Paradise Lost Scene Update

After working with the scene today, I feel like the movement we added really helps the flow of the scene and makes it more natural. I feel as if I get into the scene more when I am moving around because moving around requires you to focus more as you are doing more than one thing at a time. I feel as long as I keep working on the scene, it will continue to improve. It's getting in better and better shape.

Acting Update

I feel like my scene from the Good Woman of Setzuan is getting better. It's starting to feel more natural. I don't know how to add the drunk part in though. If I don't feel drunk, how would I act drunk? I'm not so much worried about the flow anymore because I feel like that's been figured out. It's the drunk aspect  mainly. I want to know how to fake something well and not change the natural acting part of the scene.

Monologue Update

This still needs a lot of work and probably won't be ready for STAC Night. It seems more like a work in progress as I've been focusing more on scene work as there isn't a time where I'm unable to work with my scene partners. Memorization wise, I'm alright. But acting wise, I'm not. I still have to figure out how to block the scene and how to not fake what I'm doing. A lot of what is said in the monologue seems so farfetched and something I'd never do which makes it slightly harder to relate to as when you're acting, you're using your experiences as a basis but since I've never had experience with drinking or bar fights or sneaking out of my house, it's slightly harder for me to do. So, overall I feel like this will be a larger learning experience as I've never seriously worked with a monologue before so this is like a test run. Scene work is easier now since I've done some serious work with scenes in the past year but since this is the first time I'm working on a monologue in depth, it's not as easy.

The Good Woman of Setzuan Scene

I feel like there's a lot more work that needs to be done with this scene. After trying out the scene in different ways, I feel it works a lot better for me when I act drunk. It works in the context of the play as Yang Sun is depressed, feels like a failure and wants to kill himself. The other ways I've tried to play it, mainly a sober depressed guy, it doesn't work. I don't feel any connection and it feels fake. Acting drunk adds a whole new level of something to work with and it makes the scene work better and overall a lot more fun to be in. Since it's a long scene, I'd say right now my biggest problem is knowing the order of things and since we haven't had much of a chance to work with it since I'm in a few scenes, it's still a problem. So, overall it just needs to be worked on more.

Paradise Lost Scene Update

I feel like this scene has been going well. Trying out the scene in different environments and in different styles has really helped me a lot. It's helped me learn that your environment changes the way the scene plays out and the emotions that you feel. If you're in a more serene environment, that is going to effect your mood and change the way you act. The different surroundings is going to make your react differently to certain things because there is a different place for you to move to or a different way for you to sit. Ultimately, I feel like the scene is going well. I feel like I understand the scene and it feels natural every time I go through it.

The STAC Script

I have begun writing a script. I do not have a goal for the script. By this, I mean I am writing for the sake of writing. Next to acting, singing, an dancing, writing is something I truly enjoy. I like creating another reality. I dive into a whole new world and that I lead. It feels somewhat like the role Ed Harris had in "The Truman Show" as a comparison. Right now, I haven't had much time to write in STAC since my acting major takes up most of the time so I only have roughly 5-6 pages which is nothing. It took so long to write these pages because I am writing everything with meaning. Everyone's name has a meaning behind. It's sort of like Sondheim. All the character's names have a meaning. Nothing is done for no reason.

Acting Update

I started another scene in Friday and I feel like I'm off to a good start. I found out the key moment that drives the scene for me. I let everything happen naturally. Nothing seemed unnatural or too over the top. Each time I start a new scene, I feel like it gets easier to not "act" and just be myself. I finally feel like I'm improving! 

Acting Update

I worked on a scene yesterday and I felt like it went well. I was told I needed to be more active at certain parts. Not like active as in exercise, but more "bouncing around."  My problem is I don't know how to do this without faking. Yesterday I was physically and mentally exhausted beyond belief. I could have faked the bouncing around but it would be very obvious. So all in all, I think what I'm trying to ask is if I'm supposed to act how I feel in a scene, how do I act what I'm not feeling without faking?  

Acting Inquiry Update

This is a slightly delayed post. Last Thursday, I started to reflect how the skills I've learned were being applied to the new scene I was assigned. I feel like I was applying them well. Doing the scene felt very natural, nothing was too over the top and I wasn't trying to become someone. I was simply myself in the script's situation. I would like to learn more about not having this sense of character because my plan is to possibly apply an accent to when I speak but I would have a different accent which means I have a sense of character but if I'm myself, there is no character, it's just myself. That sentence confused me so it must be confusing to read which shows that this idea of character is unclear to me.

