Class Tuesday

I don't have any real feelings on the class Tuesday since I was unable to see the Crucible in the Theater. I did like talking about McCarthyism towards the end because I did know something about that. It was interesting to see others views and what they thought though.

Class Tuesday

I thought that class Tuesday was pretty nice. I thought that the discussion of The Crucible helped me understand the play a lot better and I also agreed with a lot of what others in the class were saying. I think that it was nice to hear everyone's opinion of the play. I think that having that discussion made me think about my paper and what I had to say about The Crucible as opposed to others in the class. The change in pace was nice but I definitely can't wait to get back to our acting or our making fools out of ourselves. I think that by watching the play it may help us to act better once seeing other who are much better at it than we are.

Tuesday- The Crucible

I have to admit, it was nice to just sit and have a discussion on Tuesday. It really got me to think more about The Crucible and reflect back on what I had written about it. A lot of people brought up some interesting points that I had not initially thought about when watching the show. I think we have all taken something from watching the actors in The Crucible and I'll be interested to see if anything we brought up during the discussion will show up in our acting in the near future. Watching others act is definitely one good way to learn about acting and improve your skills.

So

I suppose I thought the class that we talked about the crucible was pretty good. Seemed like some people were into it and some were not so much. I thought it was pretty interesting to hear Fabio's opinion on the play because I sometimes wonder how people who are experienced in plays think about the ones that they watch and are not involved in.

I liked the change in pace of class on Tuesday. It was nice to just have a laid back conversation with everyone. There were a lot of good topics brought up during our conversation. I would have to say that I agreed with a lot of the things that were said. I liked talking about the play. It made me understand it a little better. But I'm looking forward to the next class. I can't wait to play whiz bang again. I wonder what he has in store for.

Comfortable

I completely agree with Renee. I'm in a modern drama class and we discussed the play in that class too and I didn't really participate too much in that discussion because I don't feel even close to as comfortable in that class as I do in our class. I loved that so many different people voiced their opinions without being pressured too much by the professor, people just volunteered their thoughts. I was surprised to hear all the different comments about the old people in the play because I thought they did very well but I understand where these people are coming from with their arguments because they noticed small things about the portrayal of the characters that I didn't notice.

talking

Tue class was very interesting, I really like hearing everyone's opinion and how everyone else viewed the play. I really feel like the class as a whole is comfortable with everyone now because i felt like everyone was really honest in class tue and did not care what anyone else thought. I know that I was conformable saying what i thought because i did not think that anyone would judge me. I really enjoyed having the descussion in class and i hope to do it again when we see our next play.

To add to what Clair said, I think the same thing is true for musical performances. There is nothing worse than watching some one who is visibly uncomfortable sing or play a song. No matter how great they sound, if they look like they want to either throw-up or run screaming for the door the audience is not going to enjoy the performance. Ironically, someone can not be very good but if they are relaxed and just go with it then people tend not to notice that they are not very good.

The Crucible

The discussion that we had in class on Tuesday was very beneficial to my opinion of the play. I think going into the play having already seen the movie, I was expecting something very similar. Going into the play after having heard the discussion that we had on Tuesday I would have had a bit of a different opinion. Knowing the background of the play and Arther Miller has helped with my understanding of not only the play but the way the characters were portrayed. I think that being able to talk about the things that were good in the play and the things that were not so good also helped my understanding of the concept of the play. I also enjoyed the discussion because many times I form an opinion about things and do not explore why I feel the way I do about them, and I think this discussion helped with that.

fine arts's

Acting is like art, well, it is an art, but I meant like painting or sculpture. Most of the old masters were just great by nature. When Fabio was telling us how when a competent actor would come on stage it gave the audience a feeling of relaxation. The same comes from looking at a good painting by an old master. Some things just seem forced, What makes something good is the natural reaction that a person has rather that the artist forcing you to do something. Some artists are good just because they just are, they are not demanding you see something or wanting to be liked. We talked about an actor trying to be liked, and I saw that as a kind of trying to force a composition. Adding matching forms or color swatches does not make a painting work. Things work just because they do, even though I don't know much about acting, I appreciate the spontaneity of things that just work.

the crucible

 I felt the discussion we had today in class was very helpful in that it enabled us to hear what others thought about the play.  It really helped us to bounce off ideas of what type of acting engages the audience and what hurts actors on stage.  I thought it was nice to hear what others who have seen many plays felt about this play in comparison to professional plays.

The Crucible

I thought that it was very interesting to hear what other people in class had to say about The Crucible after seeing the play here on campus. It seemed like the majority of class did not find the play to be one of the best or anything special, however, as a class we seemed to find a lot of things that the actors and actresses did well. Also, there were many different mixed opinions about the play. Some people thought that the characters did a good job playing their ages, while others thought only certain ones did, and some did not like any of them. It just shows how everyone connects to different characters. Also, people seem to have many different views on what is in the play was believable and what wasn't.

The Crucible

I found our discussion regarding the crucible to be very interesting. I liked hearing everyone's opinions of the play and the actors. I agree with many of Hallie's opinions. I did have trouble staying focused for a lot of the play. I did not enjoy the book too much when I read it in high school, so I was not expecting to really like the play. I do, however, believe I was fortunate enough to see a few great acting performances. I am excited to keep watching the guy who played John Proctor. I would like to see him in other roles. He was such a great actor, I spent much of my time focusing on what he was doing on stage.

the crucible

I thought that the play was very interesting since there were no props involved however i t hought overall that the play was hard to stay attentive. I found myself having a very hard time pay attention to what was going on, i felt that it was slow moving and at times boring. I noticed however that 2 of the actors specifically were brilliant in that i realyl believed that they were who they were acting!

