Drama

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MYP 3 Our first drama unit was about comedy. We were given the task of creating a short comedy play. Below is the script, my character development sheet and my reflection.




 * Ages 14-15**
 * Highschool**
 * Name**: Viktor (Comico)


 * Status**: Hipster, will not listen to anyone famous (Only listens to "underground" music), rejects anything "Mainstream"


 * Costume**: Skinny jeans, Vans, single color hoodie


 * Signature Props:** Fedora, Macbook


 * Movements and Gestures**: Smooth walking, exaggerated walk, relaxed stance


 * Relationships**: Everyone in the class are too mainstream to relate to


 * 1. Describe the activity (Dance party)**
 * 2. List lessons/skills/strategies that can be appied to improvisation**
 * 3. Reflect on your personal performance in the activity. Discuss challenges, surprises, progress, reactions, etc.**

1. "Dance Party" is an improv activity, where the group stands in a circle and one person walks into the middle and does an improvised dance move and everyone copies it. Another person then goes into the middle, after the first person steps out, does their improvised dance move, everyone copies and the game moves on in the same fashion. The move must last one bar of the song, and another bar is used to switch who's in the middle. A beat must never be skipped 2 ."Dance Party" helps the group develop improvisation skills, as it teaches them to keep the scene flowing, to react to another person's move and to come up with something on the spot when it's their turn. It helps them react faster to the other person and to come up with a response faster, without always thinking about what they're going to say. 3. I feel I did okay in this activity, both keeping beat and copying others. I did not come up with any special moves, just what came to the top of my head. However, I always knew when it was my turn to go and I kept my part of the activity flowing. I felt the others in the group got better as we tried again and again, but some never really got the hang of it.


 * Activity 1 - Improvised movements (Improvised Freeze Tag)**

A group of people take the floor, spectators form a perimeter of movement around them and the group in the middle takes turns at random to make different movements. I don't feel this activity went well, because the majority of people did not participate in the activity. It was only a small group who did it at a time and of that group, only one or two people would participate actively. I participated and did my part, as did Brandon, but the rest of the group just stood and watched. I feel I could improve by varying my range of movements.
 * Activity 2 - Improvised movements with noise (Improvised Freeze Tag)**

Same as Activity 1, but making a noise to go with the movement. This activity went the same was as the last one, with only one or two people actively participating, while the rest just stood and watched. My goal would be the same as the last one and being more creative with the noises I make
 * Activity 3 - Improvised Freeze Tag**

Everyone stands in a circle. One person walks into the middle and starts talking to himself/herself. One person cuts him/her off at random, by yelling "Freeze" and the person in the middle switches places with them. The next person then starts talking and the same thing is repeated. I feel this activity went better than the other two, mainly because it was a bigger group. There was still only about half of the group actively participating. The half that was participating however, was doing a good job of keeping the rhythm and conversations flowing smoothly. I was one of those who participated in this activity and we had a good conversation about the teacher going. I feel this activity was better for me, because there were more people participating and it was a lot easier to improvise when others improvised too.

The activity consists of two people improvising. One person pretend to be an expert on a random topic, the other the interviewer. I feel this activity went well and my partner and I did a good job of improvising and keeping the scene flowing. I enjoy improvising, but the rest of the class are not always enthusiastic about improv. Below is the video. media type="youtube" key="VxHKL8T-rh8" height="315" width="420"
 * Activity: "Expert"**

The activity was to do an improv version of a fairytale in 60 seconds. I did not enjoy this activity, as I did not know the fairytales we were told to do. I feel I'm better at improvising, when it's just improvisation. When you have to do an quick version of a fairytale, it quickly gets confusing if you don't actually know the fairytale you're told to do.
 * Activity: Fairy Tale Improv**

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"Tell the truth" "Tell the truth" is an activity where 3 people leave the room, select one true experience from one person, and they all have to convince the rest of the group that it happened to them. I believe I did this well, as half the people thought I was telling the truth. The only people who didn't already knew it had happened to the other person. I think this was a fun activity and a good exercise.

