Personal Statement

My desire for acting grew when I watched a movie called Project A, it was a Chinese movie
translated in English. The movie was based on Jackie Chan and his team who were being taught
to fight pirates. Action movies always amazed me from a young age but my main inspiration was
Jackie Chan because he had a way of making me feel as if I was in the movie with him. During
watching project A that's when I knew acting was the path I was going to take. I enjoy
performing arts because it discovers the whole range of person emotion and can produce
marvellous performances and visual experiences and with Drama we can go further than flesh and
blood and express ourselves as somebody else and take on this 'mask'. The most thoughtful
thing I have found when acting is that we can become any person in the entire world, and still
be us.

 My passion for acting has leaded me to work hard on school studies but also on my personal
skills. In Secondary my group was working on a play called 'DNA' which was one of my favourite
plays because I had the main role which leaded me to be on stage throughout the whole
performance. This helped me build my confidence more, and I was a bit of a shy person, but the
'DNA' performance had completely changed me. I had my friends and families supporting me
throughout the plays. The Greek theatre piece on Antigone, "Our Country's Good", my Greek
piece Collaboration with the Dance-Musical theatre students, "The Shakespeare in da house"
Project and our Final Major Project "Last Summer ". My two favourite projects though out this
course was "Shakespeare In da house "and our Final Major Project. The reason "Shakespeare in
da House" was one of my favourites was because of the fact that I did something I never
thought I would be able to do in college. This project gave me a sense of adrenaline. I feel
as though this project was not only something fun but also educational. I felt that 'The
Shakespeare in the house' was getting me ready for the performing arts world.

 The project helped me as an actor to always perform to my best ability no matter what the
circumstances maybe. From the beginning till the end of this project I had a really amazing
time and I loved that my class was the first ever in my college to do something like this. My
class also took this piece and did collaboration with the Dance-Musical theatre students which
we performed at a college in Ipswich. The Ipswich performance was really something different
because we were able to join our Shakespeare piece with our Greek collaboration piece with the
dancers. Lastly "Our Final Major project which was "Last Summer". I liked this project a lot
because it was something that was very different for me and my fellow class mates that were in
the production of this play. My Final Major Project allowed me to experience what it felt like
to work with a play writer or director and in my case I was able to experience both. I felt
that by having the play writer coming to speak to us, it helped me get into her head and also
helped me find out why she pictured the character I was to be playing in a certain way, also
by speaking to her about the character I was to be playing it helped me understand how she
wanted the character too be seen and also gave me an idea on how I should be playing her. I
also did my own research so I can better understand the situations the characters are going
through.

 Outside college I love doing 'Parkour and Free running' as well as Mixed Martial Arts. I have
been doing Parkour from a young age, this has helped me maintain my health as it includes a
full body workout, quick thinking skills, boosts confidence, builds core strength - bone
strength, cardiovascular endurance, reduces antisocial behaviour and many more. This includes
Mixed Martial Arts as well, knowing some self-defence and being safe on the streets wouldn't
hurt. I love all kind of sports. I also love familiarising myself with different countries
acting style.

What are the major differences between silent movie and theatre? (ESSAY)

Marion Tasic

      What are the major differences between silent movie and theatre?

 

A silent film is a film which consists of only the picture, that is, it has no sound. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as the motion picture itself, but before the 1920s, most films were silent.

The years before sound came to the movies are known as the "silent era" among film scholars and historians. The art of motion pictures grew into full maturity before the silent were replaced by "talking pictures", and a number of film buffs believe the quality of the cinema actually decreased for a few years, before the new medium of sound was adapted to the movies. Since the films could not take advantage of synchronized sound for dialogue, titles were edited in to clarify the on-screen situation to the cinema audience or add critical dialog. Showings of silent films usually were not actually silent: they were commonly accompanied by live music. Early in the development of the motion picture industry, it was learned that music was an essential part of any movie, as it gave the audience emotional cues for the action taking place on the screen. Small town and neighborhood movie theaters usually had a pianist accompany the film; large city theaters would have entire orchestras.                                                                        Silent Film http://www.filmbug.com/dictionary/silent-film.php (24/01/2017)

One of my favorite silent movie actors is Buster Keaton. He was one of the best Stunt Man, all of his stunts were real, and other actors looked up to him for being original and crazy in a way because some of his stunts, if they didn’t perform the way he wanted them to end, he could of easily lost his life. He had given his best shots, for him to be able to be at the stage he was. (Jackie Chan) one of the best Martial Artist and Stunt man, he was working on a movie called ‘Project A’ in 22 December 1983 (Hong Kong). Jackie Chan had to perform a crazy stunt which he wasn’t really comfortable doing it. Buster Keaton was there, he performed the stunt first then Jackie copied the way he done it. Therefore, Keaton was a big inspiration to Jackie Chan, where Chan has million and millions of fans today. 