The Crucible

I though that The Crucible was a rather long play. I had never went to a play and there has been an intermission before. The actors were really into there parts and the anger portrayed by most of the actors felt really sincere and real. This play was a bit boring though without any props, that was the only thing that I didn't like about it. All the actors were really loud when they spoke as well and at times I thought that maybe that was a bit much. Overall the play was pretty good but I hope the next one has props.

watching/listening

goin off of ryans , i can listen to a movie and automaticly figure out the kind of character the person talking is. i have a very easy time distinguishing if the character is very good at showing their emotions ,and when they are not good at it.

i was eavesdropping

I was in the lobby of my dorm tonight and I was overhearing a movie in the background, and it was the kind of movie with a lot of dialogue ( I later looked at the screen and figured out it was the movie Garden State with Natalie Portman). At the time, I had no idea who was talking or what was going on, but there was a woman dominating the conversation, and I could tell just by her tone and her style of talking what kind of character she was. I sat and listened for a couple of minutes, and it was pretty funny, but I guess it kind of interested me how expressive the actress was for me without any visual.

The Crucible

I went and saw The Crucible over the weekend and I'm not gonna lie I was getting pretty antsy during it because it was kind of hard for me to stay interested when the scenery never changed adn there were hardly any props. The whole thing was very talky. However, I thought that most of the actors were phenomenal. The lack of props really forced the actors to step it up and I think that most of all Mark Leach as John Proctor was great. I was so impressed with him, and with the fact that he is a freshman, not to mention very quiet offstage. I agree with Renee that I noticed lots of stuff we've talked about in class. Like pouring drinks and drinking things that were probably not really there and like staying in character until you're completely done even when you're only in the background.

Table Exercise

Actually, this was quite fun after you got used to eating fake food and where it was located on the table. My hardest part was dealing with setting the stuff done on the table since it was hard to determine where the height was since I was above it and not on the same level. I think the exercise would have been easier also if we started off already sitting at the table and did not have to walk in. It made it harder to figure out where the bowl of potatoes (Dan Quayle) was for me.

class/play

I though that class on thur was also tough but I also liked the challenge. I never realized how hard it was to make the height of a table to keep it the same as everyone else. I think that eating is also hard because you really have to imagine eating something that is not there. I never really had to imagine something when I acted because we always had props. But it is very hard and I don't think that I would be able to act without props if I ever did it again with out a lot of practic.

I dont know about anyone else but I did not really like the play. I did see many things that we learned in class being done on stage though. I thought that the play was very confusing and hard to follow and I thought that they talked really fast. But overall I guess it was ok but I do not think that I would see it again.

I agree with the posts below me in that class on Thursday was a little tough. There were a few things that we had to think about all at once. First, we had to set a height for the table. This seemed to be the thing that tripped up most people. Not everyone was able to keep the same height of the table. I noticed that I had to go off of the person next to me because it was to hard to look across from me to get the height of the table. The second tough thing we had to do was to pretend we were eating. It's really hard to use utensils and glasses, but it's almost impossible to eat or drink without anything there. The easiest part of the exercise for me was the conversation. Luckily, our topic had to do with sports. So I was really comfortable with being able to carry on a conversation.

Table Exercise

The exercise we did in class Thursday was a quite difficult exercise because there were so many different aspects that you had to focus on. Not only did you have to focus on the height of the table, but you also had to focus on eating and having a conversation. I thought that the conversation would be the most difficult part of the exercise but it was surprisingly easy to keep conversation flowing. What was the most difficult was keeping the table the same height. Mostly, I just tried to focus/imitate where everyone else was placing things. I think most people were trying to do that, which helps a lot when trying to keep your table the same height. Overall, I would say that this was one of the most challenging exercises we have done thus far.

Thursday, October 16

Class Thursday was more challenging than I anticipated. The same height exercise was difficult because we had to concentrate on many more aspects. We were concentrating on eating, maintaining corresponding heights of the table between our group, and conversation. I think the more experience that we gain in this class the easier this will be. We need not to focus on what we are doing because if we are seeing what we are doing it will come natural. That is easier said than done. I think that once we are able to truely see the imaginary objects, we are all going to be much better actors.

Tables, Eating, and Talking

I found that the exercise we did in class on Thursday was a lot harder than i expected. We had many different tasks/ details that we had to pay close attention too. First we had to make the table the same height, which you had to pay attention to everyone in your group, in order to accomplish this and accommodate to what everyone else was doing. Second we had to pay attention to the placement of the food as well as how to 'eat' the food. And third was talking. When we put all these aspects together it all seemed to go down hill for me because i would focus on eating, then get involved in the talking and forget about where i had just put my food down and the height of the table. I feel this exercise was hard for me because it Incorporated everything we have done up to now this semester and i need to now learn how to tie all of this together and make it flow.

Experience to Evaluate

I, just like Paige, also found myself evaluating our teacher as she was acting like she was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She kept saying that this activity would have been better if she would have brought in the actual materials but for us to just imagine that the materials were there. All I could think about was that I wanted to tell her to really see the objects and believe they were there. I could tell that she really did not see the bag of bread and the jars of peanut butter and jelly in front of her. I would have never thought about saying that until taking this class. I never really thought I would apply this class to my education classes, but I guess I was wrong!

