Self and peer evaluations- TV and Film

Self And Peer Evaluations- TV And Film

Self evaluation

When I started TV and Film I was completely out of my comfort zone. I hadn’t done any work on the subject before. Initially I was too theatrical in my acting technique. I learnt very quickly that with film acting I needed to be less theatrical and more natural as if I was engaged in everyday conversation. This is because I have to appear solely as the character and not an actor. This is true in all acting but I think more so on film. It picks up on the nuances of the performance what the actor is thinking so you must always be in the character. I learned quickly that you have to try to inhabit the character.

A technique to try to help me with this was to approach the script in different ways. For example my monologue was called Tusk Tusk by Polly Stenham. This is a stage play and I have only ever known this monologue to be done for stage. I was unsure how to approach it for acting on camera. After my first session on Film and TV and after being in front of the camera for the first time it completely highlighted my theatrical way of thinking. One issue I found with my performance was that my breathing was very ‘actor’ like. I also found I was thinking too much about the whole performance. How I think it should be done. To worried about doing it right. I needed to learn to let the performance come more naturally.

I tried to improve my Film acting of the monologue by using a physical scenic action.  I wrote a shopping list for the amount of £30 which is referenced in my monologue. This helped me get my mind off the words and avoiding over thinking the performance, making it more natural and adding an extra element to the acting. After trying this I felt that I lost some of the the emphasis I had on the words. In particular I felt I lost the anger which was key to the piece, I was directed to look at my words differently so instead of my dramatic pauses I tried to say the words more snappily, like a real argument. This helped bring back the anger and made the performance feel and appear a lot more natural. It didn’t look as forced. After watching my auditions back it did show that it looked more natural.

To help with characterisation for the piece we got asked to ask ourselves questions on our characters such as who, what, when, where and why are we doing what we are doing? What stops you from getting what you want? What would you be if you where a substance, animal, colour or piece of furniture? To help our pieces physically we put a physical scenic action to our piece. This keeps your mind off your words making your piece more natural.

My character work-

Who am I?- I am Maggie a young girl in her teens

What am I doing?- I am consulting my brother about him being silly about the situation we are in. I am fed up with the way he is treating the situation and have decided to try to take charge to stand my ground. I am subconsciously writing a shopping list while talking to him for the amount of money we have left to live on (£30).

Where?- I am in the living room of our flat

Something that stops you from getting what you want- I don’t think anything can stop her she is determined to make him see and come to his senses as she has put up enough with him for long enough.

What would I be if I were a substance?- I think Maggie would be some sort of see through plastic. I think this because Maggie has been flexible throughout going along with her brother even though he can quite clearly see right through her and what she is actually thinking. I also think this because plastic is hard to break and she will not back down or shatter under any circumstance she is strong and waits for her moment to make things right.

Furniture- This might not count as furniture but she would be a clock. She is always on the ball with how much time they have. She’s very strategic.

Music- She would be like an Ed Sheeran type of song something that sounds calming but really the words mean much more than you think.

As well as my Tusk Tusk monologue I got sent another one to learn for the last Film and TV lesson. The monologue was from the movie Sliding Doors. The character is called Lydia. I had lots of mixed feedback on this piece and watched a clip of the movie and saw the actress played it completely different from how I thought it would be played. However, I decided to stick to my instincts and perform it how I thought best. I learnt from my weeks of acting for camera that you should stick to your gut feeling although taking feedback into consideration. This will result in a more natural performance. The feedback for this Sliding Doors monologue was that my anger was realistic but I needed to tell the story more. The script is a metaphor for anger. I needed to play the character more final on her decision rather than her angry and distressed about it. This would help with the metaphor and story feedback. Because of my tendency to ‘actor breath’ this made the performance uneven which made me lose the intensity of the scene.

My feedback for my final attempt at the Tusk Tusk monologue- Again with this piece I started it too angry. This meant that there were not so many places to go with the performance and led to drops in the text and energy of the piece. To help this I got some feedback telling me to watch people acting anger as this would show me there are no dips in the delivery. I was advised to try acting the piece in a different way, for example exhausted. This was extremely hard for me as my energy is naturally high. I need to look at acting without this high energy. As far as my breathing goes I need to stop actor breathing. This has been apparent to me from the start of this unit. I have tried to keep it under control but I can still see there is a lot of work to do in regards with my breathing. This breathing adds to the drops in my piece which makes the audience less interested. I have struggled to stop this but looking back over my audition pieces it is getting better. I am going to try my hardest to improve it.

