Unit 11 : Project Proposal

Task 1: Project Proposal.

The specialist discipline I have chosen to do my extensive study on is acting but more specifically, the Stanislavski method and naturalistic acting . The experience I have of implementing this in my acting is the duologues I did in my first year of this UAL course. The first one being a Debby Tucker Green text, 'NUT'  which drew attention to a divorced couple struggling to cohesively raise their child alongside their past issues. Which I performed to peers in a filmed assessment. The second was a text from "Serving it Up!'' By David Eldridge. Serving It Up is an angry and perceptive piece about destructive prejudice and sadness. I played the main female role, Wendy. A theatre practitioner who is of influence in this specialist area of study is Konstantin Stanislavski.The social, political and historical knowledge I am going to look at will be the history of the Stanislavski system and how it has impacted naturalism in modern theatre. The sources I will be using for my research would be websites consisting of historical context such as bitesize and other independent sites in relation to Stanislavski and his system. I will also be going to the library to find books that may be of relevance to Stanislavski and naturalism. This specialist research will help inform my own practice and help me create a three-dimensional character in all future works.

Essay Question:

How has the Stanislavski system influenced contemporary acting practice since the 1950's and informed my own practice?

Unit 10: Personal Statement Justification

Daniella Dennis – UCAS Personal Statement  

[PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR JUSTIFICATION.]

I am currently 18 years old and studying a two-year Performing Arts UAL extended diploma acting programme at Leyton Sixth Form College. In this course I am studying the disciplinary developments of singing, dancing and acting, my favourite discipline being acting. I do not want to attend an institution of further education as I feel that going straight into the industry is a more suitable path for me as I plan to continue working part-time, get an agent as well as take a one year acting class at City Lit to develop my skills as an actress so I would be prepared for roles within Television, radio and Film. I would rather start my career now as a young black female actress and have my career grow with age than in three years’ time. 

I really enjoyed Unit 8 because it was a Unit where I got to spend more time crafting my acting technique and understanding the process of becoming a character. For Unit 8 I performed a monologue called ‘Born Bad’ by debby tucker green, the style of the play was in-yer-face, which is acting that challenges its audience in a clear and direct fashion. To successfully perform this monologue, I had to heighten my knowledge on the entire play, from that I had to annotate my monologue and fully understand why my character feels the way she does, what motivates her reactions. Vocally, from this performance I learned to have more vocal intonation to prevent the scene being lost. I learned how to control and manipulate my voice in order to provoke the intended emotions from the audience and to implement realism. Practitioners such as Stanislavski have greatly contributed to my acting technique because I spent a unit on my course studying his methods of acting, enjoying learning about the system. Over the course of this year I have worked on my own artistry, thus becoming more imaginative, authentic and vulnerable. To contribute to my voice, I learned how to effectively block my piece, by doing this, visually the scene looks better and creates an atmosphere. In addition, it helps me to mentally log when I have to say my lines. This year both singing and acting have taught me the importance of breath control. Regarding singing I’ve learnt to breathe from my diaphragm, instead of breathing from my chest, this has allowed me to hold a note for longer and create and project a bigger sound without running out of breath.  

In secondary school, I was a part of a performing arts production called ‘Make Believe’ where I was trained by lecturers who are presently active in the industry which influenced my choice into studying performing arts in further education. As well as studying full time, I am also working part time as a sales assistant in JD sports. Working and studying share similar requirements of me, team work & communication a necessity to both. At work some of my duties consist of: standards (shutdown), punctual, helping customers, maximize sale profits. I believe that my course has developed my professionalism as this is a very cut-throat industry also allowing me to implement these habits into my work-life. I also worked in a hairdresser as an assistant for professional hair-stylist Selena Williams where I ran the company’s social media page, prepped clients, organized appointments. Due to the experience I gained from working professionally in a hairdresser, I now have my own hair business where I offer a vary of services to clients to further support myself financially. I also take heel dancing classes a Studio 68 as an opportunity to learn something new. 