Interesting...

I just had to share this...
In my education block this past Thursday, my professor decided to stop teaching and have us do an activity because when discussing she realized that many of us have not done it before. The activity consisted of everyone writing down the specific steps to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After she gave us about 5 minutes or so, she had some people in class share. Instead of simply listening, she demonstrated the steps being read to her by the student(s). Well...here is the part that relates to this class...she did not have the materials with her to actually make the sandwich so she decided to demonstrate with imaginary materials. Rhea sits next to me and as soon as our professor started using imaginary objects we simultaneously turned to each other and were like "oh my gosh...acting for non-majors. ha". I am sure that we would not even thought about it if it were not for this class. However, since we are "experienced" when it comes to dealing with imaginary objects, we found this interesting, funny, and I don't know about Rhea, but I found myself evaluating her skills. ha.

Tables and other objects

I have a hard time interacting with imaginary objects. i know we have done many activities involving imaginary objects, and some of them have been fairly successful, but they take a lot more concentration than anything else. I also feel like they either go really well or they are completely unbelieveable. There doesn't seem to be much in between, so it is hard when you get up knowing that it is either going to really suck or possible be really awesome. I don't feel like we had the same issues with the tube though. Even though we were forming imaginary objects out of it, because we had something real in our hands everything that we made out of it seemed to be real too.

tables tables tables

I think that the activity today was very challenging because it took almost all of what we have done already and put them together. Talking, eating and keeping objects in the same places all at the same time was hard. Its especially hard because in real life its easier to time when there is food in your mouth when you can talk. I noticed that people were talking right after taking a giant bite of food, I found this funny because in real life people might try not to look like a fool by talking with a full mouth. Its just really hard to keep track of everything, that's why I had trouble with it. Also, I have never really thought of the appropriate height of tables until today.

Class

I think that class is definitely a lot more fun now that we are getting more and more comfortable acting like idiots around each other. The getting stuck activity proved to be rather weird. I felt really awkward the whole time I was doing it. I'm not sure why but I didn't really like that particular activity, maybe it was because I had never been caught in a giant spider web before. However I believe that activity made us think but I could definitely see how people were finishing early because it was such and awkward thing to do.

I think it's great that everyone is starting to have more fun in class. The new exercises that we are doing let us use our imaginations a whole lot more. Especially the cardboard tube one. I think people think too hard when they are trying to come up with an idea for it. I just go with the first thing that comes to mind. And I guess that's the whole point of this and the other exercises we do.

getting stuck

I thoguht the activity we did last class was hilarious!!! i loved it! i thought it was really hard to make it not to showy! I think its a really good activity!

class

class is becoming alot more fun!!! i think it is bc cause everyone realizes that its ok to be a dork haha, and the acting we do in class now is also getting better because of that. so i think by the end of class we should all be pretty good and acting.

FUN!!!

I agree with everyone that class has been a lot of fun lately. I believe this is because everyone is starting to get more comfortable now and is starting to really enjoy the class. I also agree that it fun to pick out of the gourd because you never know what your going to get. You don't get time to think about it either you just go with it. I know for me personally its these exercises that have made me become more comfortable rather it be group or only. Even though I feel more comfortable i would still rather do activities in groups.

I second or third or whatever, the notion of class being exciting and full of drama (good kind). It was interesting getting tangled in an imaginary web monkey’s bars; I had fun trying to figure it out. I thought about when I used to live in New York, spending a great deal of my time at the park right across the street from the projects. I did get stuck once on the monkey bars when I nine, my brother had to get me down as I hanged upside down for about fifteen minutes. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next in class, peace.

I agree with Renee, I thought class was a blast on Tuesday. Actually I think it has been a blast for the past couple classes. At first I didn't want to do things in front of the class on my own, I always wanted to be in a group but I actually don't mind being alone in front of everyone anymore. Plus I like watching single people rather than mutiple people every now and then. I also agree that it's fun to pick ideas out of our gourd lol. You never know what you're going to pull out but it's exciting because you never know when you're going to have to be the crocodile hunter or a bull fighter!

Yes, class continues to be fun, kind of like goal-oriented 'whose line'. Speaking of which, this is a little off-topic, but I have always thought that I could pick out theater majors/enthusiasts in convo because of their overblown hand gestures and dynamic conversations. I thought they were letting overacting spill into their daily lives. Lately, I feel challenged in this attribution by the somewhat minimalist nature of this class. I wonder if anyone else feels this way?

WOW

So class was very interesting and fun on tue. I thought I had so many ideas for the cardboard tube but then someone would that them or I decided it would not work. So I did no think that it would be so hard to think of something but it really was. Also I found it very entertaining watching people get entangled in things. Everyone imagines getting entangled in something different and I liked seeing how people imagined themselvs doing something.

I also really like the whole idea of us writing down things and picking them out of bowl. I am always scared of what I am going to get and how hard it is going to be, but I always have fun and I enjoy watching everyone.

Video Taping/Story

Someone mentioned video taping the class in their entry. I think this is a fabulous idea. As an education major and a musician, I know that you can learn a lot from seeing yourself on tape. Watching a tape of yourself helps you realize what you actually look like when you are doing something. You can also realize what aspects of your acting might need more or less. And it would definitely be interesting to tape a few different classes during the semester to see progress.

I am glad that we are now putting some of our activities in the context of a story. This is really helping us to expand our acting skills because it raises the bar a bit higher. Now you actually have to think about several different aspects besides the present. You also have to think about what happened and what will happen.

