Unit 9: Research and Rehearsals

Unit 9: Research and Rehearsals

What was my first thoughts on A Midsummers Night Dream?

My first thoughts on finding out that my class would be performing A Midsummers Nights Dream I was that happy at first. This was because we’ve done Shakespeare before and it was a bit challenging, we also have just finished putting on a show we all very much enjoyed.

Already having knowledge of the play due to one of my previous monologue. I had to do some research about A Midsummer Night Dream, the knowledge that I already obtained was helpful during the first week or so. This was when we just sat down and read through the play to have an understanding of what the play is about and what the themes are.

What is A Midsummers Night Dream about? 

Four Athenians run away to the forest only to have Puck the fairy make both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. The four run through the forest pursuing each other while Puck helps his master play a trick on the fairy queen. In the end, Puck reverses the magic, and the two couples reconcile and marry. That is the plot of the play shortened down. 

The character I’m playing is Puck and Puck is one of the main reasons that every happens to do with the the four lovers. 

In the end my character Puck reversed and set everything right. Nobody remembers what happened, but now everybody is in love with the right person, they decide to go home. Perhaps it was all just a dream!

What are the themes of Midsummers Night Dream?

The dominant theme in A Midsummer Night's Dream is love, a subject to which Shakespeare returns constantly in his comedies. Shakespeare explores how people tend to fall in love with those who appear beautiful to them. People we think we love at one time in our lives can later seem not only unattractive but even repellent. For a time, this attraction to beauty might appear to be love at its most intense, but one of the ideas of the play is that real love is much more than mere physical attraction.

Where will we perform? 

Our tutor had an idea to have our performance outside of the theatre, this will help bring the show to life. As the play is mainly based in a forest we as a class agreed an outside setting would be best. Having the performance set a lovely garden would be an excellent idea for a promenade engaging out audience.

As for location we will have to find somewhere suitable and affordable. It’s also important that we keep in budget so that we have money left to cover for costumes. We will need a location that is need Kings cross. So that we are still need to the college.

What happens if the weather is bad?

What costume will I wear for puck?

What happens if we can’t preform because of Covid 19? 

Unit 12: Proposal form

Proposal form: Unit 12

Candidate name:  Deja Lee

Candidate number:  S0194037

Pathway:  Level 3 Acting

Project Title:  Final Major Project

Section one – Review 

Throughout the past two years, and the last 11 units. I’ve grown as an actress and have learnt so many qualities and skills. During this time period I’ve learned what I am good and I’ve learnt to look at objectives and actions in order to create a realistic scenes. By doing so it brings more body to the performance. My knowledge of Stanislavski theory of Action. Action simply means doing something. Imagination. Imagination is like fuel for an artist. Or Chekhov’s technique, according to Chekhov, the work of the actor is to create an inner event which is an actual experience occurring in real time within the actor. With each performance we as a class has done ranging from “Oedipus” to “A Questmas Story” I believe each of these performances have allowed me to display my skills in different ways, which allows me to show my range. I will continue to perfect each skill I’ve learnt over the last 2 years.

I will take my work from these eleven units in to higher education and further on in my career. All the knowledge I’ve learnt have been extremely helpful to help me get where I want to be, and to succeed in what I want to do. I have learnt great skills to help me such as directing and script writing as it is extremely important to understand what’s going on behind the camera as well as what you are doing in front of it. I can say I’ve written my own script and watched it, be performed by professionals actors. That was an amazing experience because of a company called “Papatango”. Papatango taught me the skills to also have some keen interests in playwriting or even better the directing industry. doing the workshop can also be added onto an action CV or even a UCAS application for drama school or university. I have also learnt about the importance of body language. Body language plays a decisive part in the communication. Unlike words or even facial expressions, the body always tells the truth. So it is essential for when acting to not only to know your  own body language, but to be able to use it consciously, deliberately and in various ways. Now I’ll be able to bring all these skills into Midsummers Night Dream.

Section two – Project concept 

Our final project is William Shakespeare’s Midsummers Nights Dream, one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a tragic comedy written in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus to Hippolyte. There is an adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six mechanicals who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest. 

