Monday 9th September 2024
Today we learned about the bradford police museum and that we are doing scare acting. My group is doing hocus pocus so in the afternoon we watched the movies. I am feeling excited about it, as my group will be doing scare acing with children, and I feel like that’s less intimidating than if I were to so it with the adults , it’s a bit less pressure.
In the afternoon we went over all the other courses we are doing this year, it did confuse me and overwhelmed me a lot.
Wednesday 11th September 2024
This morning we had a class on what context is and how we need to use it in our scrapbooks, this was very beneficial as it helped me understand how to separate context and research. We did some context on the bradford police museum, which made me feel more prepared for our performance. In the afternoon we had out first ambition hub session. At first I was really nervous and anxious because it’s mixed between level 2 and 3, so there was a lot of people, but I felt more relax the more into the session and could put forward my ideas.
Thursday 12th September 2024
Today we had our first singing lesson , we sung journey to the past. At the beginning I was really nervous and hesitant and didn’t want to participate. The more the session went on I got a bit more involved and I got a little more louder and confident. Next session I want to try and go closer to the front and be more confident. In the afternoon we had a dance session with dance united. I wasn’t a big fan of it to begin with it was quite fast and confusing, which made me feel a bit stressed, but it became more easier the more we carried on. Afterwards we had a dance technique lesson, I was very tired after the session with dance united, so my energy and enthusiasm was low. Next session I need to push myself even when I’m tired and as jess and my friends for help when im struggling with the Dance.
https://youtu.be/9cjLfa2gt7o
Monday 16th September 2024
In the morning we looked a power point of the history of theatre and we discovered the different impact of theatre throughout history. We were given our scripts for the police museum and in the afternoon we started acting it out. I really enjoyed this session, it was fun to finally get up on our feet acting, putting up set together. The things that need developing and improving was people’s concentration, there was some messing about in the afternoon when we were practicing, which did stress me out a little. But it was our first time rehearsing today so the more that we practice the more focused we will become.
Pictures of the courtroom set .
Wednesday 18th September 2024
This morning we looked at research and how we can use it to help us develop our characters and knowledge. This was beneficial to me.
Thursday 19th September 2024
This morning we had our second vocal lesson, and despite still being anxious about it I feel as though I was slightly more involved than I was last week. Even though I was near the back I would go further forward If I needed to. And I did not participate in any solo work or have a lot of confidence, which Is something I hope to learn going forward with these lessons. In the afternoon we created three still images based of off hocus pocus and but them together rrhen attempted to make a scene out of it. I think that the one thing that our team lacked was communication, everyone had all these ideas and suggestions and no one was really listening to eachother, which cause me to feel quite stressed. Next week what we need to do to improve is let everyone speak one at a time and listen to eachothers ideas, this will be a lot calmer and more beneficial. Afterwards we had dance, I participated in most of it but for a bit of it I sat down and observed, I wasn’t in rhe best mental mind state, so if this happens again next week,my target is to keep going and push my self to join in with the lessons and make sure I eat and drink plenty so I have more energy.
https://youtu.be/HesgGvEMyiA
Monday 23rd September 2024
Aims and objectives from today, we completed them .
This morning we had a meeting with ucas, we we thought about what it is and what we need to do. This made me question even more what I want to do next year, which is slightly stressing me out. We also visited the Bradford Police museum, this was my first time going there, I found it really fun and interesting to look around and see all the cells and hear all the stories. We were shown the court room where our performance will be taking place. This made it feel more real which made me slightly nervous but really excited and more prepared. Finally I had my meeting with my makeup artist for hocus pocus, we discussed what the plan is and what we both agree will be the best thing to do, thus makes me more curious amd excited to see how I’m gonna turn out.
