Tuesday 16th December 2014- pre show rehearsal day

Today, the final day before the performance dates, we had a long day of rehearsing outside.

We started off the day by completing designated jobs that we were given to do in the getting ready for performance process by Grainne. My job was to complete the final draft of the programme with Bryleah. We had to copy and paste the cats photographs in to the correct page, write a synopsis for our version of the musical and create a page of special thank yous we felt that needed to be given in the programme as these people had contributed hugely towards the making of our musical. As part of the publicity and marketing team, this was my main focus through out the advertising process of in to the woods as the programme to any show is essential so that the audience are aware of what's going on and are not left in the dark about any aspects. This was our final product. 

 

After we had all completed our tasks, we were ready to rehearse outside for a whole day to perfect our musical. 

Our cast goal today was to ensure we had fully rehearsed every scene and that the musical ran seemlessly from out focus through to another. It took us hours of rehearsing today to feel comfortable with the performance. We had to thoroughly repeat certain scenes to ensure they were going to legistically work out in the performance space we had available to us. For example, we had to go over the whole witches transformation scene many times to make sure that the feeding go the food to the animals was going to work and the year 13s had enough room to edge on to the stage discreetly to cover the witch up whilst she was getting changed, using efforts originating in a physical theatre style.

My personal main focus for today was to perfect my solo, Giants in the sky. I felt that by the end of the day, I had achieved the standard of performing this song deserves. I did this by practising the song in the actually area i will be performing in tomorrow and Thursday. To get a feel for the surroundings and tech system really helped me develop my confidence with it. 

I think we, as a cast confirmed today that all of our final efforts over the past couple of weeks to pull the performance together have definetly payed off. Everyone worked as a team today, helping each other out with everything from last minute recapping of lines to painting set. 

Monday 15th December 2014- start of show week

Today in our weekly lesson with Lena, we used this time to get in final rehearsal in before show week!

In this lesson we focused mainly on running the whole performance through with out stopping with Katie and getting our feedback about what we need to improve and work on afterwards. This process that we have been doing every week with Katie has personally really helped me to develop confidence in the performance as I feel comforted when coming up to a performance, by running it through as many times as possible with out stopping. I think I benefit from this as I like to repeatedly go through my entrances and exits exactly as it will be on the actual performances. 

After college, we did a full run through of the show in costume! We really needed this so we could feel reasured as to the order of which the scenes were running and where we needed to be as the woodland space is extremely dark at night.

In an effort to prepare the area for performing, in this after college rehearsal, we had to focus on building the seating up for the performance and getting all of the tech things in place for the performance. Everyone worked together to make this process quick, as it took us under an hour to set the seating area up which we had done before in the past in over an hour.

The main focus of this rehearsal was to see what the performance was looking like in the dark, and the answer is really good! Looking at the performance in the dark now with the lights, I think if everyone really projects their vocals whilst singing and delivering lines their lines in the same way, then the performances will look really professional and well structured.

Btec dance performance- end of term self evaluation

Firstly I took in to consideration how well I thought I had been doing in each of these physical and interpretive skill areas following by deciding where I believe I am on the scale at the top of the sheet.

I felt my strongest physical skill whilst performing my solo, Giants in the sky, was my use of extension. I felt is showed through to the audience especially whilst I was lifted in to the air, I used my arm and gestures to clearly indicate to the audience what the song meant to my character jack and how at the age of 12, how excited he was. Here, extension was my strongest aspect and I felt this linked in well with my high level of vocal projection.
 

I felt an interpretive weakness of mine was that at points in the song I forgot to make prominent facial expressions and this I need to work on to maintain this through out a performance. I believe this was because being lifted in the air, distracted me from my expressions as I was paying more attention to balancing on John and Magic's shoulders. To preventing this from happening, it would have been a good idea to rehearse the lift a few more times in the outside performance space to ensure I felt fully comfortable with this. I believe this would have taken the edge off of the piece and enabled me to focus more on my facial expressions and developing these to improve my characterisation of Jack.

I plan to think about my target improvements over the Christmas break and develop on these during our next dance unit in the new year, which will be a medley of Grease songs, with movement phrases. I will know if i have achieved these targets by watching back the Grease performance, on video and carefully watch out for corrections where appropriate.

Another strength of my performance was the way I used the dance techniques, extension and focus in the Witch's song, stay with me. This dance included a large amount of cannon movements which required each dancer to perfect the move to give the overall effect, our precise and definite movement to the audience. I feel I used good extension in my arms to emphasis the meaning nehidn the dance, long arm gestures represented how much the Witch wanted Rapunzel to be her little girl forever and stay with her. My focus was always on my hands as I believe when dancing, if you chose one place to focus on and when appropriote, spot, gives an overall better look to ones' dance performance.

