09.23.08

I really enjoyed the age activity. I thought it was really fun to try to guess the actor's ages. I thought everyone did a great job and I was able to guess close to everyone's age. I definitely think the extreme ages are much easier to do. The older ages and the very young ages were easy to guess. I think the ages from 30-60 are the hardest. It is hard to distinguish how old they are because I feel like everyone in that age range does similar things. They more than likely are going to work, have ridden a bus before, and are indifferent as they wait for the bus. I had it much easier being an old lady!

WhizBang

Hmm... yeah so I'd have to say that is certainly the most "unusual" game that we have played in class so far. It is actually quite amusing, but I think it would be a lot better if there was a rule put into effect that someone could not use the same motion more than twice in a row. Someone can simply just do a "bang" to anything and would be near impossible to lose. But that is just a loser venting...

And the activity dealing with the age was comical. It would have been funny to see four people at the age of 85-99 all on the same stage and only having two people able to sit down on the bench.

small objects

the activity we did last class was definantly hard! i think trying to handle small objects when they are not actually there is a harder task than i thought.  I feel that actors really have to go through so many hours working on little activities like these in order to make their performances real and believable.

Comparing Classes

So last night I was talking to my friend from California and I was telling her about this class because she had taken some acting classes in school and had been in a few plays and we were talking about how similar our classes were. It was funny how both of our teachers stressed the "less is more" idea. But when I told her that we aren't even allowed to talk in our class yet she was like oh wow that's so cool....so you have to focus on like the little details and stuff...I wish my class had done that. And I just thought it was neat that as an actor she thought our class was better than the one she had taken and she really like the whole concept of what we're doing right now. Anyway, I just thought it was neat to be able to compare our class to another acting class and see lots of similarities even though she took the classes in a school on the other side of the country.

House

One of my favorite shows is "House." The main reason for why I like it is because Hugh Laurie is an amazing actor. If you listen to him talk when he is not on the show, you can tell that he has an English accent. But when you watch the show, you can't detect any kind of accent. Also, they way he acts with his cane is perfect. You actually believe he has a problem with his leg.

Small Objects

When we were told to do something with a small object at first I didn't realize how hard it was going to be. I just went up and started to do it, however, I went to fast. Once I slowed down it allowed the audience to believe that I was actually playing with a rubix cube. I was thinking in my head where the colors were and which way I had to turn the cube in order to line them up. I think that when you are acting without the physical object it is much harder because you have to account for all the minute details in order for your part to be believable. I think that once I took in all the detail that my object entailed the class believed in what I was doing a lot more and I did find this exercise a lot more difficult than I though it was going to be.

small objects

i didnt think it was that hard to do the small objects. all i really did was pay attetion to all the lil detail , and i actually thought i was threading a needle. so now i kno what professor palanco means when he says " really pay attention to the detail ".

Difficulty with Small Objects

I had a really hard time with this exercise. Just coming up with an idea was difficult for me. I really liked some of the other ideas that everyone else had though and I think it'd be interesting to try those ideas.
It is funny how much you really have to concentrate to do this exercise. There is a whole lot more detail than it seems and you really have to focus. It is definitely a good challenge!

in general

So I'm starting to like the new exercises. I can def. relate to not seeing anyone when I was doing the small objects thing. Even though everytime I had an idea in my head someone got up and did it. So I had to think of something at the last min. and it was very hard. I was not there on tue and I was so confused about the frog detective but I caught on. So class is getting better I am starting to open up more and not care about how silly I look. I normally don't anyway but since its with people I don't know well it takes a while to warm up!

Small Object

I found the small object exercise really interesting. I didn't think it was going to be as difficult as it was. I had a really hard time picking an object and then figuring out how to show it. Once i actually had to take my earring out and do it for real i realized several small details that i did. Which when i had to do it for a second time made it easier for me to actually feel like i was putting in my earring. Also i thought it was rather interesting the different objects the class picked out and how they decided to act them out.