Monday 30th September 2024
In the morning we went over different body languages and facial expressions, it was fun a lot of it felt a bit silly and over the top , but this was good as it helped us a bit with the characterisation when it comes tk performing, especially for hocus pocus, my character has a specific facial expression that she uses and the way that she holds her self, doing this made us feel how we should be performing. It also taught us not to go straight to the character but to build up the characterisation in stead of starting almost immediately, building up for the audience. In the afternoon we put together some ideas of the little performance that we are doing in the police museum on the 26th of October. We came up with the scenario and the who, what, when ,where of the characters. This was enjoyable as we got to create it ourselves instead of just reading from a script. It allows us to be creative and imaginative, next week our targets are to start writing out questions for thee witnesses and the suspects.
This is a draft on what we are going to do, on the 26th, and how long we are gonna do each segment because it can’t be longer than 5 minutes.
These are the notes we made on who the characters are and how they are going to portrayed, what there personalities are going to be like.
First draft of the prosecution questions to the shopkeeper.
Later on we performed our courtroom scene for the 9th to the people who will be there one the day, playing the judge. I was slightly anxious as I have to read out a statement as part of my character that I didn’t know about, because when we’ve practiced this in lessons I only read out the answers to the questions. I think that the more that I read it thr less stressful it will be on the day, and atleast I will be prepared for next Wednesday.
Wednesday 2nd October 2024
This afternoon we had ambition hub, where we started learning our dance for the light cinema, where we will be dancing for people with dementia. I was nervous about how it was going to go because I don’t really like dance and I was doing it ingront of people that I don’t know yet. However u felt though because I was working with someone I knew, I felt a lot more comfortable and I had more energy and enthusiasm. My aim for next lesson Is to try and be more focused because I did let myself get carried away a bit messing around. But I have improved in taking part in the whole lesson.
Monday 7th October 2024
Today we had another lesson on characterisation and body movement, we also looked at shadows and how they are created to cause tension and scare the audience.
Our plan of what we need to do for the performance on the 26th in the police museum. We have a list of who’s playing who, we had to add some people to it, and a list of what we need to do at the bottom. We were particularly successful I think we managed to write some questions from both the defence and prosecution to two of the witnesses.
Although we didn’t finish the questions we are making more progress, the thing that we are struggling a little on is making it no longer than five minutes, our aim by next week will that we have it all figured out and written down properly. So we can then start rehearsing.
Wednesday 9th October 2024
In the afternoon we had ambition hub, we practiced more of the some where over the rainbow dance. I believe that I am making good progress, I was more focused and went over the dance steps that u knew. Although because we are a bigger group lots of people were messing around which annoyed me, but I carried on. Hopefully next Wednesday we will learn more of the dance.
Afterwards was our performance at the Bradford Police Museum. I was really nervous by the time we go got to the courtroom. I messed up my lines a little, but i carried on and tried to add some characterisation, like facial expressions and different tone in my voice, which made some people laugh a little. If I were to do this again I would improve on remaining concentrated and quiet when i was in the witness box with my peers, because were a little distracted when we weren’t giving our statements we did talk and make each other laugh, which would of not gone well if we were at a really court, if I were to do it again I would take it more seriously and remain professional, overall i think it went well it could of gone a lot worse and i probably wouldnt of done something like that last year.
Pictures of us during the performance:
These were some of the notes taken by one of the jury members.
Thursday 10th October 2024
We had music this morning, i feel as though i am slowly making more progress and im getting more involved, i think because two more people have now joined the class it made it slightly more louder which stressed me a little because of the noise, but i could blend in more which is something that i like.
This afternoon we had dance, it was very tiring and hard work, I did my best and carried on even though my body hurt. I feel like i worked well in helping people learn the dance and was able to give a few suggestions towards the next steps of the dance. It was better than what I normal do, i think this is because we were able to be creative and makeup the dance rather than following planned cheography, i struggle with that more, but i have made an improvement from the start of this year.
Monday 14th October 2024
This morning I had my practice makeup run of Mary Sanderson, I was curious to see how I was going to turn out and how the process was gonna be because I’ve never wore a wig with a wig cap before. But It wasn’t bad at all, I was really happy with the makeup aspect of it. But the wig that I have, is slightly to small for my head and it doesn’t stand up aswell as the hair in the movie. But I think that my makeup artist is going to stick some pins in it to make it stand up straight. I’m excited to see how I’m going to look on the actual day, it will make me feel more in character.
