but the scent of Roses reminds Gerda of Kai and she snaps out of the charm! The Flower Witch is devastated but her son is relieved. I also liked the idea of the Flower Witch having a son- it allows us to put in the background story  and I genuinely think that the ideas we created should be used in our actual piece. We also added music to the piece to enhance the mood. We used a serious piano piece to emphasise Gerda's realisation that she was looking for Kai (when The Flower Witch and her son are in bed). It was effective in giving the scene a sense of hope and relief! However, next time i think we should look into music more in depth to make sure the music choice is perfect and more slow and serious than the one we used!

 After this the class split into two groups and we had to do a different scene- my group of myself, max, matt, sarah, lizzie and abbey. We chose to do Finn Woman's scene. We decided to use 'gossip' and 'rumours' to create suspense surrounding the Finn woman. We (max, me and abbey) used this at the beginning of the scene and spoke about how we had heard that she had 'killed 10 men because they refused to eat her stew' which was supposedly 'made out of her dead husband'! It gave background information which was important (we found today that background information is in fact extremely important to create an interesting and believable story) because it set up the story and allowed us to create tension in anticipation of what the Finn Woman was REALLY like. I also liked the cheeky characters of the villagers who encouraged Gerda to go and see the Finn woman- the way they looked at each other as if to say 'Let's trick her'. I think it made the piece seem more realistic....which in a way is good as it will allow the audience of young kids to relate to the cheekiness of the characters. I also liked the way we presented the Finn Woman herself- Lizzie used a sophisticated and evil-sounding voice which was very effective. She sounded intellectual for example when she said 'There is no power I can grant you that will make you more powerful'!! I feel that our ideas for the characters in this scene were really good and should be used in our main performance.

Singing Skills and Techniques Progress Log:

13th September- today we were given some exercises to do when we are at home. So today I practiced diaphragmatic breathing in bed- I did 3 diaphragmatic breaths.

14th September- today I did diaphragmatic breathing in bed again. Today I did 6 diaphragmatic breaths in bed and I'm finding it easier!

17th September- today I practiced diaphragmatic breathing again and also practiced the 'vee ayy arr oo' routine after doing the breathing exercise. Next time I want to be able to hit higher notes!

19th September- today I again practiced the diaphragmatic breathing! I also went over the vee ayy arr oo exercise but couldn't hit any higher notes....next time!

20th September- today I went over diaphragmatic breathing but also did some of the warm up exercises that we learnt in class today. We learnt lots of exercises today but my favoite one is the one where you simply turn your head side to side and then round in a circle- as this is easy and puts your body in the right position to sing! (shoulders back chest out)

22nd September- Carried on practising diaphragmatic breathing at night- set target that by the end of the term i want to be able to sing a whole song effectively by breathing diaphragmatic only.

24th September- Today I did some more diaphragmatic breathing at night.

27th September- More diaphragmatic breathing.

28th September- More diaphragmatic breathing exercises in the morning and at night.

2nd October- today i found this video showing how to prepare your voice before singing:

10th October- i keep practicing diaphragmatic breathing and searching for new techniques on the internet!

15th october- i feel like my voice is improving now that i'm practising diaphragmatic breathing every time I sing....although I still don't feel 100% comfortable with it!

18th October- practised diaphragmatic breathing in bed again today.

22nd October- Watched this video and did the technique: 'shhhhh technique'  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5CWsFaVnWM

25th October- 'shhhhh technique'

28th October- Practising Diaphragmatic breathing as usual.

1st November- ''

5th November- ''

12th November- Today I tried the 'shhh' technique again.

15th November- I found this video very interesting as it shows you the importance of warming up your voice before singing.

20th November- Downloading a piano app on my iPhone to help hum back in key by myself (without a real life piano!)

28th November- Shhhh Technique and I'm now getting an idea of exactly what I think is the perfect warm up routine.....

2nd December-

11th December- Today was our first singing milestone and a lot of things were brought up that i need to improve. The main thing was the length of my practice routine. It needs to be longer. I need to include diction routines into my practice routine and when it comes to the duet, we need to harmonise. The reason we hadn't harmonised in our duet was because we didn't think we needed. What also came clear in the milestone is that I also need to test myself- for example whenever i practice arpeggios, each time I should try and reach a higher key each time. However I got P's which I am happy with. However, by the end of the year, I hope those P's will become M's or D's.

