Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

RATIONALE  -­‐  Why  have  you  chosen  this  style?  
 
The  reason  we  have  chosen  the  style  of  Berkoff  was  because  we  were  
given  the  stimulus  –  shadows
...
 With  shadows  we  knew  that  we  were  to  base  the  theme  around  
darkness,  unhappiness  and  secrets
...
 We  read  a  story  in  The  Guardian  regarding  a  
family  who  were  troubled  and  broken  and  we  decided  to  base  our  
storyline  around  this
...
 We  continued  to  ask  
ourselves:  ‘which  style  would  make  the  story  most  emotionally  
effective  to  the  audience?’  We  discussed  many  different  styles,  and  
explored  them
...
 We  also  looked  at  story  telling  with  shadow  
puppetry  but  using  this  style  and  technique  seemed  to  simple  to  fit  
our  given  stimulus
...
   This  style  
seemed  perfect
...
 The  plain  black  clothing  and  white  faces  shocked  the  
audience  nd  the  lighting  came  from  the  side  of  the  stage  which  fitted  
our  shadows  theme  and  helped  us  to  create  this  tense  mood
...
 We  
liked  the  East-­‐End  London  aggression,  mime  and  the  physicality  of  
the  piece
...
 For  
example,  we  decided  to  include  a  journey
...
   This  idea  was  taken  on  and  we  incorporated  our  
piece  around  the  frames
...
 I  cast  myself  this  part  as  I  
wanted  a  challenge
...
   I  
overcame  this  by  expanding  my  own  personal  research  by  watching  
other  physical  theatre  styled  plays  online  and  analyzing  how  one  of  
the  innocent  characters  move,  speak  and  act
...
 We  started  off  using  two  people  for  the  bath  itself  but  it  
seemed  too  difficult  to  understand  so  we  experimented  with  the  
frames
...
 I  felt  this  was  
too  simple  and  that  we  should  elaborate  the  bath  by  using  torches  
shined  shakily  over  the  frames  and  the  house  lights  dimmed  to  create  
a  shimmering  water  effect
...
 We  wanted  the  audience  
to  understand  that  it  was  a  bath  but  then  still  remind  them  that  
nothing  can  be  simple  and  everything  is  a  metaphor
...
   
 
My  hardest  personal  problem  was  presenting  myself  to  the  audience  
as  an  innocent  minor,  but  I  had  to  keep  my  rough,  east-­‐end  accent,  
move  robotically  and  yet  portray  myself  as  a  young  innocent  child
...
 Eventually  with  a  
lot  of  practice  and  persistence  I  was  able  to  keep  these  unchangeable  
aspects  of  Berkoff  yet  portray  myself  as  faultless  child
...
 We  wanted  to  create  and  achieve  a  slow  yet  powerful  
sequence  representing  a  journey  that  the  son;  Josh,  would  be  the  only  
character  in  the  scene
...
 This  was  a  difficulty  and  brainstorming  
the  journey  was  very  time-­‐consuming  for  us
...
 We  would  
move  with  the  doorframes  and  follow  Josh  on  his  journey
...
   

  
Another  example  is  when  at  one  point  during  his  journey  we  arrange  
ourselves  and  the  frames  in  a  long  queue  to  symbolize  a  hallway,  we  
move  them  as  he  walks  through  them  and  then  slam  the  frames  in  
unison  and  stepping  into  them
...
   
 
Another  difficulty  for  me  was  the  end  on  my  monologue  in  the  bath
...
 I  needed  
to  show  this  change  vocally  and  physically  to  make  a  strong  contrast  
to  shock  the  audience
...
   
 
I  spoke  loudly  but  slightly  broken  in  my  voice,  and  my  body  was  
tense  and  shaking  to  show  fear
...
 We  decided  that  if  I  were  to  move  in  a  way  one  would  in  the  bath  
(for  example  washing  hair)  and  both  Anthony  and  Rebecca  were  to  
mimic  me,  whispering,  it  would  make  the  scene  seem  more  intense  
and  spooky,  and  give  them  a  part  to  play  in  it
...
 This  gave  a  white  light,  which  also  symbolized  my  
innocence
...
   
 
Another  difficulty  was  making  an  effective  ‘fight’  scene
...
 We  thought  if  they  stood  in  
parallel  to  on  another,  at  both  ends  of  the  front  of  the  stage,  they  
could  move  together  without  touching  one  another
...
 Also,  we  cast  
a  strong  light  onto  them  both  to  continue  with  the  stimulus  of  
shadows  which  made  them  both  seem  closer  to  the  audience
...
 The  audience  witnessed  the  tension  within  the  
family  first  hand
...
 The  breakfast  scene  was  
also  effective  as  we  all  were  sat,  facing  the  audience,  at  the  same  level  
as  them
...
   
 
Personally,  I  wanted  to  make  the  audience  feel  sorry  for  me,  as  the  
victim
...
 I  was  a  robotic,  east  
end  and  to  an  extent  not  even  human
...
 The  
audience  reacted  best  to  the  most  unnatural  movements
...
 We  could  not  break  the  
fourth  wall,  but  we  still  were  able  to  make  an  engagement  with  the  
audience  by  being  so  physical
...
 We  used  lighting  on  the  floor  from  the  sides  of  the  stage  
and  from  the  front  to  create  strong  shadows
...
 We  used  a  mixture  od  music,  also
...
 The  recorded  music  we  used  was  crackling  
and  not  very  rhythmic,  which  created  an  unusual  and  ghostly  sound
...
 For  example  when  
we  were  doing  the  motorbike  scene,  we  used  fast  and  exciting  music  
as  the  scene  was  not  intended  to  be  scary
...
   
 
Other  sound  effects  we  used  were  made  by  us
...
 
This  created  a  dramatic  and  authentic  sound
...
   
 
In  my  opinion,  the  best,  and  most  beneficial  contribution  to  the  play  
was  the  minimalized  use  of  props
...
 We  used  them  in  a  range  of  different  and  unusual  
ways  which  created  a  unique  and  obscure  set,  such  as  using  the  
frames  in  ways  such  as  to  create  a  bath,  or  a  hallway
...
   



---