I am a hard-working individual who uses each day as an opportunity to grow and learn new things. I have no doubt that going straight into the industry is the right choice for me as I have carefully looked at my options. There are many opportunities out there for me and I firmly believe now is the time for me to take them.


Why did I structure my personal statement in this form ? 

A personal statement needs to showcase all your qualities and achievements but at the same time fit neatly on to one page to avoid being dreary. At first I did not know how to structure a personal statement or what to write in it. I was also worried about it not being as appealing as someone who is applying to higher education. In a lesson covering personal statements ,we were told what we needed to include in our personal statements. There were eight questions, such as " What and where have you studied?", I used most of these questions to help write my personal statement. I answered each question in a paragraph or in some covered a few questions in one paragraph. By doing this it helps whomever is reading to clearly see what each section covers and that I am confident within myself and writing. This also displays professionalism and my eye for detail; being able to effectively separate my ideas.

Why in this order?

The reason why my personal statement is in this order is because it is important that I immediately statement and myself. I then go on to say how the training has helped develop me as an actor and what I have taken away from it. This displays my willingness to learn and my passion for the art and my progression throughout the course. The next paragraph is external, it explains how I support myself financially and other activities I take interest in. Finally the last paragraph strongly supports my personal statement in reminding the reader why they should take an interest in me and what I can bring to the table. 

Why did I keep my personal statement fairly generic?


My reason for keeping my personal statement generic is because I wanted to ensure I am presenting myself as applicable as possible for various opportunities. I didn't want it to seem as though I am limiting myself.

 My intent: 

" I believe that my course has developed my professionalism as this is a very cut-throat industry also allowing me to implement these habits into my work-life. I also worked in a hairdressers as an assistant for professional hair-stylist Selena Williams where I ran the company’s social media page, prepped clients, organized appointments. Due to the experience I gained from working professionally in a hairdresser, I now have my own hair business where I offer a vary of services to clients to further support myself financially." - [see paragraph 4 above.]

My intention by including this into my personal statement was to give an insight into another part of my life be siding performing arts. This also shows one of the ways which I may support myself between jobs in my upcoming acting career. It demonstrates my professionalism with working with people and also how I advertise and promote myself in a engaging manner. Which is beneficial as our generation is heavily impacted by social media. 

In the second paragraph I talk about which units I enjoying during the UAL course and what I have gained from it. The reason why I included this into my personal statement is because it is relevant to the industry I am trying to be apart of, it presents my training and my understanding of the three disciplines.

What did I extract from my personal statement?

"In secondary school, I was a part of a performing arts production called ‘Make Believe’ where I was trained by lecturers who are presently active in the industry which influenced my choice into studying performing arts in further education"

The small paragraph above still remains in my personal statement but was originally longer as I went on to say the productions I had been apart of while in this external institution ( for example performing in the West End in a show produced by ' Make Believe') and also how I belonged to an agency ran by the same company. My reason for deducting this from my personal statement is because I didn't think it had much relevance and rather belonged in a cover letter or acting cv.

Unit 10 : Self Reflective Blog 4 (Acting)

Exercise : Voice Projection

In this session we focused on our classical monologues. Our first task was to direct and project our monologues very closely to anything near us, for example I directed my voice to the curtains, we were instructed to say our monologues one word after the other in a slow pace. For me I didn't really find this exercise worked for me as I didn't understand the reason for doing it. Next we had to find a partner and direct our monologue to them getting closer each time we said it. When we were arms width away from each other and we had to hold and remain direct eye contact I found that I found this uncomfortable because I struggle to keep eye contact in general anyways. I now know the reason we practise holding eye contact, is so we get used to the idea of looking past the eyes and just focusing on delivering our monologues. So when we are in auditions we look past the judges and all the nerves that may consume us and just focus on performing our monologues to the best of our abilities.

