A big congratulations to you all for the Transformers work which you showed today - I saw the 1100 and 1500 versions, and could clearly see that each company had continued to work on their products throughout the day...
The Head of Department saw the 1500 and was impressed with the quality of what you showed and the blending of the production and performance elements of each show.
I'm mailing my feedback to Vanessa and Jo Loader, but wanted to post here to big you all up!
Please remember I'll be with you Monday morning at 10, and that you have a Focus group for an hour on Tuesday afternoon at 1400 with the Head of Department.
Well done all!
Lisa :)
Thursday, 19 November 2015
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
FOCUS GROUP WITH THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT!!
Hi all,
If you look at your google calendar you'll see that we have booked a focus group for you with the Head of Department on Tuesday 24th November - it's really important that you're there, to have your voices heard, and to show what's great about your course as well as what you'd like to be improved.
The focus group will take place at 1400 , and we will let you know where nearer the time.
THANKS!
L & V
If you look at your google calendar you'll see that we have booked a focus group for you with the Head of Department on Tuesday 24th November - it's really important that you're there, to have your voices heard, and to show what's great about your course as well as what you'd like to be improved.
The focus group will take place at 1400 , and we will let you know where nearer the time.
THANKS!
L & V
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
The Climate Change Theatre Action project.
Hello Vanessa.
Thank you for making contact about Climate Change Theatre Action at ONCA! Sorry we haven't manged to speak on the phone yet.
There is a collection of short plays (up to about 5 minutes long) available to prospective participants here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/
They are very varied - some are humorous, some poetic, some abstract - and they cover a range of topics - from ice to refugees to biodiversity loss and fairness.
Here is a breakdown of the themes, cast size etc:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/
Have a read and let me know if you are interested in working on any of these. It would be great to have you/ the students look at one or some of the plays with slightly larger casts (3 parts or more) - most participants have made contact as individuals so will probably be looking at the pieces for solo performers.
It's all going to be happening on Sunday December 6th at ONCA in Brighton.
Also, FYI, here is the Climate Change Theatre Action press release with lots more info about the project: http://nopassport.org/climate-
Good wishes and thanks again for your interest,
Thank you for making contact about Climate Change Theatre Action at ONCA! Sorry we haven't manged to speak on the phone yet.
There is a collection of short plays (up to about 5 minutes long) available to prospective participants here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/
They are very varied - some are humorous, some poetic, some abstract - and they cover a range of topics - from ice to refugees to biodiversity loss and fairness.
Here is a breakdown of the themes, cast size etc:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/
Have a read and let me know if you are interested in working on any of these. It would be great to have you/ the students look at one or some of the plays with slightly larger casts (3 parts or more) - most participants have made contact as individuals so will probably be looking at the pieces for solo performers.
It's all going to be happening on Sunday December 6th at ONCA in Brighton.
Also, FYI, here is the Climate Change Theatre Action press release with lots more info about the project: http://nopassport.org/climate-
Persephone
Friday, 6 November 2015
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
Film opportunity
From Kate Mapes course leader film
Hi Vanessa & Lisa
Just wandering if you could help – two of my first years need an actress to film next Tuesday –Zach Spencer576466@northbrookcollege.ac.uk and Chloe Sturgess Waters 572368@northbrookcollege.ac.uk are the students
Can you ask anyone who is interested to email them please?
Thanks for your help
Kate
Kate Mapes
Course Leader FdA Moving Image (Creative Media)
01903 273274/k.mapes@nbcol.ac.uk
Friday, 30 October 2015
Next week
Hello all, i hope you are having a lovely break.
Please respond to me about the December date, i cannot discuss it until i confirm your availability.
Monday we are starting the new collaboration project with Production and the lovely Cheryl Jones who will also be working with you. Please be at studio 11 ready for 10am. Very exciting!
Please respond to me about the December date, i cannot discuss it until i confirm your availability.
Monday we are starting the new collaboration project with Production and the lovely Cheryl Jones who will also be working with you. Please be at studio 11 ready for 10am. Very exciting!
