Drama - Response Phase to the unit on war.

Drama Coursework Response Phase The first GCSE drama exam that I have partaken in, is the unit on war. It consisted of 7 1 hour lessons. We covered three wars, each war concentrating on a family and how they were affected by the wars: * The First World War * The conflict between Serbia and Bosnia * The Second World War (Holocaust) We looked at a family of five, a son going off to war, a mother, a daughter, a younger son and a father. Our first task was to create a frozen image depicting the moment when the son leaves his family to go to war. In my frozen image, the son was walking off not looking back, proud to be off to war. The mother was extremely upset, and had her head bowed as she cried, the daughter was consoling her mother. The father was standing proud saluting his son, true patriotism. And the youngest son was sitting on the floor reading one of the war posters that were around. Suggestions for captions to go with this frozen image included: * 'Proud family support son into battle.' * 'Torn between country and family.' * 'Best British can produce.' I then wrote a newspaper report to accompany the frozen image, as if it were a photo in a newspaper: 'Brave soldier Martin, marches off to war to make his family proud. As we witness mixed emotions throughout this family - we can see that this is a true patriotic family. From the father, living his dream

  • Word count: 4878
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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For our A2 brief we have to film a 5 minute section of a television documentary. we decided to go with the idea of doing a one about Rude Boys which is equivalent to the modern term Street Gang.

MEDIA CRITICAL EVALUATION INTRODUCTION For our A2 brief we have to film a 5 minute section of a television documentary. This genre differs from our AS brief which was to film a 2 minute opening sequence of a thriller film. A thriller film is totally different from a documentary which has different conventions. I feel the A2 brief is a more challenging brief than the AS. This is because we have to plan the whole of the documentary and then choose a section which we want to present and film which gives us a more sense control over the brief whereas the AS brief wanted us to film a specific section. This makes the planning process longer and harder than the AS. PART 1 - THE PROCESS Our brief is to film 5 minutes extract of a television documentary talking about any topic. At first, we watch a range of different types of documentaries during our lessons such as "Nanook of the North" directed by Robin J Flaherty which was a silence documentary concentrating on the starvation of working class people. Another was called "Hoops Dreams" directed by Steve James, Fred Mark and Peter Gilbert which was about high school boys who dreamed of playing in the NBA. This was more of an observational mode documentary. After this, each student was given a title of a specific documentary to research and then present their findings. The documentary I had to research was called Koyaanisqatsi

  • Word count: 4855
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Drama and Theatre studies - practical- coursework

AS Drama and Theatre studies Devised Work Marwa (Mia) Radwan Contents: Section 1 - Inspiration and Influence Section 2 - Research Section 3 - Health and safety Section 4 - Development of the play and my role Section 5 - Final evaluation Inspiration and Influence In my AS theatre studies course we have studied, Antigone a Greek tragedy by Sophocles and, Yerma by Federico Garcia Lorca which is a Spanish play based in the countryside of Andalusia. Both plays have their main characters female and both surround around the "injustice" they have been through the main reason being men and the patriarchy society they're in. So from both the plays we've studied we get a feeling of a "battle between the sexes" they both create the idea of women "fighting back". This was our group's first inspiration for our devised piece we decided to base our play around the treatment of women and the unity of women coming together to fight against men, because of the unfairness towards women. This idea of all women against their men gave me the idea of a scene from the production of Chicago the musical, where all these women are together in jail for having killed their husbands/boyfriends in a variety of ways and they all sing of how "He had it coming", making it the men's fault. I thought this idea of fighting back but then justifying it because these men are "cruel" and so deserve

  • Word count: 4707
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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How research material was gathered and used within the process of writing a play.

