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TV and Film Blog 4

What scenes have you watched today?

Today we watched scenes from Peep Show, Naked, Broadchruch, Educating Rita and Withnail & I. The Peep Show scene is based on a man called Jez trying to ruin his own interview in attempt to not get the job. The next clip, naked were around a Scottish man looking for someone called ‘Maggie’ in London and met up with another man during this scene. The next clip, Broadchurch was a clip of a man called Alec making a visit to a couple’s home. The next clip from ‘Educating Rita’ was about a women named Rita who has just been asked to re-do her essay after answering a question with one line answer. Next, Withnail & I was about two men coming to visit their Uncle Monty at his home. Lastly, the second Peep Show clip shows two men at the bar discussing a track.

Technically what did you notice about the scenes you watched? (Camera angles, sound, lighting, costume, location)

Peep Show #1. What I noticed specifically about this scene was the camera. The camera changed to zoom in on whoever was talking within the room. What I also noticed and found interesting in this scene was the camera was used as if from Jez as a person. For example, when Jez is nodding and speaking in thoughts, the camera nods with in, which showed the camera was used as if from Jez’s view in the room and his eyes. The camera was also used in this way to show what Jez was looking at. For example, If Jez was to look at the man or woman at the table, the camera angle would turn to show the idea of Jez looking at them in the room whilst they are talking, the camera would zoom out and face on Jez to show him through the camera looking at them in the scene to show this through full-view. I also noticed, the camera was slightly wobbly and the image was not still when filming, I think this was to show the other man at the table looking at Jez when he is talking likewise in showing Jez looking through his eyes, it would show him looking from his view at Jez also I noticed the lighting was clear in the scene and was bright to show day-time. The location was in a interview office and the costumes was suits/smart wear for the scene to show the image and costume of the interview. I noticed sound was clear and the dialogue was used to show Jez’s thoughts as well as in speaking out loud. This was shown when Jez say in his his thoughts ‘My natural bloody charm is only swinging it, got to do something’ then pull a face a the woman interviewing him. 

Naked. What I noticed about the camera angles was that the camera began from a distance but then as both men starting talking, the camera zoomed in. As the camera zoomed in, it showed cars driving by on the camera close-up showing that the cars came in contact and blocked the scene whilst the camera was filming at that particular angle. The camera also zoom in even more on both men as they are sat together. As the camera zoomed in at this moment, the camera caught people’s legs as they were walking past the scene which was another part of the scene which got blocked. Towards the end of the scene, The camera is aimed at both men whilst talking before on of the men walk off, the camera shows the men clear whilst they are talking, but the background of the camera is blurred. I noticed the lighting was particularly dark with the men being outside at night, but as the men walked past shops together, the light from the shops windows caught light on the camera and the scene appeared brighter during this part of the scene. I noticed the sound picked up car driving past and also a police siren, throughout the scene, there was mostly always background noise. he location was outside and the costume one of the men had was dirty shoes and jeans and the other dressed all in black. The dirty costume I noticed was used to enhance the type of character this man was.

Broadchurch. I noticed the camera at the beginning of this scene is faced towards the woman who opens the door, from this angle this shows her expression when opening the door to Alec. There is only a couple of camera angle during this scene, when Alec is talking about his name, the camera changes to face both the man and woman to capture their expressions whilst he is talking to them but then the camera faces to show Alec again whilst he is talking to them. I noticed the lighting is a very low and dim light in the house where they was filming. Costume wise Alec is wearing a suit wheras the other two are dressed in casual clothing, suggesting Alec made more of an effort for the occasion giving his suit and him bringing around wine, chocolate and flowers.

Educating Rita. I noticed that during the talk between Rita and the man at the beginning before she returns to the desk that the camera angles switch between her and the man, mainly switched in her to show her reaction and expression in response to the man. This same camera angle witches between the two when she returns after re-writing her answer to the question, showing the camera angle capturing both of their expressions during their conversation. Other camera angles show wide view of the office when Rita is going and returning from her desk. I noticed the lighting was quite dim light though it was still in clear lighting enough to see the character’s exchanged expression. 

Withnail & I. I noticed at the beginning the camera angle was far back so you could see the whole of the room, though when the men sat down together, the camera angle zoomed in to them when talking. The camera angle changed to capture actors expressions and also changed showing different parts of the room to show the two men looking at his ornaments. The lighting was quite low in the room but was bright to capture the reactions of the men. The costumes were smart wear by all men. The sound, I felt wasn’t as clear as the first clips and appeared a lot quieter and sometimes hard to hear.

Peep Show #2. I noticed the camera angles in the second clip of Peep Show was used the same as the first clip. They was used to show how the men in the scene was looking from their own angles. For example, when they shake hands, the camera is turned down or to look at the barmaid, the camera turns, to show the idea of the actor turning his head to look around. The camera was close-up on the men when talking switching from one to the other, capturing responses to each other. The light was really bright and clear in this clip and showed daytime. The costume was casual wear and showed this in the two main actors and people in the background of the pub.

What was most notable in the scenes? (In terms of acting)

Peep Show #1. I noticed in the acting in Peep Show that the acting was emphasized a lot within the scene. For example, the facial expression of both the men character were emphasized and they both emphasized their reactions especially when Jez and the other man react together during the end. I noticed the scene and acting wasn’t realistic and this was shown through the type of dialogue Jez used and responded in the interview. Though the scene and dialogue is not realistic, I noticed the actor that played Jez spoke in a casual and natural tone to his voice and also monotone. He also appeared slightly slouched in his physicality on the chair to show his character’s attempt of lack of professionalism whereas the other character appeared to have a uptight and straight posture during the scene.

Naked. I noticed in the acting of the man searching for someone named Maggie that he spoke in an informal way with a Scottish accent and slang. The actor showed physicality well as his character as he always was looking around him throughout the scene to show him looking for someone and also, as he played an actor with a tick, this was also consistent through his physicality as he always jerked his head. The informal accent was also consistent in the acting and his use of projection when shouting ‘Maggie’. The other man also had good physicality, the physicality was a straight posture when walking or standing and this was characteristic was shown well. The man spoke in a naturalistic tone and kept an accent throughout when talking to the other man.

Broadchurch. I noticed in the acting particularly Alec that his physicality remained quite tense and tight during the scene when stood in the kitchen suggesting he’s slightly uncomfortable. Though he appears uncomfortable physically, he uses and remains eye contact with them when talking to the pair. I also noticed he uses gesture in the acting such as shaking his head gesture when saying he doesn’t like Alec and when raising his hand towards the woman when using her as an example. Overall, I noticed the acting was naturalistic, especially vocal wise.

Educating Rita. I noticed both character both naturalistic towards each other when engaging in a conversation. I noticed in the man, that his acting was very formal in the way he responded back to Rita about the essay and that he appeared as a professional character. Though I felt Rita’s response was informal in the way she responded back, I also thought Rita’s character was informal when walking away from the desk when raising her hand up and walking strangely away from the desk doing a funny walk, showing a unnatural exaggerated response.

Withnail & I. I noticed the acting in this was naturalistic throughout the clip. All actors spoke in a naturalistic tone, their expressions were also natural. The characters between each other captured eye contact when talking and naturally created reactions in conversation.

Peep Show #2. I noticed the acting in this clip was also naturalistic in their conversation between each other. I also think the reactions were used naturally. For example, when the other man says he thinks the track not very good, he appears awkward towards telling the other man the ‘tracks shit’ and doesn’t say this straight away which I feel was really naturalistic in showing how he appears awkward in showing negativity and portrays this well.

What genre was the scene?

The genres of the scene were comedy.

What skills/ techniques were used by the actors?

Comedy timing. Comedy timing was one of the techniques I noticed most in watching the clips. I noticed this mostly in Peep Show and Educating Rita. Their reactions and responses was timed well to make them comical in their dialogue and this was a technique used to enhance their reactions and responses to other characters to make the moment comical. 

Naturalism. Naturalism was something I noticed the actors use in these clips. Naturalism was used when actors were talking to other actors as characters to make the scene believable and realistic and was used in regards to their expression to match how their character feels appropriately to the given circumstance.

Physicality. Physicality was a skill I noticed particularly in the clip ‘Naked’. When the man appeared to have a tick and jerk his neck, this showed well the use of physicality as his character and kept this specific movement consistent throughout the clip.

What techniques did you learn today?

We did not learn any acting techniques today.

How might this be useful in film and tv acting?

We did not learn any acting techniques today.

Scene

What was the scene you work on?

We did not work of any scenes today.

How did you approach the scene?

How did you approach the character?

No scene were watched during this lesson.

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TV and Film Blog 3

What scenes have you watched today?

Today we didn’t watch any scenes as we worked on our preparation and practicing our Eastender’s scene.

Technically what did you notice about the scenes you watched? (Camera angles, sound, lighting, costume, location)

We did not watch or look at any scenes today.

What was most notable in the scenes? (In terms of acting)  

We did not watch or look at any scenes today.

What genre was the scene?

We did not watch or look at any scenes today.

What skills/ techniques were used by the actors?

We did not watch or look at any scenes today.

Techniques

What techniques did you learn today?

How might this be useful in film and tv acting?

We did not learn any new techniques today as we worked just on our Eastender’s script

Scene

What was the scene you work on?

Today we worked with our chosen groups on a scene from Eastenders where it is set in Max and Tanya’s house with their two children Abi and Lauren and they are eating breakfast and Abi has made some card for both Max and Tanya for valentines day.

How did you approach the scene?

We approached the scene with finding props to create the image and setting of the scene to the camera. Me and Lydia approached the scene by finding props from the green room to help show the scene of us all at the breakfast table, we found prop milk and orange juice and a bowl and spoon to show me eating cereal. We approached the scene by setting up the table landscape with both Emily and Declan facing forward and me and Lydia at the sides of the table. We approached the setting of the scene this way so the camera would capture Emily and Declan the most, being the scene is revolved around their relationship and how they both feel towards valentine’s day. Therefore, the camera would capture all their facial expressions, body language and the two as a couple.

How did you approach the character?

I approached my character as a young character and decided to base Lauren on the age of 13. Therefore, when Lydia enters as Abi who has made valentine’s cards for both Emily and Declan and I say my line *unimpressed* ‘There not interested in Valentine’s Day’ I say this very sarcastic and in an immature tone to show my character with a attitude of a young teenager in the scene. I also approached the character through acting tired whilst eating cereal. I approached this scene as tired to show the idea of my character has just woken up and only just gone down for breakfast and is tired at this time in the morning so another way I approached my character was with a relaxed and slouched posture at the dinner table to also show my character’s age range through this kind of posture, I felt using this posture also helped show my character as tired which was what I was aiming for.

What were your thoughts on the scene?