Finally, my target to improve on for out next dance project after the Christmas Holidays is to work on my balance techniques. I feel when holding freezeframes, particularly an arabeaque position, my balance here can come off point. To imrpove this, I will use some balance exercises before I dance, such as holding one leg in the air and elavting this (which also improves flexibility). I will then find my balance and repeat this as the more you repeat a move, the better you willl become at it. By the next time I complete an evaluation of rdance, I hope balance is something I have developed and improved on. To ensure this happens, I plan to focus on my balance in dance lessons outside of college aswell as doing balance related warm ups before I dance.

Friday 12th December

Today, myself and Kat worked on the choreography of my solo, Giants in the Sky with the year 13s for my chorus dancers. Having the year 13s here works really well as they give the stage more movement and levels for the audiences enjoyment. 

At one point in the song, the lyrics I sing are 'A big tall terrible giant at the door' I am going to be lifted up onto John and magic's shoulders, supported by the others aswell. This gives the idea that I, as my character Jack, am climbing the beanstalk where he finds wealth. After, I am lowered down where I 'scramble down to the world below' with my new found wealth. 

The year 13s have really helped me being this song to life by performing movements that resemble a beanstalk in the background. 

Also today we staged the finale song with the year 13s involved. This is now looking better with more of a packed stage and volume. However I think we need to still work on putting more energy into this scene as it is the finale and needs to be action packed. 

Tuesday 9th December- ITTW

Today in musical theatre we went through the props list to see if we had arranged all of the props needed for the musical. At this stage, it is now only a matter of both buying a couple of bits and bobs from the shops and asking people to bring in some things from home. Collectively as a class, we have all the props available to us that we need for ITTW to be a success. 

For the main part of the lesson, we went outside in to our woodland performance area and ran through scene two. In this lesson, I believe, as we spent over an hour and a half working in it slowly, that we have now perfected it. We have now broken down this scene I much they every little aspect we have worked on is now coming together as a brilliant piece of theatre. We mainly worked on timing to achieve this in this lesson.

Overall, a productive and efficient use of rehearsal time.

Thursday 11th December- ITTW

Today in our lesson, we ran through scenes 3 and 4, following on from our last lesson on Tuesday. Today we ran through these scenes and tidied up certain pieces in need if work. At this stage, this is all we can do as it takes a long time to go through the scene to perfect it however it is something that needs doing to each scene. We are however, getting through the process well. 

The scene we rehearsed in detail today was scene four, especially towards the end when milky white comes back to life and the potion is made to make the Baker's baby. This scene needed work because there is a lot going on and a large amount of lines to be spoken in a short space of time. A few of the lines are also intended to be spoken over the top of each other which again is a difficult element to make work when it is a high energy scene, and also contains vital information that the audience must understand. 

Tuesday 9th December- ITTW

Today in musical theatre we went through the props list to see if we had arranged all of the props needed for the musical. At this stage, it is now only a matter of both buying a couple of bits and bobs from the shops and asking people to bring in some things from home. Collectively as a class, we have all the props available to us that we need for ITTW to be a success. 

For the main part of the lesson, we went outside in to our woodland performance area and ran through scene two. In this lesson, I believe, as we spent over an hour and a half working in it slowly, that we have now perfected it. We have now broken down this scene I much they every little aspect we have worked on is now coming together as a brilliant piece of theatre. We mainly worked on timing to achieve this in this lesson.

Overall, a productive and efficient use of rehearsal time.

Monday 8th December- ITTW

Today, Katie lead our lesson and we ran through the whole of In To The Woods. This is the second time that we have done this, ran the whole musical with minimal pauses, and everyone I have spoken to feels that this is the most beneficial way of rehearsing at this stage. We think this due to the fact we are all aware if what we need to improve on in terms of perfecting the performance and running through with out stopping is the best way to improve these elements, through repetition.

The opening of scene of act 1 is a song, sung by myself, Jack, Cinderella, The Baker, his wife and the two narrators. I fell as though this song has not been treated as a song and until today, we have never actually rehearsed this song as a song, only as another scene. Today, Katie listened to what myself, Livvi, Luke and Bryleah were saying, which was that we have not yet been taught how to sing this. She listened and took this on board and we went through it a good ten times as it is a tough song to sing as it is at a fast pace and skips between characters regularly. 

