Reflection 1.
16th October- 22nd October 2023.
This week with Sarah we got given a script which was about a boss telling 2 guys off in his office and the guys not taking anything serious as they were being silly in the work place. So amber, Kirsty and I all picked our roles and started practicing. we chose the roles we did because Amber can be quite bossy so it made it better with her being the boss and me and Kirsty thought we could act as though we are the twins, Fred and George, from Harry Potter. we then had Oliver watching us and he had given us some feedback which we worked on to make the small scene better. Then we had Jack watch us and he had taken our scripts off of us so we learned the lines this was to boost our confidence without the script. we then kept practicing it over and over again until we finally performed it to the class.
I feel quite worried about this project as I have never worked on an originally animated piece that’s brought to real life before and I’ve never done a pantomime either.
I need to improve my characterisation skills as I’m going to need it in order to make my character better and to make the audience believe I am the character I’m supposed to be on stage. I will do this by researching about my character and watching many videos while taking in their characteristics.
My challenges are memorisation as I sometimes struggle remembering everything all at once when it comes to performing as I get nervous but I will overcome this by putting the time and effort in to remembering everything and really having it stuck into my head.
My targets are to get all of my course work done and to not fall behind on it. Bring my confidence up. Making sure I’m always in college ready to learn and in on time.
I will do this by making sure I’m always up to date with course work and getting it done at home and by trying my best all the time with time management, motivation and trying my best in rehearsal.
Reflection 2.
Audition process.
30th October – 3rd November 2023.
This week was the audition process on Tuesday we had the acting auditions with Sarah in the morning which I was very prepared for I knew all of my lines and I remembered how to act it out. It went well at first but then the lines kept getting forgotten and we had to keep starting over again. We got told to do it a different way which was where amber really needed the job and I was just there for the laughs I didn’t really care and didn’t really need the job which went well we managed to do it in one take.
https://youtu.be/WzEPaeTcr24?si=OOd_uc6yyPHDXgIC
https://youtu.be/6G15uRntcBE?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/OqNc_fGUD2g?si=OST1-aYrjWP4SB7C
We also wrote some feedback for each group which was challenging because I wasn’t too sure on what to write.
We then did a dance audition with Jess for an hour and a half, which was to a song from ‘The wedding singer’. We warmed up first and we did some corner work. Then we went into Learning the dance. I really enjoyed this dance as it was musical theatre style dance which is something we hadn’t done as a class before. It was a very fast dance at the start but everyone seemed to enjoy it and it made us all smile. We then performed the dance as a group. For the last hour and a half of the lesson we practiced our singing audition for Wednesday which we had to pick a song and learn it in that time. I didn’t go in on Wednesday as I was throwing up but despite not feeling well I had taken the time to record a video of me singing ‘popular’ by wicked the musical and send it to Jess so they knew who to cast me as. Although it was hard to do as I wasn’t well I still tried my best to do it.
On Thursday we got the cast list which I got casted as ‘spirit of the mirror/ Percival’. I am very happy about this decision and I’m very excited to start practicing this script and the dances and songs. I also got the production role in sound. I am excited to be able to play a part in finding the sound effects and using them for the show.
This has helped me to develop as a performer because it’s taught me how the audition process could go when you sign up for a performing job.
This is preparing me for the industry because it’s giving me a better understanding on how auditions work and how to prepare for them.
Reflection 3.
5th November – 10th November 2023
With Jess we did a warm up to make sure our body’s are are prepared for the dance session. We also did some corner work to gain a better understanding of dancing . We then got into three groups and in our groups we had to make a dance to a song from the beginning or the end of the performance. My group chose the end of the performance. We worked as a team to create a dance to the song ‘be back soon’ from Oliver the musical. We thought this fit to the end of the performance as the lyrics are about going but being back soon.
my targets for my next rehearsal are, to know at least a page of my lines, to focus and to push myself more.
I have developed in my team work by putting ideas into the dance. This will help me in the future because every thing you do as a performer involves team work, wether it’s you and the lighting crew or you and the sound crew or you and other performers on stage.
This is preparing me for the industry because it’s teaching me how to work in a group and choreograph dances with other people and making me more comfortable working with other people.
Reflection 4.
