Script Writing: National Theatre, Session 1 : Story

05/12/14

Script Writing introduction

Political and social message - any social situation is all equally political

3 political issues that affect me:

• Education system : having to pay for Higher Education and the amount it costs especially if you are from a low income family and cannot afford it
• Credit crunch: Affected my family with a lack of money coming through the door
• Public Transport: The amount of money it costs to travel by train and bus when it then costs a lot of money to buy a card that gives you a discount in the first place 

Where do you see or read information about what is going on in the current climate?

• The news on TV
• Newspaper headlines and articles
• BBC news online 
• Radio
• Facebook - people sharing headlines and articles publicly

3 social issues I have directly come in contact with:

• I knew someone was a teen mum - abuse she got as she was branded names and had a bad name for herself to start with. 
• I have known of people getting into a bad drug habit and have seen their downward spiral
• Knowledge of STI's from people telling me their problems and it being a common topic in health for young people.

Who would you say has the most power?

• Government
• Public
• Queen
• Rich Bankers

We then looked at a given character of a police woman interrogating a criminal and had to then write a monologue/speech and propose how the rest of the scene and play could carry on as a way of getting inspiration for out scripts and how they can develop when we start writing.

Policewoman:
So, I know full well about your whereabouts on the night of the 21st October 2014 and know from an outside source that your evidence you gave is in fact untrue. Your friend Gavin, we have been informed that he was there too and that he was in fact the leader of this event and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We see your record is clean prior to this - smashing up a car is a criminal offence. If you can tell us the true manor and full details of Gavin's whereabouts currently, and recall the exact events that happened that I can make a deal. I can make a deal that you will come out with only a caution so that this event will not appear on a criminal record. So what do you say? You will be given only a caution if you tell me about your friend Gavin, or if you refuse, well you'll be straight to court and you will not be able to wangle your way out of this one and you will go straight down. So what will it be?

Response: Take me to court, I'm not saying anything. At least I will have a life when I come out instead if being known as a grass. There is notning more that I have to say...

If I was to have this scene in a full scale I would like a spot light on a desk centre stage with 2 chairs one side with officers and the other side with the offender and a recorder in the middle of the table. I would also like to have a greyish wash of light. 

My proposal of where this scene could go onto afterwards: end the interview and then have the criminal in an overnight cell and do a monologue. 

I would then have a court scene and then have a monologue for some of the people involved in the court case of their opinions of what is going on in the case. My proposal for a small scale performance would be in a studio theatre. 

Script Writing 4/12/14

Script Writing 04/12/14

Notes from discussion about the unit

New views is about young voices writing for 16-18 year olds

Ideas which could make a good story for a play would be about a person close to your heart, a journey about them through the play to give a more authentic feel. This way your writing will have something particular to you.

Should be a half an hour play

The plat needs to go on a journey and the main character needs to grow and learn throughout the play. Visually you need to think and image your scenes to be able to create it.

Look for oppositions in a character - so what a character wants, what they need and what is stoppping them to build a story.

We were given different pictures of faces and then had to make up a story and background to the face of the person on the pictures. Here are my character profiles for 2 pictures:

Image 1:

Gender: Male
Age: 56
Ethnicity: White
Name: Ralph
Where do they get money from?: Earns it from his job as a lawyer
Accommodation: House
Lack in life: A Personality
Need: Sleep
Secret: Is married to 2 women because he has 2 identities
Problem: Infertile
Memory: His brother was killed at war
Something they believe in: He believes men overpower women
Wish for: Love
Where are they in the picture?: Shocked looking at the woman he left

Image 2:

Gender: Female
Age: 45
Ethnicity: White
Name: Delilah
Where do they get money from?: Working in a post office
Accommodation: Small Annex
Lack in life: Food
Need: Money
Secret: The father of her children didn't die he left her
Problem: Depressed
Memory: Being happy with her husband, she wishes the husband will come back
Wish: Happiness
Where are they in the picture: Sitting on a stoop of a front door



The idea of this process was to be able to build a character profile quickly by imaginative decisions in the moment and by some simple questions of traits to come up with a character has been built with a small background story which can then build.