Imagination

So the little cardboard tube certainly made things even more interesting in the class. I thought it was cool to come up with different ideas of what the tube could be just based on what it looked like. It sort of reminds me of when you are a kid and you look in the sky at the clouds. Only now, you get to actually show the object rather than trying to convince others what it is.

I also thought the little mini story thing was fun because we were able to give the object a little bit of background rather than just showing off the item. I think it would have been more interesting if we had to do the same item with someone else while we both were up there though.

Cardboard Tubes, Entanglement, and Stories About Random Objects

Class Tuesday was very interesting. I like how each activity builds on the previous activity. I feel like everyone in the class is progressing so much. I remember at the beginning of the semester when we had to pick a small object and use it. Now we are adding story lines to our objects. The whole class is also thinking on their feet better. The speed of the class has increased. We are now able to accomplish an activity with little explanation. I wish we could have video taped our first few classes and compared them with our most recent classes. I think everyone would be pleasantly surprised at how well we are doing.

FUN!

I agree that class is becoming more fun as people get more comfortable. I also think that yesterday's class went especially well because the pace was so quick. Activities like the tube and assign-a story-to-your-random-object were fun because they got the point across very quickly. And they were interesting. Because people were more relaxed they were more willing to try new/strange things that were more interesting to watch and more fun to actually do.

Tube Activity

I really enjoyed the tube activity we did in class today! At first, I could only think of sports related things that someone could do with the tube. As we continued to go around in the circle, I thought of more and more things we could do with the tube. I wonder how long we could have kept going with the activity. It goes to show that even though it is just a cardboard tube it can have many uses. I always enjoy seeing what people come up with as ideas. I feel like there are so many creative people in our class!

Thinking Outside of the Box

One really needs to think outside of the box during this class. All of the activities that we did today had us using our imaginations and thinking of the unusual. This class is great because it allows us college students to be able to revisit that creativity and imagination that we so often used and enjoyed when we were children. It definitely makes it more interesting to watch too that is for sure. I am having so much fun in this class and actually still learning things...who knew. ha
I also agree with Claire. It does seem that we are all able to act like idiots and we are actually becoming a lot more comfortable doing it. I realized this when we had to pick from the little pumpkin container. People who would never have gone until they absolutely had to were going more towards the beginning. Impressive.

"70 minutes, how long is that?"

I find class more and more entertaining every day. I find it really funny, there aren't many classes that entertain me like this one, so good job everyone. I was telling my friend about the paper tube thing that we did and she asked why I didn't choose a unicorn... so I'd like to change my answer to that because everybody enjoys unicorns. I also noticed that our class is getting a lot more comfortable with each other, which is kinda nice

bus stop

I loved the exagerated version of bus stop. It's a good change of pace in class. We're usually pretty serious when we are doing things in class. But this gave of a chance to clown around and have a lot of fun. Also, doing the exageration makes it easier for the audience in our situation to identify who's who. Since we don't have any props or costumes, it's hard to tell what people are when they aren't allowed to talk. Hopefully we can do the exagerated version more often.

Yep, I like what Abby says. It is nicer to be more comfortable and that makes it more fun, and at the same time I'm okay with doing more subtle things to be better. It is a class after all. Aaron mentioned how hard something is when it is uncommon and you've never seen it done before. I think that is a good observation, and I would add that that maybe makes things more fun, when you have no template and you truly have to improvise stuff. Oh, and I actually liked the Browns last night and wasn't acting this time.

Class

Class is going pretty well for me now. At first I was a little bit hesitant to just go up and make a fool out of myself but I think since the class has progressed I don't care too much about that anymore. I am feeling more and more comfortable around the people in the class more and more as classes fly by. The tangled up exercise seems a bit challenging and I still have no clue what I want to be tangled up in. I think the hardest thing about it is that you can't get out of it and I think that is the trick to this exercise because there is no stopping point which I think makes it difficult.

browns/class

did anyone see the browns game last night holy cow that was amazing!!!! yes i am a hardcore browns fan dont make fun. i class on thursday it was kinda hard showing your occupation bc u really couldnt do anything sitting at a bus stop.

Bus Stop

I also enjoyed the exaggerated bus stop activity. It was a good thing for us to do because there are shows that call for that sort of acting. It is important to know where the line is and to know when and why you are crossing it. This exercise helped us see a clear difference between serious acting and exaggerated acting.

The tangled activity looks like it is going to be a challenging one. I have to imagine it is hard to act as if you are tangled up when you are not actually tangled up. But I can see why it is an important activity. For example, look at any horror movie. Someone always gets tangled/caught in something in the movie. Now, we all know that the actor is not really stuck but the actor has to be capable of portraying that they are.

I loved doing the exaggerated exercise. I thought it was hilarious watching other people do it and even doing it myself. I feel like I'm at a point with everyone in our class where I don't care at all about making myself look like a fool and I can just go out there and be crazy. It was nice to be able to let go and just be really really obvious about what we are doing.

Reading Renee's blog though made me think a little bit. And although I have not done the tangled up exercise yet I think one of the reason's it may be so hard is that we went from being crazy and obvious to having to narrow down our thoughts and focus again so that we can really see ourselves getting tangled up in something.