How research material was gathered and used within the process The research material which was gathered within the process have been used in many ways to develop our plot ideas and characters, we have used newspaper articles, pictures, postcards videos and the use of the internet to influence and develop ideas. Newspaper From the newspaper articles this gave us a starting point for our devised piece. We used the articles to create frozen images, which led us to other ideas for opening scenes and other scenes within our play. These articles were of events, which had occurred recently, majority of them were of older people who were attacked on their way home but also they were stories of children who had also been beaten and assaulted. Postcards/pictures We used the pictures to give us ideas for plots and sub-plots within the play. Also from the pictures we were able to think about what message we want our audience to gain from watching our devised piece. The main pictures were of old people who had been beaten up. This stimulated the idea of using the criminal mind. These images were also used in our final piece as Over Head Projector images. Monologues In our group we all created a monologue on a character of our choice. We then got together and tried to link our characters in some way. This gave us all a very clear idea of what our basic character would be

  • Word count: 4612
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Being "Lost" in Lost has multiple meanings. Lost by the physical meaning, literally means what the premise of the series is, group of survivors from a plane crash lost on an uncharted island. It could also be lost in terms of

The word "Lost" is heavy with meaning and mystery. It defines both physical disorientate and psychological states of defeat and despair" p10 Lost Chronicles, Mark Cotta Vaz Transworld Publishers, (UK) (2004) Being "Lost" in Lost has multiple meanings. Lost by the physical meaning, literally means what the premise of the series is, group of survivors from a plane crash lost on an uncharted island. It could also be lost in terms of not knowing where your life is going. Lost in terms of physical things like addiction or not knowing who you are. It can mean lost in terms of losing your ethos/values or religion. In the context of contempary, it can mean being lost in terms of loss of traditional TV programme style. The creators of "Lost have taken the plurality of meanings to create a text, which offers multiple meanings to cater for heterogeneous audience with a variety of need. Lost offers a variety of levels to satisfy a wide variety of audience needs. One of the ways in which the series satisfies audience needs is through narrative. Which is an aspect of being lost is lost because it contains a vague mysterious plot, which subverts traditional narrative structure by not exhibiting a linear style. As it jumps back and forwards through time. "It's an unusual occurrence a smart show where the story is the star" (Mark Cotta Vaz 2004-p73) the show as a star aspect is apparent

  • Word count: 4601
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Compare the ways media techniques are used to create the fairytale genre in "Edward Scissorhands" and "Hook."

Compare the ways media techniques are used to create the fairytale genre in "Edward Scissorhands" and "Hook." A famous director once said; "I remember growing up and feeling there is not a lot of room for acceptance. You are taught at a very early age to conform to certain things. It is a situation that is very prevalent and starts from day one at school: this person's smart, this person's not smart, this persons good at sport, this ones not, this person's weird, this ones normal. From day one you are categorized." This is the vital and strongest impulse that Tim Burton used to create, "Edward Scissorhands." "Edward Scissorhands," is a story about a character who wants to touch, but can not a character that is creative but destructive. "Edward Scissorhands," was produced, directed and written in 1990 by Tim Burton, and marked the point in his career where he had earned the influence to be able to make the projects he wanted. On its release, however, "Edward Scissorhands" was an instant box office smash hit everywhere, much to joy of Tim Burton and to the surprise of Warner Brothers. The promotional angle, so to speak, was the technique of contrast, the contrast between good and evil, the creative and destructive. This contrast is strongly apparent on the VHS cover. The consumer is presented with an image of Edward's "scissorhands," with a beautiful butterfly perched

  • Word count: 4573
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Drama Portfolio - Too much Punch For Judy

Drama Portfolio - Too much Punch For Judy Introduction During the past few drama lessons we've been studying a real life tragic play called 'Too Much Punch For Judy'. It is a play about two sisters (Judy & Jo) who decide to go for a drink one day. They meet two guys who buy them drinks. When they are ready to go, Judy suggests to Jo that she should drive home as she has had less to drink than her (however she is still over the legal limit). After some persuasion Judy agrees and throws Judy the car keys. As they drive back Jo pleads to Judy to slow down. However, Judy suddenly loses control of the car and crashes. Judy survives the crash, her sister Jo who is in the passenger seat dies. A man who has heard the crash from his house runs down to the scene, he rings the police. The police arrive and call for two ambulances. When two ambulances arrive Jo and Judy are taken away separately. At this stage, Judy is unaware that Jo is dead. At the hospital Judy consistently asks to see her sister, until the policeman finally tells her that her sister is dead. After reading the play, I immediately felt angry with Judy. I felt sorry for Jo and her family and perhaps almost for Judy. As the play was a true story the moral of the play 'don't drink and drive' struck me harder. The moral definitely gets across to me, and made me aware of the effects of drinking and

  • Word count: 4555
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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“All My Sons”: Examine the Dramatic Power of Act 3.