Check list

Sophie Shepherd

Costume

1. Upload pictures of each page in your Costume Portfolio, you should have;
   1. Character and text analysis
   2. Costume research – Period and social status
   3. Costume plot for THREE characters
   4. Written work about how no. 1 has contributed to no. 2
   5. Colours, fabric swatches and measurements
   6. Initial designs - Based on established period and social status
   7. Established designs with written work about practicalities, character portrayal, portrayal of mood/emotion

Dance

1.  complete rush review
   2.Reflect on how your CATS solo is progressing
   3. reflect and put up video clips of A2 group choreography and solo ailey performance as this is all good evidence for this unit

Drama

1. Reflect on blocking and the rehearsal process for Electra
2. Look at each show of Electra and how well you are doing identify strengths/ weaknesses and what you could do to improve for the next one.
3. Include a review of Electra Performance at Old Vic

Audition material

Audition Material

Stated below are my choices for audition material.
See my video evidence of my PAB powerpoint to hear my opinions of why I believe these choices to be suitable as audition songs

Monologues

In  my video of my powerpoint I stated that I wished to do my Clytemnestra monologue from 'Electra' seeing as I am doing this play currently and this would be ideal as it wouldn't pressure me too much for learning more lines. However as mentioned I said this in my video evidence however thinking about it more I would  need to change this option as realistically I would not be able to play this character professionally as this character is no where near my playing age. So instead I would choose a monologue that Electra would do in the play. My video of my powerpoint has me explaining the different monologue choices.

Link to PAB presentation 

Asignment 3: Types of funding

Types of funding 

Take a look at my evidence of  my PAB powerpoint presentation and my explanations of the different types of funding and how I would be able to incorporate for myself

Evidence of slides:

Assignment 3: Prediction on my own budget for a production

Prediction on my own budget for a production

View my video evidence of my PAB presentation on my analysis and evidence on my own production budget for 'Electra'

PAB PRESENTATION

Evidence of slides:

Assignment 3: Analyse a Theatre production budget with analysis/annotation.

Analyse a Theatre production budget with analysis/annotation

See video evidence of my explanation and analysis of Southhampton uni's production budget of A Midsummers night dream.

Presentation evidence:

Assignment 2: Non Performance opportunities

Non Performance Opportunities 

See recorded video evidence of my summary of a non performance opportunity that I would be interested in doing.

Evidence of slide :

Assignment 2: Exploring 5 companies in the performing arts and how they work together

Exploring 5 companies in the performing arts and how they work together

 I will be looking at the way that 5 companies work together in a production, my evidence and opinions can be seen in my video recorded evidence of my powerpoint presentation speaking about the 5 companies from this section of assignment 2.

Evidence of slides from presentation:

Assignment 1 - What makes a good headshot

What Makes A Good Headshot

See recored video evidence of powerpoint presentation to see my responses and opinions and knowledge on what makes good and bad head shot. Here are the slides from the presentation.

Personal statement

I have the right level of hard work, skills, determination and enthusiasm to succeed on a degree level course, studying Musical Theatre. My strong commitment to training in Performance related skills is demonstrated by the training in dance that I have undertaken for the last 15 years.  These include, Ballet, Modern, Jazz, contemporary, commercial, and musical theatre at Jean Butterworth School of dance up to Advanced level. I have also had experience in performing in regular dance shows and competing in dance festivals annually. This training outside of education has given me a good start to a hopeful career in musical theatre and demonstrates my skills that I have developed over the years.

Singing has always been a strength of mine. I have been lucky enough to have been given fantastic solo opportunities through education and semi-professional shows over the last 10 years. I have benefited from one to one singing lessons for a number of years, developing my voice in a number of ways to be able to sing in different genres and styles. The lessons have taught me many of the vocal disciplines/techniques required for professional vocal work and vastly improved my vocal skills. The ability to portray emotion and character through my vocals has been both challenging and rewarding. 

I am currently studying a BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Performing Arts (Musical Theatre) at Worthing College. The course has afforded me many exciting roles in a range of performance disciplines. For example, the course has introduced me to the Physical Theatre approach to choreography.  The course has also befitted me in a way that I have been opened to research and study both musical theatre and classical and Greek theatre.