Lena- 27th September 2012

Today we had 3 main things for the lesson- to go through the assignment brief, to go over singing skills and warm ups and to have our first initial skills audit.

 First of all, Lena gave us our assignment brief. This brief contained grading criteria, milestone dates, explanation of the 3 tasks that we have to do and a scenario. The unit has been split into 3 tasks- Task 1 contains P1 and P2, Task 2 contains P3 and Task 3 contains P4 and P5. It's useful knowing what the unit involves and what we need to do to achieve each grade. It also informed us of the 3 milestones for each task- 10/12/12, 11/03/13 and 20/05/13.  For example in Task 1, in order to get an overall distinction you need to perform technical singing exercises with confidence and attention to detail AND show considerable improvement in vocal technique. To get an overall pass for this task you simply need to perform technical singing exercises and show some improvement in your vocal technique. Knowing the grading criteria and the milestones is important as it gives us time to prepare ourselves for assessments and gives us the time to improve and get to the standard needed. There is also individual pages for each task within the booklet which talk through each task in more detail.

 For example, in task 1 we will be involved in workshops which will develop our vocal abilities through warm ups, exercises and singing games! We need to focus on intonation- how well we hit notes, our tone, our projection and breath control. As time goes on we will lead warm ups and technique sessions for the rest of the class. Task 1 recognises the improvement we make. We need to make a progress log to set ourselves targets and review our progress. To achieve a distinction in task 1 we need to show consistent improvement.

 Task 2 focuses on our musical memory. We should be able to tell whether a musical phrase rises and falls, be able to sing back pitches, intervals and rhythms. We also need to be able to speed up or slow down the tempo as well as increasing the dynamics from soft to loud and understand the effective musical shaping. Through musical games we should then be able to repeat phrases up to four bars in major and minor keys with a variety of rhythmic features such as syncopation and in simple or compound time.

 Task 3 is about rehearsals and performance. Task 3 is all about our 3 performances and the rehearsal stage. We need to show that we can apply all the vocal techniques we have learnt and show self discipline, commitment to working hard and a cooperative attitude and approach which will help us work with others. We can use any sort of music in our performances so long as we use characterisation. To get a distinction in this task, we need to work with confidence and pay attention to detail and be able to exploit fully the creative and artistic possibilities of the music and be fully engaged.

 We then went over singing skills and warm ups which included note bashing to food glorious food!!

 Finally, we had our initial skills audit. Lena took us off individually to a room where we were assessed on our singing skills. During this we were assessed on how long we could hold a note whilst using diaphragmatic breathing. We also did the 'vee ay arr oo' exercise which we have been practising in class (and i've also practised this at home!). We also got assessed on our musical memory- Lena played some rising arpeggios and we'd have to hum back in the same key. Overall, in the audit i was assessed on intonation ( how well i hit the notes), voice placement, tone, projection, breath control and my flexibility/ range.

 We also spoke about what songs we would like to do for our assessment- Lena told us that maybe, at first, we should choose songs from our past which we know really well. I think this is a good idea as these would be easier to characterise as we will be emotionally attached to them.

Rachel- 25th September 2012 (History of Storytelling research)

 Today's lesson involved  our first assessment- on Storytelling.

 We were given a story in pairs and we each had to learn the story and think of an interesting way to tell it. Our story was called Freya and the Brising Necklace. It told the story of a goddess called Freya who was married to a god called Odour. They had 2 daughters and lived in the heavenly realm of Asgard. One day Freya felt restless so she summoned her two cats and they pulled her (in a chariot) across other lands. First she travelled through Misgard, land of the humans. She then travelled through the land of Alfheim, home to elves- and her brother! She then found herself at the rocky borders of Svartalfheim, land of the evil black dwarfs! 4 dwarfs set a trap and get the Goddess to marry each of them for one day and one night in return for the brising necklace they had charmed and tricked her into doing anything for! She rushes back to her palace as she realises what a bad thing she had done! She hides in her room and puts a spell on the door so no one can get in and find the necklace! However, Loka has been watching her every move and tells her husband, Odour! When he doesn't believe her, Loka turns into a fly to fit through a tiny gap and get into Freya's room to get the necklace! He gets it and shows Odour- Odour is devastated. He runs away. When Freya wakes up, she realises Odour has found the necklace and tries looking for him. But she can't find him! So she goes to Odin; the god of all gods! Odin tells her that she must wear that necklace ALL the time to remind herself of what a bad thing she has done! He also tells her that she must roam the universe until she finds him!