13th November – 17th November 2023
Today in Steph’s class I made sure to catch up on my scrap book course work so after I did that I started practicing my lines and learning them by using the look, cover, say method. I then went home and asked my brother to test me on them by him reading the line before mine and making sure I knew my lines correctly.
Today, in acting with Steph we blocked the whole of act 1 and practiced it so we knew it. We spoke about what kind of ideas we had for act one, like the puppets being behind a white sheet for the first part where it’s just the voice over.
In dance with Jess we practiced the opening number which is to the song dynamite. It was more of a hip hop routine and I struggled with the timing because of it being a fast dance but overall I really enjoyed the dance. And we practiced the ‘accidentally in love’ dance.
My targets for next week are to learn all of my lines, learn the dance at home so I have it perfected and to know act one off by heart.
This week has helped me develop as a performer by doing hip hop because in the future when signing up for performing jobs I will have experience in hip hop and have a better understanding for it, rather than not knowing anything at all about it.
This is preparing me for the industry because it is developing a further understanding in hip hop and giving me more experience in this type of work.
Reflection 5.
20th November- 25th November.
With Sarah we went through Act 1 Scene 4 to the end of act 1 we only managed to rehearse the afternoon show. Then we went on to do a production meeting where Ashley and I both went through the script, found where there needed to be sound effects, then we both worked together to find them by him finding act 1s sound effects and me finding act 2s sound effects.
With Jess in dance I learned the rest of the dance to the song ‘dynamite,’ I now need to go home and practice it until i know it perfectly and then we started learning the dance to ‘bad.’ We also practiced the ‘time warp dance’.
My targets for next week are to polish my lines because I know them I just need to be confident in knowing them and to polish the ‘dynamite’ dance. I will do this by making sure I am focused and putting in the energy to practicing at home.
This week has helped me develop as a performer by making me work at a fast pace and work independently as I have only practiced the evening performance once, every other time I’ve been there we have been doing the afternoon performance. This is preparing me for the industry because when you go into the industry you will have to work alone especially when it comes to tv acting as there’s times you’ll get the script go home and learn it in a short amount of time.
Reflection 6.
27th November – 1st December 2023
With Steph we blocked act 2 scene 1 through to 4 and then we worked on our scrap books and had a production meeting. We also blocked to the end of act 2.
With Jess we finished rehearsing the choreography for ‘bad’ and then started doing choreography for ‘celebration’.
This has helped me develop as a performer in the future because of how fast we have worked on this project. It shows you how fast you usually have to work as a professional performer.
This is preparing me for the industry because it is helping me grow my memorisation skills as you will need this for any Performing job you get in the future.
My targets for next week are to know the dances better because I know some of them I just need to fully understand the rest of them and to learn the chorus lines as this is something I haven’t done yet.
I can do this by practicing over and over again in my spare time.
Reflection 7
4th December- 8th December 2023.
In dance we finished choreographing to ‘celebration’ and we also started to choreograph ‘don’t stop believing’ we also ran through act 1 and put the light where they need to be and sorting light and sound cues out.
This week has helped me develop as a performer because it has shown me what the lightning and sound cues can be like as we had to keep stopping and starting to get the cues correct.
This is preparing me for the industry because it’s showing me that in order to get a show going you have to be patient and listen to what the light and sound crew need you to do.
My targets for next week are to know the chorus lines and to know the dances completely and to know my cues.
I will do this by practicing it all over and over again. From Wednesday to Friday I am going to learn the chorus lines. And on Saturday and Sunday I will keep going over the dances.
Reflection 8.
11th December- 14th December 2023.
On Monday we ran through the afternoon performance and then on Tuesday we ran through afternoon performance and the evening performance. On Wednesday we ran through the afternoon performance and then performed the evening performance to level three extended in the afternoon. On Thursday morning we performed the afternoon performance in the morning to level 3 extended. After that we did our first show at 2pm with the afternoon cast and our second show at 6pm with the evening cast.
This week has helped me develop as a performer because it has shown me how to act back stage and how you still need to show professionalism even though you’re rehearsing in order to get through a full run and to know how your performance is going to turn out and to also know how ready you are to perform.
This is preparing me for the industry because it is teaching me about professionalism and how to act in the workplace which is something I will need for the future.