I am also a keen contributor to all areas of theatre including the production side of theatre and understanding how the jobs connect. Many of the performances that I have been involved with through college has seen me be involved with lighting design, sound design, costume design and set design which has really opened my eyes and introduced me to all the vital work that happens behind the scenes for a performance. I am currently studying Classical Theatre in my musical theatre course where I am playing the role of Clytemenstra in the Greek Tragedy play of ‘Electra’. The role is highly challenging as it is a complete contrast of character that I have ever played before and has been a huge learning curve with positive outcomes for my confidence in classical acting both from a performance and a theoretical perspective.

During my first year I achieved a Distinction* in my musical theatre course which really shows the hard work and effort that I put into the course and also reflects my determination to succeed and do well in both the practical and theoretical aspects required of a musical theatre degree course. Alongside musical theatre I am also studying A Level dance at college which has introduced me to look into and study different professional dance works by choreographers such as Matthew Bourne, Christopher Bruce, Akram Khan, and Alvin Ailey. I am currently choreographing my solo dance for my A level inspired by the professional work ‘Cry’ by Alvin Ailey. I adore this piece of professional work as it extremely powerful and I feel that as a performer I am able to express the correct emotions for this piece.

I have performed in regular shows on a professional stage for the last 8 years with local semi-professional theatre companies. The shows have been performed in front of large audiences, on a regular basis and have inspired me to strive to find work in the Creative Industries. The company has also developed my organisational skills balancing the demands of external performances with my academic education. The last few years have required a highly disciplined approach to education, which I feel has placed me in a strong position for further development academically.

In 2013 I gained a part time job in a Hairdressing salon working as a shampooist/receptionist and assistant to the top stylist of the salon. Through this work the job has taught me the importance of team work, multi-tasking, punctuality and communication and people skills towards the public. I also have had experience of teaching and choreographing solo and group dances at the dance school I attend, working towards creating dances for children aged 11-15 for festivals and competitions which by doing this has given me the chance to express my creative work through choreography. I regularly sing for charity events to raise money for St. Barnabas hospice and Chestnut tree house which are both very close to my heart. An achievement following my charity work was singing for an event and raising over £1000 for St Barnabas. I have also had the experience of performing as a solo vocalist for weddings, engagement parties, birthday events and christenings which I have had great experience singing with bands to accompany me for some of these events. I work extremely hard when I want to succeed in something and my commitment to anything is always 100%. I always try to stay active and involved with the creative arts and try to take every opportunity I can.

I am at a point in my training and development when I have gained enough performance work, been exposed to a variety of professional practice and achieved the highest possible grade academically, that I feel more than ready to take the exciting next steps into Higher Education. My ultimate goal for my future is to perform on a West End stage. For me, nothing beats the adrenaline rush at the end of a performance when you have a whole theatre full of people applauding your work. I feel that training in Musical Theatre at degree level is the next step I should take in order to achieve this dream, and I am looking forward to being able to take this opportunity. I am prepared to endure on any challenge to enable this to become a reality and to work extensively to meet any standard and level of worked required of me as a performer. 

Audition Tapes

Audition Tapes

Carrie Hope Fletcher Audition For Forbidden Broadway

In Carrie's audition she comes into the room well spoken and appearing confident. After being asked a few questions she was asked whether she can act, sing and dance, saying yes to these 3 disciplines the Casting Director asked her if she could perform a combination of all 3. She did this by dancing on the spot whilst singing the well known line from Hamlet 'To be or not to be, that is the question'. This looked shocking her doing that as it was unprofessionally and it didn't appear she was taking this audition seriously as she was very much mockingly doing these bizarre combinations.  If someone did this in an audition for lets say a drama school and I was on the audition panel I would ask the auditionee to leave as I would feel they are not taking the audition seriously and it is a joke to them, The casting director then asked for her to sing a song which she replied she had prepared 2  songs. 'On my own' - Les Miserables and 'Memory' - Cats. Both these songs are very well known musical theatre songs and are extremely popular choice which isn't the most wise choice as choosing these songs can bore your audition panel as they have heard these songs lots of times before. Also by choosing a big song like 'Memory' Elaine Page is the original cast of playing Grizabella who is the character that sings 'Memory', and by choosing a big song to sing for your audition song you are at risk of being compared to the original person who sings the song. Along with the musical 'Wicked' and the song 'Defying Gravity' it is just such an overdone song and such a big well known musical number by Idina Menzel that it it would be ridiculous to even think about singing that song as an audition song because you will always be compared to the original unless you can blow the original out of the water.
Carrie then starts to sing her song and she is getting the songs mixed up by singing the words to 'On my own' to the music of 'Memory' and vice versa. This shows how unprepared she is for the audition and she is getting the songs wrong and getting embarrassed that she is getting it all wrong. This video is clearly how a bad audition would be. 

