Final Performance Link

http://youtu.be/CoVreJcUdkU

An Amazing Acting Class

I have really loved being a part of D Period Acting Class. I think that this class had great people that all worked well together. I have loved every experience in this class. What I learned most was how to create multiple “forms” of energy with various people. For example, if I had not taken this class, I would never have learned how to achieve a tense feeling in my acting that I did when doing my “No Country For Old Men” scene with Shannok. I think that I could have dedicated more time to learning lines, however I don’t think that I honestly had enough time to. For the future, I want to set a goal for myself that I set aside specific times dedicated to learning lines. I think that this will really help me improve as an actor.

Most importantly, I think that I have achieve a main goal of mine: to prove that puppetry can be serious. I am so happy that Alexis decided to do a puppetry scene with me because while many people it may be something goofy and silly, I take it seriously. I think puppetry is a very challenging form of acting that requires dedication and actors who are not afraid to admit that they do it. At first, Alexis was extremely shy of her puppetry and denied that she was doing this scene. However, over the short process of working together, I can tell that she stopped being concerned with other’s opinions. Both not caring and working the actual puppet are beyond difficult, and I feel as though we both overcame these obstacles.  I think that we were probably two of the least serious people in the class, but we proved through puppetry that we can be. It was one of my favorite experience in the class because both Shannok and I truly had fun and produced a scene that was different and captivating.

What I enjoyed most in this class was that I could do any form of acting, especially some that was completely crazy and out of control, without being judged.This welcoming environment I think also helped me grow as an actor. It taught me that I shouldn’t care about what other people may think of me and that I should just have fun and trust myself. I looked forward every day to come to class because I felt that the environment that was created was fun and supportive, especially when Mrs. G let Alexis and I make our puppets lip-sync. Not a lot of teachers allow their students to be nerdy and show off something that has (almost) nothing to do with the class. For that, I am extremely thankful.  

This acting class made me consider myself for the first time as an actor. I always thought that I was average at acting, but now I think that through this class and all of what I have learned, that I can improve. I am so excited to take this course again next semester because now I know what I really want to focus on. I think that this class has helped me prepare for auditions, the musical, and any other acting activity that I might be thrown into.

Progress for No Country For Old Men

I think that my audition piece needs a lot of improvement. I think that the biggest thing that Alexis and I need to work on is creating tense energy and how to make our puppets act realistically. I also think that we need to create facial expressions for our puppets and how how to physically do that. Another thing that we have to achieve is how to hold our puppet. While it might seem simple, I often notice Shannok or myself letting my arm down. This will make our puppet look more like a growth than a person. Whenever I catch her or myself, I will say something (even in the middle of the scene) so that we can correct it. Its also a challenge to figure out how to make my puppet eat and toss a coin. I have decided that I have to learn how to flip a coin with my left hand and how I can make my puppet look like he is eating without being very distracting at the same time.

Right now, we are trying to develop the movements by paying attention to subtle actions with our puppets and by working with a metronome to monitor our pauses. This strategy is working for us and I think we are progressing in a steady pace. We work with little movements in our arm and hand to achieve what we want for our puppet, in a learning-styled process. It’s extremely fun, whenever Shannok and I stumble upon something new with our puppet, we have to stop what we are doing and show each other. It's amazing to realize everything that a simple sock puppet can do facial and expression wise. Even though it is taking longer than I would have hoped, I love getting to work with the puppets and explore a new type/media of acting.  

Yet this piece is helping me to develop as an actor. I can truly notice when I have to push myself in my scene by doing something new (such as being more eery and slow). While it is hard for me to get into the head of my character, I enjoy the challenge. I think this piece fits perfectly for what I wanted to do because of it’s challenging steps. My concrete goals are: 1. To be more creepy, 2. To develop tense energy between me and Shannok (which is hard for us because we are very comfortable around each other), 3. To work on my puppet’s facial expression, and most importantly, 4. To prove that puppetry can be a serious type of acting and skill.