My thoughts on the scene was that Abi was a much younger character than Lauren in the scene given that her character was really enthusiastic and awake in the morning and was enthusiastic towards given a valentine’s card for both her mother and father for their approval and reaction which made me think her character was young wanting to do this for her parents. My thoughts towards Tanya was that she wanted to go out for Valentine’s day with Max and she was unhappy about not going out on the day, when Max says they were going to go out the weekend and Tanya says ‘But not tonight’ my thought was that she as a character values Valentine’s day and wants to celebrate the occasion with Max and she wants to make it know to him at this point that going out on the weekend isn’t the same because the occasion would have passed, suggesting to me she is a romantic character. Also, my thoughts when Tanya quickly says to Max ‘You said you’d do anything to make me happy’ her character is aiming to try and persuade him to celebrate Valentine’s Day and hopes that by saying this, Max may feel guilty ignoring her happiness and will give in and celebrate Valentine’s day, given me thoughts that Tanya’s character makes the most effort for the couple to spend quality time together and when she sees that she hasn’t got through to Max on celebrating Valentine’s day, she then decides to ring up to arrange a meal and take matter into her own hands. My thoughts on Max’s character was that he clearly wasn’t interested in celebrating Valentine’s day and the couple both have different views on Valentine’s day being an important day. When Max ‘Why’d you think I hate Valentine’s night? I don’t like being told when to be romantic’ makes me think that Max is not in the mood to celebrate Valentine’s day and the tradition doesn’t mean a whole big deal to him. My thoughts on them as a couple is that they have problems in their relationship that they don’t show in front of their children. I thought that the couple seemed more tense when talking about Valentine’s day once Abi and Lauren left and this could be why Tanya really wants to celebrate Valentine’s day, to maybe patch up and work on their relationship. Also when Tanya says ‘You don’t like being told we need counselling either’ also suggest she’s trying to work on their relationship and that Tanya is trying to make it better whilst Max is ignoring it.

What issues are in the scene that you were looking at?

The issue I saw within the scene was relationship problems when Tanya mentions the couple needing counselling.

Evaluating your role What were the strengths of your scene?

Props. I think one of our strengths of the scene was props. I felt the props helped create the realism of the scene and helped show the setting of the scene at the breakfast table well in our piece and the valentine’s card also helped make the realism too.

Naturalism. I felt as a group, we used naturalism really well and it was one of our strongest points as a group as we all spoke at a natural and appropriate tone for the scene which I felt made our characters as a group believable in the scene.

Characterization. I think our characterization worked really well and you could tell the difference in age between children and adults in the scene and the contrast between us at characters were shown well within the scene and thought it was clear the kind of characters that we portrayed.

What were the weaknesses of your scene?

Eye contact. I think as characters, I felt we all could of made more eye contact with each other at the breakfast table, given we are a family and felt there could have been more eye contact used between us all during dialogue.

Projection. I think that we all needed to project lines more within the scene at times as sometimes it might have been too quiet for the camera to pick up some lines and this would affect the whole scene from missing small parts of dialogue.

Choose a scene performed by somebody else in the group what did you enjoy?

I really enjoyed Chantelle’s group’s interpretation of the Eastender’s script. I enjoyed both Chantelle and Connor’s interpretation of their characters. I really liked Chantelle’s portrayal of Abi and how she was really enthusiastic and happy when giving the Valentine’s day cards, I thought that she really showed her character’s emotion across really well and this created good characterization. I also enjoyed Connor’s portrayal of Max as he played it really casual and relaxed which I felt worked well with the scene and his character.

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TV and Film Blog 2

What scenes have you watched today?

Today we didn’t watch any scenes as we worked on our preparation and performing our monologues. 

Technically what did you notice about the scenes you watched? (Camera angles, sound, lighting, costume, location)

We did not watch or look at any scenes today.

What was most notable in the scenes? (In terms of acting)  

We did not watch or look at any scenes today.

What genre was the scene?

We did not watch or look at any scenes today.

What skills/ techniques were used by the actors?

We did not watch or look at any scenes today.

Techniques

What techniques did you learn today?

How might this be useful in film and tv acting?

We did not learn any new techniques today as we worked on preparing for performing our monologues.

Scene

What was the scene you work on?

Today the scene I worked on was my monologue ‘Is That Nothing?’ from the film ‘The Accused’ (1988). In this monologue, I play a lawyer who is in the courtroom trying to win her case of Sarah Tobias who a victim of rape and is trying to prosecute Kenneth Joyce and other people who encouraged the rape. 

How did you approach the scene?

The aim in this monologue was that I ensured it was convincing and powerful with my use of vocals as I am trying to convince the judge that people who encouraged the rape are guilty so my aim is to sound powerful as I want to win the case with what I have to say on behalf of Sarah Tobias. I approached the scene by blocking my movement within rehearsing before my assessment. For instance, I added movement and a prop of a chair at the beginning before and began to block my movement whilst rehearsing through my monologue deciding at certain point in the monologue I would move, stand still or turn. I blocked not just my movement but my direction of eye-line and my head. As the scene is set within the court room, I chose to approach the scene with blocking my eyeline, movement etc as if looking at different people within the courtroom changing direction of my eyeline but then always going back to keeping my eyeline in the centre, as if mainly wanting to direct my monologue to the judge as my character and to also made sure this was obvious when doing this to the camera.

How did you approach the character?

I approached the character with a RP accent. I did this because I felt it was appropriate for the given circumstance. Given I was playing the character that occupation is a lawyer, I felt it most suited the character as I would be very professional given being at the court trying to convince the judge that Kenneth Joice is guilty. So I would approach the scene in a professional manner both vocal wise and physical wise as I am at my job as a lawyer. So my posture was very strong throughout with a straight back and my hands together to represent a formal physicality. I approached the character through changing my volume of tone further on in the monologue. For example, towards the end of the monologue I chose to approach my character by raising my voice showing more strength as my monologue comes to an end so I can end on a powerful response in order to attempt to win the case.

What were your thoughts on the scene?

My thoughts when choosing this monologue and rehearsing this monologue was that the scene was set in a court room and my character was trying to convince the judge the defendant was guilty of contributing to the crime of rape. My character was passionate about the case and winning the case on part of Sarah Tobias. I felt this by reading the monologue and from the text that my character was really trying to persuade and convince the judge to win over the case. I felt the character I was playing was a very educated lawyer and knew the way to structure the case of Sarah Tobias’s behalf in order to attempt to win the case. The thoughts was my character was confident and very straight forward with the use of context and word she used made me feel that my character already had a clear idea on what she was going to say when speaking on Sarah’s behalf of the crime.

What issues are in the scene that you were looking at?

The issue of the scene is crime, the crime being the rape of Sarah Tobias, a client who I am defending on my behalf to try and get the defendant Kenneth Joyce pleaded guilty for encouraging the rape.

Evaluating your role What were the strengths of your scene?

Inflection. I felt my inflection was on of my strongest points during my assessment. I felt I used a good range of change of tone which I thought made the monologue powerful and helped create the given character and circumstance.

Rehearse. I thought my strength in rehearsal helped towards improving my monologue for the mock assessment. I got a lot done during rehearsal and helped improve my blocking and movement as I was able to mark through whilst rehearsing making my movements and blocking more certain in my monologue.

Pace. I thought my pace in my assessment was well controlled and felt the pace worked well with the monologue. I used pauses at specific parts of the monologue and felt this made my monologue strong and convincing and naturalistic in my performance.

What were the weaknesses of your scene?

Clocking the camera. I felt one of my weaknesses was I didn’t acknowledge the camera enough when performing my monologue, so I felt that because I didn’t clock the camera enough, it missed a lot of expressions I used.

Relaxing posture. This was my main feedback to improve my monologue from my tutor, he said that I was too tense with my posture and my posture needed to be more relaxed and recommended that I should relax more before performing a monologue.

Choose a scene performed by somebody else in the group what did you enjoy?

Today I watched back Kerry performance and what I enjoyed is the way she approached her monologue “Monster"  I liked her tone of voice and her use of naturalism, she spoke in a casual way which I felt worked and made her monologue believable. I also liked her relaxed posture and felt it worked with the monologue and was a good approach to the character. I also enjoyed how she portrayed it as if in her own thoughts speaking out loud and not as a directed speech which I thought was a creative way of looking at her monologue.

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I set myself in charge a Instagram page in promoting and selling tickets for the show. I made sure I posted each week of any rehearsal clip, stories, live videos etc whenever I wasn't needed during rehearsal in order to contribute to the ticket sales of the show and keep followers updated. I felt I was successful in the part of contributing to the show with the Instagram and managed to achieve maximum of 95 followers.

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Annotation for song analysis 3 - Storm Clouds

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Song Analysis 3 - Storm Clouds

1. Make a copy of the lyrics to the song and enlarge. Annotate these!

2. What is the song about? Describe the scene. What happened before this scene to lead to the moment?

The song is about the girls hitting a rough patch from struggling to live of £2 a week strike pay and being responsible for putting 5,000 men out of work and unemployed. They are singing about the pressure building up on strike as they are are effecting the men and their families and their own families. What happened before this scene to lead up to this moment was Mr Tooley has entered to Dagenham to deal with the strike and has spoken to manager Hopkins, Macer and Hubble, when Tooley asked if Rita O’grady is married to a Ford worker and Macer responds with telling about Eddie O’grady, he then asks how, Tooley asks about the stockpile situation, when he is told 10 thousand Cortina have been made, he then decides to lay off the men because he wants to stop the strike so by stopping both Rita and Eddie’s money, he is hoping this will stop the giving he knows they will struggle for money hence Tooley’s metaphor “If you wanna eat steak, you’ve gotta shoot the horse” meaning that in order to break the strike, he is taking extreme measures to break the strike. The scene feature the girls outside with their strike sign. The men then enter the scene and Stan tells the girls that they have put 5,000 men out of work due to the strike. The scene also features Tooley, Monty and Hopkins in the office where Tooley is looking at Monty’s file where they start discussing Sandra when Hopkins asked ‘which girls are feeling the pinch?’ and when Monty mentions Sandra, Tooley mentions about offering her a promotions work. Other underscoring featured at the O’grady house where Sharon exclaims to Rita that some men came and took the television and Eddie says because they could’nt pay the monthly - showing the family money struggles appearing to the audience, also in this underscoring it show Eddie and Rita arguing over Eddie spending the money from the kitchen pot on his motorbike tyre and Eddie raising his voice in anger, this showing Tooley’s plan working to the audience as the couple start to have disagreements over the struggling for money. Other underscoring is shown in Hopkins house which Tooley is visiting for dinner to celebrate Sandra accepting the promotion contract for the launch of the Cortina, showing Tooley’s plan falling into place of attempting to break the strike to the audience. After this, we also see Lisa coming to visit Rita at her house to tell her about Sandra being offered the promotion contract taking place on Friday in attempt to crack their solidarity and then also Beryl rushing in to tell Rita about Connie fainting and to tell her shes at the hospital asking for Rita, showing more bad news for the factory girls to the audience and showing the girls at their lowest points.