Croc Hunter

So in class I had to act as the croc hunter and I honeslty had no idea what to do. I thought it was fun trying to "hunt" a croc lol but i honestly just went in there with no care in my mind. I also thought it was very funny watching some of the others trying to act out their jobs. The hardest thing I think we have done so far was getting caught in something. I had no idea how to get caught in a soccer net. I have never really been caught in something and so it was really hard to get un stuck in something that was not there.

Exaggerated

I must be one of the few that actually felt extremely stupid exaggerating the scene. It felt weird trying to make things so obvious. Although it was funny watching others do it, I did not care for it that much.

I really thought the entangled exercise was actually fun. Although I am not sure how much I enjoyed the coral reef part of it, it was certainly quite interesting to try to think of what a person would do in that situational. It is hard to act like what you would do since it probably does not happen to 99.9% of people and I do not think I have ever seen it on television. Either way, I am looking forward to class tomorrow to see what others have to do.

Bus Stops and Spider Webs

I think class today was quite interesting. I really liked the over exaggerated bus stop activity. This allowed me to see that in some cases in class I was over-acting what I was doing without even trying. It helped me to see how ridiculas something looks when you are trying to show people what you are doing.
Also, the tangled exercise was interesting. I think each of these exercises helps me to use my imagination more. In order to be tangled in something you have to see it, and see it in detail. I'm looking forward to being tangled in something tomorrow.

Comfortable

I agree that being in groups make you feel more comfortable. I have never been one that likes all eyes on me. Even when we are all doing something different i still feel more comfortable (bus stop activities). Talking about the bus stop exercises these are my favorite. I really had a good time when we had to exaggerate and actually show what occupation we had. I think its interesting how there stereotypes for everything in life. Going back to the subject, even though i am starting to feel more comfortable in front of the class i still don't really like having to get up and do exercises by myself.

bus stop acting

I like attention (the good/positive kind of course) I enjoy being put on the spot and having people stare or rely on me. I enjoy stepping up to challenges of life; it motivates me to put my best foot forward. The growth from this class has been a benefit in the areas of how to be more alert of my movements, my imitations of people or objects, and being more aware of my environments. The area which I need to work on is trying not to think so much and just be gravey (going with the flow, no lumps or bumps smooth sailing). For example during class I had to act like an athlete at the bus stop, I tried hard not to think about what I was going to do, but I started to think about the different ways of being an athlete not like a boxer but it came out that way. peace with chicken grease.!!!

Feeling Comfortable

I feel like the majority of the class feels more comfortable when they are in groups and when they are exaggerating something. I know that this is true for me. When I am in a group I feel more comfortable because I know the attention is not all on me. This is especially true when one of the people in my group is doing something extremely entertaining...chances are no one is really even noticing what I am doing. Therefore, the pressure is off. However, when I am up there by myself, I know that the only place to look is at me and my actions. Also, when we did the activity at the bus stop where we exaggerated our character's actions, it was funny and the seriousness of it was lowered. Therefore, it seemed fairly easy for everyone to make a fool out of themselves because it seemed like more of a joke than actually acting. It is good to be pushed out of your comfort zone, however from observation, people would rather play it safe.

tang-led

I enjoyed watching and over-doing career stereotypes. I thought they were funny, much funnier than being caught in something. I agree that doing solo-skits is much harder, at least in groups you can count on people sharing attention between 4 of you, but when it's just you can feel the pressure. I can't wait to see people caught in crap on Tuesday (but not literally crap, hopefully someone did not write that down). I saw the play tonight, it was depressing but I liked it a lot, the acting was not quite as great as our class but it was close.

safety in numbers

It occured to me today in class that I am way more comfortable in group activities than I am when I have to do an exercise alone. Things like the bus stop scene and the activity where the whole class has to become a specific object feel much more comfortable because there are other people doing it with me. But when we have to do something alone, like the entannglement exercise, it is much harder I think this is more than simple saftey in numbers. It is easier in groups because I can play off other people and what they are doing and it is not up to me and me alone to come up with something interesting.

Details, Details, Details

I thought that the career activity we did today was so fun! I thought that it was really fun to be obvious when acting out a specific profession. I thought it was much easier to be obvious than to be subtle like we had to in the other activity. I began to think about how with acting sometimes being subtle is more difficult than being obvious. The details are really what matters and make scenes believable! The other activity where we had to act like we were entangled in something was clearly more difficult for me! :)

tue.

I thought that the occupation activity was hard for the guesser more then the actor. Some people may have thought it to be hard because they were trying to show themselves to much instead of just being themselves. When it was my turn to go up and the bus came I was the first one to walk straight through the windshield. It did not even hit me that i was doing that. I just took it as walking off stage. I am looking forward to seeing the crucible so that i can really watch for the techniques we learned becuase when i went to see other plays i never looked for these sorts of things.

occupations

I think the activity we did during class on tuesday was so hard! you have to kind-of act like your in a certain profession without actually doing anything to show it and still be able to be believable! ah! I think its a good activity however, because its good to learn not to be show-y show-y about what your trying to portray.

occupation

I think it's easier to act an age than it is an occupation. There are bigger differences in the way people act age, but not so much in occupation. For example, a five-year-old acts different at a bus stop than a 77-year-old. But a businessman doesn't act much different than astronaunt. It's going to be hard to act out an occupation than an age without showing the audience what you are. Also, whiz-bang is tough with two things going on at the same time.

