Friday 10 December 2010

Preforming arts monologue

The level one preforming arts group were going over their monologue and collecting  feedback from the creative and media group.

Their teacher gave them an quick pep talk reminding them what to do, he then went to to back of the classroom and began to video.
 There were eight monologues to watch, After the media group watched each one and made notes they had to feedback to the preforming arts group.

Lou and the preforming arts teacher went down the list in the order the group preformed in, and asked if any of the media group had any criticisms to give them.
 Most of them didn't take the comments the right way so they tried to defend themselves, saying things like "that is what i was trying to do to get the sadness across", where i just thought it was awkward.

I enjoyed watching the monologues because the performers really did draw me in the way they used their emotions and pauses, even though they seemed really nervous and they spoke quick and forgot their words.

Friday 26 November 2010

casino royale performance

11.00am, we entered the performance hall and sat down, we had to wait a while for them to get started.

First some of the performers began to sing, then it turned into about four pairs of guys fighting over a girl, before that they acted like we were actually there working in the casino and spoke to us, shook our hand and smiled.

Before each performance the presenter came and Spun the wheel on the floor, for the next act, sometimes he would go up to the audience and talk to them and get us even more involved.

The next act was Hansel and Gretel the lion tamer, they were very amusing, when it got to the point where they actually had to get the "lion" they explained they had lost it, when they eventually did find it they had a"tug war" with it, when the lion came out, it was actually a girl in a lion costume.
They explained they will make it speak, she replied"Moo", while Gretel distracted the audience Hansel spoke to the girl; The second attempt it worked.
After that they made the lion disappear before our very eyes... by using a white sheet over her, after they finished she ran off stage asking if she could move now.

The next act, the can-can, it was good but in my opinion it didn't draw me in and neither did the Bollywood dance, the one that mainly drew me in was the circus like one, where there was people on stilts, people dressed as a monkey and giraffe, someone giving out chocolate coins, also another act that drew me in was the Mr. Bean act, with a twist in a sense, four girls came on with the strip tease music and started to take off Mr. Beans clothes, of course leaving his boxers and shirt.

Obviously there was a few more acts, like singers.

All together though i really enjoyed the experience, and watching it because it was so well prepared, directed and performed i would recommend it to anyone who enjoys humor and isn't shy about getting involved in front of an audience.

Friday 12 November 2010

Critical review on our culture show video

 After about a lesson looking at how to work a camera and how to use mise en scene, sound, lighting, camera work, composition and angles, we then looked at the Sony A1 camera on our next lesson.

We learnt how to white balance the camera, if we didn't do that we would end up having a blue or orange haze on all our footage. Not good.

We also looked at the focus, manual and auto, and the exposure we looked at these so that for the exposure we wouldn't allow too much light into the camera and create a bright image and we looked at the manual and auto focus it because it can give your video a unique element and add a professional touch to a simple video

We also looked out how directors/camera operators  and photographers use lines, horizontal, vertical and diagonal to give a different sense to the scene.

We looked at looking space where the subject is looking into a empty space, talking, facing, looking or thats what the audience can see.

And we looked at motion space, where the camera shows an empty space on the side where the subject is moving/walking, and different heights to give a sense of emotion.

We looked at all of these and then looked at a culture show program.

We began planning our own culture show in a group, three people in a group, we used a story board and we made a script.

Two people from the group then went off to film and interview whilst the other one looked at how to edit on final cut pro.

When the camera man and interviewer came back with the footage we transfered it to the macs and began editing.

After that lesson our next lesson we began adding finishing touches like music.



This is where we used the razor blade tool, we used the razor blade tool to cut footage where we needed to add effects or cut into the footage where there was a mistake.























These are the browser, viewer and canvas boxes.

The browser is to find effects, the viewer is to view everything you have done, and canvas is where the footage comes up that you took when you first started transferring.


This is the timeline, where you add the footage and audio, and where you use the razor to cut the footage or the audio where it needs to be cut.




The way we could improve the final product is adding better music more effects,and a longer video this is because the music we used doesn't really go with our footage we basically just found one that sounded good and applied it, and by adding more effects we can improve it with transitions between scenes, and by making the footage longer we can draw people in more as ours is only about 3 minutes where we could of made it longer and improved it by interviewing more than one person.

Saturday 30 October 2010

Tours

Bus Tour

The bus tour was very informative and was nice being able to see where all the places were, Where things happened and what they drank in Shakespeare's time and how they cured things such as a sore throat and how it lead to how we now have antibiotics now.

During this tour we found out how we have sayings and where cester comes from and salary.
It was good finding more about anne hathaway and the families and what it was like in shakespeare's time than just William himself.

The tour gave alot of information which was useful But during the tour sometimes it would behin talking then cut of and start again and if you wanted there was no way to ask question i would only change it to having a lady or man stood talking to us with a microphone than having headphones.


The birthplace tour


The shakespeare's tour was full of information as well the thing i liked was actually seeing all his things and all the things he has done, we saw the hall of fame which shows all the famour actors who have played parts in his plays.