After a lot of hard work, we managed to perfect the song's timing and even when we want back to the song half an hour later, we remembered it and did it justice for the first time. 

I feel today was beneficial because we got the grips with the opening which is the first taste the audience will have of us, therefore needs to be musical like, over exaggerated and effective which I believe we have now made it. 

Friday 5th December/ singing and dancing

Today was our lesson when we are taught singing by Kim and dance by Kat. Recently we have been combining the two lessons together to work on our musical skills of singing, dancing and acting at the same time. 

Today in the lesson, we did two full run throughs of the music and dance side of the musical, everything included in the backing track. We did this once with the backing vocals and once with out. Again, the second time went better because the first time, despite the fact we had the support of the backing singingers, everyone knew what they were doing and which parts of the scenes needed extra work or effort. 

For me, I think the second time I sang giants in the sky, my solo, actually felt like the best I'd ever sung it in front of my class. It was the first time I had managed to project my head voice notes loud enough to the audience and I used diction to pronounciate the words properly, making telling the story of the song easier for me. I also used a change in articulation through out the song therefore I sung it how it is meant to be. Overall, very happy with this now. 

One thing I need to work on is my small solo song, saying goodbye to Milky-White. The first time I sung it, went better than the second because I had the backing vocals to support me through the timing, which was what let me down the second time. This is something I will go through in my spare time, listening to the backing track wth out vocals so I can get used to and familiar with the timing of the song. 

All in all, the musical side is shaping up well to In To The Woods. One of my favourite musical numbers is the witches rap. The way Izzy is projecting her voice and making full use of her characterisation skills really pays off, especially when watching her with her backing dancers from year 13, this song is looking really good at the moment. Another of my favourite pieces is The Baker and his wife's It Takes Two dance. The way Bryleah and Luke use their facial expressions to convey to the audience their feelings for each other and the situation works well with the lyrics if the song. One number I think needs work is the very opening song. It is all staged well and everyone is aware if where they are meant to be and the actions they're doing however most if te cast in stage at that point, are not fully familar with the order in which the song is to be sung. I think we need the have a session in which we rehearse this together in. 

Finally, we went in to the theatre to choreograph the end of scene 1 because the staging has now changed from our original idea. Kat helped set us out in our formation and added a couple more moves in to the dance to mix up the levels for the audiences enjoyment. Now we have sorted this song out, I think we are almost ready to perform! 

Thursday 4th December- ITTW lesson

Today our teach wasn't at college so we had Ashley, a trainee teacher, step in for us. Today we ran through the whole of the musical with the backing track. We started off in the theatre, where our first scene takes place. We ran through the first scene with out stopping, which went ok but we realised it does need to be worker on and improved, especially the opening song where the characters, including Jack, Cinderella, The Baker and his Wife are getting confused on where to sing as it is a complex pattern with no real continuity amung the order in which the lines are to be sung. 

After, we transferred outside to the wood to rung through scenes 2 to 5. This was the first time we had done this as a while cast effort, running through the while musical with the backing track with out stopping. I believe by doing this, we hit a small milestone is achievement as a cast. At this stage, there is obviously going to be certain parts of songs or scenes that need work, which there was; however as a whole, I think everyone pulled their weight and the musical is really starting to come together nicely now. Before this lesson, I was anxious as to whether or not we would be ready to confidently perform in Wednesday and Thursday of te following week however I know have no doubt that we will be ready if we keep up the hard work!

Finally, we we had finished we went back inside and ran through scene 1 again as this was the scene which was worrying us the most. This second time we ran it through, actually went surprisingly well which everyone was happy about. The first time, the cast was slightly confused and unsure as to where to go and what to do once in stage however this changed the second time, with most of the cast fully confident as to all if these things.

I believe that we will be ready to perform In To The Woods on Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th December! 

Tuesday 2nd December- ITTW lesson

Today, we started the lesson inside in the dance studio, discussing and doing some exercises about character building and vocal techniques. 

Firstly we looked at our individual character super objectives which we created at the start if the year. Mine for Jack was: 'To maintain his relationship with Milky-White'. I wrote this as his super objective, meaning goal through out the performance, because Jack starts off the musical as a foolish and naive young boy with people's best interested at heart however ends the musical as a rich and matured lad who has grown up after his experiences durig the play. His super objective indicated that a best friend is a friend for life and no matter how much life changes, the friendship between two people shouldn't majorly alter. 

In the second half of the lesson, we went outside, in to the woods to run through scenes 4 and 5. This was carrying on from our last rehearsal with Grainne. 