Assignment 3 - 2 Artistic Policy's of 2 theatre companies

Artistic Policy 

What is Artistic Policy?

Artistic Policy is a written statement/paragraph about the aims of a theatre company and the type of work that they produce and offer. It involves the target audiences that the company produce their work for and their creatives and strategic plans for upcoming events for their company. 


DV8 Artistic policy 

DV8's Artistic Policy speaks a lot about what they offer and what their company is about. They state that they are largely accessible to all audiences and touch on wide range of topics and communicating ideas and feelings. I personally feel that this Artistic Policy is heavily focusing on what their company is about and what they create and ho whey communicate their ideas as a company. They don't suggest so much as to what their target audience is however the idea I get is that it is for a general all age audience as I personally believe that it would specifically state appropriate age ranges and target audiences if was specifically for children or most definitely for 18+ etc. 

Frantic Assembly Artistic Policy

Frantic Assembly - Strategic Plan

The artistic policy for Frantic assembly speaks about what their performances offer and explain that they 'create thrilling, energetic and unforgettable theatre. The company attracts new and young audiences with work that reflects contemporary culture. Vivid and dynamic, Frantic Assembly's unique physical style combines movement, design, music and text.' 

In their Strategic plan they go into more detail and explain further about what the company offers through their performances, the types of audiences they attract and also the learn and train programme they offer. Though the strategic plan the page states the achievements and success that they company has achieved and attained over the years. 

Assignment 2 - 2 Job Roles from a production house theatre

2 Job Roles

From the hierarchical structure of a production house I then had to chose 2 job roles which one of which should involve casting. Fully investigate how the people employed in these roles function and the qualifications and experience required to do the job successfully.

The job roles that I have chosen are;  Casting Director and Stage Manager.

Casting Director

The main way realistically to become a casting director is to have experience in work  as a casting assistant/casting associate. There are no particular educational requirements however experience is essential and key. People seeking work as a Casting Director can increase their opportunities by completing bachelor degrees or taking classes in theatre or film production, acting, or business. 
Casting directors typically work on a freelance basis, charging a set fee for each production in which they are involved in. They must possess strong interpersonal and communication abilities, because they work closely with producers, directors, writers, casting agents, and talent agencies. Being a casting director also requires a flexible schedule, because the job requires long hours and often frequent travel to find talent or meet with producers, directors, and other key production staff. 
Casting Directors read scripts and collaborate with producers, directors, and writers to create breakdown notices, which are brief descriptions of the physical attributes, skills, and experience needed in actors to portray and play particular characters. With the help of casting assistants, casting directors submit these breakdown notices to agents and talent agencies. Casting directors then receive actors headshots and Cv's, which they must select the most qualified actors and schedule them for auditions, often with the help of casting assistants.

Depending on the size of a production, a casting director may hold an initial round of auditions and personally decide which actors to call back for the producer and director. After each round of auditions, the casting director becomes responsible for notifying and scheduling selected actors for additional rounds of auditions, until a final casting decision is made. Although the decision of which actors to cast is ultimately up to directors or producers, casting agents often directly influence the decision of which actor is cast for a particular role. 