Occupashun

Unlike some of the posts, I really don't prefer one or the other with regards to age expression or jobs, I think both can be interesting. I agree that jobs are harder because there are so many of them, some are boring, some are subtle, and some are easy to stereotype. With ages, everyone knows how little kids and elderly people act, and there can't be much more than a dozen different 'typical' portrayals in between. So I guess maybe that that is harder, trying to be noticeably different at 25 than at 28 or something.

Bus Stop

I think I like doing occupations more than ages. Mostly because it is even more challenging. It can be difficult to express your profession through your body language. The people that went on Tuesday did a good job though because with most of them, I had an idea of what sort of occupation they could have. It is true that people in certain occupations often carry themselves a specific way and have a specific attitude. I will be interested to try this activity.

figure it out?

During the exercise on Tuesday I was challenged to be an astronaut at a bus stop. This was weird in the sense I never seen or noticed an astronaut at a bus stop, let alone I needed to act like one, I hope I represented the astronaut profession alright by figuring out an equation while waiting. During the second activity of trying to figure out what was out place or missing on our partner, my bubble got busted real badly. I thought I was observant or could figure out what was missing in a short amount of time, however, I see and noticed I need a lot work and practice with this area, almost every time I missed one item on my partner that was so obvious, either I try too hard or I am overconfident, or just no good. I like the challenges that are brought our way in class, keeps us on our toes. Peace!!!

Ocupation, observation

I think that the occupation exercise is going to be kind of tough. I was really hard to figure out what the occupation was because it was so broad. I think that if someone could make it obvious for the audience what they are then they definitely acted the part. The observation exercise really made you take a close look at how good your memory was. I know I had a bit of a hard time after about the second round. I think that you definitely had to pay close attention to the detail of your partners out fit.

machines / observation

i think the machines when you have to figure out what the other people are doin is so difficult most of the times. i only get it if it is pretty ocbvious. i liked the observastion game we played because it made you disect everything out your partners outfit, even down ther the littlest things. so that was fun it was almost like hind and seek to a small degree.

The fine Line in the Occupation Exercise

I agree that it is hard to draw that line during the occupation exercise between what someone who did a certain job would really act like and trying to show what occupation we had. I was very surprised that people knew my occupation was some sort of athlete (even if it was an abstract type of athlete). But the fact that people knew what I was made me wonder if I had gone to far and tried to show that I was a bull fighter rather than really being a bull fighter. I suppose I wil just have to listen more to what Fabio says and watch other people in class and really pay attention to how far I go during these exercises.

Occupation Activity and Others

Well, it would be hard for me to just talk about the occupation activity since I was not fortunate enough to go yet. But I will mention what I saw. For the most part, it does not look any different from the earlier bus activity because the people now are just standing/sitting there and maybe might give a hint of what they do for a living. There really is not much someone can do to show what he/she does without making it look like he/she is trying to show it.

And for some reason on Whizbang it seems impossible for me to always remember what noises go with what motions. If I could just make the body motions, I could dominate in that game.

Occupation Exercise

I agree that the exercise dealing with occupations was difficult. I have never really sat down and watched how different professionals carry themselves. I mean yes there are some things that are noticeable about different occupations but i have never payed attention in great detail. I think there are lots of occupations that would carry themselves the same way. For example a doctor, dentist, or physical therapist probably would carry themselves in the same manner just as any laboring job would also. I think that is what made this exercise so hard for me because there is no set standardized to how a certain occupation carries themselves. So just as everyone has been saying you have to use a stereotype of the profession in order to portray your message.

Stereotyping

Through the career activity, I realized how much stereotyping goes into acting. Depending on the person's career we assumed we knew how they walked, held their posture, fidged, and the seriousness of their facial expressions. Also, a lot of careers could come off as the same so it is sometimes hard to distinguish the role someone is playing. Although most of these stereotypes seem to be end up being true, there are always exceptions. I think that if we were to be acting a certain career role in a play or movie, we would have to do a lot of research and observing in order to accurately portray a specific career role.

I have just read Claire's post and I both agree and disagree with her. I think people do not want their jobs to define them, but I think that what you do for a living says a lot about who you are as a person. It impacts many of your decisions in life. Now I am not saying that everyone fits the stereotype of their job, but I do think that your job impacts a lot of the decisions you make in life. Everything that you do on a daily basis has some impact on the rest of your life, so it could impact the way you carry yourself, the decisions you make, and even the way you interact with others. I have not completed this activity yet, but I think it will be challenging to not show what your job is. I think that the key here is to focus on the details and not get too dramatic.

jobbers

I thought the career bus stop was kinda difficult because I don't think that there is a huge difference between some jobs. I understand that someone who works in an office might move differently than a landscaper or large rock carrier but most people don't really think of themselves in terms of their job. I also agree that we are acting more like the stereotype of what we think a ------ would act like instead of what they actually would act like. Also, if anybody goes to the Saturday the 11th show for the crucible and wants to NOT sit alone, let me know

Stereotypes

I agree that when we do the career exercise we are in a way stereotyping careers/people. But I wish there was a better word that we could use for it because the word "stereotype" has so many negative connotations. It is kind of true that people who do certain things for a living tend to behave in a certain way. Of cours there are many exceptions. And stereotypes don't necessarily have to be a bad thing. Doctors for example are supposed to be very smart people. We have to use our perceptions of how we think certain people behave in order to portray them. That is probably why one of our first assignemtns was to observe people. When we get to the point when we are given more complex characters, then I hope it will feel less like I am acting like a stereotype and more like i am acting like a real person .

