Unit 12- task 4.1- independent project

Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work* and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself

 Independent project 

My independent project would be yolo. For this project us second years made a play completely by ourselves. That means we had to self direct a lot, direct each other, block it ourselves and work independently to create a play. This was performed on the 30th of March. We worked in it independently for months and it made us step into every aspect of creating a play. Directing, costume, set, sound, tech and stagecraft. This project gave me a bouquet of skills that I can use in my future.               My evaluation:

I think our show went extremely well considering it was student made. I was only in three scenes so I can’t speak for everybody but I think the show went very well. We had lots of chemistry as a group of best friends. We all seemed very close and had believable bonds on stage. There weren’t any worrying gaps between lines or scenes so it ran smoothly. Scene 1 was the most important scene for chemistry because that’s the first scene where the audience is introduced to the group. In scene 3 the party scene, we all had to come on in fancy dress costume. I think everybody did that very well and made the stage seem fun and bright. Before the show we blew up balloons for this scene and it really added to the vibe. I think at some points the extras got a bit bored and flat but most of the time they were very good and lively. I think everybody’s reactions were very good, especially when mark shouted at my character then everybody else. I think Emie did a very good job of acting drunk. I think Henry and Jamie could’ve moved there Scene a bit more downstage because it sometimes gets lost at the back. I think Henry and Charley were great but I think they could’ve had a bit more chemistry since their characters were getting married. in this scene Me Latoya and Emie start off on the couch however, there was a big gap in the middle of it where the ensemble accidentally put it in wrong so we were trying to subtly fix it so Latoya didn’t fall off we couldn’t get it to move so we just drunkingly held onto each other so she didn’t fall off and it wasn’t noticeable. When we had to get of the stage from scene three all the lights blacked out so we couldn’t see a thing at all and we weee all stuck in the curtains and couldn’t find a way out. Everyone was panicking but we finally found a gap and all went through, because it was so dark the audience couldn’t see. So it was okay. Scene 10, the final scene, was so so good. Everybody was so emotional and I think you could feel the pain of the characters through the scene, a few people in the audience even cried because it was so emotional l. I’m really proud of us all for that. This has helped us so much.

Another independent task of ours is the understudy cast of old times that I was in. We had to have our show completely student made where as the main cast had Kelly. This show was a huge challenge . Again we had to focus on Directing, costume, set, sound, tech and stagecraft. This play was so so fun to do but was such a challenge. We didn’t get to use the set as much as the other cast and we also had to keep losing people who had small parts in the other cast. Despite the challenges the okay still went well and I’m very proud of our achievement. Evaluation;

Yesterday we performed old times. It was really nerve racking because my cast knew we had something to prove. The show went really well, the transitions between older and younger seems were pretty seamless, they just faded into each other. The youngest really kept their energy high which was so important to stop the show from becoming flat. One of my biggest worries was that after a younger scene we would accidentally slip back into the wrong scene which would mess it up for everyone but thankfully we rehearsed it enough to know what was coming next most of the time. There was a part where a full scene was cut because someone forgot a line that led onto another piece, but I just followed it on from where they left it off so it carried on seamlessly and nobody in the audience even realised there was any scenes missing. I was focused on making sure that my character was always reacting but it was hard keeping a balance between emotional and entitled, I didn’t want to have just one shade of personality. I think I did a good job of reacting, I tried to keep it natural but still enough to be seen. However, I think my body language could have been better, I kept I stayed in the same positions for a while so that’s something I’ll think about in the future. It was stressful how some people were still on script yesterday however if there was a part they didn’t know, they just changed the line until they did know it so it wasn’t noticeable to anyone who hadn’t read the script. 

I think my costume really helped me describe the character. I wore leather jeans with a leopard print top and a black cardigan with gold slip on shoes and a pearl necklace. And Adam wore jeans and a jumper with his pearl necklace. We wanted to show that Vee is extra and dramatic. We wore the pearls to show wealth and to show continuity between me and Adam.

Creating this with only students was a challenge, however, we’re all very professional and passionate about it so we managed to create something se could all be proud of. 

Notes from audience- 

Somebody told me that me and Emie really stood out as-well as Alayah and Sophia.

Morgan(director) said he was really proud and that it was everything he asked for. 

Kelly (teacher) - beyond proud to have a team of such dedicated actors. You can really see the effort put in.