The Beginning to an End

December 14-18 2009 

The troupe spent the entire week sweating over the play. It is going to be the grand finale of the drama class for this term. Everyone will be doing their best to show what they have learned and prove how much they have improved on their acting capabilities. 

I am very excited yet a little bit nervous because there is no written script. I guess that is what makes Commedia Dell'Arte interesting. We can rehearse it over and over again but the dialogues are different every time.  At the advice of Mr Smeed, we added Lazzis to our little play to make it truly funny.

Finally, the big day is here! In my opinion, I think we did a really good job because we managed to make our audience laugh. The other troupes were very funny too, especially Christie's group. I must say that 7F truly has talents!!

SHOWTIME :)

December 7-11 2009 

This week, the Commedia Dell'Arte troupes had a chance to practice their plays in class, in preparation for their presentations on the 17th of December. 

The first problem that our troupe encountered during our practice session was that the play only lasted for 2.5 minutes which was much too short from the required 5-7 minutes. In order to overcome this issue we decided to add on monologues for each of the characters. As Commedia Dell'Arte has no written script, we have to think fast and be quick on the feet. At first, I was worried but I managed to make up lines as I went along. I found it rather strange, having to face the audience when I was arguing with Capitano. I guess it takes time to get used to this type of performance. 

My Masked Face :)

November 30 - December 4, 2009 

At the beginning of the week, we concentrated on perfecting our script. The original idea was to say something that could reflect on the personality of the character. However, mid-week Mr. Smeed told us that if we were to make fun of someone, it should not be the audience but another Commedia Dell' Arte character. I had to quickly come up with a new idea and I pretended that I was conversing with Brighella. 

The difficulties I encountered when I was rehearsing was to walk in a slow jerky manner and speaking in a high-pitched tone. I think I did quite well at the presentation today because I managed to make the audience laugh at my movements and my story. 

Now, Cherri, James and I are working on a rough draft on "misunderstanding". I will be Pulcinella, James, Capitano and Cherri, Brighella. This is going to be the last project on Commedia Dell'Arte, and we have every intention to make an excellent job out of it. 

BE MASKED

November 23-27 2009 

This has been the most exciting week. We watched a DVD which explains the significance of masks used in Commedia Dell'Arte. There are altogether ten masks and they are used to denote masters and servants. Masters walk with their backs straight and speak in a low tone whereas servants tend to be high pitched and walked about randomly as if without purpose. 

After jotting down notes, we were asked to pick three characters that we would be interested in playing. I have been chosen to play Pulcinella who speaks in a high-pitched tone, and likes to argue for the sake of argument. I chose this personality because I think it would be fun and very comical to play this role, especially when he walks in a slow jerky manner. I found these information on the DVD but I intend to do further research. 

Funny HAHA

November 16-20 2009

This week, Valerie and I have been working hard on our script. As we are only allowed 2-3 minutes for the interview, it would be impossible to include all the facts about Commedia Dell'Arte. We only picked facts which we considered to be both important and relevant. Due to the nature of this type of drama, we tried to make our lines funny. This proved to be most difficult because it was not easy to make facts humorous. We worked on our opening line for a long time but could not come up with anything interesting. In the end, we decided to use the formal way of introducing the guest. We have finished recording and hopefully Mr. Smeed would like it.  

Mixed Week

November 9-13 2009

This has been the most interesting week. I started off with a powerpoint presentation on Commedia Dell'Arte. Mr. Smeed said it was a good one as my group had included all the important elements related to the subject. I think I spoke clearly but I could improve on my presentation skills by speaking a little bit louder. 

Valerie and I are now working on a script for our radio talk show. She plays the role of the hostess while I am the Commedia Dell'Arte expert. We have difficulties coming up with funny lines to make the audience laugh. This is made harder by the fact that the audience will not be able to see our facial expressions and body language, so it boils down to the tone of our voice. However, this does not mean that we did not have any fun. We have to disguise our voice and change our tone so dramatically that it is impossible for us to laugh at ourselves. 

The class is privileged to meet and play games with the Zen Zen Zo physical group from Australia. Through these activities, I come to appreciate the various levels of physical energy; the importance of focused observations and the effect of over exaggeration. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am sure I will be able to use these techniques in my future performances.

Comical Entertainers

November 2-6 2009

This week, our group had to practise on the Commedia Dell'Arte scripts for the forthcoming Reader's Theatre.

From reading the scripts, I can now understand why it is important for the actors and actresses to like people. They can see the funny people and use it on stage to make the audience laugh. It is not expensive to watch them perform, and I am guaranteed to have a good laugh. I can't wait to see their performance.

October 19-23 2009

This week we started learning about "Commedia Dell'Arte". At first, I thought that this type of drama would be very boring, but after Mr. Smeed showed us a presentation of some of the plays that used Commedia Dell'Arte, I find it both interesting and useful. 

