Unit 1 - identity Reflection

For this unit we were working on the topic of identity and then made a devised performance based on the topic. Devising is based on a stimulus or object which you build your performance around on. It starts back to 16th century Italy where commedia dell'arte, a new form of travelling theatre that would show players, acrobats and street entertainers, became more popular.Commedia dell’arte (Comedy of Art), means unwritten or improvised performances. This new form of theatre focused more on the performances of the actor than the subject matter of the plays. 

First off we got into groups and made a mind map on identity and listed all the things that make our identity. Using the mind maps we created and watching a short film based on identity we then used and created our own monologues on our identity. After writing our monologues we then chose a few monologues to put into our devised piece. With the mind map it helps us as actors with teamwork and being able to communicate with one and allow us to express ourselves and open up to others and be vulnerable. Once we chose the monologues, on one of the monologues we split the lines and were put into groups and created a scene of our own and put them into one performance. This as actors helps us get more involved and work together and being able to cooperate with each other and being able to work together to come up with a scene for the performance. We also have done some vocal warm ups and exercises as well as tongue twisters at the start of the lesson as warm ups before we get into the lesson. The warm ups help us be more relaxed and feel more comfortable when performing and for the vocal warm ups helps relax our vocals as well as help us pronounce words better and clear our voices and project more so the audience can hear better. 

We also had a look at verbatim theatre. Verbatim theatre is theatre based on real events. It is a form of documentary theatre, it allows theatre makers to explore events and themes through the words of people. This type of theatre was a big influence on political theatre at the beginning of the 21st century. Verbatim theatre is created from the transcription of interviews with people who are connected to a common event or subject. The interviews are then edited in a performance text. The actors are also participating in the research and then feeding it back to the writer. In lessons when working on verbatim theatre we watched a video on what verbatim theatre is about and then after that got into pairs and one of us was voice recording ourselves while the other had to reenact what the other person has said in the voice recording and vice-versa. This helps us as actors improve on our listening skills and paying attention to the details on the voice recording on how the other actor is feeling and what emotions they display on the voice recording and how the other actor listening can show to others and portray how the other is feeling.

During rehearsals I would say we weren’t very sure what we were doing at first and weren’t very focused but over time we were able to focus a bit more and work together in coming up with more ideas for our performance. During rehearsals we also added a few more monologues and worked on them during the rehearsals. What I could have done more in rehearsals was to participate and speak up more when it came to coming up with ideas for the performance. As well as that I feel like I should have payed a bit more attention during rehearsals other than that rehearsals went generally okay.

The actual performance in my opinion was okay and I think it went well despite not rehearsing much. I think during the performance we were vocal and projected our voice on to the audience. Another thing that was good was our focus throughout and we weren't getting distracted or getting out of character during the performance. However, despite our focus throughout, what I thought we could improve on is the energy on stage when performing because it didn’t seem like we weren't actually trying. Overall, I thought the performance went quite well.  

Unit 2 - Hair and Makeup

What do hair and makeup artists do?

Makeup designer is responsible for the visual  appearance of the actors and works closely with costume designer to support the looks for each actor that visually support their character. Hair designers also work with costume design and like costume design must analyse the work and create hairstyles appropriate to the theme and setting. Hair designers will typically work with the costume designer to create an appropriate style for each character, working with each other on what they're willing to change. Hair and makeup designers each play an important role in any production, designing hair and makeup for the performers in a way that's appropriate to the characters and production.

• Makeup artists responsibilities:
•  Enhancing facial features.
• Consulting with clients and creating custom looks based on their specifications.
• Taking lighting and setting into account when applying makeup.
• Working with costume designers, set designers, and stylist to ensure consistency.

• Hair designers responsibilities:
• Making sure that the hair design matches the theme and setting of the performance.
• Like Makeup artists consulting clients and creating custom looks based on their specifications.
•  provide designs that meet the production.
• Attend rehearsals to make future adjustments to designs.

• Skills both hair and makeup artists need:
• Research skills.
• Understanding the process of characterisation using visual appearance to portray the characters.
• An artistic eye with the ability to sketch ideas.
• Ability to work in teams with others.
• Ability to meet deadlines and schedules.

Process

The process for hair and makeup designers involves looking and carefully analyising the script, discussions with the costume designers and to research, sketch and take notes on design. Afterwards, the designers will meet with the performers to come up for a look for the performance, and once approved, will be used as a template for all the performers. Designers will often go through step by step through the styling or application process. After going through step by step and has been approved it would then be the hair and makeup artist job to handle  and create the style along with the help of costume design to complete the full look for the performance. 

Similarities with other productions

Hair and makeup designers aren't only just in theatre productions it also in others such as film and tv productions. While Film and tv hair and makeup have their differences (film and tv have are more subtle in makeup and hair as the actors perform more close on camera while theatre hair and makeup is used to make the hair and features more visible from a distance). Both designers need to make sure that the makeup and hair is suitable for the theme and setting for their performances as well as that look into and understanding the characterisation using visual appearance to portray the character. For both stage and tv/film, makeup can be used to hide flaws and make certain features of the actor's face more noticable and can be used to create the character, for example, adding features or aging the actor.

This goes the same for hair designers and how for stage and tv/film both take into account how the hair design matches with the theme and setting of the scene as well as that work with costume and makeup design and how they can match and add more detail to the actors appearance to match the theme of the performance and what to make more noticeable for the audience to see or what to make more subtle to match the character and to do that be able to work together on what they want their design to look like and making sure that it is ready for the performance.

Identity reflection

 On our first week on our unit for identity we watched a short film on the topic and then afterwards we got into groups and made a mind map about identity and what makes our identity and talked about how our identity makes us who we are, after that we started to write our own monologues about our own identity. We did this because it is important that as actors we know our identity as well as being able to explore ourselves and our identity and being able to be vulnerable as people. I think this has helped me as an actor to be more vulnerable in front of people as my monologue was very personal to me and has helped showed a more vulnerable side to me as an actor as well as showing more of my identity to others.

our second week we looked at Verbatim Theatre. Verbatim Theatre is theatre created from interviews from real life people about an event in their lives and then those people are portrayed on stage by actors. In class we watched a video on what Verbatim Theatre was and the meaning of it. After the video we had to do voice recordings of each other and then say and act like the person in the voice recordings. This is important because it helps with improvisation skills and make the performance more realistic as if the person acting out the voice recording like they are that person. I think this has helped as this helps improve my improvisation skills as well as my confidence in performing. As well as that helps us go further with our understanding with identity.

Third/Fourth week we took one or two of the monologues and used that to perform and act out for our identity unit where we were split into groups and where given lines to act out our scenes as well as going into further detail about how race and ethnicity goes with our identity from one of the monologues we read. This helps because it gives us as actors a wider range of different identities and make us more aware. We were also given a random script about this girl named Clarissa who found out her parents were not her real parents and we had to act out how the scene would turn out after the script and create our own scenario.  This has helped as this improves our improvisation skills as well as teamwork skills. The script we were given also links with identity as Clarissa never knew that the adults looking after her was not her real parents so that could suggest a part of her identity is gone and she doesn't know what part of her life is even true anymore that's part of her identity.