Saturday, 24 October 2015
Friday, 23 October 2015
written analysis of acting for camera
Hello all, a reminder that deadline for the 1000 word written work for Acting for camera is today at 4pm
Please adhere to the deadline as late submissions are capped at 40%
Thanks
Vanessa
Please adhere to the deadline as late submissions are capped at 40%
Thanks
Vanessa
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
New Commission
Hello all, a possible new commission project/collaboration. But you would need to be available for Brighton performance in the evening of Sunday December 6th.
Before i start talking to the organizers, i need to confirm your availability. Please comment here or email me asap about that date so that i can respond to it and let you know.
thanks
vanessa
Before i start talking to the organizers, i need to confirm your availability. Please comment here or email me asap about that date so that i can respond to it and let you know.
thanks
vanessa
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
Film evaluation
Please remember the 1000 word film writing is not the same as the self and peer evaluation. Those count as part of your practice and need to be emailed to me asap.
Deadline for written work this Friday by 4pm
Deadline for written work this Friday by 4pm
this is what it says in the brief:
comment and reflect on film acting focusing on particular actors, formats, genres and characterisation approaches. Secondary research and reading should inform these evaluations and be properly referenced. 1000 words
so it's a more theoretical understanding of film acting as a discipline. you might focus on effectiveness and theory of film acting techniques, or as applied by specific film actors.
or what particular skills and approaches needed for camera/film/ or tv acting.
you might have a particular question in mind to do with film acting and using research to help answer it. So it's discussing film acting techniques and ideas rather than your practice only. Needs to be researched and fully referenced within writing and bibliography. I have put some sources on the community page to help you.
thanks
notes on strengths
Zak input:
The little prince lovely story didn’t want to detriment it. Workshop on childrens theatre and ran from there.
The little prince lovely story didn’t want to detriment it. Workshop on childrens theatre and ran from there.
Sam:
Character acting, text based, vocal, comedy/sketches,
devising from themes.
Chris:
Multimedia, Sketches, Ideas but not follow up, tech skills,
creepiness/serial killer like, darker characters/villains, introverted,
intelligent, cold.
John:
Physical theatre, Sign language, silent films, slapstick,
funny laugh, swearing.
Harry:
Comedy, Robin Williams impersonation, Text based, Method acting,
People person, Good drag queen, character based, accents.
Goncalo:
Music (guitar, piano), Physical theatre, Multilingual, raw
emotion.
James:
Physical theatre, characterisation, Rough and tumble,
Coreography, devising.
Dan:
Physical theatre, naturalistic, slapstick.
Greg:
Text, Devising,
L.S. Lowry paintings as possible stimuli.
Possible fringe stimulus
These are some things that we thought we might be able to base our ideas on, feel free to add anything else to this post.
Greg:
A story about someone who was once somebody incredible,
someone who had a massive amount of rumours about who he was and the deeds he
had done. They faked their own death and opened a tavern in a tiny town in the
middle of nowhere but were eventually found by a man named the chronicler who
writes down true accounts of the stories of anyone with a legendary status so
that rumours aren’t the only knowledge about them. The chronicler blackmails
this man into telling his story by saying he’ll reveal who they are if they
don’t and so the man tells his story starting from the beginning when he was
just a child and encompassing all the things that happened to him through his
life.
Chris:
From page 73/74:
He was acting tough, but it was still just acting – typical
fifteen-year-old macho posturing. I was so mad I could have killed him right
there, but I forced myself to calm down. I was better than this – and I was
better than him. He wanted to act scary? I’d give him scary.
‘I’m smiling because I’m thinking about what your insides
look like.’
‘What?’ asked Rob, and then smirked. ‘ Oh, big man, trying
to threaten me. You think you scare me, you little baby?’
‘I’ve been clinically diagnosed with sociopathy,’ I said.
‘Do you know what that means?’
‘It means you’re a freak,’ he said.
‘It means you’re about as important to me as a cardboard
box,’ I said. ‘You’re just a thing – a piece of garbage that no one’s thrown
away yet. Is that what you want me to say?’
