In this short piece of work I chose images of both characters, when they were young, what they used to do in the childhood. In this scene I used a varied composition of facial expression. In Image 1, I chose the image of being blood brothers. I chose this image because it shows Billy and Tommy’s love for each other. I over exaggerated my facial expression because it was a very important moment in there lives. My body language was that I was a shy, because I was playing Billy, who is known to be shy. This is because his dad died in the war. The images that were showed were based on physical, social and mental emotions. As I was playing Billy I had very much to say. This is because I used the idea of thought tracking with my group. I think that this worked really well because thought tracking controls a persons mind and his emotions and also sends the message to the audience in a very strong way. I used the use of slow motion in our piece to link the four images as I marked the moment in each image of the emotion that was being expressed. The words that were most important in our piece were from the first image were Billy and Tommy said “Together Forever”. This shows the audience that the characters mean a lot to each other and the depthless of their love and friendship.
Lesson 2
Turning from a man to a solider. The turning point for both of these characters lives. In 1914 every man between the ages of 18-41 had to be conscripted and go to war. This included both Billy and Tommy. Both of these characters have different opinion on going to war. Billy doesn’t want to go to the war because his dad died in the war and his mother would be scared to lose another member of the family. However Tommy wants to go to the war because his dad was in a war and he survived in it. Tommy believes that if he goes to the war he will make his dad proud and his country. So did many other Billy and Tommy’s.
In this lesson I had to “use spontaneous improvisation to explore how Billy and Tommy’s attitudes were to conscription.” I started off with a still image and discussed how we were going to do the spontaneous improvisation for 1-2 minutes. This is what I showed.
My partner for the still image was Ameen. He played the character Tommy and I played Billy. Tommy’s image was of a figure that was proud and had just won something. His status and body language was high and positive. On the other hand, Billy showed a negative attitude. When he received the news his facial expression showed a man who feared something would happen to him. “I don’t want to go to the war. I don’t want to turn out like my dad!” This is the line that I kept on saying with fear. I was scared to go to the war.
In the spontaneous improvisation different groups showed different ways/ideas of how Billy and Tommy felt and dealt with being conscripted. The group that I liked and stood out for me were Group 2 (Lola, Jack, Tahir, Christina and Anthony). They used a multitude of techniques which included spontaneous improvisation, facial expression and split screen. They clearly showed how Billy and Tommy felt about conscription and did most of the scene in Unison. This made it very clear to the audience exactly what they were trying to show.
Lesson 3
This lesson is manly focused on how Billy and Tommy felt going to war. It was a hard time for Billy because of what happened in the past. It was easier for Tommy because his past wasn’t as shocking as Billy’s. In the First World War many people died as a result. This was the first biggest war to be fought and this meant that many people didn’t know what was going to happen. Kids as young as 13 would go out to fight the war because they felt as if they were making there country proud. Only when people got on to the battle field they realized it was a total different experience.
I was told to “Describe how using split scenes effects the way Billy and Tommy feel about going to war.” I chose to use abstract techniques and a variety of body language to show this piece of work. I think these techniques suited it best.
I used split scenes to show how Billy and Tommy really feel about themselves. Because split scenes show one side of the story, most of the groups that performed showed that Billy didn’t want to go to the war. This is again because he was scared that he might die just like his dad. Most of the groups showed that Tommy was passionate and confident to go to war. This is again manly because his dad went to the war and his dad survived. He wans to do the same. However, one group did something different and it made me think, why? Group 3 (Aminata and Gabriella) added new information to the lives of Billy and Tommy. Both characters in this scene said a shivering line “I hate my dad”. I didn’t expect these characters to say this. I thought to myself as to why they hated there dad’s.
In my group (me and Tahir) we chose scenes of Tommy and Billy receiving there uniforms and there reactions to the uniforms. Tahir said a line “finally I can save my country, Dad your promise came true” we discussed to choose a line that had a deeper meaning. I chose this line for tommy because when Tommy was a kid his dad said to him “I promise that one day you will do your country proud, just like me.” Tommy is excited and puts his uniform on quickly. On the other hand Billy says a line “what if end up like you.” Billy is referring to his and is nervous and petrified to go war. Billy puts on his uniform slowly and very shakily. He talks to himself in the mirror. He wants to commit suicide before he goes to war.
Lesson 4
This is the most important lesson. This lesson is manly focused on the Breakdown of relationship between Billy and Tommy. Life was very hard at war. Tommy was expecting it to be easy. It was very easy for him. Tommy passes training very impressing. Billy wasn’t as good as tommy and failed to shine to at training camp. Tommy got promoted to sergeant and this is the moment were the breakdown of friendship between Billy and Tommy starts. Billy gets jealous of Tommy and begins to hate Tommy in every possible way. From best friends they have turned to worse enemies. Billy makes a fatal mistake which ends up in a fatal accident. The death of his blood-brother, Tommy.
I was told to “Explain what techniques I used to show the breakdown in Billy and Tommy’srelationship?” and “what techniques did you use to show the fatal mistake which lead to Tommy’s death?
The techniques that I used to show the conflicting emotions were very abstract. As Billy and Tommy were climbing over the top, Tommy said a line to Billy “if you won’t go over the top, I will shoot you!” while Tommy was saying this shocking yet intriguing line, the whole group became a big gun and raised the gun to Billy, making Tommy look very powerful and Billy hopeless and small. My group also made the ‘wall over the top’ look small so Billy and Tommy stand out.
After this incident Billy felt very angry and wanted revenge on Tommy. I referred to Tommy at one point in the scene as ‘an outsider’. I felt as if he meant nothing to me and I meant nothing to him. All that was going through my (Billy’s) head was revenge. What Billy was about to do wasn’t a ‘Fatal Mistake’. It was what he was supposed to do a long time ago. As Billy and Tommy were going over the top, Billy secretly took Tommy’s gas mask. Billy was praying that a gas attack would come in the next attack in the battlefield.
In our group (me and Ameen) we showed this by using slow motion and thought tracking. When there was a gas attack, Billy put on his gas mask and showed Tommy’s his which he had in his hand. At this moment tommy froze and I said “you took my respect for you away, I will take your life. I don’t need you anymore.” I used the technique, marking the moment here as it shows clearly the breakdown in relationship between the two characters.
A different group (videhi and ramatulay) showed the same scene. They used a variety of techniques which included split screen and facial expressions. There fatal mistake was that Billy accidently stabbed tommy with his gun. They could have improved dramatically on this short scene by showing more abstract techniques and by doing the fatal mistake in more detail. Overall it was a good performance.
This is what I have learnt in Unit 1. It is mainly based on the theme of conflict.
