Week 5

As said last week, we focused all on the film and camera aspect. This was the first time we practiced and filmed the basics of what our short film would look like. However it was filmed in a rehearsal studio with black backdrop, so was just a practice run to get use to acting as naturalistic as possible and look convincing and confident as our characters. We decided placed a bench on stage left which i walked all the way to from stage right at the beginning of the filming. After filming this, i felt it was unnecessary to sit down but to stand up and look intrigued of whats happening around her. Many of my body movements and actions where very over exagerated to how would look in real life. After the recording of the scene with the camera one of my weaknesses to build on was to pull back on that exageration to convince the naturalism of the character and situation thats going on around her.

After that morning lesson we had a 2 hour lesson on screen acting to get the foundations of screen acting. While i sat on the chair and delivered my lines to the person in front of me (to which was on the camera an over shoulder shot) and focused on the little movements such as eye sight and pausing for the thoughts of the character which somehow shows to the camera very clearly. This showed me that in order to get this naturalism for Rosalind i need to understand and research my character more. Asking myself questions for my thought processes such as:

'What is that shepherdess talking about? why is she looking at me like that?'  and 'How can i convince this shepherdess to fall in love with this Shepard'

With this thought process shown through pauses when filming it will show clearly these thoughts to her character. Making it realistic and natural.

Week 4

Focusing more on the screen aspect rather than theatre, meaning not over exaggerating the body as much as we have to show to a live audience on a stage. As we have a media group to professionally film our contemporary version of our chosen scene of act 3 scene 5 with the three characters Rosalind, Silvius and Phoebe, we started to develop and improve specifically what moves and actions used and Finally deciding on a specific set and story journey.

We wanted something based in the modern day and age, so it's easy for the audience watching to understand it better with it's contemporary twist. However trying to think of a short story line to base it on the specific scene of when Rosalind tries to match the two characters Phoebe and Silvius together as a love pair to start with was rather a difficult and challenging task. As shown from the picture above, we brainwaves and thought of many scenarios to link each of the characters. Then finally settles with the idea of it being based at a house party which the two characters Phoebe and Silvius are both at. 

Another wall as a group we hit was how to link Rosalind to this specific moment, it couldn't be random and unnecessary and had to make scene within the short film. Then linking it to her disguise as Ganymede i had the idea of her dressed as a male and as she walks past the house party late at night, the two loudly exit the house overly tipsy and having a drunk argument with Silvius being a soppy drunken love puppy. With Rosalind being nosy and watching in the dark with her hood up in the background, Phoebe notices her thinking she is a male and drunkenly tries to make Silvius jelous. This scenario works with the scene very well as it connects not only to the moments happening within that scene but also moments happening before then in the play such as 'why she is disguised as a male?' To answer this question in our film i decided for the first shot of the film should be of Rosalind's feet walking on the path then treading on a  recent newspaper which has a picture of her normally as a female as a 'missing person'. This is so the watchers understand her disguise straight from the start of the film. But to make it clearer that it is her in the photo and when she is disguised she has a small tattoo on her wrist which is clearly shown in the photo in the news article and then as the camera pans up from Rosalind you notice a glimpse of the same tattoo on her wrist while she is walking.

As well as the technical aspects of the project, we have to connect to each other clearly as well, showing that i am a stranger to them and when they start talking to me i am taking aback, especially while a drunken Phoebe tries to take her chances with Rosalind. We have to be realistic and naturalistic for the camera, not being to over the top with out facial expressions. This will be a weakness which will be focused on for next weeks lesson which is all based on acting Shakespeare for film and camera.

 

Week 3

This week consisted of trying to make our voice and speech naturalistic as possible, however due to only studied theatre and stage acting, trying to adapt this to screen acting and to make Shakespeare contemporary for the screen is a challenge within itself. As i performed another classical monologue from another play called 'King john' and did Constances monologue. I got feedback which could also help with this project. I noticed as i was performing my Shakespearean speech far to quickly, making me loose the thought of the character and not showing my characters thought process, making her seem inhuman and very unrealistic. I however had the exact same problem with the well known Rosalind monologue based in act 3. So transferred this and added certain pauses in the speech, for example:

"Why...what means this?...why do you look so upon me? I see no more in you than in the ordinary of natures saleswork *Though process* od's my little life, i think she means to tangle my eyes too"

The slight pauses and thoughts not only show the audience the change in their mood and thoughts but also makes the scene humorous because she finally realizes that she has made a woman fall in love with her while disguised as Ganymede. Her thoughts at this time are very awkward and trying to solve this whole situation is very awkward for her especially.