3. What is the purpose of this song?

The purpose of the song is to show the girls hitting their rough patch in the strike and to show the real life struggles of the strike to the audience. The purpose is to show the audience how strong the girls was to continue after the strike giving the huge rough patches they had to face during their lowest points such as living of £2 a week strike pay, the men no longer supporting them since being out of the job due to their strike, being responsible for 5,000 men out of work and 3,000 families unemployed, Connie in hospital. It also showing Tooley’s plan coming into place as he offers Sandra a promotion contract and how he plans to stop both Eddie and Rita’s money in hope this will cause her to go back to work. The purpose is to show all the negative effects of the strike to the audience and how the women overcome these effects and still continued with the strike.

4. Where does the song take place? How does this affect your singing, movement? i.e in a car

The song features various underscoring so takes place in a variety of locations. For example, for the factory girls they are still stood outside of the factory at the picket line with their strike songs and the men come out of the factory and enter the scene to tell the women outside they have closed down Dagenham and put 5,000 men out of work. As a factory girl, I have stood outside of the factory with my strike sign, this affects my movement as I appear cold being stood out striking all day with the women and show this through a tense body posture as people tense their body to give their body warmth when and tug at my coat to represent myself as cold to the audience. Other places the song takes place is in the factory in the office where Tooley is with Monty and Hopkins looking at Monty’s file, Eddie and Rita’s home with their children, Hopkins house with Lisa and Tooley having a celebration dinner to Sandra accepting the promotion contract, Rita house again when Lisa comes to visit to tell Rita about Sandra’s promotion and also Beryl who tells Rita about Connie fainting and being taking to hospital at the acute unit amd also Barbara and Harold Wilson who are in parliament and Tooley who visits to tell Harold they need to bust the strike.

5. Who are you singing to?

As my character I feel I am singing to myself as a thought about reaching this rough patch and sing the lyrics as if my character feels and understands the lyrics and is singing these thoughts out loud because she is singing about herself and the pressure she is under as I feel when singing these lyrics I feel my character is singing to herself. Though I feel I mostly am singing to myself, I also sing towards my audience during different parts of the chorus as if telling the audience as my character pressure is building up whilst directing and projecting this line towards the audience as if telling them this is my thought and feeling of my character. Though feel towards the verse “It ain’t about you, it ain’t bout the law, It’s three thousand families unemployed and poor” I am singing this part directly towards my audience, telling them as my character it ain’t about them or us as people or anyone else, its about those families that are unemployed due to the strike.

6. Who or what are you singing about?

What we are singing about is the obstacles we are facing as factory girls whilst on strike. We are singing about not only ourselves but us all as one facing this problems together. We are singing about the pressure building up as we continue to strike during the negative effects of the men out work, we are singing about ‘down to our last pound’ struggling to live off strike pay and struggling for money, and we are singing about the management during ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down’ we are talking about ourselves and all of us as factory girls and member of the strike not to let the management grind us down no matter what plans they have to break the strike, to continue fighting and to keep going forward with the strike. We are singing about the 3,000 who are unemployed and poor due to the strike and that it ain’t about the law but it’s about them and that this is one of the effect affecting us at strikers but to still not let the management break the strike.

7. How do you feel during the song? Plot how the emotions change on your lyrics.

How I feel during the start and beginning of the song is weak. I feel weak and hopeless because I am struggling to live off the money and this is making me a weak member of the strike who I didn’t plan to be. I show my weakest point of emotions when the men enter and we are told 5,000 men have been laid off, this is where I show my weakest emotions. I show emotions of guilt, shame as I am a character who feels empathy so as my character, I feel responsible for the ment being laid off work, I feel bad that they have had to suffer the consequences of the strike. My emotions remain at this weak, ashamed and guilty stage until saying ‘Cos Belgium really shit’ where my emotions have now changed because I am thinking back on the image of Belgium and how much of a bad place it is to travel to myself, the guilt feelings have left my thoughts and feelings of my character. During the chorus that follows this, my character find her strength again as she sees the girls around her still remaining strong, I decide to pick myself up as I feel being a weak member of the strike I am letting down my girls, I am a lot more angry towards the end of the chorus rather than weak and upset when singing ‘Don’t let the barstards grind you down’ because I now realise its them who are trying to fight dirty to stop the strike and feel angry at the measure they have gone to to try and break our strike and that we should not quit the strike without a fight. My characters feel angry, strong and determined to continue the strike now and I sing with more angry and passion of emotion from this point until the end of the song. 

8. What are the inner/outer feelings of the character in the song?

Inner feelings of my character is shown when the men enter the scene saying that they and 5,000 men have been laid of of work. The inner feeling of my character is that I feel guilty and responsible for being the reason the men are out of work, I feel ashamed they have had this happen to them as a consequence of us as factory girls on strike. I feel sorry for them and also feel the strike isn’t worth it anymore as I know the men need to provide for themselves and their family. I see them all fighting and see this tearing them apart and could’nt feel any more worse as my character watching it happen and feel like this is my fault. Inner feeling is that I am struggling to live on the strike pay and feel the pressure is now become too much for my character and she feels like giving up. Another inner feeling is that when mentioning ‘Belgium’s really shit’ my character’s inner feeling is a bad picture of Belgium covered in litter and this is a thought to myself before singing this lyric. My outer feelings towards the beginning of the song are upset, sad, hopeless and distressed. Outer feelings at the end of the song after ‘Belgiums really shit and onwards, I feel angry at the management (also inner feeling) I feel strong as my character and determined to keep fighting no matter what the management plan is next and how found my strength and feel as my character I must keep fighting and not let the girls down and an inner feeling of watching them and seeing other around me strong has made me think to myself I must continue being strong for them too.

9. What facial expressions will you use to show what your characters are thinking or feeling in the song?

My facial expressions towards the start of the song with be sad and sorrowful and distressed. I will show this through widening my eyes (puppy eyes) to show the expression of upset and hurt. When the men enter I will use facial expressions of upset guilt and shamed. I will do this by looking down on the floor to represent guilt of not being able to look at them because I feel ashamed and will also screw my face up to show my characters upset but also annoyed with herself because of shame. During ‘Belgium’s really shit’ I will use full extension of my mouth when singing this and wide eyes to show my feel enthusiastic about saying this lyrics and exaggerating on saying how bad it is to my audience. After this lyrics and onwards to the end of my song, my character feels strong and determined so my expression will be exaggerated with scrunched eye brows to show my character seriousness on continuing with the strike and also anger towards the management.and slight gritted teeth. 

10. What gestures will you use to show what your character is thinking or feeling in the song?

I showed my character’s gestures through body language well to show how my character felt throughout the performance. For example, when the men enter saying they have 5,00 men have been laid off work, I use the gesture of looking down at the floor to show to my audience my character feeling guilty, I also use the gesture of showing my body as very tense, tightening my shoulders, etc to show my character feels uncomfortable around the men as I can see they no longer support us in the strike since they have no been affected and are out of the job and to show I feel to blame and feel ashamed they have been affected by us as striker. Another gesture I use is with our strike signs. At the beginning of our song, my character feels weak, hopeless, like giving up on the strike, I hold the strike sign low and with hardly any strength to show my character hasn’t got the strength in her to lift the strike sign high and this shows to the audience the loss of hope by holding the sign low. But, then towards the end of the song my character fins the strength and determination to continue striking so I show this through strong posture, lifted chin and hold the strike sign with more strength in my arm to show the gesture of my character finding strength in the strike again and holding the sign proudly rather than guilty before at the start of the song because of the men.

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Annotation for song analysis 2 - Everybody Out

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Annotation for song analysis 2 - Everybody Out

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Annotation for song analysis 2 - Everybody Out

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Song Analysis 2 - Everybody Out

1. Make a copy of the lyrics to the song and enlarge. Annotate these!

2. What is the song about? Describe the scene. What happened before this scene to lead to the moment?

The song starts off with Rita who has just convinced the girls to go on strike with her after asking them to vote for a strike, she singing to the girls at the factory that they have stand up and be prepared to fight for whats right. The scene starts off set in the factory but as the girls join in and follow Rita on the strike, they start off outside the factory with their strike signs. The song has various underscoring which features different scenes and settings, for example, the phone ringing and Lisa Hopkins answering the phone for Hopkins as he arrives, this is showing them at the Hopkins house, also as Sid and Monty are on the phone they are still within the factory building, ringing from the office to tell manager Hopkins about the strike. It also features underscoring of both Harold and Barbra which is set in Harolds office of Barbara telling Harold the girls have gone on strike. It also features in the scene the factory girls have a picture for the paper ‘The guardian’ It also features Eddie with the kids holding some basket of washing saying hes fed the kids chips on toast. What happened before this scene to lead up until the moment is that Rita has just attended a meeting with the management with Connie and Monty to discuss their recent downgrade to an unskilled grade, this is where Rita first takes action on a plan to fight for equal pay as prior before this during scene 10, Connie influenced and spoke to Rita about fighting for more than just C grade and that if they got C grade tomorrow they would still be earning less than a man on C grade, which was the influence of Rita to mention this at the meeting and what lead up to this moment of Rita going back to the girls and taking action on a strike for equal pay.

3. What is the purpose of this song?

The purpose of the song is to show the first start of the journey of the strike to the audience of Rita and the factory and the levels the strike has already achieved. For example, the song features various underscoring of characters talking about the strike within the song. Such as Monty and Sid ringing manager Hopkins from the office at his home and telling him about the strike, then the scene showing Barbra and Harold in their office where Barbara is telling Harold about the strike and then also the main factory girls (Rita, Beryl, Clare, Sandra, Cass) having their picture for the paper ‘The Gaurdian’ then the girls travelling to Liverpool to ask the girls at Liverpool to strike otherwise the management will get the finished seat off them and the strike will be a waste of time. When the girl successfully get the Liverpool girls to join the strike, we also see underscoring of Hopkins ringing Tooley about how they now have two strike (Dagenham and Liverpool) showing the lengths the strike has already gone to our audience and what the girls have achieved by sticking together already and standing by one another in the strike. The purpose of the song is to show the very start of the strike and how they achieved success with the strike to our audience.