Hair and makeup :
Afterwards we looked at improvisation and which actors use them and examples, this helps us when it’s time to interact with the children, because we won’t have a script with us, we won’t know what will happen on the day, so we need to be good at listening and then reacting as our characters. In the afternoon somepeople did an improvisation game, were you pick a scenario out of a hat then go in the middle and improvise a little scene. It did get a bit giddy and messy but it was interesting to see how different people had there own interpretations. I didn’t take part , I just watched, maybe if we were to do it again at some point I would participate once. We finally got round to completing the questions and a script for the performance on the 26th we all worked together and added our imput.
Wednesday 15th October 2024
This afternoon we had ambition hub, we learned other half of the somewhere over the rainbow dance. We split it in two so one half will do the beginning part and the others will do the second half. I have got a good hang of it and its coming together really well, i need to improve and work on being less giddy when I’m with my friends but i feel that i have made progress and i know now what I’m supposed to do.
Thursday 16th October 2024
Today we had our singing auditions. All week i was adiment that i wasnt going to do it because i dont sing in front of anyone and im really quiet in class, its not really for me. But i went and gave it a go. It didnt go very well, i got really nervous and started laughing , so i ended up getting about a few word out. Even though i didnt do very well ive definitely made an improvement in my confidence as there was no way that i would of even considered singing at the start of the year. I need to still work on my confidence and take the advice that eric gave me to have more self belief. In the afternoon we watched music perform for their project, so we missed dance technique and lesson. After I tried on my costume, it didn’t fit which stressed me out and made me very overwhelmed and self conscious. It also made me anxious as the performanceis only a few days away, and costume is a big part in making my character. But everyone rallied around me to ensure me that tit will all work out and they will make adjustments to the dress on time for Sunday.
Sunday 20th October 2024
Today was the day of our ‘performance’ at the light cinema. It was really fun and i didnt feel nervous and anxious, like i normally do for all my performances. I was in character a large majority of the time, I enjoyed interacting with the kids, and seeing how they would respond . I haven’t done anything like it before, but it made me want to do it again. Today helped me a little in deciding on what it is that i wanna do, and I think that I’m heading more towards working in the industry entertaining children. I also believe that the three of us worked well together and we could bounce of of each other easy, which made it easierto characterise. There were only a few problems that we had, firstly we made a kid cry, but we made sure that if we sensed the next child was scared that we would pretend that we are scared of them, so we didnt upset them. Secondly it was really warm where we were perfoming, so it made me feel a bit sick, and my wig kept going wobbly on my head and pulling on my hair which gave me a headache, so towards the end i wasnt really enjoying it asmuch or in character. Also doing the crooked mouth really hurt my jaw but overall I really had a good time and would definitely want to do it again.
Monday 21st October 2024
This moringing we did a police museum run through, it was going well to begin with we were focused and did it properly, but the more we did it, everyone got bored quick so no one was really taking it seriously. Which made me very stressed and I got annoyed with everyone. My aim after this session is to learn my lines for Saturday so im not standing up there with a script. In the afternoon we did a bunch of improve games/challenges for people doing nightmare on elm street.
Wednesday 23rd October 2024
Ambition hub was cancelled so we had independent study, all day, this ment that I could do more research for my scrapbook.
Saturday 26th October 2024
Today was our mini performance at the police museum. I really enjoyed it and had fun. Me and Rose got into character, by making our hair messy and putting makeup on our faces to make us look dirty. I made eye contact with the jury and I feel that I added some characterisation in my voice which led to three non guilty verdicts and one guilty. When the people weren’t it the court toom we did all talk and mess around a little, but as soon as we heard the people coming we were very professional. I’m not sure what I would do differently, the only thing that annoyed me was that, I kept messing up my third line which was frustrating, but everyone said that they didn’t even notice, which was good.