I benefited from today because it have me a chance to run through my ques in the outdoor space, which I felt I needed to do.

What everyone got out of today was that we all still need to be sure of the lines to the final song as at the back end of the song, seeing the men and women take turns, we all got a little confused as to when our lines came in and what order to sing them in. To solve this, the whole cast need to go and away and re learn this song and then have a whole cast rehearsal of this song without movement as some point next week.

Monday- Lena's Lesson

Today in our weekly session with Lena, we had a slight change if plan. We were going to work on our variety reports and some of us work on some songs for In To The Woods, however we decided that we would instead, run through In To The Woods chronologically. Everyone in the group felt this was needed as we have not yet run the whole performance from start to finish. 

It really helped that Katie directed this run through as she didn't stop the backing track unless something went really wrong. It was helpful for the whole cast the see where we were at in terms of how much work we all need to put in to make the musical come together and come to life. 

I have got from this run through that I need to revise my entrances and exists and keep practising my solo, Giants in the Sky. 

After, we all say down and spoke about which scenes and songs needed more work and how we were going to improve them in time for the show. Also to finish off, everyone in the cast was asked if they had their costume ready for the decline, which is tomorrow. Ore or less everyone does and will be bringing what they have to the rehearsal tomorrow.

Tuesday 25th November

 Today we were firstly given a drawn plan of our set for the musical. Because we performing inside in the theatre firstly then going outside to our outdoor venue, we have two sets. The first plan is of the inside set and the second, the outside. In these drawings, all of the possible entrances and exists are highlighted clearly and numbered to ensure we all understand where these are because they have changed from our old location if the woods. 

The inside location, which we only use for  the very first scene looks like this on paper: 

This layout for the theatre is more or less straight forward. The circles represent tables where the audience will be sitting round. This way, the performance will be intimate with the audience, helping them to connect to each character and their story. We didn't have to make too many corrections in our scripts for this because we were always going to use this space for the first scene, unlike the outdoor space which has now changed.

The set design for the outdoor woods looks like this: 

This design is more in depth, technical and filled than the indoor set design. In this, we have a total of 9 exits which have changed since our last we changed wood venues therefore, as a class we went through the whole of the script from scene 2 to 5 and worked out, chronologically where everyone had to enter and exit. This way, there was to be no confusion about which entrance or exit was equal to one in our old venue for the woods. I feel that now we have done this, everyone can feel more confident with their scripts and what they're meant to be doing and when. 

My main exit is number 5, which is from the back of the set.

Our other task this lesson was to get into our production role groups and discuss what we have done towards it and what we need to do to move it forward. I am doing publicity and marketing with Holly Hos, Bryleah, Taylor and Amber. Each of us now have assigned job roles;

 -Holly Hos- needs to get hold of a professional camera from another department in the college and will take a head shot of each person in the class and also, a fully costume and characterised picture of each member of the cast for the programme. 

 -Bryleah- has designed a poster for the musical to put up around the college and plans to use original photos she has taken herself to use. We plan to take a picture of trees and branches and photoshop the words 'In To The Woods' in to then in either a red or green colour. This will attract people from around the college, getting then intested so that they come and watch our performance.

 -Taylor and I- we are going to contact some local businesses about gaining sponsorship for our performance. We will offer a page or a half page of our programme for their company to be advertised on, in return for some money to go towards our performance fees.

 -Amber- she is going to focus on the programme and what is written on the pages. For example, gathering character bios and what our teachers have to say about being a part if choreographing and shaping In To The Woods as a whole performance. 

Collectively we are all going to think about how we want the tickets to look and how much we will be charging for them.

We went round asking the cast also, if everyone is okay for their costume and props for the performance. Collectively, we managed to agree on how would get hold of the props if they were particularly difficult or in easy to find. Also, we decided in Thursday everyone will be bringing their costumes in for pictures to be taken potentially and a full run through will happen.

Overall, I think today was a productive lesson and everyone benefited from recording our new entrances and exits and equally, good things came out of having mini production job meetings within our groups. 

Variety Report planning

Report in to the origins of society- Planning

Variety performance is a set of entertaining acts put into a show for the benefit of an audience. These acts can be anything from dance, singing, acting or a specific skill such as juggling, beat boxing or an animal act.

Variety performance dates way back to the 18^th century and prior when the public used variety events as a social gathering at the end of a long week. Now a days, 21st century variety performance is best known for its annual show called The Royal Variety Performance which is shown in London’s Palace Theatre.  This show is one of the world’s most famous and highly respected variety events, which you must be invited to appear in.