4. Where does the song take place? How does this affect your singing, movement? i.e in a car

As mentioned previously, the song has various underscoring and features a lot going on in different places within the song so the song takes place in different locations. As a Liverpool girl, my parts I take place in are in Liverpool outside the factory where Rita and the Dagenham girls comes to visit us asking us to go on strike. Though my movement is not so much affected by my location, my movement is affected when I joining the Dagenham girl in a triangle shape as I have to make sure that with the footwork involved in the choreography that I don’t stand on anyone toes during any step dig and have to be very aware of the space around me and the people next to during this part. Other places the song takes place is at the factory with Rita asking the girls to all vote in favour of the strike, outside the factory with their strike signs, the office within the factory where Monty and Side are ringing Hopkins, Hopkins at his home with wife Lisa, Harolds office where Barbara is telling Harold about the factory girl’s strike, the women travelling to Liverpool on the train and arriving to Liverpool outside the Liverpool girls factory, in America where Tooley is being rang by Hopkins to be told about both the Dagenham and Liverpool strike where he is playing gold and Rita’s home with Eddie and the kids.

5. Who are you singing to?

During when I first enter and join in with the lyrics “Dagenham and Liverpool together we got clout” verse I am singing to myself and the Dagenham and Liverpool saying we have come together. I show this in my performance when joining them in the triangle and smiling at the Dagenham whilst singing this line and joining to show this is directed towards us as striker together. After this, the rest of my lyrics as an ensemble are directed to the audience, singing as a striker member and directing the lyrics as if telling them directly about us on strike and how we are all out on strike and showing the audience this by connecting eye contact to the audience to show I am telling them this as I feel strong and passionate about the strike.

6. Who or what are you singing about?

When first joining the strike on the lyric “Dagenham and Liverpool together we got clout” I am singing about joining them on strike and this is what I am continuously singing about as a strike member to my audience. Though I am a strike member singing about being on strike to the audience, furthermore, I am singing about myself and the factory girls so when I am directing my lyrics towards the audience I am singing about not just myself but the member of the strike and singing this across in a way I want the audience to feel the effect that I am determined and feel strongly towards the strike.

7. How do you feel during the song? Plot how the emotions change on your lyrics.

At the beginning when I enter the scene as a Liverpool factory girl, I feel confused and wondering why the Dagenham girls have came to visit and wondering what it is to do about so I am looking and concentrating on Rita listening to what she has to say when singing solo. When she says “If you stop making seats then you stop our production line, but if you carry on the strike is just a waste of time” I am with her at this point and my emotion change from not just listening to her, but agreeing with her and then when the other girls join in with ;It ain’t about the money, it’s all about respect, women always come in second” at these particular lyrics this is when my character is completely with the Dagenham girls and is ready to join them on strike as my character I completely agree that women always come in second and I am willing to get stuck in and join them on strike at this point and then join them on verse “Dagenham and Liverpool together we got clout” and my emotion is happy to be a part of the strike. From this point onwards my emotion is with them and determined to be strong member of the strike and believe in the strike and I feel passionate about helping and be part of the strike for equal pay.

8. What are the inner/outer feelings of the character in the song?

My inner feelings when entering the stage as a Liverpool girl is wondering what the Dagenham girl want to have travelled all this way to come see us, inner feeling being confused and unsure and trying to figure this out. My inner feelings when Rita enter and is singing solo to us is I am interested in what this has to say and that think this Rita seems like a great leader and must be to have all the Dagenham girls behind her. As I have said previously, when Rita mentions that if we carry on making seats their strike will just be a waste of time, I am witrh her at this point and want to help and I am thinking I should join her and help her on the strike. When the rest of the girls start to join in and tell us “it ain’t about the money, its all about respect, women always come in second thats what we reject” this is the line that get my character inner thought to bewith the girl 100% and show this through outer feeling by nudging factory and saying I’m with them and make contact with the Dagenham girls at this point nodding my head in agreement and saying “yeah exactly!” and “too right”. My outer feeling are shown at the rest of the song as I show as I make eye contact with Dagenham girls during “Dagenham and Liverpool together we got clout” smiling and looking at them to show I am with them and on board the strike. Outer feeling I show afterwards are strong-willed and dertermined and feel passionate about the strike through being strong and powerful with my expressions to exaggerate this outer feeling as my character.

9. What facial expressions will you use to show what your characters are thinking or feeling in the song?

At the beginning of my entrance to show I am confused with why the Dagenham girls are visiting us Liverpool girls, I will have a strange confused and fickled expression on my face and when Rita start to talk to us I will have an interested look on my face as I am interested in what she has to say and will keep my eyes on her the whole time until the rest of the girls join in to show I am listening to what she has to say. To show I agree with Rita and the Dagenham girls I will nod my head enthusiastically to show I completely agree with what they have said and to show my belief in their strike. I will also make eye contact with the Liverpool girl and say lines like I’m with her/them!’ and smile at what the girls are still saying to initiate I feel mutual about the strike andI am happy to join them. When joining the Dagenham girls I will show through facial expression that I am a strong member of the strike through having a exaggerated serious strong look on my face to show I feel passionate and powerful about the strike and will use full extension of my mouth when singing to show through emotive and singing my character feels strongly about the strike to my audience and to show I am enphasizing my point my using the whole of my face to express the lyrics. 

10. What gestures will you use to show what your character is thinking or feeling in the song?

The gestures I will use at the beginning of entering the scene is I will look puzzled at other characters to show I am baffled as to why the Dagenham girls have visited us. I will also do confused expressions to myself and look up with my eyes as if trying to think about why they are here to visit us as my character. When Rita and the girls arrive and Rita starts singing alone, I will show that I’m interested in what she has to say by the gesture of slightly tilting my head as if listening to her and focusing my eyes on her the whole time. When the girls joing in I will start to make eye contact with them one by one to show the gesture of my character listening to each other character and nod my head enthusiastically to show the gesture me agreeing with them and believing in their strike and what they have got to say, I will also turn my head to the rest of Liverpool girls, nodding and smiling to show the gesture of my character showing the Liverpool girl I am ready to join the strike. Other gestures is during “We’ll throw ourselves under the latest model Ford’ I will point towards the floor, to show this line as my character sing it, I am serious and want my audience to believe my character feel strongly during this particualr lyric and verse. Also, when joining the girls on the strike is moving really strongly and powerful round the circle during the last chorus of ‘Everybody Out’, by moving with big posture and long strides shows I am moving with purpose and passion and shows me as a strong person in the strike and represents will power through this movement. Furthermore I will have strong posture throughout and do each movement/choreography with sharp dynamics and strength to show my character as determined and to show I feel powerful towards the strike and have belief in what we are fighting for to my audience in my performance.

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Annotation for song analysis 2 - Everybody Out

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Made In Dagenham Blog 4 - Show Week

1. What have you completed this week? If rehearsing what scenes did you work on?

Today, being show week, we did a dress rehearsal and worked with the set for the first time. During dress rehearsal, we worked on every scene of Act 1 together doing a full run of the show, despite a full run of the show with set being the plan, we only had time to get through the first Act of the show and then after completing that Act, we performed Storm Clouds and worked on the end bows. Also, we worked together on all sitting down with our script deciding who would do the curtains for all the song and scenes that needed a black-out and also deciding who would do the back side door needed for certain scenes such as to bring the Cortina Car in and let the girls get the strike signs for ‘Everybody Out’ and marking this in our scripts so we all knew who was in charge on the blackouts, props, etc.

2. What went well with the scenes?

What went well with our scenes was projection, I felt that in each of our factory, everyone’s lines was loud enough and at a volume where an audience would be able to hear us. What also went well I felt was the transitions of the scenes from one scene to another, props were removed and placed quickly which made the scenes flow well. What also went well was the characterization, I felt the majority of the people put full characterization into their performance and it was portrayed well in this dress rehearsal. What also went well in the scenes was pace of the scenes themselves, I felt that the scenes would flow at the right pace and wouldn’t be too slow or rushed and everyone knew their lines and blocking of each scenes which made the scenes flow smooth with timing.

3. What didn’t go well with the scenes?

Though I felt that most transitions from scenes were smooth flowed, I felt that for the factory, this wasn’t the case. The reason being is that I felt we moved too slow with the sewing machines when exiting the back door and we need to move more at at quicker pace to make this more smoother in this transitions. Also what didn’t go well was the spacing, for example we kept getting feedback to move more to the front of the stage as we wasn’t using the gaps and in Pay Day, I felt a lot of people found it difficult to get to their partner cos of spacing and some people got in the way of others during the process.

4. What do you need to improve for next session?

Spatial awareness. I need to work on my spatial awareness now at the theatre and work on moving more forward towards the front of the stage and be more aware of the stage in general and how to work in this new space. To do this I need to know the spacing and how to move around the space and cover the spaces.

5. What songs/ dances have you worked on?

We worked on all the songs from Act 1 and worked on Storm Clouds, running through them with the band.

6. What went well?

I felt the energy went really well during rehearsing all the songs, I felt the song had a lot of energy and especially for Pay Day, the energy need to be really high for this song to show the mood and excitement of the scene. I felt the energy was the best it had ever been and was the strongest it had been. What also went well was the vocals, the vocal of all our songs were well projected and the harmonies were powerful in all the songs we did. What also went well was the expression of the songs, I felt everyone in the song put full expression and showed the mood well on stage and really exaggerated on they’re characters feeling within the song.

7. What didn’t go well?

The only thing I felt what didn’t go well is that not everyone sings with enough projection and this can sometimes cause the songs to be weak and not as strong as they need to be in order to perform to an audience. For example, I felt this particularly in ‘Everybody Out’ as people off stage aren’t singing as projected as the people on stage and I felt this made the first half of Everybody Out and not as strong as it should have been.

8. What do you need to do to improve for the next session?

Vocal warm-up. I felt that today my voice wasn’t as powerful as it should have been and this is due to me not warming up my voice. I need to make sure before the show I give myself enough time to warm-up as well as get ready to make my vocals are strong.

Vocals. I think now before the show night I need to spend my time going through vocals/harmonies of each song to make sure I have perfected any parts I need to in any song so that my vocals are strong and warm-up for show night.

9. How are you developing your character? : physicality, vocals, characterisation

I am developing my character through making my reactions a lot bigger, for example, I make my expressions a lot more emotive when reacting to some of the things Beryl says and experiment with using a variety of expressions to show more of my characters feeling at different point to what other character say. I am developing my character through body language and feel I show my character well through the way I travel across the space and my posture etc. For example, I show my character well in Pay Day, as my character enjoys going out and has too much to drink, I show this well in the dance by making my dancer extra cheerful and when splitting from the dance, dance on my own with a variety of different dance moves to show my character's individual dancing well in stage to my audience. I am also developing with my character through singing with more accent and more outside my comfort zone giving my character more of a unique singing voice by using my accent more with my singing.