Silent acting doesn’t really fit well in theatres, it is mainly done for films. The reason why, is in theatres it will be really hard to see the actors facial expression from a distance, which in a film, the face expression will be zoomed in that will allow to see the actors expression and tell how they feeling. In theatres it will be really hard to show that, unless the actor over exaggerates his emotions for him to be able to express his feelings towards the whole audience.

I love the sound of silence in the theatre. I don't mean the anxious silence you get when an actor forgets his or her lines, and the audience holds its breath like passengers on a stricken aircraft. Or even the Painteresque pause, a device now often overused and overrated. No, it's that moment after a truly brilliant performance when the audience remains sated and unmoving, as if willing the spell to remain unbroken for a little longer. This kind of silence fills an extra beat before thunderous applause erupts.

Theatre has a culture of its own that many people don’t understand. To those that do understand it, they often make it a very large part of their lives. Plays are sometimes attempts to spread awareness about problems like racism, sexism, homophobia, and other types of persecution. The playwrights write about something that matters to them as their form of expression. These issue plays help our society better function because they cause individuals to realize what is happening and take action.                              BRIAN SANDERS, (OCTOBER 2012) Importance of Theatre, http://briansanderstheatre.blogspot.co.uk/#! (24/01/2017)

 

The main reason people do theatre is to discover themselves. This means they want to come to a self-understanding and fulfilment. Human nature leads us to be original. Theatre is the perfect outlet for people to be original and to express themselves. This also helps to bridge the gap of our misunderstanding of why we exist. For many people, theatre also gives a purpose for life. Human beings naturally want to express themselves, and theatre is the most expressive art form. “This is why theatre is important: because it presents a reflective vision of a life that is vastly more fascinating and alluring than the one in which we’re stuck.”                                                                    SUMANA SAHA, (AUGUST 2016) The Stage, https://masqueradedinsurgence.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/the-stage/ (24/01/2017)

 

Reasons why theatre is important to our society.

#1 Creativity
Theatre helps us to develop our creativity. As our education system increasingly puts an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math, we cannot forget the importance of art. Let’s put the “STE(A)M” back in “STEM!”

#2 Education
Theatre is a great way to learn. Going to the theatre teaches us about people, places, and ideas to which we would not otherwise be exposed. Learning in a theatrical setting makes learning fun.

#3 Social Change
Theatre is a cultural space where society examines itself in a mirror. Theatre has long been looked at as a laboratory in which we can study the problems that confront society and attempt to solve those problems.

#4 Self-Empowerment
Performance permeates every aspect of our everyday lives. Power relationships are constructed through performances. Understanding how performances unfold around us can help us to recognize and take control of the power dynamics that affect us.

#5 Globalization
Theatre helps us understand people from cultures other than our own. We can learn a lot about people from cultures all around the world by studying their performance traditions. In doing so, we can learn to be less ethnocentric, and more accepting of others.

#6 The Body
Theatre reminds us that, even in this ever-changing digital age, there is a human body at the center of every digital transaction. Accounting for the body in the design of the future will help us make technology that works for us rather than us working for technology.

#7 History
Theatre is a great way to lean about history. Rather than learning history from reading it in a dusty textbook, theatre makes history come alive right before our eyes. Theatre makes learning about history fun.

#8 Self-Knowledge
Theatre teaches us about ourselves. It helps us understand how our minds and the minds of others work. It helps us to see how the environments in which we live affect who we are and who we will become.

#9 Self-Expression
Theatre teaches us how to express ourselves more effectively. It develops our ability to communicate our thoughts and feelings to others, improving our relationships and improving the world around us.

#10 Human Beings
The performance of theatre is a universal cultural phenomenon that exists in every society around the world. Human beings are the only animal species that creates theatre. Understanding theatre helps us understand what it means to be human.     KEVIN BROWN, (2014) The Top Ten Reasons Why Theatre is Still Important in the Twenty-First Century, http://www.tcgcircle.org/2014/06/the-top-ten-reasons-why-theatre-is-still-important-in-the-twenty-first-century/ (24/01/2017)

Worskshops

In the beginning of the workshops we was separated into our devised groups and we were told to create a 5 minute workshop and everyone in the group needs to participate. Most of us chose only games to play. I done the 'Name Game' which lasted roughly 5 minutes.