We then made our way into the pub where Shakespeare was born, The guides were informative and if you wanted to ask questions you could, There was alot of replicas and information about everything to do with William and the family which was nice to see.

At the end there was a mini play outside which showed how the men would of probably been after having 8 pints of beer a day.
The costumes all the tour guides were wearing gave the idea of what people would of wore back then and it added to the effect.

I would change it by adding more information and more time to walk around the little museum before the birth place itself so you could look at the exhibits.

Thursday 14 October 2010

The culture show :Liverpool Guerrilla Dance

Mise en scene:

for the Introduction of the programme there was a man in white dancing, infront of a shopping square in liverpool then it began to cut to the 3 dancers in bin men clothes and while it was mainly watching them it cut to the audience who were going around their daily lives and those who stopped to watch . After they finished the dance it cut to the two real bin men who were their doing their job.
  After that
it cut back to the man in white dancing down a street , then to a green bus driving past a shopping center then into the actually shopping center for a few seconds it cut to a security camera veiw and snapped to a film camera veiw ... all the way through this next dance there was once again shoppers watching and the camera kept going back and forth from security camera to normal camera .At the end they walked off like nothing had happened and it cut to the man in white dancing in front of an abandoned graffitied door .
  All of the other dances were the same, at the end and beginning of every one there was the man in white dancing and the dancers all in the costume that their dance type was, and also kept cutting to the audience and another camera veiw .


Sound:

during most of the clips i think most of the sound was non-diegetic because it didnt sound like the people in the streets could hear the music. The only clip that was diegetic was at the train station where you could hear the mumble of people and sound of walking like everone else who was there could hear.

Lighting:

The ligthting was mainly High key apart from where it switched to the security camera ... even though it was still a bit high key... all of the lighting was natural light there was not any lights added and it didnt look like the programme has been lightened .

Camera work :

Most of the shots were long shot whilst on the dancers and some of the audience, But there was occasionaly a few mid shots while on the audience , never really the dancers only a few times were they mid shot and close up on the dancers.
 The angles were a mix of high and low to show the dancers from above and from how the audience would see it and sometimes lower.
  The movement was mostly still but sometimes it began panning there wasnt much tracking maybe once.

Editing:

The cutting rate for this programme was very fast and the rythum wasnt the same throught-out, maybe only a few times for the different dances otherwise it was different.
 Transitions were all a straight cut transtition, but occasionaly i saw a few fades .


The programme i watched was : http://www.bbc.co.uk/cultureshow/videos/2008/03/s4_e21_guerrilla/index.shtml

Tuesday 5 October 2010

practice drama pieces

Friday 1st October , We had to go and watch an A2 performing arts group do some rehearsals .


Considering the groups were only half way through and about four of the people were off so a few of the groups had a step in it was pretty good.

There were a few people who wasn't sure on their lines so when they forgot they had to say prompt so alot of the people who had only stepped it were saying prompt and sometimes even the people who are practicing that certain piece said it .

The only let down to some of the groups were that they mumbled and weren't very clear with what they were saying, But otherwise the groups and everyone involved were very good maybe not so well organized but they still have time to work on that and their lines .

Friday 1 October 2010

What media events are on

Looking at the media events that are on in the next month Here are some links for what is on in warwickshire.in october 


http://www.art-group-studios.co.uk/


The art group studios is a weekly painting and drawing class with a sunday workshop . Classes cover Observational Drawing , Still life painting , Life drawing , Landscape painting , portrait painting and Abstract Painting, All materials are provided at the studio free of charge , 


Open:
Mondays, Tuesdays , Wednesdays and Thursdays 6pm-8pm or Friday and Saturdays 10m-12pm workshops and held on Sundays 10m-4pm Classes are £12.95 a class or £72 for six weeks. Day workshops are £45





http://www.nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk/leisure-culture/museums-galleries/museum-and-art-gallery


The Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year Inspires millions of people with images of the richness and variety of life on Earth . This is because Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer is undoubtedly the most successful wildlife photography contest in the world.
This event arrives at Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery to display the collection of the Local talent work . This includes 95 works a slideshow,soundtrack and activities for children.


Open:

Museum & Tearoom Opening Times: Tuesday-Saturday 10.30am - 4.30pm Sunday 2.00 - 4.30pm Closed on Mondays except Bank Holiday Mondays 10.30am - 4.30pm Entry to the museum is FREE!



http://www.stratfordsgottalent.org.uk/




For the third year Stratford upon Avon is back with its biggest talent search . Stratford's Got Talent is now on the look out for the best talent that Stratford has to offer 


You can apply now for auditions on saturday the 2nd October 2010 , at 7pm at The White Swan in stratford upon Avon.
Any aged auditionee's are welcome to enter for free 

  Visit www.stratfordsgottalent.org.uk or call 07880 821 933 to pre register. (All acts must pre register before midday on Saturday the 2nd October)
Doors open at 7pm for show to start at 7.30pm. Audience tickets £5 per adults & £3 per child (15 & under), avaiable on the door.