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.