 
The purpose of that is to get to know names and something about each person. Understand how pantomime and gestures communicate ideas. Develops Action.


- Gather students in a circle. Have each student say their name and do a gesture for each syllable. The action should be simple and can demonstrate a hobby, interests they have or something they do every day. Example: I say Marion, and because I like boxing, I will throw some punches in the air to demonstrate that I like boxing.


- Then, each student says their name individually and demonstrates the gesture and everyone repeats the name and gesture.


Repeat the process around the circle until all have shared their name and gesture.


 
Tarkan done rehearsals warm ups for about 5 minutes as well.
1. Tongue twisters;
The purpose of tongue twisters is to concentrate on the use of the articulation muscles and tools in the mouth.
He used - Red leather Yellow Leather.
2. Stretches


 


 Stephan done a game called grandma footsteps.


One person is chosen to be the grandma. That person then has to face a wall at one side of the playing area, away from the other players. When the game starts, all the other players have to try and sneak up on grandma without being seen or heard. At round times throughout the game, grandma has to turn around. Any player she sees moving she sends back to the start. She then turns back around and you can start moving towards her again. To win the game a person needs to tap the grandma while she's the wall. This person weather is a boy or a girl is grandma next round.


 


The next day we done the same thing as we done yesterday and we were adding extra games or physical warm up or anything to see what the best thing is for our warm up. All workshops were pretty much the same therefore we wanted to be different and try something different from the other workshops. Tarkan came with an idea, of creating around 3/4/ groups and giving them a movie title and for the group to act it out their best and then the other group to guess which movie it is. A lot of people concentrate on this particular game because its really interesting and joyful to play.







For the backstage work, I was chosen to do Vocal warm up and Hair and MAKE UP designer.
Vocal warm ups are really helpful because being an actor means having a full control not only of your body, but also your vocal chords. Actors who have great potential must learn to command attention or power through their voice. They must understand how to control their voices.




Each rehearsals I will start the group with a vocal warm up, some which were;


Exercise 1; ' The Hummmmmm'
This is one of the most efficient vocal warm ups, and I
personally do this before any speaking engagement. Sit with your back straight, and take a deep inhale that expands your diaphragm. During your exhale, vocalize the sound 'hummmmmm' until you have no more breath. Repeat 5 times.


Exercise 2; Deep Breathing
Deep breath in and hold
Exhale to a count of 10
Repeat


Deep breath in and hold
Drop over like a puppet
Exhale and come back up to standing position on a count of 10


Exercise 3; Tongue Twisters
Be sure to sat this in only one breath, but never go faster than you are able to go and still keep the clarity of each word in the phrase.
'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked,
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?


'Bobby Bibbit bought a bat,
Bobby Bibbit bough a ball,
With the bat, Bob banged the ball,
Banged the ball against the wall.


Exercise 4; Chewing Game
Everyone stands in a circle and imagines they are chewing.
Give instructions; That they should work their jaw in conjunction to whatever's in their mouth; most of the time chew option is a bubble gum.








- Tarkan was the rehearsal manager as well as workshop manager.


- Isaiah was time manager/ keeping. He was keeping the time and therefore we don't run out from rehearsals.


- Brunilda was the rehearsal director and transport director.


- Stephanie was the contact manager, rehearsals manager and hair and make up designer.


- Dulce was the script writer, workshop director along side being the head director for two weeks.


When we came from the two weeks holiday, we shared what we done and what we enjoyed during the two weeks. We sat in a circle and we started talking what we done during the holiday. Everyone said what they done in a circle and when it came to me, I didn't do much, only practiced a little bit of free running and parkour. This was a little improvisation to get us concentrated on our workshop. My group then acted what we done on our holiday, as part of the workshop and we then played the splat game and wink murder. 
Wink Murder is a fun game in a secret 'killer' winks at people in the eye in order to get them eliminated. Try to identify who the wink murder is before he murders/eliminates everyone.




 


Each day and week we would be rehearsing with our workshop and getting everything ready and the way we would want them to be. We would run through our workshops with other class friends and prepare ourselves and  make everything better. Everyone who participated in our workshop really enjoyed their time and wanted to do it again which we as a group were really happy.






Our workshops have been gradually improving since the first time we started doing them till the end when we had to perform our workshop and Devised play in front of year 9's in a school in Canning Town.


