Still Image and Thoughts Aloud Essay Example For Students

Still Image and Thoughts Aloud Essay To explore the play further and to show our understanding we had to develop a still-image and thoughts aloud, taken from a key moment in the play. I decided to pick a moment which isnt so much physical-theatre, because then our facial expressions and body language would have to very well thought-out to show the characters to the audience. For the still-image to work effectively we firstly decided to put each character into the frame, separately whilst the rest of the group directed their position and expression. After putting everyone in position, we acted out the small scene before the freeze, so that we could understand what was happening in the frame. The moment we decided to show was the beginning of the story telling, when Polly, Natasha and Carol are trying to get the boys interested in the story and take their minds off Jake. This part of the play is significant to the play, because it shows the audience the social status and relationships between the characters before there is any major change. Also our frame is just after a part which I felt was important; Shane had just overruled Russells idea to dangle Jake over the edge, and instead had asked to hear the story. This shows the audience that although Russell has the strong faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade, Shane has the final say. It also shows that Shane cares more than Russell and doesnt want to hurt Jake. I was Russell, so I had to show a still arrogant, but defeatist attitude because I have just been overruled in front of a group of a group of girls I was previously showing off too. At the time I am dangling Jake with one arm and looking back and trying to persuade Shane to change his mind. I did this by having a disappointed yet surprised facial expression, with wide eyes a slightly open, but down turning mouth. I showed defeat by slightly hunching over and looking to the floor. I was slightly more uncomfortable because I had just been humiliated, so I used my body language and turned my torso from full view of the group, yet at the same time Russell wouldnt have shown his discomfort to the group and he would have maintained quite high status so we used levels to show the status and Russell was centre stage on a table, dangling Jake over it, which showed that Russell had major influence and status over the other characters. We thought it best not to rehearse the thought aloud, because that is critical of the major idea, to look further into the character. When I had to improvise my thoughts aloud I decided to just focus on what is happening on stage, why, and how my character would feel. Russell had just been overruled by someone he has respect for and his fun has been spoiled, but because he is so arrogant and full of self-importance he wouldnt want the group to know that it bothers him. So I said Whatever, but its gonna take more than some crappy story to save his ass? The thoughts aloud and still-image conveyed the relationship issue within the play, to the audience. The particular part we chose showed the variety in status and the attitude that the characters have towards each other. All of these strategies were useful in helping us develop our understanding further and come up with material and techniques that we could use in our performance. Some were more effective than others and I personally felt that the hot-seating was the most useful because not only did it make the person in the seat think more and look deeper into the play, it made the questioners think about what they didnt quite know or understand and ask the question to find a possible solution. It also developed my improvisational skills, because I had to come up with an answer in character, with no real preparation time. A Clockwork Orange: Moral freedom is one of the most if not the most important of any freedoms available to humans EssayWe worked together experimenting with voice, movement, tone and expression until we were happy with the outcome. We firstly tried the use of broad east-end accent however the stamina and ability to keep it up fluctuated so we didnt use a particular accent. We spent time discussing and experimenting saying the same things, however with a different tone of voice and movement to show our characters personalities. This made us stop and think about how to express our characters. My line, And whats that? There look in the lake, dolphins splashing and playing together! Oh yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! was really annoying me because I couldnt say it effectively and it sounded either flat or over exaggerated. I tried shouting it but it sounded manic, and then I got the idea to actually go with it and really camp it up, after all I was telling a story and at that point my character was playing a character, so I made it sound deliberate and it worked. I also struggled to make, Look! Im going to wear it in my hair, sound effective because it sounded childish and out of context however I said it. So I decided to play around with the words and changed it to Wow! It looks so good in my hair, that way it worked well in context to the play, however I felt more confident saying it. It was important to use rehearsal time efficiently and plan things out, so that we could polish our performance and also develop our initial ideas. To improve our performance and connection to the characters we looked at some of Stanislavskis points on method acting and used them in a lesson to stay in role and think as we perceived our character would. I understood that reacting is a very important part of acting, so to incorporate reacting into my performance I reacted as if it was the first time that I had heard any of the lines, and to make this convincing, when an immediate reaction was needed I would start my line as the person before me was saying their last word. However this idea wasnt relevant to every line because sometimes a hesitant reaction was required. Although Sparkleshark is a contemporary piece, it was still written twelve years ago, so we decided to make it more relevant to today by using modern costume. Basically we decided that Russell and his gang should be dressed in tracksuit bottoms and Rockport shoes, to compare them to Chavs. They wore well regognised labels and styles that are associllers wife, we showed this by dressing her in orange make-up, designer makes etc. In the play Carol tries to be like Natasha, we dressed her in a similar short skirt to Natasha, however made her look less-presentable by making her slightly gothic. Polly and Jakes costumes deliberately contrasted those of the other group members. They were dressed in the average uniform; however Jakes geek-like personality is shown, with heavy rimmed glasses and perfect uniform. I was wearing; a white cotton open-neck blouse; black, polyester school jumper with embossed school logo; tailored black trousers; flat, black, leather sandals and I was carrying a plain, black satchel. My costume showed the audience that I was presentable however I wasnt rebellious. The costumes helped the audience to identify the characters and also made the play more relevant to now.