‘Shut up,’ said Rob. He was still acting tough, but I could
see his bluster was starting to fail. He didn’t know what to say.
‘The thing about boxes,’ I said, ‘Is that you can open them
up. Even though they’re completely boring on the outside, there might be
something interesting inside. So while you’re saying all of these stupid,
boring things I’m imagining what it would be like to cut you open and see what
you’ve got in there.’
I paused, staring at him, and he stared back. He was scared.
I let him hang onto that fear for a moment longer, then spoke again.
‘The thing is, Rob, I don’t want to cut you open. That’s not
who I want to be. So I made a rule for myself: anytime I want to cut someone
open I say something nice to them instead. That is why I say, Rob Anders of 232
Carnation Street, that you are a great guy.’
Rob’s mouth hung open like he
was about to talk, than he closed it and backed away.
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
The love song of J.
Alfred Prufrock.
T.S Elliot
Misprinted: Bright disease.
Goncalo:
Harry:
When the broken hearted people
living in the world of greed, there will be an answer. Let it be.
Imagine all the people, living
life in peace.
I am what I am.
Sam:
Fringe ideas -
The idiot- Dostoevsky - about a completely beautiful human
being, beautiful in his pureness and kindness. And he is looked on by other as
an idiot an holy fool. He has no malice or manipulative intentions so he often
takes things at face value and gets mocked for it. Two women scorn him and mock
him but it turns out that they love him and he I stuck between his wanting to
save one from a psychopathic suitor and his feelings for another young girl who
scorns him in public. The book deals with the themes of religion, love, pious
was and most importantly the eradication of the conscience in a capitalist
world. And how all death is like execution because of this.
Karamazov- brothers - it is a very dramatic book. With very
clear characters. It centres around three brothers. One who is holy, good and
almost very ordinary. The other who is atheist, intellectual and sometimes cold
and scornful. And the other is big, strong, brash, angry and a drunk. One of
them is said to have killed their father. And it deals with the drama behind
this. It combines family difficulties and arguments, with inheritance rights,
religion. The justice system an court rooms and the theatrical influence it has
on peoples loves and love.
Master and margarita- about a visit from the devil to an
atheistic Soviet Union- farcical and philosophical
High rise - JG BALLARD. Within the concealing walls of an
elegant forty storey apartment tower block, the affluent tennants are hell bent
on an orgy of destruction. Cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks
on enemy flora and once luxurious space becomes a battleground for riot and
technological mayhem. It's a tale of urban disillusionment and how a society
slips into a violent reverse as the isolated inhabitants of the block, driven
by primal urges, create a dystopian world rules by the laws of the jungle.
Dan:
LS Lowry – Freaks, Focusing on the defects of the people within
the images, personality traits wec can get from this? Can we use the
personality or physical defects in each character and basing a stimulus around
how different personality disorders or physical defects can change people or
show how people with these disorders live?
Rolling Stones: Exile on main st.
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0000/035/MI0000035025.jpg?partner=allrovi.com
Monday, 19 October 2015
Festival
Hello all, looking forward to catching up on festival ideas after half term. I hope some of you, all of you even, going to the launch tonight.
some ideas that i wanted to pitch to you:
Adaptation, current of Don Quixote. that was one of my favorite but i have seen that it's been only very recently done at the dome.
Adaptation, or adapting the impossibility of adapting Ulysses by James Joyce.
A play about the word thief. The word thief steals words and how is the world affected when words begin disappearing. I think this is my original idea but i might have subconsciously stolen it, so i better check.
A play of silence and noise. Being Jonathan. What is it like to be deaf? Imagine different worlds of silence and sound and sign language and media.........
Thursday, 15 October 2015
Filmed monologue notes
Greg:
Wavering focus make it a more definite choice.
Other people thought that my focus didn’t wander and that I
was dead set on who I was talking too.
Try to reign in Greg hands as can be distracting from what I
need to say, try to make them more characterised.
On the other hand some people thought that my hands suited
the character especially with when I decided to use them.
The character suits him quite well but possibly too much.
Probably a better idea to pick a character that fits me than characters who doesn’t.
Chris certified.