I have two aims within this performance. The first one is to convey an authentic character, my character that I auditioned for and got is” Puck”. Puck has a miscreant male spirit and capricious humor, and along with his magic, sets many of the play's events in motion by means of both deliberate pranks on the human characters and his tendency toward making unfortunate mistakes. The first challenge of playing this character is that he is a male. Throughout playing this Puck he imitates other males characters voices in a sense of mocking and tricking them. This means I will have to work a lot on voice control and mastering the different voices. So that they all sound different and not just deeper. However it’s not all about the voice it’s to do with the body language, and the essence of the character himself. As puck is very mischievous on one hand but on the other he is also good hearted. He does attempt to undo his initial mistake and in the end, he sets things to rights. He even takes a moment to apologise to the audience.              

I will achieve this through practicing techniques such as body language work and voice control, as well as researching all aspects of the play whether it be the character, or the context.

Our idea for the tragic Romcom is to modernise it and make it our own, however keep the main Greek  essence of the play. We are doing the play in a steampunk style. This will include the types of clothes we will wear for our characters. Steampunk fashion is a subgenre of the steampunk movement in science fiction. It is a mixture of the Victorian era's romantic view of science in literature and elements from the Industrial Revolution in Europe during the 1800s.

As for casting and how we will perform the show. We have been slit into 2 groups as we are a large group. This way we have more options for characters and makes it easier for rehearsing and making sure everyone has a decent amount of lines. Our casting was gender neutral so that we are able to make a statement but keep the aesthetic of the play. This is why my character is male, part of a statement also a challenge. While rehearsing and learning more about this play I will continue to do my research on his attitudes and movements and characteristics to make sure that I’m playing the character to my best ability. We will be doing this performance “in the round” this means we won’t be facing one direction, we have to keep turning around to make sure everyone and see and hear us. This also means that at times our backs will face the audience. In effect, theatre in the round removes the fourth wall and brings the actor into the same space as the audience. For location we are having an outdoor theatre location this well help with connecting with the audience and experience working outside of our comfort zone of working inside the college walls.

Section Three: Evaluation 

To evaluate on my performance during all the rehearsals we have been given feedback and different activities we can do to help us with character building: such as “A day in the life of your character”. This helps me get a better understanding of my character in everyday life and not just the play. There are a few  procedures in which I can assess myself for this project. To self evaluate myself during performance rehearsals, I can ask my tutor to focus on certain parts of my characteristics while I’m performing. For an example one day I could ask my tutor to focus on my voice for my character and projection. Then the next day I could for my tutor to focus on my body language and posture to make sure I stay in character. This helps me perfect every aspect of my character. By doing this also enable me to reflect on my work and see if I am making a progress in various different areas. As learning the lines is the bare minimum. Once you learn the lines it enables you to begin to have control over making the character yours and using everything you’ve learned to make the character great. By setting goals for certain characteristics helps make sure you stay on track to get everything you need done in time. It helps that we are always getting feedback constantly for example, if we run through a scene and part of the scene is not lifted off the paper we will get stopped and will get given feedback and have to redo the scene until it’s better and matching the energy throughout the rest of the scenes. It helps to have tutors that are very persistent and will also set us deadlines to make sure we have structure.

In addition to my evaluation I am making sure I understand exactly what my character is saying, as it shows if you don’t understand. I’ve been using sites such as No fear Shakespeare and Spark notes to annotate my script. Annotated my script helped me a lot understand the ideas and feelings the character is feeling in modern English.This allow me to play with the emotions connected to that scene. 

To make sure that I achieve my goals is by making sure that I try to block out as many distractions as possible. Especially when working in a group, there can be many distractions. To help with my self evaluation I use my peers to hear their feedback as feedback from peers that are also doing the performance and understand the process is a bit different from feedback from your tutors. 

Using the blogs for self reflection is also very helpful, as blogging after each lesson is useful to have something to look back on in your own words at the end of the performance. That is also why taking notes in lesson is also extremely helpful.