So far I have really enjoyed working on this piece with Shannok. I think that the dialougue stands out because it is so uncomfortable to watch as an audience member. I hope that we will pick up the pace as far as progress, but I know that Shannok and I will put in tremendous effort to make the piece as best as we can.

Chigurh

My character's name Chigurh. He is currently in Mexico, looking for Lewelyn. Once he finds him he wants to kill him and take the money he found at the drug scene. However, Chigurh has to stop at a gas station to buy gas and a packet of nuts. I think his motivation is to. Make the sales clerk realize how he has been living his life and acknowledge everything he has. I want my puppet to wear a black shirt and pair of pants. Over that I want him to wear a dark colored jackets etching very simple. As far as me, I want to dress in all black. The set should have Alexis on one side of the counter and me on the other. In an ideal world we could transform the set into a gas station. I don't want a lot of blocking, instead I want Alexis and I to focus on making our puppet breathe and having facial expressions. My personal goals coincide with me stretching myself as an actor. My goal is to make people realize that puppetry can be serious and not just a silly type of entertainment. That is why I chose this scene. I hope to achieve this in my scene. 

Improvazation

I have had a fair amount of experience with improv and it is my favorite exercise to do when practicing acting. And yet, I still find it to be a challenging form of acting to conquer. There will always be something to improve upon, whether it be your reaction pace, your ability to think outside the box, or your ability to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Each of these factors are not easy to do, but are extremely crucial to having a great improv scene. However, in order to achieve this, you need to be acting with people that you get along with well and that you know before hand.

I think that it is important to know who you are doing a scene with as well, because on stage chemistry, I have learned, is helpful to keeping the audience’s attention, maintaining a scene (example: if someone should forget their line, another actor may help them by guiding them to where the scene is supposed to go), or by adding comedic or dramatic elements. Improv really allows actors to have fun on stage by making them use their instinct in a fast pace, while at the same time, it can be extremely helpful. For example, if an audience member shouted out into the audience a line that they knew was about to be said, there is pressure on the actor to either say their line, or improv a funny response. If a mistake happens on stage, actors can recover by going along with the line and fooling the audience that it was part of script.

Improv is one of my favorite activities to do when acting. I think that it allows you to recognize what you're naturally good at, and what you need to improve upon. For me, I think I need to work on being more energetic in improv scenes and being able to take my scenes to new heights. On the other hand, I think that one of my strengths is that I am willing to go along with anything that might be thrown into my path. I love finding out what my scene will go and how to constantly change it. That being said, I think it is important to reflect on your scene and acknowledge what you did well, what you could have done differently, and how you can improve in your next improv scene. This will better your abilities as an actor. If you think of improv as a game, it can be truly fun and exciting.

What I love most about improv is that when doing comedic scenes, I can act as ridiculous as I want. Levels of emotions are really limitless because you, as an actor, are developing your character and what they want to achieve. I think that this is something special because it forces you to think on spot and at the same time, it teaches you to just have fun and go along with whatever you might encounter with your fellow actors.

Dramatic Scene Reflection

At first, my group really struggled to pick a dramatic scene. It took us longer than we wanted to find one, but in the end I feel that we chose a unique scene that we were able to  turn into our own. Our scene went beyond the norm and pushed the boundaries of decency. Each actor in the dialogue made a tremendous effort to become their character and achieve multiple levels of anger, sadness, and the feeling of being shell shocked. It was not an easy script to deliver, as it covered many disturbing experiences. However, Alexis, Dayna and myself pushed through the skit and tried our best to present it in a serious manner.  

Together we tried numerous acting strategies to achieve these emotions. One of which worked the most was when we pushed strongly against a wall and delivered our lines. This proves to be a successful exercise by forcing each of us to channel inner emotions of anger and even sadness. In addition, the exercise showed us how we could change our vocal range and tonality, something that we struggled with and was key in our dramatic scene. I was extremely impressed that Alexis and Dayna went along with my exercises that at the time, they thought were ridiculous.

