Story Telling Skills Part 1

Today we worked on our story telling skills for saying the details in the story that gives the story and characters emotions we show as well as how much emotion we give. In lesson we were practicing how to show emotion only using our eyes by standing still in a statue and then performing an emotion that was given to us only using our eyes. This activity then became showing an emotion using our body but not our face, after we showed how we moved with the emotion we then had to be un-naturalistic and do it again but making every movement as big as possible. We were then given a places like McDonalds to perform a scene that we would act out as a character we create in as much detail as possible, we would then freeze at a random part of the scene were we would explain our character, what their purpose is to why they are where they are, where they work and what they were planning to do later that day, everything we said had to go into great detail. My character I made was lonely banker who worked at Lloyds’ as the bank as the bank manager who is on his lunch break at McDonalds, I would be working late until 8, who would then go to rent the first die hard film which he would watch then go to bed, my character also had no pets, friends or relationships so was very lonely. This was character I created and had to show in the piece we created in McDonalds. Things would then happen in the scene and we would have to react the same way our character would. We did this big McDonald piece as a big group then we split and did it again but with different places and characters.

Research (T.V's, Films and books)

T.V.

1.       Arrow:

Arrow appeals to young teens for many reasons; the main reasons are action and fantasy. Teens like destruction and conflict between people, as young people like watching other people fight as it helps to express their emotion in a positive out let. Teens also like fantasy for the reasons of escapism as people like to apart of a world that isn’t possible so they can escape problems or boredom in their lives. This will help with are piece as ours is about Greek fantasy which helps with the escapism and also we have design some of our story and characters around the possibility of creating conflict.

2.       Friends:

Friends appeal to many people, even though it doesn’t offer the genre of fantasy or action but it offers a preferred genre for teens which is adult comedy. There are 2 types of comedies which are child and adult. Teens prefer adult as it helps to make them believe they have more power in age as they are watching something that is not meant for them but at the same time they understand and enjoy what they are watching. This has helped with inspiration for our piece as we have blended some humour into some of the scene so our audience can have a laugh while watching.

Film

1.       Toy story 3:

Toy story 3 is a very unique film for teen as it was meant for children but teens like it as well because it’s a great story that relatable characters and plots as toy story 3 is aimed at teens as it shows where they are currently in life but also presents escapism as its about something that isn’t possible but it give another form of escapism to that as it presents an escape from age as you can watch and feel young again. We liked the idea of this but the technique wasn’t compatible with the story we have created in lessons.

2.       Mean girls:

Mean girls is a great film that teens enjoy as once again it’s to do with the adult humour again and relatable characters as most of them are teenagers as well so similarities can be found between the viewer and the characters. We looked out how much humour we wanted in our piece and decided only a little as we wanted to be serious and not a comedy. We thought about creating relatable characters for our piece but we decided that we would go with adult characters as it worked for the story we had created.

Book

1.       Hunger games:

Hunger games is a great example of beloved teen books as it does a lot in the way of action and fantasy which once again helps with the escapism but the key part of the hunger games for the reason it did well was that the lead was a teenager herself so it help to relate to the character but also helps to reflect that when you’re a teenager it’s your own chance to do what you want and what is right. This helped us in deciding how we wanted to present our piece as it helped make it clear a lot of action a movement pieces would help with the creation of our show.

2.       Harry potter:

Harry potter did very well with teens for similar reasons as Hunger games as it featured in fantasy and having the relatable character. Harry potter did very well with teens due to the wide character range as they had a variety of characters each more divers then the other. For our piece we have tried creating a range of characters and it has helped using the seven deadly sins as it helped kept the characters different but relatable.