The show is called "Ridicule for Miniscule" and will be a show about people embarrassing themselves for money. Currently it has not been going so well, as we have been having trouble getting the resources and filming the different scenes.
 * Reality Show Plan:**

1. What was your original concept?
 * Reality Show Reflection:**

Our original concept was a reality show about what people would do for money. We would give people different internet challenges, and whoever succeeded, earned 5 dollars.

2. How did the final product differ from your intended concept?

Our final product was not completed, therefore it was not like the concept. What we did finish did not differ from the original concept

3. What were your group's challenges? What were you group's successes?

My group's challenges were to record the video, as we were not allowed to be in it. We attempted to get together to record the different challenges, but not enough people were willing to do the challenges.

4. What were your personal challenges? What were your personal successes?

My personal success was to create the facebook page for the show.

5. On the checklist below, select which tasks were completed;


 * A. Webpage**

B. Character Feature Videos

C. Episode Trailer


 * D. List of upcoming episodes**


 * E. Show Concept**

How were you able to complete the tasks?

The only task I completed was to create the web page.

In the case of tasks which were not completed, what prevented you from completing them?

The teacher's instructions were that we were not allowed to be in the video ourselves, so we had to try to find other people willing to do the challenges. This proved very difficult to do, as we couldn't get enough people together and the resources were difficult to find on short notice.

How can those challenges be overcome in the future?

We can use siblings, though this would only provide 2 people. Or we could go against the teacher's instructions and just film ourselves, like the two other groups.

"It seems most commonly to be the mother's influence, though naturally a bad father's would have the same result. Every lawyer is familiar with the fact. This Krogstad, now, has been persistently poisoning his own children with lies and dissimulation; that is why I say he has lost all moral character. [Holds out his hand to her.] That is why my sweet little Nora, must promise me not to plead his cause. Give me your hand on it. **(frustrated)** Come, come, what is it?**(Wave hand)** Give me your hand. There now, that's settled. I assure you it would be quite impossible for me to work with him; I literally feel physically ill when I am in the company of such people. **(Emphasis on such****)**
 * Excert from "The Dollhouse"**

The assignment was to choose 2 photos from the selection. My group chose the two shown below. Based on these adverts, we had to make a short skit representing them. Afterwards, we had to decide on one of these and create a non-sexist version of it. We chose the ketchup advert. I believe this went well. We went with a improvisation approach, because none of us are very good at memorizing scripts. We could have used more time to work on the script and developing the dialogue, but overall, I believe it went well. We had a basic script, to make sure we have the main ideas included, then we improvised with the rest. I enjoyed this activity, as it gave me practice in both script writing and improvisation.
 * Advertisements and Sexism in the Media**

My first attempt at drawing the set is below. The description of the scene in the script is as follows;
 * A Doll's House Stage Drawing**

//"A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly. At the back, a door to the right//

//leads to the entrance-hall, an other to the left leads to HELMER:'s study. Between the doors stands a piano.//

//In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door, and beyond it a window. Near the window are a round table,//

//arm-chairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, at the farther end, another door; and on the same side,//

//nearer the footlights, a stove, two easy chairs and a rocking-chair; between the stove and the door, a small//

//table. Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china and other small objects; a small book-case with//

//well-bound books. The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove. It is winter."//

Afterwards, we were shown a sketch of the stage and corrected our drawings accordingly. Below is my corrected diagram.

I think it was relatively easy to follow the directions given in the script and recreate the set. I had most things correct in my first draft, except for the location of the couch, which would not create any problems.