When it comes to staging our piece, we tried numerous possible situations. However, when we reached our final division of where to place each of us and our movements, everything fell into place. We were able to limit our movements and even eliminated over head lighting to add emphasis to our speeches. Finally, the use of dramatic music and lanterns gave the piece an overall eerie feel. Each element of our performance was careful thought out and in my opinion, unique.  

I think that the other groups performed well. I loved Lisa and Duncan's scene selection. It was different from all other scenes that had been performed and their effort paid off very well.

John's and Jack's scene was interesting with its dark undertone. They did a fantastic job with altering the ending of their skit. I also admire John's willingness to listen to other's suggestions to improve his acting skills. Every skit was interesting and performed very well.

I really enjoyed doing a dramatic skit with Dayna and Alexis. Together I think we made a great team, even if we were off to a slow start. Throughout the process we stayed optimistic and engaged with our piece. So much so that we were able to effectively turn a poem-styled dialogue into a scene that was captivating to our audience. We planned out climatic parts and movements and had fun doing so together.

In the future, my goal is to pick a piece in a more time-effective manner and to be able to dedicate more time to it. I feel that if I do this, the piece will flow more smoothly and so will the process of developing the scene. I also want to pick a piece that is more challenging for me. I think that besides the Fantastic Mr. Fox monologue, I have not felt that I have pushed myself enough as an actor. I want to try new strategies in acting and continue to develop my abilities. I hope to achieve this in the next skit and during the remainder of our Acting Class.  


http://youtu.be/M9ZuMBCKlcs

Improv Group Video

https://youtu.be/Rw7f8PUVkp4

Peter Pan Reflection

When I read the email informing me that I was going to play Smee, I did not really know how to react. At first I was unsure of the part, because I had never had experience of playing a pirate who was constantly goofy and who was not very serious. But then I immediately thought that the role would be challenging for me and I got excited to be a part of Peter Pan. 

            I think that I did a good job memorizing my lines before the deadline (thanks to Dylan running them with me back stage). I think that the lines were easy for me to remember because I was allowed to act however goofy I wanted when delivering them. For example, one of my favorite moments in the play is when I start to hum out loud to Britain’s National Anthem. If I had not trusted myself to act silly and cared about what others might have thought, that little scene might never have happened. Personally, I think that that little bit tells a lot about my character and adds comic relief. 

            I think the trickiest part of the show to get down were the scene changes and staying calm backstage. However, every single cast member put effort into the changes and worked as a whole. People also learned to adapt to accidents, and how to handle their emotions well. This really helped the transitions to go smoothly and not too stressful. Also, everyone was extremely helpful with costumes and props. Especially Mrs. Monahan. She jumped right into rehearsal and would take on any task and complete it right way, which I, personally, really appreciate. 

            In addition to having a blast while playing Smee, I also received a lot of experience backstage while doing other peoples make up. I had gone to a stage makeup workshop, and I used what I had learned to make scars, contouring faces, and making bruises. I really enjoyed helping out backstage with make up.

            I think that Peter Pan was a wonderful experience to be a part of. We had ana amazing cast where everyone worked well together, and made the show an enjoyable experience for the viewers. Anna and Rachel were fantastic directors who paid so much attention to detail. Because they did this, every single aspect of the show was, in my opinion, the best it could be.

I learned from Peter Pan that in order to make the show live up to expectations, every single person needs to do their part and dedicate time and effort. In addition, I learned that listening to others opinions and collaboration is key.  I have truly loved working with such an outstanding cast, student directors and drama coaches, Mrs. G, and everyone. I know that we are truly lucky to have people as patient and talented as we did in order to put on Peter Pan. I highly recommend Peter Pan for a high school play; it is a captivating and fun show. I will miss being in this production, but I look forward to participating in the upcoming musical!