Acting Inquiry

After presenting a scene from Clifford Odett's "Golden Boy," I feel accomplished. My acting skills have improved a lot and that makes me joyful as I'm improving at what I love to do. I'd like to do something very similar to what we did in 3rd quarter and maybe branch off what we learned. I feel like I need to work more with playing with the script . I didn't do anything very daring. I could have done more with my scene. What I did wasn't awful, but it could have been more creative. So all in all, I'd like to something similar to what 3rd quarter gave us.

Acting Inquiry Update

I've made a lot of progress from the beginning of third quarter to now. When I ran through my scene from Clifford Odett's Golden Boy, I felt like a lot of it was working out. The emotions were real and I was connected to my partner and captivated in the scene. I could play around with my part more though. I was serious for most of the scene but there are different ways I could play the scene out so I have to experiment and see how things play out.

Update

I was able to apply what I learned from my Acting Inquiry today at my audition for the musical Sweeney Todd. I read for the Judge. Before I even started the scene, all of the things about beats, tactics, and the skills acquired from the repeating exercise went through my head. I let everything naturally while at the same time making character choices. I find out either today or tomorrow the part I get. I'm hoping for Sweeney Todd because he's the most interesting in my opinion but the Judge or Anthony are great parts too. Almost all of the male parts in Sweeney Todd are fun.

Quarter Four Plans

For my major area of emphasis, I'm going to focus on my film/drama acting studies. I'm more exploring the aspects of these types of acting rather than having a finished product. I envision the end result to be me having a greater knowledge of a a film/drama acting. I'm not sure if I'm working alone or collaborating. I'd prefer to collaborate as exploring new waters alone is quite dangerous. My community will be the actors that focused on the film/drama type of acting during Quarter Three. Right now, I have a smaller knowledge about a film/drama type of acting. I plan to have a greater understanding of these types of acting by the end of the quarter. The five criteria that I will be graded on for fourth quarter are (note that these are subjected to change as I have little knowledge how to grade someone's acting endeavors, this makes little to no sense to me) by following the seven point blog system, having a scene/monologue presented at the end of the quarter, having evidence of script analysis, by pondering what does and does not make sense and by updating where I am and where I hope to be.
My minor project will be writing a script that I've been hoping to write for a while. I'm writing this script because writing for leisure calms me down and helps me de-stress, which is also why writing this script will be useful for me. It will be fun because I've been meaning to write for a while and haven't had the chance to. I have no plans of this script being put up as a film this quarter as there will not be enough time because of my major area of focus.
For my biography, I plan to read about Nathan Lane. He is a very well known musical theatre actor and  I feel like I would enjoy reading about him. The following link is a link to the book's description.
http://www.amazon.com/Nathan-Lane-Handbook-Everything-about/dp/1486468969/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366076009&sr=1-1&keywords=nathan+lane I look forward to reading about him as he's part of two hilarious musicals which I'm fond of. Those two are "A Funny Thing That Happened on the Way to the Forum" and "The Producers."

Quarter Three Analysis

            I started Quarter Three with a full cup of knowledge on acting that wasn’t necessarily very advanced or professional. Most of my knowledge of acting is more musical theatre based and not so much film acting or drama acting. I want knowledge of each type of acting so I have more options open to me in the future. The more I know about the different types of acting, the better actor I will be. At the end of Quarter Three, I explored a film/drama type of acting and my skills have improved greatly. I’ve learned numerous techniques and methods to act and make it seem like real life. Acting is essentially an actual conversation but with scripted words. I have a much better sense of what film/drama type acting is.

            This journey learning how to become a better film/drama actor was not an easy one. I've learned that one of my main problems is that I'm too focused on being correct. I was not letting things happen spontaneously in a scene. I was searching for a particular way for something to be done and that simply doesn't exist. Every scene is done differently. Everyday you will bring something different to the scene. A different director may have a different view from another director. There are so many variables that there can't be one set way to do something. Part of me has always wanted to make sure I'm doing whatever I'm doing correctly and since there is no correct way of doing a scene, it made learning this film/drama type of acting very difficult for me. But I must say I’m proud of myself for sticking through all the problems and moving forward. Once I was taught how something should look, I went off and explored the lesson. I practiced a lot.

Eventually, I had a breakthrough. I started listening more closely to my scene partner. This greatly changed the way I act as it's much more like a real conversation. Acting and real life have one main difference; acting has the words all planned out and most of the time in real life you do not. The other breakthrough I felt I had is acting more like myself. I was not trying to be someone else. I was reacting as I would in the scene and bringing something to the scene rather than attempting to be something else. Of course as one problem is solved and a breakthrough has been reached, another problem opens up so the learning continues.