 We decided to 'tell' the story very classically- me and Lindsay stood next to each other throughout the piece and only had one piece of movement but we used voice to portray character and we varied our pace and tone to show the mood throughout the story. We tiptoed to each side of the stage blocks when Loko tiptoed to get the necklace off of Freya's neck and when he tiptoed from Freya to the door! We also used different voice for each character.

 The first thing we did was discuss the history of storytelling and we were told to do some research. Here is my research:

 In this day and age, storytelling is no longer popular- or so we think. In fact, we seem to forget that everytime we send a text message or post a Facebook status or send a tweet on Twitter, we are effectively telling stories- even if they are incredible short. Movies, books, music, news, media, religions, architecture and painting all tell stories. The big question is, how DOES social networking and the media effect storytelling?

 Social networking and the media, in particular, have the power to change our opinions about people. Whether it be through articles, tv or Facebook, modern storytelling really is effective- just look at the way it changed our perception of Jade Goody. When Jade Goody first came into the public spotlight when she entered the Big Brother house in 2002, the newspapers slated her. She was known as 'Miss Piggy' and was shown in an incredibly bad light. The nation was turned against her. Producers of the show soon realised that when their 'Miss piggy' left the house, her life would be turned upside down. Just a couple of months before, no one knew who she was and suddenly she was public enemy number one! Producers decided that they had to now show Jade in a good light- the public needed to like her or her life would be completely destroyed when she came out! In the following years, the social media picked up on several drug scandals surrounding Jade and she was once again shown in a bad light. In 2005, Jade Goody entered the CELEBRITY big brother house. Once again, she was slated by the press for her 'racist' behaviour which was aimed towards Bollywood Star Shilpa Shetty. Jade had to leave the house privately due to the public outrage surrounding the racism. In India, there was a huge public outrage. Whether Jade's comment towards Shilpa was racist or not, the press had made it out to be and it spiralled out of control. Then, 2 years later she was diagnosed with cervical cancer- whilst in the Indian big brother house, trying to build bridges with the Indian country. Suddenly, she was thought of as inspirational, a great parent and a brilliant person. Storytelling these days may not be traditional but it's still INCREDIBLY powerful- if not MORE powerful. Stories used to be passed down from generation to generation but nowadays newspapers and social media allow millions of people to read the same stories- it's no wonder that these stories are incredibly influential. Jade Goody's story in particular shows the fickle nature of social networking and media and how ruthless it is. If Jade Goody had never gone on big brother, she wouldn't have become famous but she wouldn't have had to put up with the unfair hatred that modern storytelling had burdened her with.

Rachel- 18th September 2012

Today, our focus was on Storytelling.

 In groups of 3 or 4 we discussed We discussed different ways in which you can story tell, what is important when it comes to storytelling and what ideas we would like to put into our performance. First of all we discussed the different ways in which we can tell stories. We agreed that if you were going to each a storyteller you would expect someone sitting in a chair with a book- this isn't always as boring as it sounds. Rachel spoke about how she saw one of bob marley's wailers telling a story simply by talking normally but his use of language, pauses and description meant that he managed to captivated the whole audience. This was an eye opener to me as it made me realise just how important voice is- you don't need movement to put on a However, we learnt that storytelling doesn't always just consist of one person. Although when you're storytelling you can't 'act' as such, you can use voice to show characters.

 We then got up and sat by the mirrors and Rachel got us to stand up one by one and stand up, position ourselves in the middle of the drama studio. We had to get into a character (in a freeze frame) which would fit in with the setting Rachel had said. For example, when Rachel said train station, we had to pretend we were at a train station and we each got into a character which you would find at a train station. The different settings included a labour ward, a market and at the races. After going through different settings we put movement into it and acting and went through all the settings. This activity was effective as it made us realise you didn't necessarily need to move to show characters but it does make things a lot easier.