Olive

In this scene, I feel that my character is someone who has been a traumatic experience. I think that I want to show this by having her have outbursts, such as on the line "Don't go in there". I also think that she romantasises situations as a form of coping with her experience. For example, she describes the  falling mail from the plan crash as clouds. I think that Olive is someone who has never had anything really bad happen in her life, so this experience really threw her life through a loop. I don't think she lost anyone in the plane crash, but I think that the collision of the plane and the after math that she saw opened her eyes to the fact that bad things can occur on a drop of a hat. The crash acted as a reality check for her. I think that I can show these feeling in the dialogue by varing tonality and subtle yet important body and facial movements and expressions.

Dialogue Reflection: Pringles

When practicing my scene with Dayna, I found the dialogue difficult to master. Firstly, it was hard for both of us to fully understand the dialogue due to the writer’s lack of revision on the piece. Minor grammatical and awkward phrases made the memorization process for Dayna and I difficult. However, we managed to memorize the piece, even if it took us longer than expected. We both worked together by taking turns in a memorization-improvement exercise. One of us would read the other’s lines while the other would write out their individual lines on the white board. After both of us had taken turns, we wrote out each of our lines together while speaking them outline until the board was filled with the entire script. I felt that this exercise helped me to memorize me lines more efficiently. While I still struggled with a lot of the lines, if I had not done the exercise, I would have been in a harder situation when performing. Another part of this process that was challenging for me was picking a dialogue that was appropriate for class and from a play. Most of the dialogues that I found were either inappropriate or too dark. It took Dayna and I the majority of our time to find a piece we both liked. The time spent finding the piece could have been used to work on memorization. This taught me that it is helpful to look ahead at assignments and try to brainstorm ideas for the project. For example, I have already started looking for a scene to do with John that is serious yet appropriate for class.

At first it was hard for me to understand what Jack and Duncan’s skit was about. However, once they switched roles, introduced more movements, and developed their characters more, I found the piece interesting and really liked it. The only thing that I wish was different in there skit is concerning Jack’s part. I think that he needs to have more lines in order to make the skit an even performance that shows of both of the actors on stage. Yet jack was able to use his movements to his advantage, compensating for his lack of lines. He did a very good job at his body language, and movement, as did Duncan.

After Alexis, Lisa, and John wrote a preface to their skit, I found that their performance became more sophisticated and easy to follow. They all did an excellent job of making a very serious dilemma into a comedic situation. I think that Lisa did a good job of using productive criticism to her benefit. After a few suggestions for her character, I could really see a change in what she was trying to portray in her skit. I liked how every one participating in the skit had an even amount of lines. The one suggestion I have for them is to slow down in their lines and to react more. I think that both groups did a fantastic job altogether.  

                          LINK: http://youtu.be/RmicFziWYqU

Character Development: Barbara

Character Study/ Scene Study

Barbara:

-Fast talker/ talks down to Ally

-Possibly from Boston

-Uses improper language

-Mean attitude, very defensive

-Uses an inappropriate amount of makeup

-Chews gum

-24 years old, has 8 kids, never graduated from high school, is not in a relationship and is not married. 

-Wears lots of jewelry
-unemployed, relies on welfare to financially support Her and her kids (although she mostly spends the money on her self)

-Does not know her father

-Dresses inappropriately 

-Has been arrested for breach of peace

-She is a smoker

-Fake Blonde

-Butterfly tramp stamp

-Lives in a trailer

-Shops at Good Will

-Steals expensive items and clothing from stores

-Puts her hands on her hips

-Her motivation is to get attention. That is why she starts the fight with Ally. 

-Barbara is buying food for her kid's school lunches. So far she's collected the items Twinkies, hoho's, devil dogs, Sunny D, lunchabels, and then she stumbles upon Pringles. 

As an actor I want to learn how to act very snotty and ridiculous. I want to be able to become someone that is a complete opposite to me. 

Reflection

At the beginning of this course, I first wanted to work with some sort of dramatic and some comedic material.  I believe that I have completed this goal. I have done multiple comedic roles, such as my first personal monologue and in my silent film. I think that these two comedic piece have helped me become more serious about comedy. For example, what doing my silent film, I learned that in addition to have funny lines, body motion and expression is very important. An actor can be extremely hilarious by doing certain faces or motions with their body. 