Vaudeville is a theatrical form of entertainment, usually performed in a variety related show. American vaudeville was very popular in Canada and The United States from the last 19th century to the early to mid 20th century, 1880s -1930s.
A typical vaudeville act will include a variety of different and individual acts which have no link or intended connection to each other, like a narratively structured piece of theatre.

Black History Month Evaluation

Black history performance final written evaluation.

Jack's solo

Today I worked on my character, Jack's solo called giants in the sky. Below is my annotated script at this stage, after roughly 20 minutes of blocking rehearsing and staging.

Gaints in the sky solo

Today I worked on my solo as Jack with Kim, called Giants in the Sky. This song is about how Jack has found a new exciting world and being a young boy, wants to tell everyone he knows and meets about his discoveries. 

With Kim, we ran through the song and distinguished which parts were to be sung with stacarto and legato.

Articulation, diction and breathe control are all important elements that I need to think about to make this song work both for my voice and for the audiences pleasure. 

Thursday 20th November 2014

Today,we had a short lesson of an hour. We all went outside to rehearse and run through the entrances and exits of scene 3. Today, everyone worked well together to get through this process as it was slightly broing as we had done this before however had to change some parts because we are now in a different location for the woods. 

To improve on today, I think everyone needs to run through their lines individually just to ensure we are fully aware of them. Recently we have been concerntrating on specific scenes that I think some members of the cat, including myself just needed to re familiarise themselves with their lines, entrances and exits.

Something that worked really well today was then stay with me song, sung by the witch the Rapunzel. We ran throughout the staging and dance of this scene in our new woods location and it still had the same effect, working really well to portray a ghostly and mysterious feeling to the audience. The only thing we had to re organise with this song was our exits which had to change slightly due to the new location. After we had made these changes, I wrote them down in my script, that way I will not forget where I am exiting. I am now exiting back through the audience, following Bryleah playing the Baker.

Finally, we went through the death of the cow scene, which we needed to go through the refresh our memories. After doing this, all three of us, the baker, bakers wife and I were totally happy and confident with this scene, the staging of it and how the lines are to be delivered. However we need to go through how the lines are delivered in our own time to ensure we overlap each other properly because this is how the scene is meant to sound, hurried and quick moving. 

All in all, a productive hour of In to the woods rehearsing. 

Tuesday Tech rehearsal- 18th November

Today in musical theatre after college had finished, we had our first tech rehearsal outside in our new location for the woods. The whole cast gathered to go through songs with the outdoor sound system, blocking scenes with lighting in the dark and seeing the logistics of where everyone will be sitting and where our entrances and exits are.

Firstly we had to put the seating area up for the audience. We used wooden stage blocks to do this and layered them in an upward stance, much like the lay out below. 

 

Photo link- https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgreSyl6qqgKFw03qdDtYnQLwz6uhEKoIvjvGkweMwcyefuMZ1qHk1QCtRGVI3KN1_U5zfzQiw5kB9SCaxrpiIf2J5drrwTi9znSuRRQmrz8dSvM06F2eOtyUdKIRd5b86cVaQsiPp8GrPw/s640/blogger-image--1980210465.jpg

Taken from google images

 

 

 

We layered the blocks up so that the back row were the on highest and so forth. When we had done this, which took over 200 pieces if staging, the whole cast got on the audience seating blocks to ensure we could all see from all angles, which we could. 

Next, we all split off in to small groups of roughly three or four and were given a certain job to do. Most of these were DIY based, for example I had to build a tower with Luke, Taylor and Jess. We were given metal raised staging which we, similarly to the audience seating, had to build up so that Rapunzel and the witch are able to climb to the top to act their scenes. 

Later in the rehearsal, when it has got dark, we tested out the new lighting system, which actually looks really professional and well set. 

We ran through the finale piece which we found out everyone needs to be more familiar with the words for. Despite this, the finale is shaping together nicely, what with people putting more effort in to their character now which is bringing it to life.

First impressions of production role

My production role is publicity and marketing. I chose this area to be inclined in because I enjoy publicising performances and shows by gaining sponsorship from companies and getting the word out there about dates times and what we are about.

Myself and Holly worked together this week to create Facebook and Twitter pages for In To The Woods the musical. 

Twitter- @intothewoodsmt

Facebook- https://m.facebook.com/ittwsealighttheatre?ref=bookmark

On both of these social media websites we plan to regularly post about the latest information about our musical and also, to keep in contect with all of the cast. 

Also, This week I have spent some time creating a list of possible companies we will contact, asking for sponsorship in return for advertisement of their company. 