Acting like a Browns fan

I was watching the Browns game on Sunday, and I was kind of cheering for them, and acting upset when they were getting crushed, and I realized that I don't really like them that much, or care. I wonder if I was just acting like I liked them, and then I thought about whether people acted subconsciously, just for fun like maybe I was doing pretending to root for the Browns. Just a wierd thought I had.

Small Object

So this little small object task in class certainly made things interesting. Tying a knot in fish line does not seem that hard to do, but trying to act it out and making it last a long time almost seemed impossible. I think the problem for me was that I was able to visually assume it was there and complete the task, but I had a hard time assuming that I couldn't get it done properly. I think a different task would have been a little easier, especially if it could "never" be completed such as trying to fix a computer chip or something that could involve many mistakes/problems.

Thursday's class

Thursday's class was interesting. I had an object in mind before I got in front of the class, but I did not think about how I was actually going to use it. When I was standing in front of the class I realized that the task was much harder than I thought it was going to be. Our "props" are things we use everyday, and I have never paid such close attention to the little things I do automatically. I think that this task was fun and it reinforced the topic of class; pay close attention to the little details of objects, facial expressions, and emotions.

Small things leads to big perception

I enjoyed our class on Thursday doing the exercise of concentrating on small objects or things. I got up in front of the class during my turn and acted out “fixing broken classes with a small screw driver” It was interesting because once I got up there, everyone seemed to disappear faded to the back ground so to speak, while I was focused on my task. It seemed to me that everyone in class caught on much quicker with this exercise rather than previous ones. I enjoyed watching people do their skits or scenes.

mini-things

Thursday's class was quiet. People seemed to do a good job with their difficult small objects because we all were concentrating on what it was we were trying to do. People were generally more quiet and controlled when working on their small objects maybe because it was easier to work with something you can see all of in your hand, or in this case pretend to see. It was harder to lose track of or change the size if it is so small. I chose to take the sticky thing off the back of a laminated sticker because I was given the task once at work to put lamination stuff on magnets with our company information on it, and I was trying to remember how I did that and do it again, but this time fail. As the class goes on, as a class think we are getting more creative about our scenes and items and tend not to laugh as much; that's probably because we are awesome.

Concentration

Today in class I noticed that the more we concentrate the more believable our actions become. Personally, I think the smaller objects were almost easier than the larger objects. This is because I am really able to picture the item at hand. Also, since I have to concentrate so much about the object I am dealing with, I almost forget that other people are watching me. Once I thi9nk about the rest of the class, my actions become less believable because I think of showing more than just doing. Of course...the practice and experience the past few weeks could also be making a difference.

Frog Detective!

I am with Bill and Teddy about the frog detective game! I think it is so much fun! I was glad that I improved from Tuesday. haha I was glad I had another chance today to redeem myself from Tuesday! I finally learned on Tuesday that once you narrow what side the frog is on, it makes it a lot easier. You just have to be patient and not turn in circles a lot, which is what I was doing at first! I thought I did a good job of implementing my strategy today! Now I just need to work on not giving away who the frog is! Sorry Professor Polanco! :)

frogger

I liked the exercise that we did in class the other day. It was nice that we didn't have to make any weird noises. I think the way to play the game is to slowly turn until the motion changes. Then you can tell which side of the room the person is on. Then repeat the process.

This frog game was alright, but the best frog game ever is frogger. It is probably the coolest game ever. I remember playing that game for hours when I was younger.

Tuesdays Class

By far the coolest game ever. Frog detective is so awesome, I hope we play it every day. I know I wasn't so good at it but I definitely like it a lot more than some of the other things that we did in that big circle of awkwardness. Overall I am beginning to like this class more and more, at first I wasn't so sure but now that I am getting more and more comfortable around the people in the class it seems a lot easier to make a fool out of myself in front of them.

Hundredth Post

Ha! I'm post 100 I think. Anyway I do generally agree that being less inhibited is a useful thing for acting and in most aspects of life, and that is why I am hereby vowing to come to acting class always with a little bit of a buzz on. I keep finding it easier almost every class to get into the mood to play around and act (a little), and I think that is probably because we are all just getting used to the situation of acting weird and imaginative in front of people, and I suppose inhibition will mostly go away in time, which I guess I look forward to.