Rehearsal progress 5

We created the story of envy in lesson today which is tom’s characters past life. This is a movement piece to the song “Maps” by Maroon 5 showing Tom’s struggle up the business world and how he lost everything. This piece starts with tom entering and shaking Toby’s and Dom’s hand, they then lift them up on to their shoulder, spin around then drop him. The two walk forward then turn to try and push Tom back as he walks forward, he then knocks them out of the way but then notices there taking drugs. All 3 start to do 4 theist pumps, tom going forward, Dom and Toby going backwards they the run at tom, throwing him backwards. Tom tries to run back but they throw him on his knees then push him to the ground as they walk away. Tom mimes doing work around the office while Toby and Dom sink in time with the beat. The story then changes to a rival in the company and we see his rise to the top of the company in a similar way but being sly and deceitful.  I enter and shake Dom’s and Toby’s hand then try to worm my way through them, I then turn and try to push them back. I then repeat the theist pump and then notice Tom, I try to get rid of him as I stop him and point to the exit but he knocks me away. I start to make friends with the boss as Tom sinks into the ground until I throw him out. Tom then goes of into an envy dance until he goes up to me and stabs me, which is where it ends. The purpose of this scene is it helps the audiences to understand Tom’s character as you see what he has gone through and see why he is in this strange place. This piece also helps to show the audience Tom’s sin of envy which is what our play is about for each of the characters transformation into the giants

our final scene we created was our ending where they are all back on the island with all their memory backs. Dom then starts talking about how he died, at first Tom and Toby think he has lost his mind but shortly they relies that they had died as well. Each of them panic and scream for help until I enter as Hades, they each then to find out what is going on but with my powers I whisper there sin which forces them to fall to the ground. I then say "you are my giants" which cause a light to go on at the back making us seem like a silhouette, I then use my arms to them mould the 3 of them together (Tom on Toby's shoulders and Dom behind them) so they look like a 6 armed giant. our piece ends with me whispering "you are mine forever"

Rehearsal progress 4

In this rehearsal we created Toby's story of anger where he finds out that his wife has left him for another man, we start with Toby receiving a new job and feeling really good about himself. Toby enters the stage and the song "you make my dreams come true" we had choreographed a dance for Toby to do where he interacts with me and Tom then encourages us to dance with him due to his happiness. Eventual the song dies down and Toby is at his house where he reads a letter from his wife saying she has left him. while he is reading the song "new divide" comes on in the background which starts another dance which Toby does to the music until Dom walks in. Toby learns that Dom is the person that stole his wife which cause him to get angry and attack Dom. Dom retaliates so they get into a big fight that ends with Toby repeatedly punching Dom in the face and as he goes up for one last hit the lights go dark and ends the scene.

Our next scene was that Tom, Toby and Dom wake up one by one on a strange island, Toby with his memory back starts shouting at Dom. Tom stops him and tries to calm him down but this causes Toby to become aggressive towards Tom, leading them to have a fight each other. Tom eventually manages to stop him by talking about himself saying that he lost everything just like Toby. Tom now remembering everything about himself the scene then ends and goes to his story of envy.

For Tom's story we decided we wanted a movement piece so we left it for next rehearsal and created Dom's story of Greed. For this story it starts where Dom and Toby meet in the story of angry but for the fight this time was Dom narrating over it until the end where we see Toby hit Dom with the final punch this time instead of going dark. While Dom is narrating Toby runs away and me followed by Tom enter as paramedics to treat Dom. Dom gets up and starts to narrate to the audiences while me and Tom pretend to take care of Dom who is still on the ground in our view. the scene goes dark with Dom's realisation that he is dead.

Rehearsal progress 3

This week we were put into 2 groups that would be our groups for the final performances. In my group is me, Dom, Tom, and Toby, in our group we chose the story of Cyzicus the land of the 6 armed giants. in our first Rehearsal for our piece we did some planning for what we wanted to do for this part of the story. we brain stormed ideas of how to do this and agreed that we would do an origin story for the 6 armed giants in how they were made as well as how they got on the island of Cyzicus. Another key part of the story we changed was that we would set ours in modern day as we believed there was more potential in modernising our piece. we thought about what we want to happen and decided that our 3 victims would have died due to a seven deadly sin. Hades would be our 4th character who would be punishing our 3 victims for their sins by putting them on the island. we decided we would creates Toby's characters around the sin of anger, Tom's Character was the sin of envy and Dom's was the sin of greed. Finally we all agreed that Hades as character would be more sinister if he didn't speak

we worked on creating our first scene which we had Toby centre stage blind folded, Tom would then enter who is also blind folded. they each talk to each other accusing the other for putting them there until Dom then enters blind folded as well. They all talk for a while trying to figure out how they got wear they are until breathing can be heard, they each question what there hearing until I enter and give Toby his sight back then Tom's and Dom's. I then with my powers of hades throw all them across the room, Toby attempts to assault me but I then knock him back, then write something in the ground and leave. Tom reads what I wrote "You are my Giants" and the scene then ends.