Lastly hearing everyone’s opinions and ideas are important so that everyone feels included and feels that their opinions are valued. This is also important to hear others ideas as people make think of ideas that you do. That can make the performance better, working in a group can be very helpful.

Unit 11 :Bibliography

Unit 11 :Bibliography

Disney rules: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ8ePbr6K9I

Miley Cyrus interview: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5j-Dr_r4cpE

More examples including Selena Gomez, Orlando Brown, Demi Lovato and Zac Efron: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nHP3lnIrpWE          

 https://m.eonline.com/uk/news/798337/here-s-what-8-former-disney-stars-had-to-say-after-leaving-the-channel-miley-cyrus-selena-gomez-demi-lovato-and-more-speak-out  

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s-CvwBUReNs

Joe Jonas: vulture magazine; https://www.vulture.com/2013/11/joe-jonas-talks-jonas-brothers.html

Selena Gomez: New York Time; https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/arts/music/selena-gomez-tilts-the-disney-halo-with-revival.amp.html

Demi Lovato: Hollyscoop; https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fn_eDDwdCk

Acting Cv

Deja-Jasmine Lee                                                         

Based in South West London

Email: Dejajasmine.lee@gmail.com                                                Height: 5”5

Website: https://dejajasminelee.model-profiles.com/               Eyes: Dark brown                                                                                  

                                                                                                 Hair colour: Dark brown/ black

Training

Acting/ Dance                            Pineapple Studios.                                 London 

Acting                                        Sylvia Young.                                          London

Audition training                        Arts Ed.                                                   London 

UAL Acting course                    Westminster Kingsway College               London 

Film

Production name.                       Character’s name.                                  Director. 

Seeking Refuge.                           Lindsey                                                    Niyi Towolawi

Theatre

Production name                        Character’s name                                  Company 

Modern War.                                Susan (Soldier 1’s wife).                     New Wimbledon Theatre

                                                        Candace ( Lisa’s mother)

WKC PRODUCTION.                     Character

Macbeth                                        Macduff

Questmas Story.                          Jordan

Oedipus                                         Jocasta

Love and information.                

• Affair.                                         Unnamed character 

• Recluse.                                     Unnamed character 

Medea                                           Medea 

SKILLS

•Age range 15-24

General sports-  Bike ride, Swimming, Roller skating, distance runner, Suba driving .

Dance- Street dance 

Unit 11: Essay

Does Disney force child actors to grow up to fast?

Sadly the answer is yes. 

Well as I believe the answer to be yes, Disney is a very well known network. A lot of people believe that there is nothing better than working for Disney. As you are treated and paid well, however I believe I can prove that’s not correct.

I’ve read many reports and have watched many interviews with Disney stars. About how it was like growing up, under the limelight. Disney have a lot of rules, that the stars have to follow once they signed their contract. 

Disney child stars seem so bright and innocent that kids tend to model after them. But as I said there are lots of messed up rules they have to follow. These young celebrities have a lot of keep up with their wholesome and positive image. They’re coached, molded and forced to be on their best behaviour at all times. But that’s not always easy to do. And when they break the rules and misbehave like any other teen, they embarrass themselves and Disney. However that is show business for you. It’s no surprise that Hollywood is emotionally intense.

Even grown up celebrities have a tough time keeping their chins up. But kids have it even rougher. So many former Disney child stars have fallen prey to notorious Disney curse . But instead of an enchanted spinning wheel or a poison apple, these stars run into trouble with the network, had mental breakdowns, or suffered personal and financial loses. Now the Disney legacy is tarnished with the child stars who are associated with scandals and antics that make people’s eyes roll.

But while some of these Hollywood Gods have grown up and fallen from grace, some have missed the Disney curse luckily. However some did not get so lucky. 

Before I talk about some of the child Disney stars stories and feelings on that matter. I will tell you some of the rules that all Disney stars have to follow, no matter whether you are a child or adult. These rules are from what they can wear to how they can act and so much more. It's no wonder that a lot of Disney stars haven't returned to the network.