We have changed a lot of different things in workshops, mostly different games. We chose the best games that would make the students concentrate and something that was similar to our Devised play. Each workshop we have performed better than the last one, because we have had enough time to practise our parts in the workshop. We had more than enough time to complete our workshops, and have everything ready for the major performance at the school. 


The workshop in the school went really well. There were a lot of students that weren't concentrating. When we started playing games, everyone was really interested in the game and they wanted to play more. 

 

"The Pillowman"

I was selected to cast in the 'Pillowman' performance. The Pillowman is a performance created by Chris. The play is about Depression, Stress, Suicide and monologues. In a way telling the Pillowman the story of what happened to them and how they are in the position that they are in now. What is casing the stress to them? What do they do about it? Is their family supportive? etc..

When Chris gave us the script I annotated my scenes with him, and made sure I knew what I was doing and saying when I was saying my lines. I didn't want to just learn the lines, I wanted to know the meaning behind the words, what they mean to the person that's stressed and depressed. Its a bit harder to act like that when its never happened to you in person in real life. Therefore I had to look in depth and know the expressions of the actual words and what they actually mean.

Chris and I had a discussion about my character, my character is called 'Dilan Ibra'. I appear in scene 4 with Pillowman and Dilan's Dad. In the play I explain how I got to the position where I'm right now. I talk about how I get bullied in school  by other students, especially Jonah and his friends, well, his puppies, they follow him wherever he goes. Jonah was the one who started everything. The second time he tried to take my sandwich, I stood up for myself thinking that if I beat him down Ill gain respect and he will stop. But NO. Unfortunately he was better than me. Well 'm not a fighter. Ever since then I've never been able to bring him down or do anything about it. Since then he started bulling me, him and his friends. I would always go home with a bruise on my face or a black eye.

My dad would never support me or help me in any of my needs. If I came home with a black eye or a bruised face, he would shout at me, he would start punching, kicking and push me. He would never help me at all. All he would say is 'you useless shit'. I don't remember the last time my dad ever smiled at me or hugged me or anything. All I remember from him is, his punches and kicks on me. I have never had a peaceful day. Just one. I've never experienced to be happy with your parents. I wish I never existed. There no reason for me to be alive.

We then wrote our characters name in the middle of that page, and write everything about him around it. It was like a spider diagram. I wrote what I knew and what I learned from what Chris wrote about Dilan. In the beginning Chris told me what my character wanted me to be depressed about or why should it be depressed and feel like committing suicide.

In the Spider Diagram as shown in the picture, I wrote anything about Dilan IBRA.

"Dilan feels depressed throughout the whole play" - he never changes moods with Pillowman, he feels stressed and depressed throughout till he dies.

"He had enough of everything" - Dilan has had enough, he always gets bullied and gets treated really bad at home by his parents. His not wanted in the family.

"His only wish is for his parents to never hit him and for them to respect him" - he never got respect by his dad, his dads always drunk, and every time he sees Dilan at home he'd hit him for no reason.

"He's always bruised or with a black eye" - his dad always beats him up for no reason.

"He tries his best to fake a smile" - Dilan doesn't know how it feels to express your smile. He has never smiled for real. He would always fake it and pretend everything's fine.

We  then were told to write a day in the life on Dilan. So, write a day of Dilan's experience in school and at home. How he is treated and what he goes through, as its written in the picture.

At the end of the page, I've not been able to complete it all.

"From the first time we had a fight"

Ever since then, I've always been scared of him and been scared to talk to him. He's always bullied me throughout the two years that I've known him. I cannot even change school because my parents don't even care about me. My dad injures me and bruises me more than Jonah and his friends.

When I saw Jonah again he came up to me and said "What you looking at" and as I was eating my sandwich he kicked it out of my hands. They all started laughing at me, I went to pick my sandwich up, and he pushed me on the flood. They carried on laughing and started calling me names "loser, loser" "look at the nerd on the floor" and things like that. Then I finally heard the school bell ring and they started walking towards their classes. I picked up my sandwich and wrapped it around my plastic bag and I put it in my bag. I make my way to my class, and on the side there's these kids from the window laughing at me and pointing at me and swearing. I tried my hardest to fake a smile and pretend as if everything is fine. I was eating my self inside and wanted to started bursting our crying.