Here is a video clip of an interview from a LA Casting Director - Gabrielle Evans and she is talking about the casting process, what makes her call an actor in for auditions, what she expects from actors during acting auditions, gives advice to new and aspiring actors on how to start an acting career 

Stage Manager

The entry requirements for becoming a stage manager is that although this area of work is open to all graduates, the following subjects may increase your chances:

• performing arts;
• drama/theatre studies;
• music

Some drama schools offer specific degrees in subjects such as theatre stage management and technical theatre which can boost the best opportunities for candidates applying for a stage manager. Entry with an HND (Higher National Diploma) is also possible and relevant subjects include performing arts and technical theatre. It is also possible to enter the profession without a degree or HND, however this will be at a junior level such as a member of the stage crew. people may then be able to work their way up to the role of an assistant stage manager and then progress further. It is extremely useful to have practical experience of theatre work and this will increase the chance of finding work once having completed qualifications. Trying to gain experience through student, community or amateur theatre groups and get involved in as many different areas of the theatre as possible is a great way of gaining theatre experience for the application of a stage manager.

A stage manager must have a range of skills. Candidates need to show evidence of the following:

• Excellent communication and organisational skills;
• A sharp eye for detail;
• A sense of humour and the ability to stay calm in a crisis;
• People skills: persuasiveness, patience, tact and the ability to deal with 'artistic temperaments';
• Computer skills and awareness of current technologies;
• The ability to work under pressure, especially in the run-up to a performance;
• Problem-solving skills and the ability to think on your feet;
• Confidence, decision-making ability and negotiation skills;
• Stamina, to cope with long hours during technical and dress rehearsals, and for touring.

Here is a video of an interview with Jason Daunter who is the stage manager for 'Wicked' in the states. He speaks about his job roles of being a Stage Manager.

Assignemnets 2 - Theatre companies Hierarchy of jobs

Production House Hierarchy 

In this section of assignment 2 is looking into researching two theatrical production companies and their hierarchical structures.

Below is a diagram of the hierarchical structures of a general production house company looking at the jobs of Production, Performers and admin.

When creating this mind map I found interesting looking into the different job roles and how job roles that are related to production also overlap and affect job roles of performers. I found it interesting to see that from every role there was another job role under it in a hierarchy and It was very interesting to evaluate that for example a lighting designer would have a worker under him which would then Plot the rigg and system, then below that worker there would then be the operator who works the lights in shows and productions. It really put in perspective how many people would be needed and involved in a production house and cover all the different job roles and field of work. 

As part of this task we then had to create a video in a small group on the organisational structures on your posters of 2 production house companies, discuss the roles within each one and comparing similarities, differences and links between the roles and how they work together.

The 2 Production house that we looked at were; Oldham Coliseum and Regents Park Open Air theatre.


Click here to watch the video of our presentation

Lighting States

Lighting Basics

As part of my production role for 'Electra' Myself and Cherkanah have taken on the production role of Lighting. To start this I have looked at general lighting basics and lighting states and colour basics 


General Cover- To not have any gaps - black spots in the lighting - meaning all the stage is to look the same.

3 angles to bleach and get rid of shadows- Ways to avoid unwanted shadows light in every area from 3 points around each area to bleach shadows.

Hot Spot- This is like a spotlight but over the top of a general cover. 

Example of down lighting 

Down Lighting- Is a vertical light which is good for scary, intense isolated moods in a scene. This lighting creates shadows on the face such as blacking out the eyes, highlighting the nose which would then shadow the mouth. 








Up Lighting (floor lighting)- Highlights wrong parts of the face. Unusual parts lit up. Another scary effect that could be effective to use for a scary intense mood in a scene. 

Side lighting- For a 2 tone effect.

Back Lighting- Useful to not show definitions in the face - blanches the face, however highlights hair to give halo effect. - This lighting would be ideal to use for scene with Jaffery and William with the shadows on the sheet cloth.

Frensel- Ridges in lens on light - gives a mellow light.

Profile- Smooth lens- Hard edge shadow gives sharp lighting.

Colour Basics 

GREEN + RED light together makes ORANGE/YELLOW


RED GREEN BLUE - Primary colours in lighting 


YELLOW Jel in light - WARM COLOUR 


BLUE Jel in light - COLD COLOUR

Lighting Colour state basics.