I have also been able to act in a dramatic role. When I first picked my "Fantastic Mr. Fox" monologue I had no idea how much effort I would need to put into it to make it have a climax and to make it as dramatic as it was. This monologue was by far the mist challenging project that we have done in class for me. I struggled with channeling anger and learning how to express it properly. I felt that at times I was holding back key emotions that my character was feeling, and that resulted in my mongoose not living up to expectations. However, once I fully kept in mind all of the suggestions that I received from my peers and Ms. Guarino, I was able to accomplish every emotion that I wanted to show to my audience. 

Another goal of mine was to improve upon my memorization skills. In class I was given many helpful strategies on how to improve on this, and I feel that they all really did help me. by writing each monologue out or recording and listening to it, I was able to memorize them in an effective and timely manner. I also used these strategies outside of class on Peter Pan. Because I did this, I felt comfortable when for when we were required to go off book. 

I feel like acting class also allowed me to improve upon working with others. I think that the silent film project allowed me to get to know my fellow students and learn how they work. I look forward to work with them for the second semester and every one that I didn't get to work with too. 

Lastly, what I want to work on during the second half of class is learning how to develop my characters more. I thin this is something important to do before acting in a production. When we developed the background of our characters class it helped me get more into my emotions for a monologue by picturing my character's past. In addition, I would love to work on a one-on-one dramatic dialogue with someone that I haven't worked with yet. I think that by doing this it will help to learn how to work on my feet, and improvise in hard situations. I think that learning this skill can really benefit an actor if they ever get stuck in a scene on stage if someone forgets their line.  

Back In My Day...

Silent Film: Back In My Day...


http://youtu.be/qJYfdbPu9zl

In Class Writing: Silent Film Reflection

After making a silent film with one group and watching another group’s work, I can honestly say that I am impressed with everyone’s final result. I think that both groups had original ideas and are captivating to any audience that might watch them. Even though “Back In My Day…” is not finished yet, I think that demonstrates amazing group effort and group reliance. What I mean by this is that not one person took over the project. Everyone had a specific role in the production, filming, developing and acting process.

            As I reflect on my group’s work, I really appreciate how much energy and optimism everyone put into our film. In addition, it is apparent that the boy’s group put great amounts of energy into theirs too. I think the boy’s group really manipulated the use of space that was available to them. I also think that they successfully used classic silent film movements. For example, when John would duck whenever Jack would try to hit him, it reminded me of other old silent movies. It even brought a lot of comedy to their serious plot.

Further more, I think that the boy group used interesting props, and used a balanced amount so that they didn’t take away from their movie. The use of the cupcake and the fact that it started the fight made the movie very silly. I really enjoyed their silent movie because it invited the audience in to laugh.

            In our group, we had a very good work ethic. Like I stated in my previous blog, at times my group was able to get easily distracted and we would often goof around. For example, I was guilt of this whenever I was in the wheelchair, or hen we first tried on our props. However, we all knew when to stop ourselves and focus on what we were doing. This work ethic made the process extremely fun and productive. Needless to say, wee all had great chemistry with other on and off stage.

In addition, I believe that we also used our props to our benefit. I think that when Lisa had the idea to throw her bingo card, that turned and ordinary prop into a joke and made the audience want to laugh.  Another little but smart detail we all unanimously did was whenever Dayna rang the Bingo Bell; we all were effected in someway by the loud sound. We also all shook in some way or had other body motions that depicted our age. While Dayna acted perky and sat up straight, the elderly people were all wither sweet or grumpy and were in constant pain.

I think that both of the movies came out extremely well. I hope that I get the opportunity to make another movie with either my same group or get to know how the other actors work when producing a film. I learned many things through this process, but one important factor that stands out to me is that if you and your fellow actors are prepared and organized, the process will flow very smoothly.