In partners we sat back to back on the floor, I was partnered with Matas, the aim of the exercise was to listen to your partner read there monologue and give feed back.The key things we had to look out for was authenticity, clarity , projection and if the words resonated with us. I began saying my monologue first, when I had finished, Matas advised I control my breathing more and increase my volume. In my next attempt I said my monologue again implementing his direction into my monologue. I found this sounded much better and much more clearer.

Again sitting down back to back with my partner, our final task was to add context to our monologue, our given scenario was being a prisoner trying to escape however there are guards nearby. I really enjoyed this part of the exercise, I used urgency in my tone and strenuously whispered. My feedback was that this had been the clearest my monologue had ever been performed. I feel that this is because I really emphasised and pronounced my words by really opening my mouth. In future this may be a context I perform my monologue in as it proved to resonate with the class.

Unit 10: Self Reflective Blog 2 (Acting)

Development of Monologues.

In preparation for our mock Arts Ed auditions and real upcoming auditions for those wishing to move on to higher education, in lessons for two weeks we have been learning new techniques and strengthening our monologues by following given training exercises from Justin.

Exercise 1: "Conversation Picnic"

Aim: The aim of the exercise is casually/naturally form a conversation with a partner or within a group, using the dialogue from your chosen monologue.

I did this exercise with Lanya using my Shakespearian monologue, 'As You Like It' as Phoebe, I felt quite comfortable with the exercise and I didn't over think the words I was saying because then I'd be thinking about how I deliver it and that's how people usually fall into the same over exaggerated style of how Shakespeare is performed. By modernizing this, I felt that the speed in my monologue increased because that's how I would usually talk. This was also because of how quickly Lanya reacted to what I was saying and then went on to her monologue. With direction Justin suggested we tried out conversation whilst laughing. This didn't really come natural to me because it wasn't. I thought it would look cringe and not believable, so when I did try this my laugh was more genuine because I didn't believe myself.

Goal: In future, I want to push myself into every element of acting, in this case, comedy. I want to make sure I am well prepared, to make myself more selectable for future opportunities. I think I have gotten really comfortable with serious acting but I feel like I have the diversity in me. When saying this I think of actresses who have now become known for their comedic roles. For example, Raven Symone.

Raven starred in an American supernatural sitcom, as a teenager with psychic abilities. I grew up watching this show and remember her for having a very over the top personality and someone who can make light out of a situation but still takes themselves seriously. She plays into the stereotype of being a loud-mouth,yet funny and beloved literal black girl. Stereotypically most shows and films has one. Raven has a sort of bossy attitude I can relate to and that the audience finds entertaining and wants to see more of.

She uses method acting and becomes this character, so when she is being silly or sarcastic, we believe her.

Exercise 2&3: " Emphasising Urgency"

 #2 Chasing After My Partner:

Aim: To chase after my partner in hoping to grasp their attention and getting them to stop and listen to what I am saying.

My partner was Ruth, I found this exercise a bit challenging because I felt like I was trying hard to get Ruth's attention but then found my self shouting because she was walking so fast away from me and my breathe began to shorten. However I slowed down the pace in my voice but still using the urgency in my voice I spoke to her and made it impossible for her to ignore me by blocking her. When she finally stopped and listened to me I had to remember that now that I had her attention and that I had to hold it. The purpose of holding her attention is that monologues can be long and tedious for an audience if not delivered with importance. My job is to make the audience want to listen to me otherwise the story get lost in a long winded paragraph. So when voicing my monologue I need to remember to be using emotive language, gesture, tone and articulation.

#Whispering My Monologue:

Aim : In a circle, two or more people must whisper their monologues with enough depth in their voice to win the rest of the groups focus.

For me this I found this exercise demanding of me because I felt as though I wasn't whispering properly. I was trying to put meaning into my voice and the emotion I was trying to present was anger however It came across as grunting. I was trying to push my voice so much to make the rest of the group want to listen to me, my monologue wasn't coming out clearly. That indicated to me that I need to use more pronunciation and articulation in my voice. Because had it been an audience and I needed to use whispering for emotional effect and levels of tension; the audience would still need to be able to hear me and understand clearly what I am saying to avoid becoming disconnected from the story.