The lighting that we wish to create for our performance of Electra is that we are going to use quite Autumnal colours, meaning greens, browns, yellows and oranges. To do this we can mix coloured jels of light through the colour chart guide above and also do adjustments and add blue jel in light to create a cold colour which can create the more eerie feel to the scenes when Electra is talking to her 'friends' as it gives the idea of being in her imagination and reflects the eeriness of Electra's friends.  Also we can use the red and yellow colours to create either orange or red colours to represent blood and anguish and would be fitting at the end of the play when Clytemnestra and Aegistus are killed by Orestes.


http://www.stagelightingguide.co.uk = this website shows more examples of lighting and also gives pictures of positioning of actors on stage and positioning of lights and how to create the correct light. 

Costume lesson 06/10/14

06/10/14 

In todays lesson we started off by looking at the aspects of costume design. We started off by looking at a video from the National Theatre and how their costuming works. 
The video stated that in big companies the designer researches the character and the script and all sorts of background information. They then will meet with the people who will then make the costumes and have meeting on them on producing the costume. It is generally with the bigger companies that the designers will not be the ones who make the costumes but will have regular meetings on the process and how the costumes are coming along.
After watching that initial video, we then spoke about what is a costume bible? A costume bible is what contains all the information about the show. Every show will have a costume bible and the things that are included in it are:

Example of The Costume Bible

• Sketches
• Fabric Samples
• Costume plot
• Research of character
• Research of the play
• Research of the period and where it is set
• Age of character
• Actors measurements
• Records of meetings with the rest of the team ; Actors, Directors
• Make notes of lighting - lighting affects costume colours on stage
• Make up
• Cost and prices of fabrics

After our introduction to the lesson about the aspects of costume design and how this is what we should have for when we are designing costumes for the upcoming shows that the college are doing, it was then time to continue making our hat for our mini design unit and present it to the rest of the class. 

The final stages of the making process were to cover the rest of the helmet in the brown tape and then cover the rest of the horns in the yellow tape. After that was done we were able to pop the balloon and then we were left with the helmet. We then realised that the inside of the hat was sticky so we then had to stick some newspaper in the inside of the hat so that it wasn't sticky anymore. After that we then attached the horns to the helmet with some hot glue and tape. Once the horns were attached we then added the final detail of the grey tape to the helmet to create the last detail, it was then time to present our hat to the class.  

During our presentation we spoke about the requirements and considerations for our hat in relation to our brief. 


Appropriateness: We believe that our costume is appropriate to childrens theatre because it is easily recognised to be a viking. My sister is 4 and she instantly recognised that this hat was meant for a viking. Historically Viking helmets would not have horns however through education and children friendly learning vikings with horns is easily associated. It is big and bold and is appropriate to childrens learning and understanding because it is instantly recognisable. The materials used are appropriate for children as they are only card, tape and newspaper which are all children friendly. 

Personality of character: The personality of the character is seen through the hat in its coloring. We first designed the horns to be a red colour but then we changed our initial idea because red can be associated with bad and evil and our character that we designed the hat for is the hero of the story so we decided to change the colour to a bright bold happy yellow which can be associated with a nice character. 
The size of the hat is very large which can reflect on the fact that the Viking is supposed to be very important part to his tribe as he is the leader. So the size can emphasise his importance as it is very big and bold. The yellow colour can also be seen as a regal colour of gold which can also reflect on his importance.
Our brief stated to create a hat for an angry viking, we created his background story that he was angry within the story because a dragon stole his axe. The hat however doesn't necessarily show that he is angry however it is quite a fearsome looking hat.

Social Status of character: The social status of the character is that he is very well respected and the leader of his tribe/cult. He is very regal and important and this can be seen in the size of the helmet and the golden regal colour of the horns

Actors Measurements: Josh - 22.6 inches/57.4 cm

Physical movement of character: Depending on what sort of movement that the actor may do in this hat it is very stable on Josh's head and doesn't move very much and is a very good fit, however if it was to be used on stage and he needed to jump around a lot or do a lot of physical movement then there is the opportunity to add an elastic band to the helmet to put round the chin of the actor if it doesn't feel stable.

Suitable Materials/Fabric: The materials are suitable as they are children friendly and not harmful as they are neither sharp or dangerous. The materials are quite fun and give a good handmade look.

What Period: 8th-11th Century

Josh Modelling our hat