Susan Martin 10KR 16th July 2001 "All My Sons": Examine the Dramatic Power of Act 3. "All My Sons" explores ideals. It argues the rights and wrongs of the American Dream. Arthur Miller plays a series of battles between the characters and in the audience's minds. The play considers trust, truth and blame and where the limits of a person's responsibility lie. As the play develops, so does the conflict over where to place the blame for the death of twenty-one service men. Once the truth is known Arthur Miller attacks the problem of responsibility. He delays revealing important information, keeping the audience interested, expecting more to come and forcing them to be more involved with the play. The play is made up of two parts. One is Chris's and Ann's attempt to persuade Kate that Larry is dead so that they can marry. Joe would like to support their wishes but recognises that he can not. The other part is the attempt by George and then by Chris to find out the truth about what happened in Joe's factory during the autumn of 1943. By the end of Act 3 both these narratives and all the conflicts have come together to reveal the mystery and create a climax. The focus is on the morality of Joe Keller, who places his narrow responsibility to his family above his wider responsibility to the men who rely on the integrity of his work. The most prominent dispute by

  • Word count: 4502
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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How do Peter Benchley and Steven Spielberg build up tension and suspense in the opening chapter of the novel and the opening scene of the film

How do Peter Benchley and Steven Spielberg build up tension and suspense in the opening chapter of the novel and the opening scene of the film "Jaws"? Peter Benchley wrote "Jaws" the novel before it was made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg. "Jaws" is a thriller with the main aim being to build up suspense and tension. In the novel Peter Benchley uses many variations of language techniques to emphasise important points that build up suspense. He also uses sentence and paragraph structure to affect the reader in many different ways. Steven Spielberg on the other hand uses different camera angles and shots alongside lighting effects to create atmosphere and tension. In the background he uses music and sound effects to add to the dramatic visual images he creates. Finally Steven Spielberg uses specific dialogue to show the victims feelings and emotions. At the beginning of the film the soft, relaxing underwater noises of communicating sharks instantly sets the scene and creates the feeling of being deep underwater. The familiar beach sounds have a calming effect, which immediately lulls the audience into a false sense of security. The black screen that appears at the start of the film doesn't provide the audience with anything interesting to look at so the focus is strongly on the soundtrack. When the opening credits appear, the contrast between the bold, white credits

  • Word count: 4497
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Drama Production Log : Hamlet Extract.

Drama coursework Angela Lau U4 Development phase What we did? /Teacher distributed the extract from 'Hamlet'. 2/ We read through once and the teacher read it again with us. 3/ The teacher explained the whole extract in modern English. 4/Discussd in what circumstances that it might be have a similar content as the extract (leaving). 5/Made a group with at least 1 more people and create a scene about being apart. I was in a group with Cindy Ng. I was the mother and Cindy was the daughter. The background of our performance was: Cindy was my daughter, who was brought up in such a wealthy family---The Royal family of the Great Britain. She was completely spoiled. Her father left the family for reasons. Our script: (In the market) C: Shall I buy this? A: yea, of course. We shall buy pancakes. I can still remember when you were young, we used to make them. C: I always like them. A: That's your favorite blueberry cheesecake, shall we buy it too? C: Sure, mother. (Exit the scene) (in the kitchen) A:Cindy do you want to help me in making the pancakes? C: OK. A: You can add the eggs and milk into it. C: I want to scramble the eggs. (Mother handed over to her) A: Cindy, are you ok? C: mom, I really don't want to leave you and our house. A: Cindy, it's time for you to learn how to be a grown up. C: I know, but mom why that one? I don't want to live with those

  • Word count: 4452
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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