10. What ideas have you got for your role and the overall performance?

For my role of singing as the role as the club singer, I have made various idea’s to show myself as a drunk club singer to my audience. I know how I’m singing this song and have practiced this so I know which parts I am using to change my inflection, pitch, etc. I have added blocked movement to lead up to this moment of when I sing and show a clear build up of my character as drunk to the audience and then stumbling to stage left where I need to sing. I have had the idea of lifting my hand up for ‘shining up on high’ line and and rolling my eyes a lot during and slightly moving on both my feet to show me as not a strong balance to my audience and a weak posture to show my character clearly drunk to my audience.  

11.  What techniques have you used in the session? What effect did you use them for?

Spatial Awareness. Working in a new space, I have had to use spatial awareness to adapt to the spacing and think about the blocking within the space. I neededt to make sure I was in the right place and wasn’t in the way of others and needed to be aware of not only the people around me but also the set. 

Projection. I have used projection a lot in today as it is really important I have loud projection on stage so the whole of the audience can hear me. I used this effect to get me prepared and to the right level of projection to make sure all the audience can hear me and make sure my voice is loud enough for projecting when singing.

Inflection. I use more inflection in my voice to create more of my character through singing. I use this effect to make my voice more unique and give myself more characterization whilst singing and to add more strength in my voice too. By improving and working with singing with more inflection, this extending my vocal range, making my singing stronger for the stage.

12. What feedback did you receive from your director/ peers?

The feedback we received was that we all needed to use more of the front of the stage more and move more forward as it looks like were too far back. Also, other feedback was that we needed to go back in our dressing room if we wasn’t on for a long time because we was all crowded backstage and this made it difficult for props to be taken on and off stage because people was in the way and that we also needed to be quiet backstage. Positive feedback we received was that Pay Day looked really good on stage and that we all did well for the dress run.

13. What did you think of the feedback?

I agreed with the feedback, we all need to go back to our dressing rooms unless backstage ready to go on for a scene so people have more room to take any props off stage because it was difficult and crammed backstage for people to take props off and a lot of people were in the way. I agree we need to learn to be professional and quiet backstage for when performing to an audience or they will hear us in the background of a scene. 

14. What are you going to do in the next rehearsal to improve on the feedback?

Strengths:

Expressions. I felt I was really expression with every single emotion I use as my character. I exaggerate and use a variety of expression which really show the my character as an individual and feel I use this well and my character comes across well on stage.

Energy. I performed with high energy in every single part of Act 1 and put a lot of energy into each song and felt this made my performance as an individual strong and really big on stage.

Projection. My projection was on of my strongest points today I felt. I felt I projected every song really well which made me as an ensemble member contribute towards the power and vocals of the songs. 

Area for development:

Harmonies. I want to make my harmonies better and really strong so I will practice my harmonies during day time before the show and go through any song from the most weakest to the strongest.

Audience awareness. I want to make sure I make eye contact with all of the audience and not just audience in my eyeline or direction so I will turn my head in different directions to make sure I am directing songs towards the whole audience.

Perfecting. I want to perfect and make last touches on some of the songs that aren’t as strong as others so I will work on practicing verses and chorus’s of the song without music so I can hear myself clearly and how I sound so I can look at what notes I need to perfect in certain parts.

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Self Assessment

 Physical

What do you find most interesting about your physical performance?

Today, during working on both songs ‘Storm Clouds’ and ‘Pay Day’ I felt I experimented with my physical performance during both songs. What I found interesting about my physical performance when rehearsing Pay Day was my posture. I used a very strong posture when rehearsing Pay Day to show my character as feeling confident as she is all dressed up and ready for a good night out socializing with the workers of the factory. I felt, I am physically smooth and big with the different specifically at the start of the song to show my character as enthusiastic and in a bubbly mood through taking part in the dance and exaggerating the dance move, using full extensions of the leg and arm movements I do within the choreography to show me as my character dancing and feeling confident on stage. When splitting up to go to my partner, I travel across the space after splitting up from the girls at the beginning by adding a slight skip to my walk, to show my character as giddy and ready to have a dance with my character and represent a good mood. What I found interesting about my physical performance in ‘Storm Clouds’ was that I used my physicality to show my characters thoughts and feeling at each point in the song. For example, when the boys enter announcing that us as girls going on strike have closed down Ford Dagenham and put 5000 men out of work, my posture goes very tight and I create tense shoulders and drop my comfortable posture and look down at the floor - this is to show my character as feeling guilty and responsible for making the boys lose their jobs and feeling intimidated and feeling as if I am in the wrong for oing the strike because of the negative effects this has caused for not just the men at Dagenham, but their families. Also during the first chorus of Storm Clouds, during the line ‘down to our last pound’ I look towards the floor to show that I am feeling the empathy of my character struggling for money and showing that from singing this line, I feel down and discouraged. I show a clear difference from my physicality at the start of the song and during the end of my song. At the start of the song my posture and body language is tight and tense and clearly uncomfortable but during towards the middle and between of the end of the song, my posture becomes a lot strong, with my head and eye-line high to show that even though, as a factory girl, I have reached a rough patch of the strike, I have found my strength to carry on the strike and have pulled myself together and I am feeling more strong, optimistic, hopeful and most of all power to continue the strike.

How could you experiment more with your movement?

I think to experiment more with my movement in Pay Day I need to look at experimenting and trying out different dance moves in rehearsal and see which one suits my character best and looks the best on stage, for example, when we split up from our dance with our partners, we still need to show us as still dancing and having a good time despite the end of the dance. So, to keep this consistent within the scene, I need to be more confident with trying out different dance moves as my character on stage to create the moment of me enjoying myself and having a good time dancing to the movement. I could explore this by looking at 60′s dances on YouTube for inspiration and apply this in my performance. To experiment with my movement in Storm Clouds, I need to think more about the placement on the strike sign I am holding and how I place this within different parts of the song. For example, at the start of the song the girls are doubting themselves and the strike due to the problems and negative effects it is having on the men and their families so I will hold the sign low down to the ground to show lack of hope and show the loss of strength in the strike to the audience but during the end of the song where the girls find strength and decide to continue with the strike, I may hold the sign high up in the air to represent the regained strength back in the strike through me holding the sign high to show the change in the girl’s change in emotions towards the strike as the song progresses. 

What was good about your physicality?

What’s good about my physicality is the movement and how I express my character through this. For example, in Pay Day, my physicality is strong with my head held high and a strong posture to show my character is feeling confident in herself as she is dressed up for the night and feels good. My physicality is good in the dance as I use full extension of the movements to exaggerate them within the dance to stand out in the performance as my character by being big with the movement to create the high energy of the dance that we want the audience to see and feel to create the feeling of the girls ready for their night out. What’s good about my physicality in Storm Clouds was my body language. I felt I showed my character’s body language well through my physicality throughout the performance. For example, I show my physicality at the start as very tense, tight shoulders, etc and show my physicality well particularly when the boys enter the stage when they are out of the jobs by looking down towards the floor to show shame and guilt. I show how my character feels through each and every point of Storm Clouds through my physicality and show how my character’s physicality change from the start of the song to the end of the song as I find the strength and hope in the strike back and don’t feel ashamed but feel strong and determined to carry on the strike regardless of the negative effects and show this through a bigger stronger posture holding my head up high and show a clear build of this change through physicality throughout the song and express thoughts and feelings well through the movement and body language.

Have you remembered your blocking and movement?

Yes, I remember all of the blocking and movement of Pay Day and know the dance moves really well included within the choreography and each cue of the dance moves and know when to split with my partner/split from my partner. Yes, for Storm Clouds, I listened and focused on the direction we was given when first blocking Storm Clouds today and remembered each blocking and movement when rehearsing and repeating the song well.  

Do you use appropriate gestures and facial expressions? If so when where and how effective are they?

 Yes, in Pay Day, I used a big happy and cheerful expression throughout the dance to show I was having a good time out having and drink and socializing with my work friends. I think this was really effective in the performance because I kept these facial expressions consistent throughout so it was believable and didn’t feel I dropped these expressions throughout the song. The gesture I use is when the girls are naming the drinks they are drinking tonight during the lyrics and then saying ‘over here!’ as I move across the space to the table and sit down and gesture my hand on this line as if to say bring the drinks over to this table. At the start of ‘Storm Clouds’ I use sad, unhappy and sorrowful expressions to show the mood of the song. I use these expressions effectively as I make sure my sad expression are really strong as at the start of the song the girls are feeling doubtful as they struggle when hit with the strike negatives such as the men out of work, trying to live of strike pay (£2 a week) etc. I show these expression well when enhancing on them whilst singing the lyrics. I use the gesture of looking down at the floor when the men are saying its our fault they are out of the job and think this is effective in the performance as it show the idea of shame and guilt of my character well to the audience during the point and enhances the moment.

What could be improved “even better if……”

Grade skills 1-10

Tension: 9

Tension was a really strong point in my performance in ‘Storm Clouds’ as I used my body language well to show tension well by tightening my shoulders and looking at the ground and showed expression of tension in my face to express pressure and stress. To improve on my tension I need to create more of a climax with the tension to build the tension up within the song.

Musicality: 6

I feel my musicality is improving in each rehearsal but my musicality to these song there is still improvement. I need to improve on my harmonies within the songs and improve my breath control so I am able to hold the high and long notes within ‘Storm Clouds’.

Emotional response to music: 9

My emotional response was one of my strongest points I felt today, I responded well to the music and show the mood of the song well in my facial expression and knew how my character felt within the music. I showed strong emotional response to Storm Clouds and think I put across my character as ashamed, disappointed well within my performance and it was clear how my character felt and each part/verse in the song. To improve I could add more specific gestures for each verse to make the performance stronger. 

Timing: 8

My timing in the blocking of both songs we did today was strong as I listened to direction and knew each part of blocking that came with the song was next. I knew the different direction and travels across the space needed at each point when blocking and repeating the songs, however, what could be improved is sometimes I can be too late on some of the vocal notes and to time this better, I need to make sure I use breath control to be able to sustain the last notes of Storm Clouds.

Rhythm: 8

I think my rhythm was strong today as my movement in both songs we blocked I felt was strong and flowed well to the music as I felt all my movement was timed well with the music and went smoothly in my performance. However, I need to improve my rhythm with working with my partner on ‘Pay Day’ as sometimes I feel the footwork is not smooth and to the rhythm of the music enough within my performance.

Transitions: 7

I think my transitions are smooth in both songs, for example, I think when travelling to a different space and direction in both song is smooth, for example when I change from dancing as a group to dancing with my partner in ‘Pay Day’ and changing directions and spacing in ‘Storm Clouds’ but my transitioning needs to be better particularly in my emotion for Storm Clouds. For example, at the beginning of the song the girls feel weak and have lost hope in the strike but as the song goes on the girls become strong again and find their faith within the strike. My facial expression from weak to strong and powerful need to have more of a smoother rather than sudden change in the song to create more of a climax.

