A text message from passenger on plane before colliding with first tower
I love you so much, I always will. Promise me that you will help the kids as they grow up; I wish I was with you to help you but unfortunately I will be gone. You will meet with me again but not until you have lived life to the full. Just remember that I love you so much and no one could love you the way I do right now. Tell the children I love them, but couldn’t be with them, but will looking down at them with the angels. Love you all so much! Xxxx
If I were to direct the two scenes of when the plane was controlled to when the plane had been hijacked, I would use contrast to show the audience the differences. When the plane was in control I would show that everything was ok using facial and body expressions. The air hostesses would be catering for the passengers and giving passengers drinks etc, and movement would be very slow. The stewardesses would also be using a very slow and deep tone of voice to show normality as this would be there normal routine on a flight. When the terrorist attack starts I would show fast movements and the body and facial expressions would show the audience shock and distress. I would also show the movement as the characters would be very shocked and would move around a lot to show this. The climax would be very fast during this part so you would show this y using different facial and body expressions.
We used many texts and explored them to get a feel of what it was like for those trapped inside the building. We studied a text called ‘Fallen’. For this text we explored the ways we could show the different levels of the twin towers slowly falling to the floor. We used a still image of the two buildings standing and then another still image to show the twin towers deteriorating in mid air and then we showed the ruins on the ground in masses. This gave great affect to the audience because it showed how the twin towers fell but using shapes with our bodies.
We then studied another text to focus on the different characters and what they went through on this day. We used role play to create the different atmospheres. This showed the audience that although mostly business people were involved it also involved such people as shop keepers (below the twin towers), home owners, passer by but most of all, policemen and firemen. The text explored the different situations and explored the way they (the others around the twin towers at the time) and how they reacted at the time when this happened. We used freeze frame, use of space and slow motion to give the audience the right impression of what happened, how those who weren’t involved helped those who mostly needed it at this time. We would also create an impression by using lighting techniques, levels and the different settings.
The piece of text was called “Fallen” and to symbolise this we would have to think and explore the way that people fell from the different levels of the towers. First we would have to think that most people would see this as death so they would put themselves in the death position, crossed arms on chest. We would also think of those scared, covering their eyes. Those who were badly injured already, trying to find any way out, diving out of the building head first. Through looking at this made us think how else they would jump. It would be at all different situations and we would show facial and body expressions in still images showing these movements and thoughts while falling.
‘Disasters’ – Evaluation
In creating work based on the theme ‘Disasters’ I feel that we were very successful and outstanding with our approach. We used several different drama techniques and developed these to portray the different disasters. During our workshops we mostly used still images to create the right picture of who was more important and what the characters personality, mannerisms and posture. The still images also enabled us to show the audience the different pictures that were created during the disaster and the variation of class. We also used role-play, so that we could look from diverse perspectives and different views.
In our first workshop we looked at the different classes aboard the titanic. We studied how the first, second, and third class passengers would react going on the titanic. We used still images to show our different facial and body expressions. Looking back at our work we could have improved the way we staged our still images and could have used more space up stage so that the audience had a better view of our body and facial expressions. I also think that we could have used more still images instead of just three we could have used five to show the contrasts of the different classed passengers on the titanic, this would have also improved our performance because the audience would have had a better view of interest and mannerisms from the characters.
In the second workshop we looked at the titanic and the 9/11 attack. First, we started looking at the titanic and made 3 still images tom show the different type of characters, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd classed passengers. We developed these by adding hand gestures and facial expressions and also adding role play. Using role play we had to think of the different uses of tone of voice and how each person would speak, like the 1st class passengers would use proper words and would speak clearly whereas the lower class passengers would use cockney and wouldn’t speak very clear. We then went on looking at the 9/11 attack on America in 2001. We then had to make role play of a hijacker taking control of the plane and killing an air hostess while she was giving out drinks. We then had to move on to making a role play. I played a window cleaner, complaining about my job when the plane is coming at my windows that I am cleaning. We then did parrot on the shoulder to empathise the worry of those who were there. When we used role play we had to make sure that we used all the right facial and body expressions to show how we were reacting at the time of one of the largest disasters in history.
In the third workshop we developed our understanding of hot seating, and used many examples of the titanic to help us. We had to be questioned by the group about his or her background, behaviour and motivation. The characters were based around the catering on the titanic and had all sorts of questions asked to find information about the occupation. We created a scene in which enables us all to get a detailed idea about what it was like to work on the titanic.
In workshop four we firstly had to do 3 still images to show the towers standing, falling and the towers no longer standing at all. We had to think of how we could use of our body and facial expressions to show the audience the effects it had. We then looked at a piece of text called “Requiem for Ground Zero” by Stephen Benkoff. The piece of text told us how the twin towers exploded when the plane hit the building. We had to explore the text and then look at how we could use it in role play. My group first came up with three still images showing how three different people were trapped. We then looked at “fallen”. This was a phone call that was made when those who were trapped could get hold of their loved ones. We used split screen to show how the different phone calls are made and what is said. During this exercise we had to think about the way we would use body and facial expressions to show emotion. We then moved on to role play. We created a scene that included levels and thought tracking to create more of an atmosphere to our work. The levels meant that we could show what level the characters were, in relevance to showing how important they were in our role play.
During workshop five we also did 3 still images on “The survival list” for the titanic. We used facial expressions and body language to show to the audience the different class. For example the 1st class people would look down on the lower class and their heads would be up very high where’s the lower class people their heads would be down all the time. The higher class got to look at the list first so in this case we would see them pushing past the lower class citizens. The facial and body expressions that we used showed that the majority of higher class people were delighted about the news because they were first priority when it came to life boats and survival. The lower class people would be very upset, due to the fact that they weren’t as important when the life boats were being filled, so many of the lower classed passengers aboard the ship died.