Exercise 4: "Thought Process"

Aim : Reading your monologue aloud, walk around the space (auditorium) and sharply change your direction when the emotion or thought in your monologue has changed.

For Example:

"If you acting like a bitch as you lookin' on me

 CHANGE ( thought - you are proving me right for calling her a bitch)

 I see you and your bitch ways,

CHANGE ( thought - you are not fooling me, I've seen the way you've acted on a sly. I'm used to it now.)

 Mi guh call you it again mi nuh business

CHANGE (thought- I don't reverence you in any way.)

 Watching you

CHANGE (thought- the nerve of you! You disgust me.)

  Watch me like the bitch bitch you is."

CHANGE ( thought- You have no right to judge me for calling you out your name, you made me, therefore you are a bitch.)

What I took away from this exercise was that there is constantly a thought process going on in my characters mind as she says what she says, so as an actress I must implement this into my monologue in order for it to be fully effective. The change in tone and thought creates depth in my character and presents to the audience a three-dimensional person that they can relate to and by doing this they want to know what my character is about.

Unit 10: Self Reflective Blog 3 (Acting)

                                                         Arts Ed Mock Audition


Friday 18th January

We were given the opportunity to participate in an Arts Ed workshop and experience the layout of how auditioning for higher education would be like.

To begin the experience we started of with a warm up which exercised every aspect of our bodies. From head to toe. This also exercised our minds and kept us alert because we labelled the parts of our bodies with destinations and had to remember the names given in order to keep with the rhythm of movement.

After a few more warms ups the auditions began, we were called in one at a time in alphabetical order. At first I was a bit nervous but after I had heard about the experiences of those who went before me I feel like I entered the auditorium more confidently.

When I entered the room I greeted the panel, then proceeded to state my full name;the name of my character and the play and author she descends from.

- Daniella Nadisha Dennis (my full name)
- Dawta (character name)
- Born Bad ( play name)
- debby tucker green (playwright)


I grabbed a chair as a prop and performed the piece as rehearsed with Justin (see reflective blog 1).

CLICK ME FOR LINK TO MOCK AUDITION FEEDBACK!

The panel decided to redirect me because they wanted to see a build up in my anger towards my mother. I did like the practice of having someone to direct my anger too (see link above) however I personally felt that it was too much shouting and It would be typical to be performed that way. But I understand that in the short time they had with me they most likely wanted to see the level of tension and anger I could reach.

After this experience I can admit that it did make me rethink the option of attending higher education. So I decided to audition for Arts Ed, but at this stage I'm still not sure if that's the journey I would like to take.

Higher education or not, the panel advised me to still continue with training somehow as it will help me in my career development.

1:1 With Katy

In a lesson with Katy, after the Arts Ed audition had already taken place, I had a 1:1 audition style session with Katy because I didn't have one prior to the mock audition. It was interesting to hear her opinion on my monologue. I performed it in the style I rehearsed with Justin because that's the style I enjoyed the most. She said that she felt it was intriguing in the beginning and then boring as it went on. In her point of view she felt that I could've introduced levels of tension in my piece. Which in hindsight is similar to what the panel from Arts Ed was advising me to do. So in future I am going to implement a little bit of everything, what I learnt from Justin and Katy and Arts Ed.

One thing I did like and took on from Katy was her Idea of taking time to use gesture and really milk the moment when I say, " I'll let you look now you wanna - you wanna?"

In that pause between the questioning I could sit down and maybe slouch on my chair showing my attitude and disregard of my mother, giving her and the audience a chance to look at me and be in that moment with me. It also shows my acknowledgement of someone else being In the scene with me.

Unit 10: Self Reflection Blog 1 (Acting)

      1:1 With Justin.