The list of companies we will contact;

-Local Tesco store

-Local Waitrose store 

-The black horse, Binsted 

-Local newsagents 

This is only a brief list if ideas I have put together. Other members of the publicity and marketing team will come up with some others, we will have a meeting next Tuesday to build on and disuss our ideas further, hopefully enabling them to materialise as soon as possible. 

Bryleah has created a draft of a potential poster we could use to advertise the musical around the college. She is going to show us this tomorrow and after we have taken some pictures of our own to avoid copyright laws, we will get these up to raise awareness in the easiest place, the college.

Homework task questions

How is your role effected by the context of the play?
For my character Jack, I have to adject my costume, as do all of the other characters in this musical because we are acting in the woods. This is obviously an outside location and we are perfroming in the winter time, December, therefore it will be cold. I will wrap up in warm attire for these adjectments to be met.

How does the play fit in to the musical theatre genre in general?
In to the woods is a musical due to the whole play being acted and sung to music, whcih is a typical trate of a musical. We have also the junior script, to make the play more appropriote for younger audiences.

What do you need to rehearse more?
I need to rehearse my solo, Giants in the Sky, the staging in our new location and the vocal side, with Kim.

Are you supporting the less confident and less experienced learners?
Yes I am, by contributing ideas into the group when others are stuck on what they should do at certain moments and also, helping people outside the class, to learn thweir lines and memorising their entrances and exits.

Are you develpoing confiednce in your performance skills?
Yes I am considerably. At the begining of this year, I was not fully confident to perform infront of people I didn't know very well however, as this year has gone on, I have developed a strong relationship with my fellow students and am now happy to perform full out in front and with them.

Am I using the correct movements for the musical?
I believe I am making large movements well, which is typical of a musical therefore yes.

Production role.
My production role is publicity and marketing. Our group have discussed in the lessons what we plan to do, which is contact as many local businesses as we can to get as much sponsorship and money for our musical.

How have my ideas shaped to performance?
Personally, I don't think my contributions have been heard or listened to particularly. I have made contributions towards the performance process, especially when we are blocking/staging parts. I feel my ideas are not listened to when forming the performance.

How are my energy levels?
I sometimes feel I am tired during musical rehearsals however, the thought of the show coming together and my fellow cast members really help and support me through the process.

Are you prepared?
I have been preparing by learning my lines and learning my songs however no one has yet rehearsed in their costume.

Are you approaching the performance with the correct attitude?
Yes I believe I am, I am learfning my lines, entrances, exits, songs and the whole play with a positive attitude and I believe it is paying off through the work I am producing. When rehearsing, I put my full concerntration into the rehearsals to ensure I am fully aware of whats going on at all points. This way, it makes learning my lines easier because I am aware of the content and learning my entrances and exits therefore, becomes easier and more managable.

What decisions were made this week?
We made a lot of decisions to do with the technical rehearsal. Such as we are going to stage the production now we are performing outside. Also, we decided how we would put up the seat for the audiences to sit on, the lighting and the volume of sound we needed to achieve a good level for the audience to hear.

Dance- introduction ITTW dance with Kat

Today in our hour dance lesson with Kat, we learnt the full choreography for the introduction to the woods scene which is at the end of scene 1.
In this dance sequence, included are many large movements which is typical of musical dance. This type of movement is usually featured because it needs to be clear to audiences what the characters are feeling through their movements and to ensure the movements are clearly seen by everyone.
We included lots of moves that revolved around marching, because travelling in the woods is an action that is heavily used and relied upon during the course of our performance.
Kat has cleverly choreographed certain sections to fit the lyrics and content of the song.
For example, we have a line that says 'There is something in the glade there' at this point, everyone turns their body and head towards the woods and points in that direction, creating the effect that the woods are real and actually not just in our performance.

ITTW 11/11/14

Today we had a very busy day in rehearsing for In to The Woods. We had our timetables lesson to rehearse and also used time after school, 4pm-7.30pm to rehearse scenes whilst perspective student and parents for 2015 were looking round the college.
In todays lesson, we worked through developing scenes 3 and 4 and bringing out the characterisation that will help engage the audience in our musical when we perform it later in December.
In the lesson, as I am not in scene 4 until the end, I worked with Holly and Jess to learn my lines and develop my understanding of the scene. We had a descussion about the scene and how some of the other characters interact with others and build relationships together.
With my lines in scene 3, Jess really helped me to understand the meaning of them and how my character jack would have been feeling at the time he delivers them. For example, especially the line I have to say "You see. I promised you more than the five gold pieces I gave sire. Now, I'm taking my cow". I now understand, particularly the end sentence a lot better than I did before. I know now that jack is to deliever the last sentence with passion and a sense of relief as he can now claim his cow back.