Going and practicing what I learned really helped. Also, pondering on my practices and what I was learning really helped. I need to analyze new things that I learn so I can remember the concept in the future. I regret being so stressed over learning these new types of acting. I stress over everything and that definitely does not change when it comes to learning new acting methods. But my dreams to pursue a career in acting inspired me to go further. Even though I find musical theatre the most fun for me, I know learning an film/drama acting will greatly benefit me in the future.

For fourth quarter, I plan to continue practicing film/drama type acting. I will most likely study another scene and analyze it for beats, objectives and tactics as I did this quarter. As I’ve said, the more you practice, the better you’ll get and I want to be the best I can be. I studied a play this quarter so maybe next quarter I’ll study more film scenes than drama scenes. I plan to make the most out of my last quarter as a high school sophomore.

Page One of Scene Analysis

Page Two of Scene Analysis

Page Three Analysis

My Acting Breakthroughs

I feel like I've finally made breakthroughs in my film/drama acting inquiry. I'm listening more closely to my scene partner. This greatly changed the way I act as it's much more like a real conversation. Acting and real life have one main difference; acting has the words all planned out and most of the time in real life you do not. The other breakthrough I felt I have is acting more like myself. I'm not trying to be someone else. I'm reacting as I would in the scene and bringing something to the scene rather than attempting to be something else. Of course as one problem is solved and a breakthrough has been reached, another problem opens up so the learning continues.

Movement in a Scene

I further examined how movement is related to the relationship between the people on stage. I knew the two were related but I was not sure how exactly they were. To my surprise, I understood the concept completely. There's only a few concepts. If one person is "attacking" the other, one person is getting up in the other's face, closer, while the other is probably going away to avoid being attacked. Another concept I learned when two people are flirting or confessing to each other or something along the lines of that. The two people that would most likely be a lot closer as the scene would be more intimate. Or the final concept, both people are going away from each other; they both do not want anything to do with the other. The movement combined with the mood of the scene greatly improved the way the scene looked and felt much more natural.

Establishing Beats

I analyzed the scene I'm working on by dividing it into beats. I found this really helped me understand the scene itself and build a better chemistry with the other character in the scene. I have a better idea of what she's trying to do and her intentions and it helped me better understand my character and his intentions. Each beat revealed something new that helped me in a different way. I feel like I may be getting tactics and beats confused but somehow they're intertwined because the mood of the beat will lead to how you react and that reaction has a tactic whether it's intentional or not. Hopefully the more I learn new things about this style of acting, the easier it will get.

Identifying a Problem

I've learned that one of my main problems is that I'm too focused on being correct. I'm not letting things happen spontaneously in a scene. I'm searching for a particular way for something to be done and that simply doesn't exist. Every scene is done differently. Everyday you will bring something different to the scene. A different director may have a different view from another director. There are so many variables that there can't be one set way to do something. Part of me has always wanted to make sure I'm doing whatever I'm doing correctly and since there is no correct way of doing a scene, it's making this film/drama type of acting very difficult for me. I've made progress but there is a lot more to be done. What I have to do exactly, I'm not exactly sure as I'm still trying to process everything. I'm moving one step at a time and trying to look ahead and plan everything out like I usually do.

Repeating Exercise Struggles

Today we did the repeating exercise and I was completely off on what I said yesterday. I have no idea what I'm doing. I am completely lost. I'm lost in trying to explain why I am lost. That's how confused I am and it's frustrating me. I'm told I'm close to not acting in the scene and acting like myself. I don't know what that feels like when I'm in the scene. I can't tell. If I can't tell when I get it, how will I know when I've succeeded? I'm a very organized person. I always know what I need to do get from Point A to Point B and I know when I've reached Point B. There is no Point A or Point B here. I don't know how to get there and I won't know when I do so this is why it's extremely frustrating. I expect to get more and more frustrated in the upcoming days and even though I'm close to this next breakthrough, I won't know when I do. From what it seems like, it's so simple that when I actually get it, it will feel like nothing so again I won't know I did anything. This frustrates me even more. Essentially, all of this is really frustrating.

More of the Repeating Exercise

I've learned why this exercise slowly gets more and more tedious and boring. I've finally reached that state. But even through the boredom, the exercise still helps. I continued the exercise again today with my partner and it went very well. It came very easily and I'm understanding the concept of it. We applied that to our Odets scene. We went through the scene and if we felt that our partner was either acting or simply saying the line, we repeated what they said until they got it right. I found this extremely helpful. I started to realize even more the difference between actually feeling an emotion going off that as opposed to acting an emotion. This is another major step in my film/drama acting breakthrough.