Levels: 8

I show levels well in Pay Day as I have a high and strong posture to show my character as confident and use levels well within the dance such bending knees fully and fully extending and stretching my arms in the dance. I use levels well in Storm Clouds when showing my character as shameful and looking at the ground when the men are put out of work but then my level of body changes towards the end of the song as I find hope and determination to continue with the strike and have a stronger level of posture and lift my eye-line high. To make my level better there could be more added levels, for example created levels of tension in ‘Storm Clouds’ to give more power in my performance through creating a build up of levels of tension. 

Energy: 8

I think I had high energy within today’s lesson when blocking the songs and had appropriate energy for the two songs. I showed high energy in Pay Day to create the mood and energy of the scene as the girls are excited to have a good time and drink and socialize having been paid and showed this well when rehearsing. I had good energy in ‘Storm Clouds’ as I didn’t let my performance drop in the song and my energy throughout the whole song. To improve, I need to keep consistence when repeating rehearsing the song as sometimes as sometimes I feel my performance can slightly weaken after rehearsing a song repeatedly.

Extension: 8

I think my extension is really strong in Pay Day as I extend all my dance movements within the song and always use full extension of my arms, legs to make my movements strong. I don’t use much extension within Storm Clouds as there is minimal movement of extension of arms/legs/body, however to improve my extension I need to work on holding my sign with up in the air more as I feel sometimes I lose strength in my arm when holding the strike sign in the song after rehearsing the song and need to work on full extended my arm to hold the strike sign properly.

Movement Memory: 9

I think my movement memory was a strong aspect in my rehearsal today, as I listened well when given direction and knew each movement and what came next in movement at each point of the songs when rehearsing them. However, when repeating rehearsing the songs, I would sometimes forget the odd movement and need to make sure I keep more focus when practicing.

Posture: 8

My posture is another one of my strongest point I felt and I did well to explore my posture to show the mood and thoughts of my character through my posture. For example, having a strong, confident posture to show my character feels good within the song and show a good posture within showing a weak and tight posture to show my character as weak and uncomfortable in Storm Clouds but then a strong posture towards the end to show strength within the strike found again by my character - I need to improve on making this posture change more smoother in my performance to show the smoother change of my character thoughts changing through this smooth change of posture.

Facial expression: 9

I felt my facial expression was strong in both of the songs when rehearsing and I kept these most consistent within my performance. I show clear exaggeration in my facial expression in both songs and show the clear mood of the song through this. For example, in Pay Day my facial expression is cheesy smile and cheerful and exaggerated and in Pay Day my facial expression is sad, serious and shameful and show the change of it at the end to strong, powerful, angry at the management trying to break the strike. To improve of my facial expressions, I could use more of a variety of cheerful expressions in Pay Day rather than some and to improve in Storm Clouds, have a smoother change from weak to strong expressions.

Gesture: 6

I feel like I have very few gestures within the song Storm Clouds as there is not many places to add gestures as I was following the blocking rather than thinking about gestures and I hold the strike sign so find it difficult to include gestures whilst holding this throughout the song. I also have few gestures in the dance Pay Day as I just mainly follow the dance. To improve I will practice the song and will look at parts where I can add bits of gesture and see how this works with the blocking.

Openness/ confidence: 7

I think I am really confident within expressing the meanings of the song and I am not afraid to exaggerate my facial expression or movement to create strong characterization in my performance. I feel I confidently perform both song well and don’t hold back at any point when acting. However, I think my confidence needs to be stronger in my singing. I need to learn to be more confident with some verses and some high notes to become a stronger singer.

Use of space: 8

I think my use of space is used well in the songs and I follow the blocking and end up in the right space I am in for the songs, though I feel my space could be explored more in my performance as I feel sometimes my use of space I can’t be seen to an audience in Storm Clouds.

Eye contact: 8

I use my eye contact well within my performance, particularly in Storm Clouds when making eye contact with the boys when they sing their verse and I am watching their facial expressions now they have been put out in work and make eye contact with all of the boys on stage. I think my eye contact is also strong in Pay Day with my partner and the girls, however I feel like their needs to be more eye contact with the boys in the dance in my performance. 

Spatial awareness: 6

I think I need to be more aware of the people around me in my performance. For example, my spacial awareness need be improved in Pay Day as sometimes I can be to close to some when dancing in our group which stop them from being able to extend their arms fully and need to make sure I give the people room that I dance with so they are not restrained because of my spacing. To improve this, I need to make sure I am in a space where I don’t stop people from extending their movement and make sure I put myself more on the edge of the group when dancing with the girls so everyone has room to dance.

Audience interaction: 9

I feel my audience interaction is strong in both songs, I always project in Storm Clouds the line directed in front of me and always use eye contact towards people watching and the mirror in my performance. To improve I would need to make sure I direct as specific people more in my audience.

Action Plan:

Musicality. I want improve on my musicality so I will practice my vocals for both songs and practice the specific parts I struggle with such as high notes or long notes. To practice this I will start doing vocal warm ups including ‘mars bars’ to warm up the diaphragm, lip rolls to smooth my pitch and work on perfecting parts of the song I have difficulty with.

Gesture. To improve on my gestures, when next rehearsing I will focus on the choreography and look after part where I can include gesture within the song. I want to experiment with different gestures so I will try out different gestures within rehearsal and see if there’s room to add these gestures and see of this works in the choreography by watching myself in the mirror.

Spacial Awareness. I want to watch my spacial awareness in Pay Day so I will make sure I place myself more near the edge of our dance so that I leave people enough room to use extension of the body and also so I can leave room for myself.

Charcterisation

Are you using appropriate acting techniques ?

Is this an appropriate portrayal of the Character?

Yes, I feel I use Stanislavsky, the act of naturalism well on stage in both ‘Pay Day’ and ‘Storm Clouds’. For example, in Pay Day, I react and dance naturally and show I am having a good time through smiling and dancing, this show naturalism in my performance as my character is having a good time and is happy because she has just been paid and enjoys socializing with her friends. I also naturally react and interact with the people around me in the space to show naturalism within the scene to show realism of a natural and close relationship to the people I work alongside with in the factory. By reacting, dancing naturally, having cheerful expression and high energy, this is creating the appropriate portrayal of my character as my character is naturally having a good time and enjoy going out and socializing with the girls and having a drink. In ‘Storm Clouds’ I also use appropriate acting techniques such as interaction, body language and reaction and expressions within the song and feel I act this naturally well. For example, during the start I use sad expression as this is appropriate as my character is struggling to live on strike pay and this is causing me problems at home. I use expression and reaction well when the men enter the scene saying are the reason they are out of work and I feel guilty and ashamed for the men becoming unemployed due to the strike. Looking down at the floor show realistic body language as this is how someone reacts when they are put in a uncomfortable situation and this is uncomfortable for my character because I feel guilty. 

Think about   Age; status; power in relationships; personality and attitudes;

Can you identify your given Circumstance? Do you believe in it?

Pay Day. My given circumstance is that my character Emma always looks forward to Pay Day and has been looking forward to Pay Day all week as she has spent all of her money on previous Pay Day on new clothes! So now Pay Day has came back around again Emma is relieved she has money on her bank again and is ready to let her hair down and have a good time socializing with her work friends as she has not been out since blowing her last Pay Day. She feels great in her new outfit and feel confident in herself and feels happy. This is a believable in my performance with my high posture to represent Emma’s confidence and my cheerful and cheeky smile to represent Emma’s feel good mood on stage. 

Storm Clouds. My given circumstance is that my character Emma has been struggling to live off strike salary £2 a week, given her expensive lifestyle of consistently buying clothes and blowing her money on partying! Also, Emma living off striking pay is causing problems with her fiance, Blake at home because he is having to pay most of the rent and pay for all the shopping (and sometimes Emma’s clothes) and this is causing them to argue. Emma is starting to feel guilty for going on strike and she knows this is putting pressure on her fiance to provide and their relationship. Emma feel at her lowest point, since her and Blake are usually a happy, loved up couple and when she finds out the men have been put out of work, she feels worse and more guilty than ever. I believe in this as in the beginning of Storm Clouds, I come on looking hurt, insecure and at a loss of hope through my expression, my character’s usual posture is weak and I look like my mind isn’t at rest in my performance.

Are your characters objective clear in each scene? If so what is it? (I want to…)

 Pay Day. I want to show I have had a bit to drink so I will act slightly tipsy when dancing after the first dance by dancing slightly side to side. I want to show I am having a good time so I will show this through my cheerful expression and high energy.

Storm Clouds. I want to show I have lost hope in the strike so I will hold the sign low to show me representing loss in the strike. I feel guilty when the boys enter saying they have lost their jobs so I will look down to show I feel shame.

Is the acting technique appropriate to the style of the performance

Yes, using Stanislavsky is appropriate as we want to create the mood of both the scene and react as a group to create the atmosphere of the scene to our audience. By reacting naturally and using our expression realistically, we are creating the scene to the audience by using appropriate facial expressions and gestures to express the thoughts, feelings and mood to our audience.

Do you use a range of emotions and actions used to meet your characters objective? (So I will….)

Pay Day. I want to show my character is happy and tipsy and having a good time so I will have a cheesy big expressions and sway my head slightly to represent me as slightly drunk to my audience. I want to show I am having a good time and enjoy the music and have high energy so I will dance a lot to a lot of energy to show me as having a good time.

Storm Clouds. I want to show my character is feeling low, sad and has lost hope in the strike so I will show this through looking at the floor in shame and will show a tight body language and also through my facial expressions so show to my audience the low mood of the song and my characters thoughts.

Do you react to other characters on stage?

 Pay Day. Yes, I react with my partner during when splitting from the group dancing by smiling and laughing and also react when splitting up from my partner by dancing with people next to me on my side of stage and talking to them during the song and reacting in conversation.

Storm Clouds. Yes, I react when the men enter saying they have lost their job by turning around and looking at the ground and standing very tense to show my character feels guilty for being the reason they are out of work. 

What could be improved ‘even better if……’

What could be even better if in Pay Day I reacted to people across the space rather than just the people near me and near my space. Even better if I created specific eye contact with the individual men and react to their specific emotion which gives the circumstance of my character feeling guilty from seeing that certain expression.

Grade the following vocal skills out of 10 and give reasoning

Projection, Timing, Inflection, Emotion, accent, diction and pitch

Set three action plans to improve weaker areas for the performance

Loudness/ projection: 7

I think my volume of singing is at an exceptional volume as I don’t feel I sing too quiet but feel that I need to project my voice more during singing as I feel that although my singing is not quiet, it still has to be lot louder and more projected.

Inflection: 6

I think I don’t use enough inflection in my singing and mainly sing in my comfortable vocal range and don’t go as high or low as I could in some particular notes as I prefer to keep within my range to keep in tune as an ensemble. To improve my inflection when singing I need to push myself to hit the high and lows within the song to not only improve and stretch my vocal range, but to improve my overall inflection in the songs.