The actors wear masks which are representative of the personality of the characters they are portraying. The advantage of it is that the actors do not have to worry about their facial expression and can therefore concentrate more on their body language and tone of voice. The other advantage is that they do not have to memorize the script word for word, as they can improvise and make things up as they go along. This is beneficial because it will help them explore and widen their acting skills, and will instantaneously the reaction of the audience. However, the greatest fear is that if you are not absolutely focused or quick on your feet, you may find yourself totally lost in responding. 

Like Mr. Smeed said, playing the role of a "little character" is more exciting as it allows the actor to try out various scopes of acting. It will also give them the opportunity to test their techniques based on the response of the audience. This type of drama is not suitable for everybody. True comedians can always link and find the funny part in every situation. Personally, I think it will prove challenging but will certainly prepare me for any circumstances I may face in the future.

What a Disappointment!

October 13-15, 2009

This week was spent on transferring the film into iMovie and editing it. This was where the trouble began. Last week, it was Michelle's and Victor's computer that had gone kaput, then it was mine. The frames kept freezing and reloading itself which was most frustrating. LTT could not do much about it except asked us to re-image our computers. As a result, Michelle had hers re-image so that we could finish off the movie. Unfortunately, the day before it was due to be shown, we discovered that it was blurry and some parts froze. We tried frantically to fix the problem but nothing worked. We had no choice but to tell Mr. Smeed about it, and in the end, we could not show our hard work to the class - what a major disappointment!

We watched the movies produced by the other groups. In my opinion, they were quite good. Even though they were silent movies, it was easy to understand; and their facial expressions and body language were more than acceptable for first timers. It was fun to watch all my friends on screen, they were most amusing!

Mission Accomplished

October 5-9 2009

We were the first group to finish filming and as we had time Mr. Smeed suggested we add in some close-up shots. We went back and, where appropriate, re-film using close-ups, the result was a lot better.

During the filming, we encountered a few problems here and there. For some parts, we had to do a few takes either because the facial expressions or body language was not quite right; miscommunication between the actors and actresses with the cameraman; or the cameraman stopped short by mistake. All in all, the entire process went rather smoothly.

At the beginning, we were not quite sure how to change the film to mp4 files in HandBrake. However, we managed to resolve the problem, and upload it onto iMovie. Unfortunately, Michelle's and Victor's computers kept relaunching; and as we went through the film, only half of it came out alright and the rest was blurry. In the end, we managed to upload it onto my machine and it seemed to work fine.

Drama Journal-Filming Technique

September 25, 2009

We started filming our skit today. We did not expect to encounter so many problems both large and small.

First of all, the lady at the cafeteria was most uncooperative. She would not let us use the cookie jar and she was annoyed with us for making the slightest noise. Outside in the open area, the wind was so strong that it blew the napkin and the cookie box out of the tray and onto the ground; making filming virtually impossible. The biggest problem was with the camera. Putting it on a music stand and trying to press the record button, when all group members were supposed to be on the scene, was not humanly possible. A lot of the times we were not even certain that we had recorded the entire scene; and worst still, the three of us were not altogether within the frame. This would mean that we would have to record the entire skit on Monday.

We would have to try and make it more realistic in our final filming. We would make use of the people in the cafeteria because to have only three students in an empty cafeteria did not make sense. In order to overcome the difficulties we had with recording we would have to make some minor changes so that a team member could adjust the camera and press the button without relying on fate.

This film making opens my eyes to the fact that unexpected problems can arise, it is up to us to use our reflexes and logical reasoning to solve these problems. I hope that we will be able to do a good job ad finish the film so that the class will enjoy it.

Drama Journal-Technical Aspect

September 7th, 2009

A technical director came to our class to explain the different people who are involved in any drama production.

We were taken to the lighting section of the theatre where the different buttons control the lighting effects. He also explained to us that as far as lighting is concerned, house right and house left were the opposite in the actor’s point of view.

After he left, we used the stage to play different games which helped us with our concentration and reflex ability. All in all, it was an informative and fun class.

Drama Journal-Practice Games

August 28th, 2009

We played 4 games which were more difficult than the previous ones. The purpose was again to train us to stay focused be observant and our co-ordination and co-operation abilities.

Through the “Telephone” game, we could see how easy it was to repeat a movement initiated by the leader. The “Mirror Reflection” involved slow motion actions. It was easier for the leader than the follower; and “Guess Who’s the Leader” was even more demanding as students were not supposed to have eye contact with the leader but to copy the movement from someone else. All these 3 games were similar in intentions, however, “Duck Duck Goose” was to test the participants’ reflex.

Now that I have got used to the games, I think I have grasp the idea of what drama is all about. I still have a long way to go if I want to be really good at it.

Drama Journal-An Inovative Experience

September 29, 2009

Today at drama class, Mr. Raymond, a computer whiz, taught us how to create a blog.
We started off creating an iGoogle account. I had some difficulties as I was not quite sure what my CDNIS email was.

Next, we went to blogger.com to create a BLOG! I was very excited as this was the first time I had ever made one. I hope the blog will provide all of us the opportunity to share and discuss our views and experiences. I welcome all comments, good or bad!