Careers

First of all, I thought that the activity we did dealing with the careers at the bus stop was difficult. It is so hard because you cannot really show the people what you are. I also thought that this activity could be a little stereotypical. For example, for the construction worker Claire had to be all big and strong. This got me thinking to my past job experiences. Two summers ago I worked for the service department. I did things such as picking up roadkill and trash, mowing along the highway, weedwacking, checking sewers, and numerous other jobs. I am pretty sure no one would think that I did this job and if someone was to act out a service department worker, I would not be a model of what they look like and act like. It just got me thinking that the way we are portraying these occupations is kind of stereotypical.

Ok first of all talking is hard lol. I think it's definitely outside of my comfort zone to think of things to say on the spot, not talking was way easier for me. With that said I have to say that I love the machine exercise. I had troube figuring out what people were doing at first but I think that's what makes it so great because everyone has to adapt to everyone else and the machine could change lots of times between the beginning and the end of the exercise. I thought it was hilarious that some people were making a helicopter and some were making a sprinkler. I was right in their helping make the hose for the sprinkler and couldn't see the people doing stuff for the helicopter so when I found out we were doing two ridiculously different things I thought it was hilarious.

New Machines

Yeah, I don't know about those new machines. They're fun enough, but it is too easy for me to think of a lot of things it could be and jump to wrong conclusions. Perhaps we'll all get better at it today. I'm also kind of excited to see what else we do now that we are talking and such. On another note, it always seems like the Red Sox have a milestone right before this class so Fabio has fresh material to brag to Juan about.

I like the big machine exercise. It's fun trying to figure out what the person is doing and also finding new ways to add to what they are doing. It's also fun to see how people see different things. Just like the second we did it. Some people thought it was a helicopter and others thought it was a sprinkler.

CARS!!

For the exercise with the new machines, no one would get up and start at first so I went up and started I could tell that no one knew what I was doing. I had the image of a car and a lot of people started to catch on and on the other hand some people didn't lol. It was a lot of fun getting to see what people imagined when they thought of a car and how they portrayed it. I hope we do that exercise again it is fun. Also I really like the wiz bop bowl game lol, I don't really know what its called. I think it would be a lot more fun and harder if people sped up a little and didn't take as long to respond. Well see ya all tomorrow in class!!!!

thursdays class

i thought it was alot harder to figure out what people were tryin to create. because u could think it was one thing then it would be something totally different. take me for example i had no clue what was goin on haha. but its a good challenge, bc now u really have to pay attention to the deatail even more so i like that.

Talking

I was glad that my group finally got to talk on Thursday. I figured it would be challenging but it was more difficult than i thought. I really did not like not knowing what was going on because you had to figure out how the roles you discussed were going to fit into the scene that was set up. At first i noticed i stuck to not talking because it was more comfortable and i wanted someone else to start first. But once my group got started it seemed to flow pretty well. I also agree with Fabio that doing something (some kind of activity) helped when doing the exercise. I can see why we waited to talk now because once you add talking the entire exercise becomes more complex.

Machines

This was actually much harder I thought compared to the little mininoise objects that we made earlier int he semester. It was hard for me to figure out what was going on like when I made the helicopter into a sprinkler. I also had no idea what the first object was since the machine appeared to add wings, a rudder, some smokestacks, and the engine outside of the car. I think after I get better at imagining what might be actually going on, I would have an easier time coming up with an object to add to the machine.

THURSDAY, oCTOBER 2ND

My group got to do the talking exercise today. I really enjoyed doing this activity. Doing this activity was a lot easier than I anticipated. I got nervous at first and immediately went to talking because I felt like I had to be doing something, but it did not take long for me to feel more comfortable and then I didn't think about what I was doing, I just said what came natural.

Creating the machines was also a lot of fun. I think that this activity is important because it allows use to play off of what other people are doing and to work together; that's what acting is all about. I think that every one's ideas about what part of the machine to be was very interesting.

Big Machines

I though that this exercise was kind of tough at first. I was always unsure as to what the first person was trying to build. Once more and more people started to go it sometimes became more clear. Once i figured it out I could go up and join in. It was cool to see how many people think that it is one thing and others think different. This exercise made up really work as a group. Also the talking exercise was pretty interesting. I think that it is definitely better when you have something to do because it stops you from talking so much which also make it more believable. Also when speaking you aren't speaking just to fill up an awkwardness you actually have something potential to add to the dialog. I think that once we start talking for a while we will be able to use it when necessary and not so much to avoid awkward moments within out acting.

big machine go fast vroom

I liked the big machine making thing because it forced us to make something that actually could make sense if we do it right. I think that next time maybe instead of all standing at the same level, it would be more recognizable if for instance the wheels are lower than the steering wheel. This may be a problem if the object we choose is very large because we obviously can't change our heights. That's all I got because I couldn't remember if I blogged or not yet and Thursday seems like forever ago.

Just like Paige, I also enjoyed the activity where we attempted to build one large object together as a class. We had done an activity similar to this where we just created some random machine. This activity has proven to be much harder than the previous one. We had a car/boat that had an engine outside of the machine the first time and then a helicopter with a hose the second time. I think we will get better as a class doing this activity with practice. It is essential that everyone works together as we build these machines. I am anxious to see what we eventually create!