At the after college rehearsals, we focused more on scene 4. In particular the song 'stay with me' and approximately the final 4 pages of the scene.
For the song stay with me, we have done work on dancing around the Witch and Rapunzel whilst they sing and perform the song. This dance sequence is very ghostly and non naturalistic and sees us perform dance moves of a floaty and flowing nature. This idea of mysterious and flowing moves works weel as a back drop to the song, which is emotional and heart felt. It works because the dance moves melt in to the background, however compliment what is being sung and said.
Secondly, we rehearsed the end of scene 4 which is a dramatic scene to say the least. For this scene each character involved really push themself to achieve the best performance they could out of the scene and situation. We did this by throwing ourselves into the acting, not holding back or being to shy or apprehensive as to what we were about to say or do. I found this method really helped me.

Homework

Assignment Brief

Black history month performance video

Part 1 16/10/2014.  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rg1wRyQX3PU

Part 2 16/10/2014.  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6GIDMvFJX4I

Development of scene 1 and 2

The development of scenes 1 and 2 was more or less straight forward and to the point. As the whole cast had made notes on their scripts directing themselves to be in their places at the correct time, all that was left to do was tidy the acting up and the majority of people had leant their lines for both of these scene, said and sung, making the process much more straight forward for everyone.

In the development of both if these scenes, Grainnenhelped everyone to really draw their characterisation skills out of them, to produce the best acting we could. She did this by encouraging us to think about how our character may be feeling at a certain moment in time and also,referring back to our individual super objectives for our characters.

Grainne also helped us develop these scenes by making us repeat a few lines at a time if it didn't quite look right or wasn't perfect. We figured that if we rehearse every single line in the musical to perfection, then perfect practise makes perfect, concluding hopefully a fantastic musical with high quality acting, singing and dancing. 

I think what helped the cast develop these 2 establishing scenes was that everyone was encouraging towards each other and helped one another through the process. We did this but supporting each other with encourage comments and the use of giving constructive critisism. Also, after a solo or duet performance of singing, we would all congratulate the cast members on a solid attempt at singing ear song. We also had one person in the class on hold to prompt on stage if any character forgot their lines at a certain point, which is more than likely because we have only been learning mr for a month or so. 

Introduction to In to The Woods dance- with Kat

Today, we worked on our introductory dance to the woods, which we perform in the theatre, however by the end we get the audience up off their feet, making their way to the outside performing space.
The dance contains over sized movements to emphasise the meaning of excitement as all of the characters are making their way into the woods to find their fate as it were.

Kay has really helped all of us in the process of learning this dance, by showing and teaching us at a slow and understandable pace, giving us enough time to take in the moves, memorising them for future reference and giving us the opportunity to bring out our characters whilst moving, which can be a difficult task. 

At the end of the dance, the whole of the cast who are on stage at this point which is everyone, not including the wolf and the witch, move forward into the audience, ushering them all up out into the woods. We have worked this with Kat to be jolly and upbeat for the audience to get energy off us, the cast that builds up over time to create a great atmosphere for everyone to feed off of. 

ITTW Blocking scene 5

Scene 5 is the finale of the musical, therefore the ending two songs are the most important and should be the most eye catching for the audience to watch.
In this lesson, we rehearsed these songs and the staging of them. For the finale number, the whole cast stand in a semi circle surrounding Cinderella on a chair.
I will be entering from the back of the trees, walking on with the whole cast.

ITTW Blocking scene 4 with Grainne

Today in our lesson, rehearsing for our musical In to The Woods we were blocking scene 4. This scene in some ways was challenging to block and stage because most of the characters in the musical feature in it.
In this scene, my character Jack, The Baker and his wife, Witch and the mysterious man have a serious and intense scene which sees truths about certain characters come out. Everyone in this part of the scene in particular had to concentrate on their characterisation skills to convey their emotions and feelings at that moment in time.
Myself in particular, had to block a scene with Jack's cow, Milky-White which turned out to be an emotional scene.
the scene between us two is tricky because i only have a limited number of lines to ay however have to convey my feelings through these short lines. I do this also through facial expression, especially on the line 'She's milking' where i use a facial expression to show feelings of being overjoyed and relief.

ITTW 30/10/14

Today in our rehearsals for In to The Woods, following on from our last lesson on Tuesday, we blocked scene 3. In this scene there a few musical numbers we worked closely on, including mine.