James:
Can see thought process of next line due to nerves.
Dropped energy when looking at the script.
Eyes big on screen but makes it easier to see when he’s
forgotten lines.
Move around less try to keep still and have more defined
movements.
Did well on sightlines for when he was in a big group.
Choose a character who fits him more although the status of
the character fits the way James portrays it.
Paige:
Really good at showing cold corporate bitchyness but needs
to show little bits of emotion come through now and again.
Sightlines were perfect.
Diction was delivered to the camera very well.
Never lost energy in either piece.
Can sustain an accent very well.
Georgia:
Very good gestures but got in the way of her face.
Good choice as it suited her emotionally.
Eyelines sometimes dropped but probably would have been
improved if the lines were known properly.
Couldn’t see enough of your face.
Due to positioning the audience were disconnected, putting a
wall up between her and the audience.
The way she was sitting worked well with her character.
Chris certified.
Harry:
Stop being Robin Williams start being Harry as you’ve mapped
his performance so well that it’s just an imitation.
Character did not suit you.
Need to see more of your face, dodgy eyelines.
It’s very clear that you were talking to a character and
when you let the energy drop.
Don’t think too much about where you’re focussing.
Thinking about lines was noticeable especially when showing
emotion.
You had problems with grinning during emotional scenes.
Character didn’t suit you as he was too old and had been
through too much for you.
Needs to work on cutting out impressions from your accent
Chris:
The way that you were speaking sounded quite catlike as if
every word was done with a purr.
His voice was too creepy and it kept along the same line for
the whole time.
Some of the stuff that he did was a bit too much like stage
acting, which made it quite melodramatic.
The characterisation was very interesting and suited the
character perfectly but at some points the pace of the speech needed to be
fastened.
Really drawn in by his acting made him serial killer like.
The character suited him.
G:
The slow pace and quiet voice worked really well with the
characterisation.
The characterisation worked really well and the way he
talked made him very seductive.
Greg certified.
Possibly sped up the pace a little bit.
Would work very well as a sweet innocent character.
When audible performance was believable, the camera loves
you, you love the camera, needs to keep up the consistency of performance take
after take.
Sam:
The tone of voice was engrossing to listen too as you never
knew if he was going to explode at any moment.
Need to combine speech with the use of sightlines.
Work on when and where to use the intensity of your eyes as
it dehumanises the character.
Spot on with the eye blinking technique used in close ups.
Follows same tonal patterns with his sentences and needs to
pull away from it.
Jonathon:
Best performance of this monologue that we’ve seen so far,
The angle of the camera suited your monologue exactly and your eyes didn’t
wander.
At one point your eyes looked from the camera to Paula.
Very beautiful.
Chris certified.
BSL as a performance on camera is very interesting to watch
but it must be truthful when you’re looking at something we can’t see so that
we can actually see what you’re trying to show.
Paula has a wonderful voice for voice overs.
Everyone needs to look into castabilty, age range and
working text.
Think about what kind of media that we might like to use in
future shows as we are ordering tech soon.
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Fringe Ideas!
Fringe Ideas!
Paige:
She showed us a youtube video of the poem "look up" about technology. We should put our phones down and appreciate the people around us. How smartphones, tablets etc are creating a dis-engaged, unsocial, co-existing bunch of humans without community. at the end of the video i guy misses the opportunity to meet the woman of his dreams because he used his google maps...if he had asked her for directions things would have been different. After we discussed this we said we could show also the counter ideas of how well online dating works and how technology has enhanced life for us too.
Chris, Harry and James:
Invisible theatre filmed as CCTV footage shown in a performance. Crime theme. Audience are like the jury and watch us being interviewed. Audience participation cross examining and voting on who they think is guilty.
Gregg, Jon and G:
Battle Royale/Hungergames; play based on those films/stories. students on an island, involving the audience like a murder mystery or 'choose your own adventure' so there are two endings to the play and the audience decide.
plays based on the books:
misprinted bright disease, which is about a detective who knows he is a fictional character.
Gone, everyone over 15 years of age goes missing and they have to rebuild society and a way of living.