Building Large Objects

In class on Thursday we built objects like cars, helicopters, and sprinklers. At first I thought that it was going to be extremely difficult, but after we all did it once, I actually started liking the activity. It was interesting to see the different ways people interpret things. For example, when Brianna was spinning around with her arms in the air and making a chi-chi-chi noise, some people in class thought she was part of a helicopter, while others interpreted her action as a sprinkler. It is important that only one person goes at a time during this activity. Otherwise we can come up with extremely amusing and pretty hilarious contraptions. Overall, this activity emphasized creativity, imagination, and working as one. As individually being one piece of an object, we ended up as one large object.

Talking

I agree with most of the others who said that they were happy to be talking in class. It felt a lot more natural to be talking to people in scenes than it did to act as if we were all mute. I also agree that talking could be dangerous if we let it become the focus of our acting.
I also like the idea that a shared activity can help people interact and be more natural. This is one of those things that is true in life as well as in acting. I have noticed that when people have a clear purpose or they know what they are suppossed to do it makes group interaction a lot more natural. However there is nothing more awkward than a group of people hanging out who don't know each other and don't share a common activity/interest.

finally talking

I'm so glad that were finally getting to talk now!!! i think that it is going to be harder but I'm glad that we an incorporate it and be able to actually do "scene type" activities.  I feel that the activity we did today was harder than i thought it was going to be.  Once i got out there i wasn't sure what the setting was and there was defiantly some awkwardness.  

Talkin

I think that talking is going to be fun. It might also be hilarious as well as fun. I think that we should definitely consider all of the details that we were paying attention to when we were not talking and that will make our acting even better. I think that the talking might be an interesting change since I haven't gotten a shot at it yet. I think that it might be kind of different in that we have been acting without words for so long. One main thing about that is maybe you don't have to talk you only have to respond to other around you so your words might just flow out.

Getting Chatty

I actually think that adding talking will be a good thing. We just keep moving forward. I suppose that the hardest thing will be to remember all of the little things we were paying attention to before we started talking and to incorporate them. I know that will be hard for me anyway. Also, not all acting involves talking, I think. Lastly, I share the pain that the Sox won.

Talking

Yeah, I am pretty sure that I would rather not have to talk just because I'm sure I'll say something not even paying attention that will either be completely off topic or not going to help the scenario. Either way though, I think it will be a fun addition to the class because now there is another thing to possibly focus on and will take our attention away from beign nervous or something. It might also be good because acting does involve speaking.

And I stayed up last night watching the Red Sox game hoping the Angels would come back... what a disappointment.

new challenge, talking

Talking for the first time added a little spice to life in the class; I enjoy reacting to others actions. I feel I work real well thinking on the whim, rather than planning what I am going to do. So I believe this section of class will either confirm or deny my assumption of how I operate thinking or reacting on my feet. I thought for the first group we did real well, especially working on an improv play for the first time together with verbal content. I believe everyone will benefit tremendously during this exercise, I like playing frog detective to start class also, because it gets the mind ready for details quicker, good call, peace.

finaly talking

I'm really excited about being able to talk in class but at the same time I'm also really nervous. When Fabio said that most of acting is improv I got pretty nervous because I'm not necessarily the quickest thinker on my feet...I feel like I'm going to be fumbling around, looking for words to say. Watching the first group go in class though, the talking aspect seemed to come pretty naturally and it made the scene a little more interesting but also less believable. I'm very interested to see how much the class changes now that we are allowed to talk.

talking

The activity we had to do in class last was very interesting. I had no idea what to do, I didnt know when I should talk or not talk. I totally forgot everything that we learned. When he pointed out that didnt even give the table any height or anything. When i had to hand out the cards when we were playing I was going to shuffle them but as I thought about it, it was very hard. I did not think I would ever forget what we learned untill I got up there. I have acted a lot in my life and I never realize how hard it was. It normally just came to me but now that I am studing it it is much harder.

talking now

i am so glad we can talk now i think it will be a little tough but once we do it a little more i think we will become better atcors the keanue reaves. so i averexcited to see how everyone does in the next class now that we kno what to look for.

When I was doing the exercise, I found that it was easier to do a scene, but I think the quality wasn't as good. Since I was doing the scene, I wasn't able to see my body language or anyone else's very well. I'm curious to see how well other groups do tomorrow.d

Talking

I am excited that we get to start talking in class but i think its going to be a challenge also. At first i thought it would make it easier but after watching the first group it doesn't. Yes talking can convey the message but once talking is added everything else we learned seems to go out the window. I think this is because talking is a new aspect so we focus on that and not everything we had done to this point. I have a feeling that I'm going to have a hard time with paying attention to detail at the same time as talking. Also I'm going to have a hard time going into something without any organization. I am a person that likes things structured. So overall i feel that this exercise is going to be challenging for me but I am excited that we get to start talking.

Speaking

I am excited for the opportunity to speak in class. I think it's really going to open a lot of possibilities to our acting skills once we get accustomed to adding speech. I think the group that went for our first speaking activity did I pretty good job for their first time. I'm interested to see what my group will come up with. This activity takes a lot of focus because not only do you have to be aware of everyone else's body language, but you also have to know how to respond with speaking. It's a bit intimidating but I think it will be a good challenge because it will broaden our horizons.

Initially I thought getting to talk would make acting class easier. I thought that talking would allow us to convey our emotions in an easier fashion. After seeing the first group go I realized that talking makes acting much harder. They did a very nice job, but I became nervous about what I am supossed to say. Now we have to be conciuos that our movements and our body language match our speaking. We also have to be sincere. I'm excited to try to incorporate speaking into the class and I'm anxoius to see how everyone does. I have also noticed steady progress in everyone in the class. I look forward to each and every class.