Status Levels

In Thursday's lesson, we did work on status levels and how we could use them to understand the character in more depth.

The status levels went from 1 - 10:

1.    Extremely nervous, quiet and inhibited

2.    Very nervous, quiet and inhibited

3.    Nervous, quiet and inhibited

4.    A little nervous, quiet and inhibited

5.    Neither timid nor bold

6.    Rather outgoing and confident

7.    Bold and confident

8.    Commanding and rather imposing

9.    Very commanding, intimidating and bold.

10.   Extremely commanding, imperious and untouchable

We walked around the room, acting in these different levels to see how we could portray our characters differently; We said one line of dialogue on status level 1 and status level 10; this showed us about how we deliver our lines and how we look/stand can change our character's personality completely.

Exercises and Warm-ups (Post 3)

This week, we did new excercises like:

Spine Rolls on s, z, sh, j, f, v, mm, opening into ah:

We stood in a neutral stance and slowly rolled downwards on either a breath or a sound and, if there was any breathe left in us, we would shake it our when we got to the ground; this taught us how to use our voices as much as we can on stage.

Imaginary chewing gum:

In this exercise, we warmed our faces and tried to stretch them as much as we can by pretending we had imaginary chewing gum, in our mouths; this could help with diction and voice control.

Raisin face/Pumpkin face:

In this exercise, we stretched and scrunched our faces to make large and small faces to show how we can use our faces to make different sounds and make our faces look different; this also helped with diction.

Tongue Twisters (Peter Piper):

By saying tongue twisters, it showed how to properly pronounce your words as well as you can on stage, no matter how hard the script lines are. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i36jzwRSrgg

Physical warm ups:

In the cat-stretch warm up, we all got on all 4's and slowly stretched our backs, while supporting our weight with our hands and feet; this helped us release all of the tension, in our bodies, so we could act more freely. Our other physical warm ups helped us release tension and act more freely like: Rolling down our spines, shoulder rolls and, pull and pressing exercise.

Theatre Exercises/Warm Ups (Post 2)

This week, in theatre, we did new exercises/warm ups, like:

Voices/Diaphragms:

We continued to warm our voices (while exercising our diaphragms) by making 'ha-ha-ha' and 'hu-hu-hu' noises and, doing the same thing as last week with, blowing the feather off of our lips. We ben't our legs, while we were lying down, so that our coccyx could be on contact with the floor.

Delivering Lines:

To practice delivering our lines, we took one line, from our scenes, and threw a ball to each other, making eye contact with the person we were throwing it to; this helped us with control and understanding how it is important to deliver lines while considering the other people in the scene.

Space and voice:

We all pretended that we were on mopeds, driving through Paris, while making 'bbbbbrrrrr' noises with our lips; we had to travel through spaces, making sure that we didn't bump into anyone. This made us spacially-aware of our surrounding, whilst warming up our faces and voices.

Theatre Exercises/Warm Ups

In Period 2 Theatre, on Thursday, we did warm ups and acting exercises for different parts of the body:

Feet/Legs:

To warm up our feet/legs, and to establish the relationship between the floor and our feet, we took our shoes off and began to draw circles with our feet in the air; this warmed up our ankles and 'woke up' our feet. We then began to swing our legs (one at a time) backwards and forward while brushing the floor with our foot every time it came in contact with the floor; this helped us understand the relationship with our feet to the floor and how helpful the floor is to our acting, as it keeps us stable and gives us the ability to move around.
After, we brought our knees up, so they were in line with our waist, and then brought them out to the side, to stretch our thighs, so that we we were able to move around quickly and easily because our legs were all stretched.
We also stood on one leg, for about a minute each, to practice balance so we wouldn't fall over in any performances.

Arms/Shoulders:

To warm up our arms and our shoulders, we bought one straight arm up to the sky and then rotated it so our shoulders were warmed up as well. When the arm went up towards the ceiling, we followed our hands with our necks so we also warmed up our necks.

Diaphragm:

To exercise our diaphragms, we all lay down and did breathy sounds; we put one hand on our breast-bones and the other on our stomachs and then made noises like 'hu-hu-hu', 'hoo-hoo-hoo', 'ch-ch-ch', to feel our diaphragms moving and working.

Imagination:

We did 2 separate exercises for our imagination; one with eyes open and the other with eyes shut. The one with eyes open, the teacher would say things for us to imagine and he would talk about a feather on our lips and we had to blow it away (part of the diaphragm exercise). The other imagination exercise, the one with closed eyes, was when the teacher would talk about how we imagine our characters and how they look, talk and appear in our minds.

Finding space:

To find space, we played a game where you had to walk in random spaces where no one else is; this is so that, in your performance, you won't be clumped together so the audience can't see you. It's also helping you practice finding your own path (not following anyone else).

Acting. (Good and Bad)

Acting. There's 2 type of acting in this world; Good acting and Bad acting.

So what makes a good actor?
There are many things that a good actor needs; First off, you need to be believable. Would you enjoy a film with actors whose acting isn't believable. You need to be patient; Rehearsal is for you to make mistakes, you're not going to be perfect straight away so you need to be patient for your acting to develop. The most important thing of all, for a good actor, is to enjoy the piece of theatre you are performing; to make it believeable, you have to show that you can connect with the piece, that you enjoy it and understand it. If you're not enjoying what you're doing, the audience will see that so they won't enjoy it either. Voice shows, not only confidence, but which status they are.

So what makes a bad actor?
Bad acting is proof of lack of imagination, practice and passion; Imagination is the thing that brings your piece to life. Without imagination, it will lack the fundamental tool to connect with the audience which will prevent the piece from developing well. Practice is 100% needed to succeed in acting; you will need to dedicate time for it but, if you practice enough, it will be proven successful in your good acting. Finally, passion is needed just as much as the other characteristics; you need  to be passionate, in acting and in, what you're doing for the characters to be brought to life, in the best way as you can. You also need to be aware of the other actors and make sure you listen to the other actors; it will flow better in this way.

In my acting, I think I will need to create an emotional bond between the character and I, for my charater to develop and become more naturalistic. I am happy to give up my time for rehearsals so I can do the best I can for the play. I believe that I can improve by doing both of these things and by showing my passion for acting in my work.

In order to connect with my character, I believe that I will have to find out background information such as, where they live, how they talk, what they're apperence is and family life. I believe that learning more about family life will help me understand where the character has come from and how they have been brought up so I will understand why they act as they do and why they have the other characteristics.