Rehearsal progress 2

This week we split up again into separate groups and worked on another part of the story of Jason. My group which was me, Carl and Dan M where given the part of the story where Jason met the Sirens which were sea creatures that made people crash there boats due to there hypnotic music. in this group we thought about where we should go modern or Greek for our telling of the story, for a modern take we thought about the sirens being strippers in a strip club. We decided not to go modern as we liked the Greek origin of the story. We thought how could we tell the story and decided that a movement piece would be best as it would help cover up that we didn't have a siren as well as one technique of story telling. Dan taught me and Carl a movement he created that made us look like we were paddling, it involved a movement of our hands looking like we had a paddle and one foot brushing the floor repeatedly. We started our piece like this and then stopped to react to our Siren. One by one we each trie to jump into the ocean after the siren, Dan them leaps forwards into mine and Carl's arms, we then put him down. our piece ends with us each walking forward and jumping into the ocean and drowning. After we created our piece and looked for music to be played during our piece, Looking through YouTube we found Siren music to be played for us during our piece. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujAfhLLVM7E

Rehearsal progress 1

This week we each looked into a different part of Jason and the Argonauts and how to tell it as a story, we split into 3 groups and each created a different piece based around apart of the story.

MY GROUP

My group did Jason’s story Colchis which is the island where he retrieves the Golden Fleece. We opened are part with a long hallway which will have king Aietes at his throne in the centre, his children Medea and her brother with two guards, Jason then enters with the Argonauts and asks for the Golden fleece. There is a clear power struggle as we have the guards and Argonauts ready for a fight, they all suddenly freeze and see Eros son of Aphrodite make Medea fall in love with Jason. Medea tells her farther to give them a chance. We leave this hallway scene and have the king sit side on to the next part in his throne. Jason has to do 3 trials to receive the fleece so for the trials we came up with the idea of doing them as a shadow where it shows what Jason faces and how Medea helps him overcome it. This is all we did for are piece as we had a short part of the story but I feel I did well as the whole shadow section is really creative and feel there’s a lot we can do with it.

1^st GROUP

This group had the opening of Jason and the Argonauts where we have Jason’s farther on his throne and his servants around him. They then had Pelias come in to the scene and throw Jason’s farther across the stage to show him losing his power to Pelias. This is followed by Jason and his mom sneaking out while Pelias kills all of their follows. There next bit is where Jason helps the old lady across the river, for this they said they would like to do a movement piece where we see Jason battle the river and help her across, this hadn’t been choreographed yet but I was excited as I feel like it is a good idea for this scene. There last part was Pelias banquet which Jason crashes, for this they had Pelias in the centre and a load of people having a good time until Jason enters with one sandal on in which everyone laughs except Pelias as he know who’s this is. I liked this group’s work as they got a lot done for the opening and showed a lot of creative styles for the opening. I like the ideas they had for their movement piece where we create the river as I feel this will help get audiences attentions.

2^nd GROUP

This group had Jason’s arrival at cyzicus which was the land inhabited by 6 armed giants. They had ideas for creating them by having one person on another’s back and another wrapped around them so there was a big creature with 6 arms we tried this and I liked how it looked but the only down side is that we would very little of these 6 armed giants on at once.  They opened there part with us rowing a big boat in a synchronised patterned , we reach the island in which we are greeted by the king who they created to be very flamboyant as they thought it would be good to get some humour in the play which I agreed with as it helps keep things interesting. I liked the ideas of the 6 armed giants as this is a nice thing but to make it better I feel we need to it in shadow so the 3 people can become 1 creature to fight and we can also play with levels to make them bigger and the Argonauts smaller. I also liked there flamboyant king as it’s a nice twist to the story that makes it are known and also will entertain the audience as it will be comedic