My solo, as Jack sees him talking about his experiences up the beanstalk. With Grainne, I talked through the meaning of the song from Jack's perspective, which really helped me to build a better understanding of my character and what he would have been feeling whilst singing the song and being up the beanstalk. It also helped me realise how important this trip up the beanstalk was to Jack now he had something worth something for the first time in his life, gold. Especially tying in with the following scene, a conversation between Jack and the Baker, seeing him trying to buy his beloved cow back. 

In my solo I used my facial expression to inform the audience of my characters feelings at that moment in time. 

I was directed to continue moving around the stage, conveying excitement through my body language, as if I was a 12 year old boy, which definitely worked well because that is something a young boy would be doing.

Finally, for my solo, myself, Holly Hop, Olivia, Henry, Paris and Bryleah worked on a piece of physical theatre, lifting me up on a line of my song which suggested Jack was at the top of the beanstalk. after experimenting with a couple of different techniques of doing so, we managed to lift me, showing levels, by standing on Holly and Henry's knees. Behind me, livvie was holding my legs in place to ensure I didn't fall and Paris and Bryleah were with one hand, holding my arms and with the other, weaving them in and out from behind me, giving the effect of a beanstalk. This worked well as a piece of physical theatre to add to our musical, adding levels, forcing focus on us upon the audience and creating a non naturalistic effect with out it looking un realistic so to speak. 

ITTW lesson 28/10/2014

Today in our lesson rehearsing for our musical, In to the woods, we as a cast blocked the whole of scene two. 

Blocking is a technique which helps both the cast and director to establish where the actors will be coming in stage from, be whilst on stage and where they exit. As a cast, we have found this to majorly help us as it has given is enough time to write notes in our scripts helping us in future rehearsals to remind us of our staging.

In today's lesson particularly, I, particularly worked on characterisation of Jack, whilst acting. I had previously worked on my character however not properly whilst acting with the rest of the cast. I worked with Taylor who is playing Jack's mother, on their relationship and portraying to the audience the feelings Jack's mother has towards him. We did this by rehearsing an argumentative scene between the two of them. We used our voices, projecting them out to the audience to convey anger and rage in both halfs. Also, we used sudden and oversized movements to convey to the audience what was happening in the scene, the fact Jack had not listened to his mother. 

Black History Month Evaluation 20/10/2014

BTEC MUSICAL THEATRE 2014-15

EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

PLANNING

Comment on the following –

the number ofREHEARSALS and how effective your target-setting was	effectiveness	how you would improve for NEXT TIME
your STAGINGincluding movement around stage	effectiveness	how you would improve for NEXT TIME
your LIGHTING	effectiveness	how you would improve for NEXT TIME
your SOUNDincluding your technical use of mics/instruments etc.	effectiveness	how you would improve for NEXT TIME

PERFORMANCE SKILLS

MOVEMENT and VOCAL DELIVERY	effectiveness	how you would improve for NEXT TIME
EXPRESSIVENESS (facial and physical)	effectiveness	how you would improve for NEXT TIME
COMMUNICATION TO THE AUDIENCE and how your performance was received	effectiveness	how you would improve for NEXT TIME
CONSISTENCY OF COMMUNICATION (how well you maintained your chosen persona)	effectiveness	how you would improve for NEXT TIME

Black History Month- Monday final rehearsing and planning, Tuesday tech and Thursday performing!

Monday 13th October 2014

Today in our lesson, is our finally rehearsal for our BHM performance on Wednesday! In the first part if the lesson, we filled in and planned out the final details to our performance on these planning sheets we were given. 

Firstly we had to plan out how our group wanted to be introduced on performance day. We collectively wrote this first paragraph written at the top of the page. We chose this wording to sell our song to the audience by explaining the reasoning behind our choice and promoting the artist. 

This is our simple staging plan. We decided not to go for any elaborate staging simply because we didn't think the song or content was appropriate for it. This straightforward standing formation of standing in a line of three worked perfectly for us. Simply because we were not trying to give the audience a message through movement of the way we were standing, but through our musical choice and the way we told the story of the lyrics.

 

This was our original costume plan, simply to wear typical stage clothes. Consisting of black leggings, t-shirt and shoes. However we decided to change this to our current costume plan, of varied clothing choices between the three of us (below.) We chose this because we thought it would, in a stronger way, represent how everyone is different on the inside and outside, whether it be related to personality, skin colour or background. 

 

This was what we each wore on the final performance.