My choice for my contemporary monologue is 'Born Bad' a play written by debby tucker green ( a playwright I have previously studied in Unit 8). Because I studied and performed this monologue for unit 8 last year, doing the monologue this year means that I will be able to see my progression in my acting skills and with the new knowledge of how to successfully execute a monologue; I will be able to strengthen my monologue and explore new ways to approach it by putting my scene in to different scenarios and embodying various emotions.

In preparation for an Arts Ed mock audition, I was given a chance to work with my acting lecturer Justin to help me with my monologue. This was good for me because Justin was my primary teacher for unit 8, so he already knew what my monologue was about and saw the steps I took to get my monologue to the level it is at now. Justin immediately challenged me by advising me to try performing my monologue whilst smiling and laughing. My monologue is very angry and volatile, its about an emotionally damaged daughter who is lashing out at her mother for not protecting her from her abusive father growing up. I listened to Justin and implemented this into my monologue, I gave myself an eyeline where I imagined my mother would be standing or sitting and tried it. Because I changed the emotion, I felt that I needed to change my blocking as well. This further adapted my monologue because my body was reflecting the emotion I was portraying and by doing so it encouraged me because I believed myself and It gave me the stimulus to just go for it. Justin would sometimes stop me in the flow of things just to help me maybe articulate my words better or try something in a different way, I'd listen and implement it into my work. For example there's a line where I say "What, Bitch got summink to say?" At first I found it hard to make this feel natural because I had to act like I heard my mother say something which would provoke my response. So Justin helped me go through this and showed me the different ways I could deliver this line and how I could take my time before I say it. What I had to understand was that my character was highly frustrated with her mother because she was pouring out all her built up and emotions and barely getting any response from her mother let alone regret. She was trying to challenge her mother by saying this because she wanted to provoke her mother,she wanted her mother to give her something because she didn't want her mother to win.

                                                                  

Avenue Q Evaluation

This evaluation is about a Musical Theatre piece that is combined with all disciplines, singing,dancing and acting. It is a famous number from the musical Avenue Q.
           Firstly I will evaluate my professional practice. Throughout the weeks of learning ‘Avenue Q’ I felt as though I wasn't as involved as I had liked to be because I didn't have a main role. I believe I did well working as a collective team with the rest of the class, because Avenue Q represents friendship and togetherness, so we had to show the audience using method acting that we had a long - standing relationship, filled with memories; just as the characters would.
         What could be improved on next time is the alignment and accuracy in some aspects of the performance. For example in the number 'I Wish I Could Go Back To College', we were meant to be in three clear groups, depending on which harmony group we belonged to. On stage the groups were not clearly defined, however I feel as though if our blocking was more rehearsed and positioned differently then the size of the stage wouldn't effect the blocking of our performance. Also in the opening song 'Welcome to Avenue Q'. There were a lot of parts in the choreography where the cast had to be in-sync and were not. It was not highly noticeable but because I am apart of the cast I could  look at the performance and critically analysis how the performance was meant to be executed. It was the little things that would of enhanced the number so much more for example all of our feet aligned perfectly and if we are lunging down, we should all be at the same level, with the same leg put forward. Again I feel this emphasizes the unity of the ensemble to the audience and by doing so makes the overall performance and story more believable.
     What worked well in my opinion was the characterisation used, I felt that I embodied an overly excited resident of Avenue Q and that energy motivated some of my peers to maintain that energy. This was effective because it made the performance more enjoyable and encouraged us to work harder, because once we did that, we believed in our performance which made the audience believe in our performance. This meant that the audience understood the story and could feel more involved and  finally this provoked the right emotive response. The audience laughed and sympathised when they were meant to.
     One thing I felt challenged me personally, was singing and dancing at the same time. This was challenge for me in the previous unit when we performed the chorus line. For example in the finale number “Only For Now”, the movement is faster because I have to be in position for a canon in time or it falls apart and looks messy. Also moving around and singing and maintaining the volume of your voice ; your articulation ; your tone; harmonies and holding a note is a lot to do at the same time. How I will approach to better myself in this situation is to keep practising and rehearse my vocal watm- ups externally as I feel this may help with my breathing.