PROPOSAL

From the beginning of the course I have learned a lot of different skills. The main one is I improved on my confidence. Before I started this course, my confidence while acting was very poor and I would lose concentration and focus in an instant. During this course my confidence has improved a lot and I’m nowhere close to how I was before. Theatre training teaches you confidence I yourself. Your accomplishments in theatre show you that you that you can handle a variety of jobs, pressures, difficulties and responsibilities. I started developing a “Yes I CAN!” attitude. Having gradually learned this has helped me complete my plays quicker and better because I wouldn’t have to stress about any type of pressure or anything. This helped me by my practising my monologues/duologues a short play in front of my friends or my teacher, or sometimes we would do it in theatre which is much better.

I have an idea about my project, I aim to make a little play about school/college student being bullied but the bully and his friends. (Have fight scenes). Fights scenes have never been in the world of theatre. You’d usually see them in films. Therefore, transferring fighting into theatre would be something that’s not really for theatre which it makes it a bit of a challenger. I’ve always pushed myself towards something else. If I feel that I can do it, I push myself for something harder and better.

My main inspiration is Jackie Chan, I’ve always wanted to be like him and do the things he does.

Having fighting scenes put into theatre is going to be a bit of a challenger because it’s very rare that you see fighting. Some scenes are going to be all physical.

If my play don't work, then I wouldn't mind to be apart of any selected play. I would love to play any selected plays whether its comedy, violence, anything. 

What skills have i developed since the start of college

 What skills have I developed since starting college?

Throughout the year I have developed variety of different skills about acting.

As an actor there are two things in disposal, Body and Voice.   In acting I have learned that these two are really important because Body, you need gestures to perform better and explain your thoughts with body language. Voice is also important because within voice you can change the tone of your voice and make it different. In these case actors will be able to change into different actors and perform it well. Some techniques we done with Rob was tongue twisters and consonants. This would help me to with my articulation to say the words properly and not mumble them.

In Rob and Sharon’s lesson, I have learned how to analyse the script with class mates. This is really important because, if there’s a Shakespearean play, we will not be able to understand it completely because it’s written in a different format. If we analyse it with the teacher and class mates, then it will be much easier to understand the character that we are playing because we know what they are saying and how they would say it.

Also, during the lesson I have learned about observing other people’s work. This is helpful because you can give out ideas to them as you’re watching them act. Sometimes at the end of the rehearsal I would give out some ideas of how the other person should act next time, because as I observed them, I though some ideas would be helpful.

The ability to transform/translate words/ideas into action. As such, this is an important skill, the ability to understand the intention of the character. Once we have perceived their intention, we must learn to translate that into something that can be acted upon. Words, ideas, thoughts, and feelings, none of these translate into action. We must convert them into an achievable real-world task.

What do Drama schools want?

What do drama schools want?

One of the most important things, drama schools are seeing if you are focused and prepared for you monologue or speech. They will be observing throughout the monologue and see if you successfully have completed their tasks. E.g. being prepared, organised about your monologue, when you said your monologue, did you know what was happening in the monologue or was it just a read out. They will know if you had been practicing and not leaving it to the last minute.

·         Consistency – always coming to lessons, not missing working days and letting your group down.

·         Work in a team – sharing ideas and working with your group.

·         Be prepared – knowing what to do all the time.

·         Competitor – not giving up, finding something harder than your opponent.

·         Creative ideas – sharing ideas with your group.

·         Attendance – attending all lessons.

·         Punctuation – being on time at all lessons.

Drama Schools are looking for a reasonable monologue that is from a published play, not from random books or movies.

Throughout this time you have to maintain your focus, your spirit and your freshness in performance.

Most people don’t get how hard the competition is. No matter how talented you are and no matter how much potential you possess, if you are not organised and fully prepared, the chances are you will fail – because so many others are fighting even harder than you.

I have prepared a classical and a modern monologue. I am preparing for Drama school, I’m going over my monologues over and over again, and therefore I don’t forget it.  The modern monologue is by Amanda Whittington called Ladies Down Under, which is about surfing, exploring the ocean and having fun with friends. The classic monologue is by William Shakespeare called The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

I chose two different monologues; I want to be able to perform different characters in a short period of time. This will help me maintain my focus into the characters and not lose concentration. I chose the classical monologue ‘The two Gentlemen of Verona’ by Shakespeare because I was familiar with the play and the character Valentine. We were practicing our monologues in the class and completed some questions.

Who am I?

When am I?

Why am I here?

Where am I?

What do I want?

What will I do to achieve my want?

We completed these questions for both of our monologues because we wanted to make sure that we knew everything about the monologues, which it will make it easier to remember the monologue, also act as the character in the play not as you. Remembering these lines will allow you to act better as the characters that you’ll be performing.