Emotion, tone, pace: 8

I think I use emotional and tone in both Storm Clouds and Pay Day well. For example, I sing cheery and enthusiastic in Pay Day to represent my mood through my tone of voice when singing and this comes across well in my singing and in Storm Clouds I sing in the tone showing sorrow and sadness within my voice whilst still making sure I am in tune when using this tone. Although, I feel to improve my tone and make this more stronger in my voice, I need to work on keep up with pace of the song and ensuring I remain breath control so I don’t lose my tone when singing particular difficult high/low or long notes.

Rhythm: 7

I think the rhythm in vocals has improved in today’s rehearsal, I am able to stay in tune with the sound of the music and feel I can maintain the rhythm in my voice in both songs verses and chorus’s. Although I feel I can maintain the rhythm and sound of my voice, I need to work on keeping this consistent as I noticed I struggled to maintain the rhythm after rehearsing the song a few more and lose my rhythm more. To maintain rhythm in my voice more I need to work on maintaining control of my vocals throughout rehearsing so I am able to sing without straining my voice. To do this I will need to drink plenty of water and control my breathing with an exercise to improve consistency and power in my voice.

Pausing: 8

I think my pausing is well used within my singing. I know when to stop singing and continue singing in both songs and know the songs to be able to know the pausing, for example, pausing is needed in Storm Clouds a lot because of the number of underscoring included in the song, I know my cues when and when not to sing during the different underscoring. However, I feel I need to work on my pausing during a during different notes so I am able to sustain them in my singing. To improve these, I need to work on my breath control knowing when and when not to breath to ensure I am able to hold the notes during the end of Storm Clouds. To work on pausing, I will work on a breathing exercise such as holding my breath for 10 seconds and breathing out.

Accent/ dialect: 6

Although I feel my accent is fine when simply speaking lines as my character, I feel my accent is not as strong in my singing and you can’t hear the accent well in my voice when singing. To improve on this, I need to work on my inflection when singing to perfect the accent more in my voice when singing. I can also improve my accent whilst singing whilst saying the lyrics as my character and then singing them after to see the difference and what I am missing in my accent when singing and be able to improve.

Diction: 8

I think my diction is a good part within my singing. I feel I pronounce each lyric right and sing clearly in my singing making sure each line is clear as this is something I concentrate on when singing. Though I think my diction is good in my performance of both Pay Day and Storm Clouds, I need to work on my projection to make my diction more stronger in my performance. To do this, I need to sing at a higher volume whilst focusing on my diction still to make the improvement.

Pitch: 7

I feel my pitch is okay, but there is still room for improvement. I can hold my pitch well in Pay Day given I don’t struggle with any of the notes, but in Storm Clouds, I can hold my pitch but struggle towards the end of the song as my voice becomes weak and not smooth within the different notes in the chorus and the end of the song. To improve my pitch, I need to work on making my vocals stronger and practicing the song so I can be able to sing with controlled pitch throughout the song more easily given practice and vocal exercise to also smooth my pitch, for example going from high to low or doing exercise ‘Mar Bars’ to help extend my range.

Fluidity: 7

I think my flow today has been overall good and better than previous lessons. I feel I am able to sustain the flow of the majority of both the songs and I can keep the flow of my voice to the music and focus a lot on the flow of my voice so I don’t come out of tune when singing. I still feel I need to improve my pitch to make my fluidity in both songs a lot stronger to make my fluidity of the notes more stronger. To do this, I need to practice enhancing my flow and the power of my voice through projection and practice.

Vocal idiosyncrasies: 6

I think my vocal idiosyncrasies are a weak part of my vocals when singing in both Pay Day and Storm Clouds. Though I feel I use my voice well in Pay Day to show my type of personality through a dipsy when singing ‘Pay Day’ I feel I only use this slightly and not as much as I could. I feel I focus a lot on keeping tune with others as an ensemble member that I don’t really add a uniqueness to my voice when singing in case this makes me out of tune as a cast member. To improve this, I need to explore my singing and vocal range and work on practicing and experimenting a different singing voice rather than singing with my comfortable tone.

Musicality: 8

I think my musicality is one of my strongest points, I feel the majority of the time I sing in timing and in tune with the music and dance in Pay Day well in timing and move at the right time when doing my blocking. Though, I feel to improve my musicality, I need to work on the quality of my voice in both songs as sometimes I feel in minor parts of the songs my vocals can turn weak.

Timing: 8

I think my timing is also a good aspect of mine in both songs we did today. I time the blocking of Storm Clouds very well and dance in timing with my group to the music in Pay Day well. I am able to keep in timing with my singing though to improve my timing, I need to improve my ability of holding long notes at the end of Storm Clouds.

Harmonies: 6

Though I am in tune when singing to the music, I feel sometimes my harmonies can slightly be off during certain times and do feel to make my harmonies a lot better, I need to work on practicing them harmonies that I struggle with the most to make me more in sync with other people’s harmonies. 

Underscoring: -

I don’t have any underscoring speech or dialogue in any of these songs.

Action Plan:

Inflection. I want to improve my inflection when singing so I sound more smoother with the change of vocals from high to low and extend my vocal range so I will work on singing exercise such as holding a note and going from high to low to make my voice more smoother and then practicing the songs.

Accent. I want to improve my accent when singing so I have the cockney accent whilst singing as well so I will work on practicing saying the lyrics normal in my accent and test me singing them in the accent so I can then improve my accent in the songs.

Harmonies. I want to work on perfecting my harmonies more in the songs so I will work on trying the harmonies I struggle with the most separately at first then when I feel I have improved then separately try singing them with the songs.

[lizzyseeram2-blog]

Dance Analysis 3 - Viva Eastbourne

1. What mood are you aiming to create? Describe the skills you use to create this mood. 

The mood I am aiming to create is that I am excited and giddy to arrive in Eastbourne for the day and enjoy the sun, beach and sea and I am also excited for Rita to do her speech at TUC conference, to see what outcome we could get from this as this is the moment since we have been on strike we’ve all been waiting for, I am excited to see if we have achieved equal pay. The skill I use to create the mood of excitement is energy. To express my character’s excitement of arriving to Eastbourne, I need big, uplifting energy in the dance to Viva Eastbourne to get the mood across to the audience of my character’s happiness and feelings of joy now the big moment of our strike has finally come, where Rita speaks for us as women in hope to achieve equal pay. Another key skill I use is facial expression. To show my character’s feeling of joy and uplifting mood, I need to use a variety of expressions to show this. I need to use big cheesy smiley expression, especially during the end of the song where we all come together to have a group photo. I need to use joyful large smiling expression using high eyebrows, big, wide eyes and and an open mouth whilst smiling to create the image of excitement in my face and to contribute towards the mood that this is a big thing for the girls and they are excited to see whether them all working as a team to strike, they have finally made a difference. 

2. Were you successful in creating the atmosphere for this scene? 

Yes, I felt I used high energy and created the atmosphere well for the scene and I put a lot of power and was energetic in the dance which created the energy I wanted to achieve in my performance and contributed to the scene as all the women and men are excited to have arrived to Eastbourne and not only enjoy their time there, but are looking forward to hearing Rita’s speech of behalf of the strike and us as women which is a huge thing for us as factory girls in the scene as our strike has been leading up to this big moment. I also felt I was successful in creating the atmosphere by communicating with the girls in the scene with me. The factory girls, will feel close to each other as they have all come together to strike and now are finally in Eastbourne waiting for the results from leader Rita. I smile and create eye contact and mime and greet other girls when entering the stage so that I can create a realistic atmosphere of the girls looking close to each other and happy and enthusiastic in conversations as at this point, each one of us factory girls all want the same thing, to achieve equal pay. As factory girls, going through the strike together has brought us closer and we are all feeling enthusiastic since arriving to Eastbourne to enjoy ourselves and see what we have achieved, so by creating friendly gestures, eye contact with other character’s I have helped to show the relationship between us all as factory girls and showing us sticking together.

3. What do you need to do to improve your contribution to this mood? 

I think I still need to work on my facial expressions more and making them bigger and more consistent in the dance. As I tend to focus a lot on the dance and my vocals in the song, I think this causes me to not focus as much on my expression and cause my expression to use consistence when concentrating of the choreography. I need to think more about my expression and to look more at my facial expression in the mirror at myself, so I can see how I can make it better and more enthusiastic within the dance, as I feel it more strong towards the end of the dance where we have a photo together as a group than during the dance. 

4. What message does the song send to the audience? How do you enhance the message within the dance? What skills do you use to share this message with the audience? What could you do to improve your contribution to this message? 

The message this sends out to the audience is that we have just arrived in Eastbourne and are excited to be in Eastbourne and are ready to enjoy our time here whilst we can.at the seaside, the sea and enjoy the sun. The message sends out that all of us as worker at Ford Dagenham have come together for the TUC conference, The message sends out that we are all enthusiastic about arriving and I enhance this message in the dance with the cheesy moves we do such as enhancing and exaggerating on shaking my hips to show my characterization during this dance move as very giddy and cheeky, I also enhance the message through the dance by clicking to the music whilst smiling towards the audience and having a strong and confident posture whilst doing this to create a joyful image of my character having fun and confidently and enthusiastically dancing to show my high energy since arriving to Eastbourne. Another way we enhance the message of all excited to arrive to Eastbourne is during the end of the song where we all have a photo close together smiling, showing us all as close workers having a good time together through our expressions and enthusiasm to all get in the photo together.

5. Where does the dance take place? Describe how you show this in the dance. Describe how this effects your movement. 

The dance takes place in Eastbourne, by the lyrics it is suggested that the men and women are by the seaside because of not just Harold’s reference to ‘I do like to be beside the seaside’ but ‘The TUC by the sea’ and ‘donkey on the beach’ which suggests the scene is based on the beach. I show in the dance that we are in Eastbourne and it is hot on the beach when entering the stage with Gabbie saying how hot it is and doing hand gestures to fan my and tugging at my clothes as if to let fresh air come. Showing it is hot affect my movement by the way I enter the stage. Entering the stage doing hand fanning gestures towards my face shows the audience I am hot and affects my posture and eye-line of my face as I am trying to enter the stage as if avoiding the sun directly in my eyes.

6. Describe how your character feels within the scene. How do you show this in your movement? For example how does this effect your facial expressions and dynamics of the movement. 