  We then got into groups of 3 or 4 and chose a fairytale- we chose little red riding hood. We pretended we were child pshycologists and analyse the effect these tales have on children and how they are influenced. After this we stayed in our groups and out together a storytelling piece. We simply stood in a line and decided to split our story into sections- we'd all tell a section of the story. Sarah told the first part of the story, I told the 2nd part, Beth told the 3rd part of story and Emily told the ending. We simply stood in a line and made sure that when we were speaking we used exaggeration and emphasis to make sure we kept the audience interested- storytelling is aimed at young children and you need to exaggerate words to keep them interested. We also changed our voices when showing dialogue of the characters. Each group showed their piece to the rest of the class and we peer assessed each other. We had to assess each others narrative, characters, detail and delivery.

 For example, the class thought our narrative was clear and flowed well. They also thought that we described our characters very effectively although we should have used stronger voices to show how a character spoke- in other words, use voice more effectively. Our detail was also effective as we went into A LOT of detail to describe goldilocks' route to the cottage. However to improve we need more detail at the end of the story (although Emily had to improvise at the end of our piece because we forgot about the ending whilst creating the piece!). Out delivery was good as well as we spoke confidentially and clearly. Next time though, we need to use movement instead of standing in a line to make the piece more interesting.
  We also assessed other groups- for example I believed group ones narrative was good as it was broken down into sections and the moral message was clear. Their character portrayal was also good as they were very descriptive. However, they didn't use different voices to show characters dialogue and didn't refer back to the descriptive character detail. Their detail was good though! They used the sense of smell which was particularly effective- 'the village smelt of apple crumble'. After this we made a list of all our favourite films and books from our childhood and we thought about why we liked them so much. For example my favourite book was Percy the park keeper, I liked this because of the pictures! The visual content is something that we need to incorporate into our performance of the snow queen to interest the young audience. My favourite film was After peer assessing Rachel showed us Pinterest and how useful it is when coming up with ideas for our performances.

Lena- Singing Skills- 20th September 2012

 Today we went over diaphragmatic breathing, warm up routines, the geography of a keyboard piano and musical memory.

 To start with we did some warm up routines. These warm up routines were important as it put our bodies in the right position to start singing. There were two main focuses- posture and head/body. We did several 'posture warm ups' which included walking on the spot. Another one was to walk round feeling very small and then very proud to show us that the right posture to start singing with is upright and confident looking. Another routine which we went through was inspired by 'Elvis Prestley'. This involved doing pelvic thrusting. All of these techniques made us drop our shoulders and push our breast bones out. This was important as it gave us the perfect posture to sing as it opens up our lungs. The head and face excercises included rubbing our cheekbones and dropping our jaw to make ourselves yawn. This may sound silly but its very effective as it opens our throat to capacity which means more sound can come out. For head and face we also did neck and throat excercises which involved turning our heads side to side and up and down to release tension. We had to make sure that we did this slowly to ensure that we wouldn't hurt our necks or pull any muscles.

 We then went over the importance of diaphragmatic breathing and used this in our musical memory activity which we did after. Lena told us to make sure that we keep practicing it. Eventually, even if I am struggling with diaphragmatic breathing, it will pay off and i will be able to do it effectively and properly.

 We also focused on our musical memory. We did several different excercises all involving the sounds 'Vee Arr Oo'. For example, we had to hum these words to several different melodies. We hummed to rising and falling arpeggios (chord notes) on rising semi tones. Although i couldn't reach the high notes as Lena played in higher keys, I tried to hit them as one day I hope I'll be able to reach them!

 We also learnt where to find C,F and G on the piano. C is located left of the 2 black notes. F is located on the left of 3 black notes and G is right next to F on the right! If you were to start right at the end of the left side of a piano, each 'white' key goes up in the alphabet as it goes to the right. It goes A, then B, then C, then D, then E, then F, then G and then back to A again and so on.

 All in all, a very interesting and enjoyable lesson!

Lena- Singing Skills for Actors and Dancers (13th September 2012)

 Today was our first Singing lesson with Lena. We learnt what we would be doing in our singing lessons, what vocabulary we need to use and how to breathe and use certain muscles that will help improve our singing (Diaphragmatic Breathing).

 We learnt that we are doing Unit 30- Singing skills for actors and dancers. This unit will involve us develiping and improving our voices- how well we sing in TUNE and reach the high and low notes, how we understand what our tone is and how we need to improve it and also how to project our voices with control. We'll also need to develop our Musical Memory. After this we will go through the rehearsal process of which songs we are going to sing. We also need to learn to characterise these songs as this is Musical Theatre- singing, dancing AND acting. At the end of the course, we will have to do 3 songs- solo and ensemble.