Disney rules:

1.     One strict rule Disney stars have to follow is being "good" all the time.

-There is definitely a stigma associated with stars who are on the Disney Channel or who come from a Disney background, and it's that they're all goody-goodies. That's no accident, though, as Disney stars truly are held to an incredibly high standard when it comes to morals and  how they behave

       2.    Disney stars reportedly have to stay in relationships.

-Though Disney Channel doesn't force young stars into relationships, according to a certain Jonas brother, they might force you to stay in one you don't really want to stay in. 

       3.   A strict rule Disney stars have to follow is appearing super innocent.

-Obviously, just about every show that's on the Disney Channel is rated PG or below. With such a young demographic, it makes sense that the network would prefer that their stars put out a clean, innocent vibe. 

        4.   Female Disney stars can't wear bikinis, and apparently it's a strict rule they must follow.

-The company is so strict about how their stars behave off-camera that former Disney star Bella Thorne got in major trouble for being spotted wearing a bikini at the beach. And one that her mom picked out, at that. 

These are just a small fraction of the rules the Disney stars have to follow. Teenagers make mistakes, so Disney stars must feel a lot of pressure at the network. Disney star comes with a lot of perks, but it doesn't mean it's always worth it when there are such strict rules to follow. However some of these rules and all the pressure can effect the Disney stars life.

Let’s talk about Miley Cyrus.

Miley Cyrus’s Disney experience: 

Miley Cyrus was a massive child Disney star for her hit tv series, Hannah Montana. When Miley now reflects on her childhood she says “she did not have a childhood because of Disney”. Miley has always been very out spoken about her experience with Disney and how it effected her life being in the limelight. In a new interview with Elle, Miley Cyrus shared the moment she knew she wanted to leave the Disney Channel show. Since the series wrapped in 2011, Miley has talked extensively about her time on the show; although she's now "proud" of the work she accomplished, she knew at age 18 that her time as Hannah Montana was coming to an end.

Speaking with Elle for their August cover story, the singer said "the minute" she had sex, she realised she had grown beyond the series. "It felt ridiculous," she said. "I was kind of like, 'I can’t put the f*cking wig on again. It got weird. It just felt like...I was grown up. "

She also said that people often viewed her as a "Disney mascot" instead of a person; however, she reiterated how proud she is of her work on the series, saying, “It’s pretty cool when you hear Cardi B was listening to Hannah Montana when she was in high school. That sh*t makes me happy.”

Miley still gets upset speaking of her childhood and being forced to grow up to fast. She’s said “It should be more shocking that when I was 11 or 12, I was put in full hair and makeup, a wig, and told what to wear by a group of mostly older men.” She also said she recalls not being able to recognise herself when she was off camera. She said that she developed body image problems from such a young age and she didn’t quite understand it herself.

This is just one example of a child Disney actor that’s had to grow up too fast.

More examples

Many child Disney stars experienced similar problems with the company. Such as Demi Lovato, Orlando Brown, Lindsay Lohan and even Zach Efron. All of the beloved Disney stars that I just mentioned also spent some time in rehabilitation. Demi Lovato was a case that shocked the pubic as she was thriving in her TV show sonny have a chance and the two movies of Camprock. Sunny have a chance got cancelled after Demi Lovato quit. The reason that she quit was that she gained an eating disorder as she began to believe that she was overweight. She wasn’t comfortable in her body, all the stress of being on the show and having to be perfect all the time, made her feel like she wasn’t good enough. She felt like her childhood was snatched away. As she was always on screen in makeup feeling pretty, however as soon as the the cameras were off and she had to take it all off she was lost. As she grew older she began taking drugs, trying to forget about her eating disorder. In an interview with Hollyscoop, Demi explains why she regrets being a Disney star. She said “She wouldn’t start out that young if I could start over again, I had no childhood” she said “ It’s difficult to transition from a child star to a mainstream artist, it’s something that’s very challenging”. This is understandable as it would be difficult for anyone to manage, but with her substance abuse and eating disorder this would’ve been 10 times more difficult.

 Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers are some household names that grew up literally in front of our eyes on the Disney channel. However each of these stars have all slammed the Disney channel for stealing their childhood by being overworked and underpaid or thrashed into the spotlight when they weren’t ready for.

Selena Gomez played Alex Russo on “Wizards of Waverly Place” long before she turned into the big singer that she is now. The actress turned singer said that “she felt trapped by Disney’s expectations, I was still under Hollywood and Disney and I was being held to this expectation of being the good girl”. She told the New York time. “ I knew deep down that this wasn’t what I wanted to do, she was forced to get very uncomfortable for a while”. The Jonas brothers had a similar experience, they were forced to wear abstinent rings while under the pressure of Disney. Joe Jonas however said that they felt like they were being forced to behave”. “Disney is great at creating fame” He told the vulture magazine. “ Being part of a company like that comes with great expectations, we didn’t want to disappoint anyone so we put a great deal of pressure on ourselves. The kind of pressure no teenager should go through”. 

Again this was just a few examples of some of the Disney child stars, that feel like their childhood was taken away from them. Due to the pressure and influence that Disney holds over them.

In conclusion of everything that I’ve mentioned, I feel horrible for the stars, that had a dream of becoming famous and actually making it, just to be put through all of that pressure and pain. Personally I love Disney and  always will, however this has been an eye opening and made me aware of a lot of different traits that the network had and may still have. With all the evidence I’ve found through interviews and reports, it’s proven that Disney does force their child actors to grow up too fast.

Pros and Cons of Drama school/University

Pros and Cons of University/ Drama school

• You Can Access More Specialist Jobs. 

• You'll Increase Your Earning Potential. 

• It Helps You Develop Transferable Skills. 

• It Makes You More Employable. 

• You can become an expert in a subject you love. 

I am the type of person that has to know everything about a subject, because I'm like this university would be more for me. Being able to socialize and meet amazing people from all over the world.

• It Helps You Develop Transferable Skills. 
• It Makes You More Employable. 
• You can become an expert in a subject you love. 

I am the type of person that has to know everything about a subject, because I'm like this university would be more for me. Being able to socialize and meet amazing people from all over the world. At a university, people on different courses to socialize with in halls, and where the hours aren’t so heavy you will have more free time to work in the comfort of your room and you can relax with friends. University can also teach you life skills, whereas Drama school primarily prepares you just for the profession.

Improve your prospects for life

• University graduates gain professional qualifications that are recognized and respected worldwide.
• University graduates are offered

Drama schools have more openings and options then university. This is because drama school are more built around fresh young talent looking to get into the industry. If souts have the options to go look for new talent at a drama school or  university, they would choose to go to good a drama school. This means you have a better  chance at be scouted. Don't get me wrong you can be scouted at university it is just a bit harder then it is at drama school. 

These are some other advantages from going to drama school:

• The most valuable degree in performing arts one can possibly get
• Great training for all types of performers, particularly actors
• Opportunities to meet important industry people and create strong connections
• Final year graduate showcases attract a lot of good talent agents
• Agents and casting directors value actors with drama school training more ( This relates to what I said just above.

However there are always disadvantages to going anywhere, here are some for drama school:

• 
  
• Extremely busy class schedule and a lot of homework;
• No time to audition for acting jobs or work to support yourself;
• Very expensive
• No preparation on the business and marketing side of acting;
• Very difficult to get accepted;
• Some additional training (acting lesson) is still recommended after graduation. This means even more money 

Normally, classes in drama schools take place strictly from 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday. Students are expected to do their homework research and written assignments  during their free time for monthly exams. Weekends are reserved for rehearsals among students themselves for exam productions.

