First Scenes

I thought that Thursday's class was so helpful. Watching the other groups perform their skits and the feedback they received was very beneficial. Before this class, I had not taken into considerations many of the questions that were asked to the two groups. I was only focusing on knowing my lines for Thursday. I realized I need to begin thinking about all of the details. I thought it was incredible that although people have simple lines, an entire story can be constructed just by actions and tone of voice.

Final Scene- take #1

I am glad that Tricia and I ended up doing our scene today. I think we have a good start, but it was nice to get feed-back early on in the process. When we rehearsed we mainly just ran the lines and came up with a preliminary idea of what our scene is about and who our characters are. It was odd that going into it the one thing that I was sure of was that I knew the lines. But once we were prompted to think more about our situation and who our characters were, I started to forget the lines. ugh. Oh, well. I have a month to learn the lines and I am beginning to realize that they are not really the important part.

scenerific

I liked class today because the groups that went had original storyline to go with the seemingly boring dialog. I am glad I did not go today because I memorized the lines but looking at the drama that is expected I now realize that our story needs a little work. I liked thinking of verbs that the lines were said with and think I might need a dictionary. I am excited to see what kinds of scenes the other groups come up with.

Scenes

I think that today was one of my favorite classes this semester. I thought that it was really interesting how just a few lines could be made into an entire story. I was also surprised at how much planning and background information goes into such a short skit. I think my favorite part about putting on a skit is deciding what types of props are appropriate to use. I always have loved to decorate and such so I think that it is the artsy side of me, but I really get excited that we get to have props for our final. How many props are typically used for a skit? Like what is an appropriate amount so that they are not distracting to the audience?

Class Tuesday

I thought that the exeercise we did in class on tuesday was rather interesting because you had to pay attention to what other's were doing so you could add something to the machine or whatever it was. I found it hard to come up with things to do after more and more people went. I think that acting out in a play can be the same because if you don't know whats going on around you, when you act your part it could be way off from what you are supposed to be doing or even how you are supposed to be feeling. When we were pulling the objects out of the blob I noticed that the people who did well were the ones who slowed down and and thought about their object more and when you do that it becomes more real and believable.

Tuesday was fine, I think that the substance method we are using is probably a good thing, because it is such a sandbox. I think it is good that we don't go into it thinking that we have to do anything or thinking about what we want to do, so we are more spontaneous and creative because we are just going with what we feel like and what the other person feels like. I suppose that's cool.

Tuesday’s exercise was very interesting because I could get or act out in the way he wanted. This was the first time I felt some type of frustration on any of these activities we do in class. Did I hide it well? HAHAHAHA. I am looking forward to today’s activity, let see how well we do?

Substance Mirror

I liked the substance mirror exercise. It introduced new concepts and incorporates some concepts we have learned in the past. It seems to be very similar to what we have done in the past except, when dealing with the substance, it is more lenient. This can be easy for some and challenging for others. Because you and your partner are handling something that is not necessarily in a set position all the time, you can do a lot of different experimentation. You need to mirror you partner, but you do not always have to be exact because you are handling the substance. Also, the fact that we do not know what the substance can do and are discovering just that gives us a lot of leniency in our actions.

NEW

I am very excited for Thur class because I am excited to see how everyone does with their scene. I agree with Bill i do think that everyone has improved and I think that everyone will do well on their scene. I am glad that we will be getting feedback from the teacher because I think that we will all need it and I think that it will be very interesting on thur.

I think everyone has improved a lot during the semester and the substance exercise shows just how far everyone has come. Everyone seems to have a better understanding of how to act. I remember the first couple classes when we did the watching a sporting event exercise. Everyone was doing way to much and doing the wrong things. But now, everyone is keeping everything simple and it really makes a difference. I'm curious to see how it goes once we start getting into dialogue and be able to speak and act at the same time.

Tuesday Class

Compared to last week when we first started the substance exercises I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable. I still am not sure what this substance is that we are working with though. I also find it interesting that when we first started doing 'exploring the substance with a partner' that we all seemed to be mirroring our partner, but in a different way than before because you just go with it, no discussion. I'm with Abby on the machine exercise. I enjoyed this exercise much more when we were part of the machine, but i do understand why you are having us do this exercise

New Mirror

It is interesting how we already did activities similar to what we are doing now in class. Although this time around, it seems a lot easier since we have already done it at one point or another. I think there is less of a fear factor as well since we are getting more used to being in front of the class. I however, think it is harder with the substance in the scene because both parties have to make the substance appear to be the same... which may create even more issues.

Anyway, I have more homework to do tonight than I have had all semester, so I am going to get started... see you all bright and early.

I agree with Hallie about how cool it is that we all automatically incorporate things into our exercises that we learned earlier in the semester without even thinking about it now. I wasn't a huge fan of building the machine in class...although it was funny trying to guess what parts people where putting on. I much prefer to actually BE the parts of the machine...that was hilarious. I excited about the final project though, it should be really fun and I hope I can get my creative juices flowing and come up with a good background story.

Defining a space

Out of all the exercises we did on Tuesday, I enjoyed when we try to figure out what characteristics define a space. It really gets me to think about the minute details that are in each space which make them unique. I thought that the time we did the yard and park was easier than the office and den. Right away when we started with the yard and park lists I was trying to think of how they are different. I could think of plenty of similarities, but I was focusing on their differences. For our final exam, I have been thinking of locations where our dialogue could be and how we will define the space.

The substance exercise we did again on Tuesday, is by far, not my favorite exercise but i understand how it enables us to show everything we have learned thus far in the semester.  I think its really cool how we do a lot of things we have been taught without even thinking about doing them!!

Nov. 4

In class today we continued working with substance. I think it is interesting how something so odd can help us so much with our acting. The substance allows us to apply all of the things we have already learned in class without us even knowing we are doing them. When working with the substance we move slower and we concentrate on size, weight, and shape. I am so excited to start working with actual dialogue in class. I think this will be very fun and interesting.

super tuesday

Today we did quick activities with the substance. My understanding of the point of the substance is, that is is just to just get us to pay attention to the grip and the handling and the weight of the object. There probably aren't situations much that it is actually necessary to pull crap out of goo but the thought process that we are learning is what we should have been doing the whole time when handling objects. We pay more attention to weight and mass if we go slower, which the substance gets us to work on. That's all I got.

I was not in class on tue. ( yeah for skip days!) but I'm sure it was as fun as it always is.
I am really excited for our final projects. It could be really fun to see how we apply all that we have learned into a real scene. It could also crash and burn and be not so good if we do not prepare correctly, but I'm trying to look on the bright side. I'm sure everyone's scenes will be awesome.

Substance Continued...

Recently I have felt like the activities we are doing with substance are extremely repetitive. Though, compared to when we started acting for non-majors, everyone seems a lot more comfortable. Personally, I feel like I am much more comfortable than I was at the beginning of the semester. When we have to do "strange" activities, the class just seems to go with the flow instead of questioning what we are doing. We figure there is some kind of purpose even though we may not have any idea what that is. I am wondering though where these substance activities fall into play.

Substances and Such

What I found with the exercises we did on Thursday was that they seemed so simple that it was hard. You'd think it would be easy to go up there and pretend you are holding that substance but you really do need to put a lot of imagination and focus into what you are doing if you want it to look real. It is a truly a lot more complex than I had initially thought.

In other news, I am excited for our final performances. It will be cool to see what everyone comes up with and particularly the differences in the groups doing the same ones. I'm excited to see how each group interprets their scene.