In class, we were given a certain action or emotion to portray and make an exit or entrance accordingly. We were not allowed to speak and had to communicate entirely using body language and gestures. We had a partner who did not know our action, but would respond according to what we did. I believe I performed my exit very well, as the whole class instantly knew what had happened. I was supposed to act like I had just been insulted by my partner. I stood up rapidly and looked in disgust at him. I then stormed off, making a convincing exit. I believe the elements which make an exit or entrance effective, is the use of gestures and using a certain body language with an obvious reason behind it. The exit or entrance must be made convincingly and everyone should know exactly how the character feels about what happened.
 * Entrances and Exits**

In this exercise, everyone stood in a circle. We then went around the circle, each saying one nickname, activity and an object which we relate to ourselves. The person who was next in the circle had to remember all the words to each person who had gone before them. I believe this went well, as most people remembered.
 * Nicknames, objects and activities**


 * Hold the pose, 3 people change**

My excert is scene 10. We decided to switch the roles, as my partner would not perform the part well. I believe I can do the emotions very well, but I may have trouble remembering the exact words used.
 * "It's not you, it's me" by Don Zolidis**

My character is an over-emotional, troubled teen. Growing up, he always got what he wanted from his parents and teachers, so he is not used to dealing with problems. When his girlfriend decides to break up with him, he breaks down and has a fit. He always gets very emotionally attached to people and tends to over-react to everything. His girlfriend Mazie is not looking for anything serious and does not wish to get emotionally attached to John. John doesn't recognize his own faults and believes he is the perfect boyfriend. He blames the breakup on Mazie. He believes the world revolves around his own happiness and not the happiness of others. Mazie is his first girlfriend and only went out with him because she didn't know he was like this. They went to the movies and he did nothing. Afterwards, he shouted at her for not making a move. She thought this to be a bit odd, but decided she wanted to see what it would lead to. After a few days, she had grown tired of being the dominant one. She decided to break it off, but couldn't do it the first time, as John began breaking down in public. She assured him she was just kidding. This went on for 2 weeks, till the day of the final break up.

Time Bomb consists of a group of people standing in a circle. A "match" is lit into one persons hand, which is then passed on to the next person, till it reaches the end. Once it reaches the end, the last person will make an explosion noise and everyone will fall.
 * Time Bomb**

Speak slower and emphasize Shout for longer, going from high to low Speak to both audience and performer
 * Notes on performance:**

The whole group was inside the hall. We were paired up with a partner and were instructed to have a conversation with them. The distance between us was increasing. We had to project, instead of shout. I believe this exercise helped me filter out unnecessary noise and focus on projecting my own voice.
 * Projection exercise**

During the rehearsals for the play, I believe there was good spirits and high expectations throughout. I believe these sessions helped me get comfortable performing in front of a bigger audience and it was a good experience seeing the others perform their scenes. It allowed me to get more involved with my play and connect with my character. I believe I improved my emotional and physical responses as I allowed myself to believe my own character. The rehearsals were organized and helped us organize ourselves better as a group. I believe I took the advice that Ms Dionne gave me and improved on my scene. Advice was mostly about slowing down my delivery and making the speech clearer.
 * First rehearsal**

The second rehearsal I did not perform my scene as I was feeling ill. I don't believe this affected my performance negatively. The mood was still good and the scenes were performed well by everyone. During this session, I had time to reflect on how my performance was improving. I tried to think about what my responses should be like and how I could make the delivery more convincing.
 * Second rehearsal**

During the third rehearsal, we finally got to try with the real stage setup. This proved to be much different from the original setting we used to rehearse. My stance was all wrong and I made sure to fix it before the final performance. I was only facing half the audience. I believe this was because the table we used was closer to the stage than I had expected and I had not practiced with the audience in mind. I believe I did fix this issue before the main performance. I tried to make my character more animated, as it would add to the "feel" of the scene.
 * Third rehearsal**

I believe the final performance went better than the rehearsals. Before the performance, I blocked out most distractions and focused on getting into and staying in character. It was also difficult during the performance not to watch the other persons performance, as they were all behind us. However, despite the difficulties, I believe my performance was good and portrayed the message clearly. I believe I adjusted my stance correctly and managed to glance over the audience at the appropriate time. I believe me and my partner worked well together and interacted nicely. Overall, I believe the scene was performed well and it was a good experience.
 * Final Performance**