As well as thought tracking, I researched further into the techniques that Shakespeare used, for example the use of iambic pentameter however, i cannot use this in her monologue to her speaking about love. As noticed while reading this play and getting the understanding of the character and her use of speech and language she actually rarely speaks in iambic pentameter but in verse instead. Most of the time she is talking about love which is always by this character specifically spoken in only blank verse. So in order to get my characters emotions and thoughts across i had to emphasise certain words to stand out for example:

"You are a thousand times a proper man than she a woman, 'tis not her glance but you that flatters her"

From that line the emphasis on 'she' 'her' and 'you' shows how determined she is to convince the shepherd to not give up on fighting for Audrey love and attention, showing how desperate Rosalind is to get away from this mess.

Week 2

This week  focused on Physically understanding the text by using many methods and techniques. However in order to do these methods with the best effect possible we needed to know the lines and be off script. These techniques not only help to make our characters look and sounds more naturalistic but to change the mood of how we say the speech, trying out different tones. This is also known as 'Freeing the text'.

Lying down on back- This is whenever the mood changes within your speech roll over to your other side while still carrying on with your scene, this physically shows the changes of their characters mood/emotions.

Translating the speech to your own language and the said again originally- This helps you to understand the actually meaning of the text and stop translating before the change of moods and say the same line again but in the original language in the script, again showing the change of mood but showing a better understanding and meaning of how the character feels.

Drawing on paper while lying on floor- This helps the Shakespearean language flow and feels naturalistic as well as also showing the pauses of thought tracking, shown very effectivily, however different things that you draw determing the mood and performasnce of the speech said out loud:
 .Meditative-  drawing your 1st house or school
 .Fussy- draw pattern from the enviroment you're in
 .Active- draw what you see out of a window of from the other side of the room
 .Letter-  Write a letter while saying speech, as if your writing your thoughts down, showing a natural though process of the character

Naturalistic speaking- Speak normally to the audience about anything i.e. what you did the last time you worked or what you did this morning then as a random clap is heard suddenly start the speech, giving more naturalism and less frozen and false

Stacking chairs- stack chairs from one side of the room to the other while saying speech normally, doing this showed my over thinking and falseness while also showing new and realistic thought processes such as grunts and whining. Exploring new stresses and intonations.

The whole point of this week focused on 'freeing the text'. This helped to not being too present but allowing your character to 'just be'. Also letting the language speak for itself and helping me not to fake or force it, letting one thought process lead to another with fluidity. The exercises above helped to explore and develop this. Helping to make Rosalind a more natural and realistic character to the audience.

Week 1

Practically we had to plan how to develop our chosen scene and make this contemporary and able to be filmed. The scene that was chosen was Act 3 scene 5 when Rosalind is disguised as Ganymede and tries to convince a shepherdess called Audrey to fall in love with Silvius however  Audrey has fallen in love with Rosalind who at the time is disguised as a man. Making the whole thing very comical for the audience who knows whats happening on both sides of the story.

I have focused a lot on characterisation this week especially, doing a 3 hour work shop based on characterisation development and status's of the character. Many exercises helped to show how much my character has a higher status than others in the scene. For example one exercise was was physically showing height wise how much of a status difference we all had as our characters and as soon as Rosalind enters the scene while saying "And why? who might be you're mother that you insult, exult and all at once over the wretched?" She suddenly lowers Audrey's and i was always on top the chair looking down upon Audrey. This helped me to see that Rosalind is trying to be 'Cruel to be kind' to Audrey to make her see sense in this whole situation.

Finding and developing the character for me has been a challenge, this may be because of her dramatic changes of her attitude. For example in a duologue with Orlando at first she is being all soppy and in love with him then the next moment cold as stone and insulting him. Showing her confusing of her true feelings. This made me think that maybe this character tries to have a stone hard personality but actually in fact when she hasn't got her barrier up towards others she is a soft delicate women but doesn't show it. My point is backed up by how comfortable she actually is when she is disguised as a man, she is cocky and confident and totally out of her own character.

As well as characterisation i studied on the actual language and the texts' meaning. This would help us not only know what we are actually saying but make it sound as realistic and natural as possible, using the language and literature techniques such as Iambic pentameter to help through the guide lines that Shakespeare wrote within the script. As i wrote notes and annotated my script i realized that in fact Rosalind spoke more prose than verse, even though she is a nobel character which means they normally spoke in verse. However there is verse with Iambic pentemeter as shown from below from her character:

 "I'll graff it with you, and then i shall graff 
it with a medlar; then it will be the earliest fruit
i'th'country: for you'll be rotten ere you be half ripe,
and that's the right virtue of the medlar"

This is a quotation from Rosalind from Act 3 scene 2  when she is talking to Touchstone however she is now disguised as Ganymede and trying to shove off touchstone because he keeps talking about how obsessed Orlando is of her. This one of few that are in Iambic pentameter but also has other literature devices such as rhymes.