 We learnt about how it's our muscles which enable us to sing. Our vocal chords are muscles and like other muscles, they have memory. For example, your arm muscles have learnt how to contract as you've trained them to do so. Once you've trained your vocal chords, they'll remember how to sing properly too. Diaphragmatic Breathing is another thing that we learnt during the lesson today. It enables us to control the strength and length of our notes. Diaphragmatic breathing works by breathing into your abdomen and relaxing your upper body (shoulders, neck ect.).

 

 We also learnt lots of vocabulary. Our throat has Larynx which is otherwise known as the voice box. The Larynx manipulates pitch and volume.

 We also did the 'Vee Ay Ah Oo' excercise. Lena was playing the piano and was going up in steps of semi tones which meant the pitch was getting higher and higher. I couldn't reach the last few notes but if I keep doing the diamaphragmatic breathing exercises Lena taught us in bed, I should be able to hit them eventually!

Rachel- Tuesday 11th September 2012

Today was our first lesson together and we got to know each other.

First of all, we moved round in a circle, sharing information with each other. Information that we shared with each other included our future plans, what we like to wear, our favourite musical/film/TV programme and about our siblings. We did this as it gave us the opportunity to get to know each other.

 We then went off in pairs to discuss our earliest childhood memories. After discussing, we then thought about how we could use the 6 senses to tell these stories. The 6 senses we used were sight, taste, hearing, smell, touch and feeling/moods. Incorporating the 6 senses into drama is effective as it enables us to understand our senses more in depth and it's especially effective when used in storytelling. I was paired with Lindsay, and we shared our earliest memories. Our memories included being sick at first school, being shouted at after 'staring at the boy who played Joseph in the nativity play and then getting shouted at' and also getting into an argument at school. We thought we'd think outside the box so we spoke about the metaphorical 'bitter taste' involved with getting into an argument. However, we also spoke about the feeling of embarassment after being shouted at infront of an audience. We also picked up on the fact that senses were exxagerated as a child as your still young and small things feel like a huge thing.

 We then got into different pairs and analysed each other's movement and speech. We picked up on certain habits which we do without realising- for example, I was told that I have a variable tone and I also talk with my hands to express myself. My partner, Emily, spoke very smoothly and her tone didn't vary very much. She also had good posture and was well spoken. Analysing each other's traits was important as it made us realise that voice and movement are very important when it comes to creating a character.

 We then sat round in a circle as a whole group and discussed the main features and of children's theatre and their purpose. For example, Children's Theatre includes exaggeration, direct address and 'fairytale story lines and characters' to keep the young audience interested. Exaggeration is important in Children's Theatre as the audience is young and the need to make things more obvious and easier to pick up on is far greater than in 'normal' theatre. We also discussed that direct address is equally important to get the kids involved in the performance. The more involved they are, the more interested and excited they will be! We also decided that the Storyline of the piece is also extremely important- kids love fairytale characters and plots as they're still at that age of playing gams with each other and dreaming about being fairytale characters like a Princess with magic powers. Children are also very impressionable.

 Finally, we also learnt the 'Drama Formula': Voice + Movement= Characterisation. So, after analysing each others movement and voice and discussing the results, we developed our own characters. We decided to use speech and movement to ensure that our characters were believable and well acted. We then used these characters in groups of 3 and 4 to create a 'mini' children's theatre story. My group chose to base our fairytale in a land called 'Castle World' and we had 3 contrasting characters- a little boy, a witch and a castle manager! We decided to focus on voice and we went about this by experimented with different voices. We decided that the castle manager should be well spoken and talk loud and squeakily to make her come across pompous and annoying. We did this as we felt that this would be a great way to portray her. We decided that the little boy should have a 'young' voice to show that he is young. Of course, we decided that the Witch should have a typical Witch's voice- creaky and creepy. We decided to make the witch talk slow as this added to her creepiness. Making a Witch speak like a stereotypical Witch allows the audience to recognise her. This also links in with our theme of Children's Theatre/Storytelling as the children will find it easier to identify the character as a Witch.  Our fairytale was based around problems with litter and showed that littering is wrong!

 Overall, todays work on voice definitely helped me. It made me realise that voice is just as important as movement and I used a lot of methods of voice that I could use in future performances.