An overall note and feedback for my acting is that I need to stop worrying about what I am doing. This worrying makes my pieces not as natural as they could be. I have learnt a lot from this process of acting for camera and it has highlighted many aspects in my acting that I am going to work to make better. By learning to be less studious, as Joe put it, and let things flow and be natural this will improve my acting.

I completely agree with all the feedback. Every time I performed my monologue and watched them back I found I brought a new element to it. I have learnt not to limit myself to doing a piece in one specific way but to try out different techniques when approaching a text. I can definitely see now what I need to improve on.

Peer evaluation

Anna- I think Anna’s performance was one that had most changed throughout the process. I liked the fact she tried out different approaches to the text and didn’t limit herself to one way of acting her piece throughout the process. Some parts in her auditions were great such as her diction has improved and the emotion of the piece has also. Some lines at points in the monologue where a little rushed. I feel like at some points she could have showed thought process more through facial expression and maybe delivery of lines such as finding it hard to say some words as the subject of the monologue was pretty deep. I loved the emotion to the piece and thought she done well to sustain the emotion throughout.

Cody- I think her second audition of the last auditions was much better than the first one she done because it was sharper and more so responsive whereas the first was a little slower. I loved the British accent to Cody’s performance and I think she made it sound effortless. The diction was great and she was able to be heard clearly throughout. Her facial expressions were very clear and well done and I loved the ‘tennis match’ nature of the piece which I think she played well using her facial expressions and physicality by turning away from the other character then snapping back adding to this ‘tennis match’ nature. She showed status well in this monologue and there were clear parts where the status would change and this was shown well through her voice and facial expressions. The character I think was suited well to her.

Jordan- The first attempt of his piece he acted it slow and confused which although was good and how I would have thought to play the character. It wasn’t very gripping to me I found myself not as interested in parts until certain bits where he would suddenly demand the audience’s attention. Although I wanted to listen to every word because it is an interesting monologue there where points where I lost interest and were the piece lost energy. I felt the facial expressions where very good and clear though.  I much preferred his second performance of the DNA piece he done. He acted it very fast paced which was in my eyes great for the piece and completely different from how I thought it would be acted. Acting it in this way brought the energy back that it needed and the energy it lacked in his first audition. This pace made it more engaging and interesting to watch.  He completely changed the character from his first performance from being almost sad and confused to still with the confusion skittish and all over the place. I have never seen it acted in this way and I think this is what made it so interesting and intriguing to watch.

Shivvy-I think Shivvy has improved a lot throughout our time working on the Film and TV unit. I think the less he thinks about a piece and the lines most importantly the better his acting is so the more he lets it come naturally to him and doesn’t over think about it the better.  In his earlier auditions I thought some lines he said were a little forced and rushed I think this came with the over thinking of the lines, what is coming next and what is expected for him to show from these lines. Once he stopped this and relaxed into a scene he done really well. He had good diction throughout his piece. I think the last London styled monologue suited him best and came most naturally because it seemed like he let it come more naturally to him and didn’t think about it too much. It was like a normal conversation.

Jakko- I liked the way he approached his piece. It felt like every time I watched it I was watching it for the first time which was great. This was because of the delivery of the lines I felt he always tried to bring a slight difference to his lines every time. The sarcasm to the piece was great and I thought he had a real sense of character and was quite natural. At some points it lost this natural nature but it would always snap back into being natural. I think the only reason it lost its natural flow was because he was thinking about what was coming next and how to say each line at points which showed on camera. This was very rarely but did happen sometimes. I liked the eye contact he gave while performing it made you feel more a part of the performance like he was really talking to you which drew the audience in.

Georgia- in Georgia’s piece her facial expressions were good and she gave a real sense of the character. I think the anger to the piece has got better and the last time she performed it I thought it was very good. I think she nailed the sarcastic nature of the piece as well. At times the words were just being said but I think again if she forgets about the piece and stops thinking about the lines it will cause the piece and character to be more natural and flow better. I think she suited this character well.

Dan- in Dan’s performance I felt like once he stopped thinking about the delivery of the lines it was great. Like most of us in the class I think he needs to stop worrying about the piece itself and the delivery of lines and just let it be natural because if you don’t do this it comes across as being overplayed Once he did do this such as in his last attempt at the monologue it was the best I had seen him act. In his earlier auditions it felt like he was just saying his lines and again worrying on how to say them but by his last audition he sorted this and I liked his sense of character in his last audition because it seemed like he stopped over thinking.