My character feels excited about arriving to Eastbourne. I show this in my movement by exaggerating with my movement and physicality in the dance. By being big with my movement in the dance show my character as enthusiastic and in an uplifting mood as I have arrived in Eastbourne and have Rita’s speech at TUC to look forward to, to see if our strike has paid off ad there’s a possibility we could achieve equal pay so I show I am excited and thrilled with my facial expressions. I show this through doing cheesy animated smiling expressions throughout the dance to show myself as clearly cheerful and lively about my arrival. I show this through the dynamics of my movement by exaggerating on sharp movement to add extra energy and motion to the slick movement to make them strong and big within the dance and to show my characteristics through exaggerating specifically on the sharp movements and also to enhance my characters high spirit and cheer.

7. Describe three points in your dance which are good and explain why they are effective. 

Interaction. I think my interaction is good when I enter stage with the factory girls as I make clear interaction and facial expressions towards them to show a believable relationship of us all as factory girls sticking together and have a really close relationship at this point as we are ready to see if our hard work for staying on strike and sticking together has paid off and think I show this in a believable, convincing way in my performance.

Spacial Awareness. I think my spacial awareness is really good within in the dance. I use full extension of my movement and are aware of everyone around me and do not come into contact with others when doing the dance where I step, spread my arms which means I am able to effectively exaggerate my movement on parts in the dance, without coming into contact with the people that dance next to me. 

Footwork. I think I am good with the footwork involved within the dance. For example, I know my steps well within the dance and always step on the right foot and know which directions of steps I am taking whether to the left, to the audience etc, which is effective in the dance as it means I am always in time with the others with my footwork.

8. Target three areas of the dance, which need improving. For example timing , facial expressions and dynamics. List and describe the moments you need to work on and film yourself improving these areas. 

Posture. I think I still need to improve on my posture within the dance as I feel sometimes within the dance my eye-line and head drops to look towards the floor and need to work on this towards specifically the middle of the song so the audience will see my expressions throughout the whole dance and the moments of expressions are not missed. 

Facial Expressions. I think I still need to be bigger with my expression within the dance. Though I feel my expression are good, I feel I could still experiment with making my expressions bigger in the dance. For example, a way I could explore with my expressions is by making or creating a build of my expression from the start and end of the dance.

Dynamics. I need to improve on working on my dynamics in the dance. For example, I feel my transition from the sharp movement to the more flowing and fluid movements is not as smooth as it should be, there needs to be more of a sleek and polished changed between me going from a sharp movement into a soft one so I flow better within the dance. 

[lizzyseeram2-blog]

Dance Analysis 2 - This Is What We Want

1- What mood are you aiming to create?  Describe the skills you use to create this mood. The mood we are trying to create is we are trying to make Monty feel uncomfortable. We are trying to create a joking mood whilst making Monty feel ganged up on by us all as factory, starting to suggest all the things we want. The mood is also determined because they want what they want and they are dertimined to get it. A skill we use to create this mood was reactions to one another and Monty to show we are directing the song towards him and by us all as factory girls reacting to one another, this portrays th message as being much stronger and showing as factory girls we all the want the same things. Another skill we use is audience interaction because when the line 'im pining for, whining for' because we want to connect with the audience and want them to understand that the girls have reached a point now where they fed up of waiting for change and the song has reached a serious point. 2- Were you successful in creating the atmosphere for this scene? Yes, I feel like I showed my character and showed my characters appropriate feelings and emotions. I showed good direct connection towards both Monty and the audience throughout the song and showed clearly in my performance that the song was specifically directed at Monty. I created eye contact with Monty and showed me as a character trying to intidate Monty and showed myself projecting the song towards him in this particular mood. I showed my characters cheeky side well when circling Monty with some material and showed a cheery and cheeky expression as this originally the songs purpose but then turn my expression to serious towards the verse 'pining for, whining for' as this is where the girls are being serious about the change in the work place and direct this well towards the audience with a serious expression to show the power of the message towards the audience to show the first stages of the women wanting the changes. 3- What do you need to do to improve your contribution to this mood? To improve towards the contribution of the mood, I think I need to explore my expression as I think the use simarliar expressions towards Monty. So to improve on making the mood of the scene more I need to experiment with more cheeky and smug expressions towards Monty so I am not keeping the same one each time and maybe experiment with doing a bigger different one towards the part where we all circle around Monty to make my contribution towards this specific part more bigger and entertaining through new, larger expressions. 4- What message does the song send to the audience? How do you enhance the message within the dance? What skills do you use to share this message with the audience? What could you do to improve your contribution to this message? The majority of the message within the song is the girls are sick of the work environment they have to work in and are complaining but also listing all the things they want. The girls then start to joke and start to suggest silly suggestions all having a laugh together whilst at the same time trying to belittle and gang up on Monty in the scene. Towards the verse 'pining for, whining for' the message sends to the audience that the girls are not messing around anymore and are now being serious and desperate for a change in the workplace. The skills I use in the message are change of facial expressions. 5- Where does the dance take place? Describe how you show this in the dance. Describe how this effects your movement. The dance takes place in the factory. The dance takes place towards the first chrous when the girls start all singing together towards Monty and working together to all get up, intimidate Monty and direct the song towards him. We show this in the dance by walking towards closely with big strides all as girls to create the effect of us all ganging up up on Monty. I show I am in the factory by in the factory ans by when me and Jodie both wrap Monty up on the line 'spread some joys around the place' with the factory material we use to make the car seats. I also show I am in the factoy as the girl states how hot is in the factory. I show this in the dance by doing gestures like fanning my face and agreeing with Cass on the line 'we want to work in places that ain't hot as hell'. I also show I'm in the factory when Sandra says the lines 'I want a roof that just won't leak' and gesture towards the ceiling and say 'its also fucking leaking'. I also show im in the factory when Sandra says 'I want a chair that just dont creak' and i gestures towards my chair and say to Cass 'mines been creaking for ages'. 6- Describe how your character feels within the scene. How do you show this in your movement? For example how does this effect your facial expressions and dynamics of the movement. My character feels giddy about the girls all ganging up on Monty towards the start of the song, but is giddy with the girls, not Monty. She is still annoyed at Monty at the fact my character is putting the blame on him for the fact the girls have been evaluated to an unakilled grade. I show my character as giddy in winding Monty up when towards the first chrous at 'spread some joys around the place' I wrap Monty up in the seat material and push him and start laughing amd smirk at Connie when I am told off because I am having a laugh winding him up. When I laugh I hold my stomach whilst returning back to my space in the song, still laughing. Towards the mext chorus, my character is more serious and my aim is to intimidate Monty. I show this by walking towards him using big strides whilst looking him straight in the eye with a straight and sturn face to show my character as attempting to intimidate him. By intimidating Monty this affects my movement as I walk slowly towards creating a slow and aggressive way to the audience on how I am trying to threaten him through my movement. The change in my character feels then turns to a more serious and genuine hope for change during 'pining for, whining for' because during this chorus I travel across in my own space, thinking to myself about how we have always been hoping for a change in the factory dur to not only the conditions we have to work in, but a change of management for putting us to an unskilled grade. During the next verse 'moaning for groaning' this verse is directed at Monty so I return back to my aggressive movement moving slowing whilst creatinf eye contact towards him showing this is personal now and I believe that their needs to be a change done in the factory. I show in my facial expressions I am annoyed and use big facial expression on this to enphasize my annoyance and anger and use big extension of my mouth when singing to do this whilst also tilting my head to show me as attempting to belittle Monty. Because my character is annoyed, this affact my movement as I show myseld folding my arms and with a solid posture when directing the songs towards him. 7- Describe three points in your dance which are good and explain why they are effective. Facial expressions. I think I show a good variety of facial expressions in the dance and show appropriate change of mood as the song carries on. For example, at the start the girls are messing around trying to gang up on Monty but then as the song progresses, the girls become serious about the change they want in work environment and show they are more emotionally invested in the chorus as they are annoyed that their needs as working women arent being met. I show effective facial expressions from showing my character as laughing and having a joke to serious annoyed expressions. Gestures. I think the gestures I use within the dance show my thoughts and feelings within the dance effectively. For example, I show body gestures such as folding my arms or having one hand on my hip to show the expression of my character angry and had enough of the way the factory runs and the way I show these annoyed gestures contribute towards showing the audience the atmosphere affectively. Movement. I think my movement in the dance is effective because it expresses the meaning of the song towards the audience and the scene well. For example, I travel acrosss the space confidently striding when approaching Monty to show my character feels she is strong ans dominant against directing the lyrics towards Monty and showing as my character I am aiming to get my point across within my forward and intimidating movement towards him. 8- Target three areas of the dance, which need improving. For example timing , facial expressions and dynamics. List and describe the moments you need to work on and film yourself improving these areas. Spacial awareness. I think in the song, I need to be more aware of people when travelling to a different part of the stage. For example, during the verse 'Pining for, whining for' I have to move into the space I was blocked in and a lot of the time bump into others to get to this space. To fix this, I may need to set off to my space earlier or later than the people who have to travel the space aswell to avoid contact. Change of emotion. I feel like the change of emotion in the dance needs to be a lot smoother. For example, I feel like my character goes too quickly from messing around with the girls and having a laugh to further on becomingannoyed and theres too much of a drastic change in my emotion. To improve this, I need to make notes in my script of specif changes of expression from turning annoyed so it is more of a believable performance and my change in expressions is a smoother transition. Audience awareness. I think during the dance, I mainly focus on Monty and the girls within the scene to me and don't make much audience interaction as I should. I need to have for eye contact and directed lines towards the audience I feel so the audience can capture my expressions more and the lyrics more on stage. To improve this I will imagine an audience in future rehearsal and experiment with ways I can look towards the audience and see which parts it fits into to make audience eye contact then write this in my script if it works successfully within the dance.

[lizzyseeram2-blog]

Peer Review - Byron Wright

Good reaction Good volume of vocals, clear projection Good accent Connected with people throughout More expression on certain parts of the song th expression is lost Experiment more with gestures rather than just folding arms each time

[lizzyseeram2-blog]

Targets

Reactions. Reactions to Beryl. I need to react with beyrl and connect with the other characters to highlight the comedy moment Beryl has as a character to not only express her character but to also show how the factory girls and me as a individual feel about some of the things Beryl comes out with. Accents. Working on the cockney accents and correcting the vowels to make sure the accent remains consistent. Practice the accent throughout rehearsal so that the more I practice the more I am confident. Vary in tonie and pitch and quality of the sound. Ive worked on my accent by looking at a variety of The Only Way Is Essex clips and choosing a specific person i felt would work for my character. I picked Fernes way of speaking to base my character on and now I have picked a characters accent to base my own on, I am able to improve now. Character. Background information. Embodying the character through how a character uses physicality, posture and psychology of the character and how the character fitted as a factory girl in the factory. Be more confident in the character and embodying and believing the moment on stage. Taking risks. Taking risk and letting go and experimenting with your character to become a lot more creative and make the performance more entertaining for the audience. Adding in parts like expressions and specific pauses, ways of speaking etc.