Tuesday, September 29, 2009
- Term 4 Learning Log 1 [Preparation] -
Like all other groups, our preparations consisted of rehearsals, meetings, costume preparations, props, and all the like.
I'll start off with the rehearsals. We did not have many rehearsals till the days near the performance date, which made most of the actors unhappy, as both directors did not really do their job. The first combined rehearsal we had was at one of the actor's house, during the September holidays. As it was extremely close to the performance date, we didn't really have time to go through many things, and everything was rushed. Most of the actors were uncertain about the actions that they had to do, and the emotions they need to show through their expressions and the way they say out their lines.
Meetings are only during the end of school days. It was usually to decide or change the roles each person is suppose to do, and the place to meet up for the rehearsals (this was on the last day of school). Other than that, there were no other meetings, except for the renting of the costumes.
This will bring me to my next part, the renting of the costumes. As we were following the original time the play was set at, instead of a modern setting, we decided to rent the costumes. We met up and went to Orchid Park Secondary School, where the costumes were rented at an affordable price.
Preparing the props was interesting. We lacked many things needed for the scene, such as a fake knife, the balance, fake money, and the bond. We were unable to find a fake knife, so we decided to use a real knife covered with aluminium foil to make sure no one cut themselves, and also keep the silver colour of the blade.
The solution to creating a balance was creative. We used a pen holder for the base, a paint brush for the stand, a wooden stick, nylon strings and paper plates for the main balance. Though it was difficult to balance it properly if you are not careful, it was still the best solution we managed to come up with. We soon fixed the balancing part by pasting double sided tape on the base.
The fake cash papers from the board game Monopoly was used for the money Bassanio planned to use to redeem Antonio. We originally planned to use a silk cloth bag containing keys, but we decided to use the fake cash papers instead.
The bond was created by using tea bags to spread over two A3 sized paper, before burning the sides to make it look more olden-like. It was only until a while later did we realised that there was no need to burn it. The two papers were then pasted together, and the text of the bond was written on one side with a black marker, with fake signatures of Antonio and Shylock.
Of course, we also had more rehearsal. The entire group was a little confused on the day itself concerning the acting as we were told to act according to a real movie on The Merchant of Venice, which is generally different from the ones which we had planned. Most of the actors were angry at the director for changing the plan at the last minute, causing everyone to be unsure of what to do again.
{558 words}
I'll start off with the rehearsals. We did not have many rehearsals till the days near the performance date, which made most of the actors unhappy, as both directors did not really do their job. The first combined rehearsal we had was at one of the actor's house, during the September holidays. As it was extremely close to the performance date, we didn't really have time to go through many things, and everything was rushed. Most of the actors were uncertain about the actions that they had to do, and the emotions they need to show through their expressions and the way they say out their lines.
Meetings are only during the end of school days. It was usually to decide or change the roles each person is suppose to do, and the place to meet up for the rehearsals (this was on the last day of school). Other than that, there were no other meetings, except for the renting of the costumes.
This will bring me to my next part, the renting of the costumes. As we were following the original time the play was set at, instead of a modern setting, we decided to rent the costumes. We met up and went to Orchid Park Secondary School, where the costumes were rented at an affordable price.
Preparing the props was interesting. We lacked many things needed for the scene, such as a fake knife, the balance, fake money, and the bond. We were unable to find a fake knife, so we decided to use a real knife covered with aluminium foil to make sure no one cut themselves, and also keep the silver colour of the blade.
The solution to creating a balance was creative. We used a pen holder for the base, a paint brush for the stand, a wooden stick, nylon strings and paper plates for the main balance. Though it was difficult to balance it properly if you are not careful, it was still the best solution we managed to come up with. We soon fixed the balancing part by pasting double sided tape on the base.
The fake cash papers from the board game Monopoly was used for the money Bassanio planned to use to redeem Antonio. We originally planned to use a silk cloth bag containing keys, but we decided to use the fake cash papers instead.
The bond was created by using tea bags to spread over two A3 sized paper, before burning the sides to make it look more olden-like. It was only until a while later did we realised that there was no need to burn it. The two papers were then pasted together, and the text of the bond was written on one side with a black marker, with fake signatures of Antonio and Shylock.
Of course, we also had more rehearsal. The entire group was a little confused on the day itself concerning the acting as we were told to act according to a real movie on The Merchant of Venice, which is generally different from the ones which we had planned. Most of the actors were angry at the director for changing the plan at the last minute, causing everyone to be unsure of what to do again.
{558 words}
-{ these words were written at 3:26 AM }--{ the soft replies came from 0 strangers }-