Monologues

Monologues

Time has gone by so fast. We are now at the point where we need to know monologues, so we can start rehearsing to make sure we are ready for our auditions. whether that is  to get into University or drama school, however for me I am still deciding. Either way both options require an audition. You have to have two pieces prepared. One being a classical as in; Shakespeare or a Greek play. Second being a modern or contemporary, meaning after 1960s. I did a modern instead of contemporary and did a Shakespeare piece instead of a Greek play. Personally I felt more comfortable with modern over my Shakespeare piece. The pieces that I performed was; Lisa- The power of the dog by Ellen Dryden (She don't like schools) and Juliet- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare ( Gallop apace, you fiery footed steed). They are very different characters with very different characteristics. However they are both very powerful characters in their own way, they are around about the same age. The character Juliet from 'Romeo and Juliet' is age 13 and Lisa from 'The power of the dog' is age 15. It was easy to connect with these characters, more so Lisa we have more of the same characteristics. In both scenes these characters are very determine, even though they have different objectives. Juliet's objective is that she wants Romeo to be with her right now,she is willing to do anything for the sun to rise and set again so that she is able to see the person she loves. For Lisa it is a little bit more straightforward her objective is that she wants her £10 back whether that means she has to be rude to her own head teacher to get. 

Lisa - Power of the dog

Lisa is a very strong minded character. she puts on this 'I don't care, about anything' persona. She does this so that no one will she her inner pain or know about what she is dealing with at home. Lisa's mum has slight mental health issue. Lisa's way of distracting herself is her hobbies which is acting. Lisa is a big fan of drama and plays and all things performing. However her favourite play is midsummer's night dream. Playing this character I connected to her due to personal reasons. I feel like I understand whats she is going through. During this monologue she lists all the different things that goes wrong during the play that she goes to see. I can understand her frustration. While playing Lisa I have to get into her mind set and she loves the play that she is going to see and the play in terrible and she wasted money she is really annoyed and takes it out on her teacher, about how bad the play is.

Juliet - Romeo and Juliet

Juliet Capulet appears to be a shy and innocent girl at the beginning of the play, but the depth of her character shows as meets Romeo, defies her father, marries Romeo, and ultimately commits suicide. While appearing quiet and obedient, Juliet display inner strength, intelligence, bravery, wit and independence. Juliet also shows her independence nature in her decision to die instead of living without Romeo or having to marry Paris. While playing this character was a bit more challenging, she's in love and she wants to see him more than anything and is even willing to die just so that she could be with him in later life. Personally I don't connect with that, but I still felt  like I could bring Juliet alive by playing off of her child like joy. She was only 13 but her mind was older. this was the first time she'd been in love. So I used her youthful innocence to play her character well.

Visited the Soho Campus

My whole class went to the Soho Campus to get one of our monologues professionally filmed. This was very exciting but yet vein wrecking. Wanting to get the speeches right the first time round and having a big camera right in front of you. Making sure you don't move too much so that you stay in focus, these were all factors that we had to take into consideration. When we enter the room there in a big camera and a medium sized screen next to it that shows us what the camera can see. There is a green screen and an X on the floor marked in tape for where we should stand. when we are seen on the camera we are very clear and in focus and behind us in was completely black. I went in very near to the end, I hear everyone else's feedback and I couldn't wait to be get there. when I finally stepped in I feel completely calm. It felt so natural being front of the camera. Later on we received the videos. It was truly amazing to be able to the progress of your performances compared to the beginning of first year.


Performed at Young Actors Theatre Islington

I performed  the monologue  from 'The Power of The Dog' playing Lisa. I was a little bit nervous as we were performing to David Schaal, who is on the panel for a drama school. This is very important to get his pointers on the performance as he knows what the judges will be looking for for and what they will like as he is a judge. I believed that I performed quite well. As my piece in a comedy I could see them laughing and understanding what I was saying. I thought it was a good sign. When you perform badly it's harder for the audience to connect with the piece. As the audience was connecting I believed I did well.
My feedback:

• Is that I need to over play the anger on the character more.
• I have good understanding of the text
• That I should use the space more/ move around.
• Build a closer emotional bond with the character.
• Show that I actually care about Midsummer nights dream.

This gave me an idea and a feel for what my auditions will be like and it was very helpful and I will be taking on all the constructive criticism on board to help me with further auditions. It was a very interesting experience and I am glad that I got to be part of it.