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.