The name of the wind, a man retires and convinces everyone he was dead.
Sam/Yvette:
Famous outlaw criminals through history. A narrator telling the legends and then you see the 'man the behind the mask' how they really were as people. Using collab with music to create an atmosphere for example billy the kid with a western style guitar etc.
A play based on real and fictional characters on death row, using interviews and documentary to create the back stories and crimes committed. performed in the round (square) like a prison cell. flashing from past to present, with scenes of memories, monologues, the crimes being committed, family life, court room drama etc. music collab for atmosphere. multimedia images projected and an opportunity for physical theatre. at the end audience decide which character really deserves the death penalty...no one? one them? all of them? final scene if someone is chosen; spotlight on the chair lethal injection?
Paige:
She showed us a youtube video of the poem "look up" about technology. We should put our phones down and appreciate the people around us. How smartphones, tablets etc are creating a dis-engaged, unsocial, co-existing bunch of humans without community. at the end of the video i guy misses the opportunity to meet the woman of his dreams because he used his google maps...if he had asked her for directions things would have been different. After we discussed this we said we could show also the counter ideas of how well online dating works and how technology has enhanced life for us too.
Chris, Harry and James:
Invisible theatre filmed as CCTV footage shown in a performance. Crime theme. Audience are like the jury and watch us being interviewed. Audience participation cross examining and voting on who they think is guilty.
Gregg, Jon and G:
Battle Royale/Hungergames; play based on those films/stories. students on an island, involving the audience like a murder mystery or 'choose your own adventure' so there are two endings to the play and the audience decide.
plays based on the books:
misprinted bright disease, which is about a detective who knows he is a fictional character.
Gone, everyone over 15 years of age goes missing and they have to rebuild society and a way of living.
The name of the wind, a man retires and convinces everyone he was dead.
Sam/Yvette:
Famous outlaw criminals through history. A narrator telling the legends and then you see the 'man the behind the mask' how they really were as people. Using collab with music to create an atmosphere for example billy the kid with a western style guitar etc.
A play based on real and fictional characters on death row, using interviews and documentary to create the back stories and crimes committed. performed in the round (square) like a prison cell. flashing from past to present, with scenes of memories, monologues, the crimes being committed, family life, court room drama etc. music collab for atmosphere. multimedia images projected and an opportunity for physical theatre. at the end audience decide which character really deserves the death penalty...no one? one them? all of them? final scene if someone is chosen; spotlight on the chair lethal injection?
Tuesday, 29 September 2015
STUDENT REPS AND DEPARTMENTAL COURSE BOARD - IMPORTANT!
Hello All,
You may know from levels 4 & 6 that we are asking for small committees of course reps this year in place of just one representative.
The level 6 group have 6 reps, one from each discipline. We are hoping for three from each FdA level, and the first years have already elected their reps.
Training from the student Union will be offered, explaining the role and the benefits associated with it, this is likely to be on the 24th November. Dan Simmonds from the NUS will be in touch once I have given him the names of the reps you choose for your group.
Before then, we need the following from you please:
1) Elect three course reps, and let me know via e mail who they are.
2) send as many of your newly elected reps to the first Departmental Course Board meeting tomorrow at 3.30 p.m - 5 p.m in the theatre bar.
( I will send out an agenda to your reps once i know who they are).
Thanks a lot,
Lisa & Vanessa
You may know from levels 4 & 6 that we are asking for small committees of course reps this year in place of just one representative.
The level 6 group have 6 reps, one from each discipline. We are hoping for three from each FdA level, and the first years have already elected their reps.
Training from the student Union will be offered, explaining the role and the benefits associated with it, this is likely to be on the 24th November. Dan Simmonds from the NUS will be in touch once I have given him the names of the reps you choose for your group.
Before then, we need the following from you please:
1) Elect three course reps, and let me know via e mail who they are.
2) send as many of your newly elected reps to the first Departmental Course Board meeting tomorrow at 3.30 p.m - 5 p.m in the theatre bar.
( I will send out an agenda to your reps once i know who they are).
Thanks a lot,
Lisa & Vanessa
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