Tuesday the 2nd of January – Today we found at that we will be doing screen acting for ar next stimulus and we looked at different types /methods of acting within the screen acting industry. We learnt about methods such as the Chekhov technique, The Meisner Technique and Classical acting. We also learnt about the different types of camera angles, using facial expressions to show emotion and the importance of body language and posture. We talked about the different types of audition techniques and how to present yourself within a audition and in respects to being proffessional.
Wednesday the 3rd of January- Today we started working on our scenes for screen acting. Myself and my group have got a fighting scene from peaky blinders. We decided amongst ourselves our own roles within our scene and I am playing the role of Freddie Thorne. We spent some time talking about the scene in our group and tried to work around the screen directions and interpret them in our own ways. We also gave the scene a go and started to develop how the scene will go, we worked on our facial expressions and our body language. I have started to learn my lines and hope to know them off by heart quite quickly using the methods I used throughout project 2.
Below is a share point link for one of our first rehearsals for this project.
https://bradfordcollegeac.sharepoint.com/sites/TEAMTEAMUALLevelTwoandThreeDiplomainPerformingArts2324/_layouts/15/stream.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FTEAMTEAMUALLevelTwoandThreeDiplomainPerformingArts2324%2FShared%20Documents%2FGeneral%2FFGImportedSegment%2E726047703%2E925621%2Emov&ga=1&referrer=StreamWebApp%2EWeb&referrerScenario=AddressBarCopied%2Eview
Tuesday the 9th of January- Today we did work around vocal exercises/ expressions such as accents, tone and projection. We learnt or joined in if we already knew them, we did some different types of facial stretches and tongue twisters doing this helped me to open up my vocal cords and distinguish my voice more. We also gave speaking in different accents a go such as the Irish, Scottish Welsh, Newcastle, Manchester, American, and London accents. Because I come from London originally myself I didn’t try this accent as i already have this accent however I did give the Irish and Australian accents a go and I believe I am quite good at these particular accents as I previously already knew I could do these however I have learnt that I need to expand the range of accents I can do as by doing this I will be able to increase my range of roles i could potentially apply for.
Wednesday 10th of January- Today we had a workshop with Screen Yorkshire and we had the opportunity to go through our scenes in front of a camera and see how it feels and get accustomed to being in front of one, we also got the opportunity to direct a scene and work the cameras, and record the scenes in the angles and shots that we thought would make the scene look good and fit in and interpret the scene how we thought shots should be such as a moving shot that moves with the camera or a wide shot. I really enjoyed doing this however I was a bit nervous but after we ran through a rehearsal in front of the camera and worked out where our characters should stand etc. I felt quite confident in doing it.
Tuesday the 16th January-Today we went to the recording studio and started to get used to the cameras and the set up, we also got to go into the tech room where everything is fed back to through the cameras for editing etc. I also learnt why the walls in the recording studio are covered in curtains and this is so that sound is kept within the room whilst recording and so that any noise outside of the room is less likely to be picked up by the microphones, also so that when the recording is watched back on the screens in the tech room it doesn’t just look like we are in a random room. I got to be involved in the recording of one of the gentlemen jack scenes, I enjoyed being behind the camera and using knowledge from our previous sessions with the company Screen Yorkshire about the different types of camera shots such as a wide shot, close/head shot and over the shoulder shot and putting this knowledge into action. I also learnt how to zoom in and out on the camera using its function rather than moving the whole camera itself if not needed. I have learnt that although in screen acting actors may spend half their time sitting around and the other half acting for scenes a lot goes into the technical side of filming and editing the production.
Wednesday the 17th of January- Today we had another workshop with Screen Yorkshire with Nikki Toppings who is a casting director who works for Screen Yorkshire. We worked with this woman and did personal mock casting auditions using the scenes that we are working with for project 3 and will be recording in the recording studio facilities at college. I chose to audition with the character in my scene that I am acting out in our peaky blinders scene. I really enjoyed this process and although I had a lot of anxiety about doing this in front of a stranger I got over them and acted out my whole scene for the casting director and in turn i received some really good feedback from her that helped to improve my confidence.
Tuesday the 23rd of January- Today we worked on our scenes some more and progressed our performance as a group and focused particularly on our fight scene as this needs the most work due to the fact that we need to do it in a way that nobody is going to be hurt due to the fact that myself and another cast member have to put another cast member on to the floor.
Tuesday the 30th January- Today we worked in our groups to work out how our camera angles should look and what different shot we think we will need during recording our scene, as our scene is a complicated scene with a lot of different shots needed doing this proved a bit of a task however I think that we worked quite well together as a team to work out some of the shots we will need. We focused on the fight scene as this is going to be the hardest part to act out due to health and saftey concerns due to fake punched being thrown, chairs being chucked and having to get on of our cast members on to the floor, also being able to accuratly immitate a fight without the scene looking unrealistic.
Wednesday the 31st of January- Today was performance day I think that my performance was okay but i could have been better by focusing more and trying to stay serious and not laughing at the situation however i think the stress of the situation was the potential reason for this. Although I really enjoyed the process and working with the cameras. I had to go to media and makeup before my performance to have my makeup done i.e. a fake beard and got to see how the process of this is done although I did end up having an allergic reaction to the glue that was used on one side. This experience has taught me the importance of time keeping and being on time as this can impact the amount of time you have to get your make up done and in turn effect the overall quality of the makeup that is able to be done in the time frame but due to personal circumstances I was not able to get in to college for 8.30 in the morning regardless of making arrangements for my personal situation and due to this it was very rushed during makeup and we missed our calling que, if this was in real life being late to set is not realistic or reliable however it worked out in the end due to our group filming last because of the bigger scene we had and different angles and shots that needed to be taken due to it being a fight scene.