Examination of A Performance I Was In

A Performance I Was In This term we have been working on a devised performance dealing with the theme of consequences and looking at lots the themes and issues. We have chosen the title to be 'Consequences'. We came up with this title after the whole group had decided on what the theme would be, then once we new what the theme would be, we thought of ideas of what the title could be, and we chose 'Consequences'. Overall the play 'Consequences' took 4-5 weeks to put together and perform. I thought it was a worthwhile experience because this is the first time I had worked in this group as a whole class. The performance we done, took place in the main school hall because we needed the space for our traverse stage to be held in. We had the stage setting, with the audience split in half, and the performance space was in the middle so that we could be seen at all angles. To begin the topic our teacher put us into groups and then we had to think of ideas of what our play could be about. We all wrote down ideas, then read them out, and then we decided as a group to choose the best idea. The age group we wanted to aim it at is our own year 10. We chose this age group because they can relate to the issues that are being performed. They would understand about our play because they are the age we are aiming at, and could relate to what the play was. After we decided on the

  • Word count: 1351
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

Analyse the cinematic techniques that are used to capture the audience's interest in the opening sequence of the film 'of mice and men'.

Essay Analyse the cinematic techniques that are used to capture the audience's interest in the opening sequence of the film 'of mice and men'. The films director (Gary Sinise) uses different techniques to capture the audience's interest when making a film. The techniques include: lighting, high key -realistic and low key- dark shadow, dramatic. Sounds, diagetic- what you would normally hear in the scene (on screen) and non diagetic- the sound track music, the sounds of someone's thoughts voice over, sound effects (of screen). The camera movements such as a tracking shot, where the camera follows the action, a panning camera moves from side to side to a stationary support to give a more realistic outlook. A tilt camera moves up and down, it's a similar to a zoom in/out feature on the camera were the camera is not moved, but the image gets smaller or bigger. Sinise uses another feature where the audience are rendered in dramatic scenes of the movie, this is done by a feature on the camera called Camera framing. This technique enables the camera to go closer to the face or further away from it. It also enables a long shot view where it can capture the rich environment. This is just some of the features; a more complex feature it can do is the point of view shot. This is we see a scene through the characters eyes. Sinise also captures the audience attention though high angle

  • Word count: 1196
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

The RSC Production of Beauty and the Beast.

Vicki Harris 10Z The RSC Production of Beauty and the Beast. When watching the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "Beauty and the Beast" I noticed several aspects of the production that I found particularly impressive. One such aspect was the use of lighting and shadows on stage. Spotlights and floodlights were the main types of lighting used. In many of the scenes that did not take place in the Beast's house, a relatively bright yellowy-orange light filled the stage showing there was nothing particularly important or magical about these scenes/ As soon as the audience's attention was required to be focused on a particular character, lights would fade out and a spotlight placed on the character. One such example of this was when Mama dies and Beauty sang a solo part. In the Beast's house, lighting was taking to a much darker level, reflecting the magical and mysterious characteristics of the house. Once particular use of lighting in the house was very effective, the use of different coloured lights when Beauty and the Beast were eating supper. When the bowls were placed on the floor, trapped doors beneath them were opened so that floor lights could flood through the translucent bowls, giving the effect of different magical foods. One bowl lit up red, to which Beauty responded with "Oh! Strawberries!" then, as Beauty put the lid back down, the colour of the

  • Word count: 2050
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

Beautiful Burnout by frantic assembly: REVIEW

'Beautiful Burnout' by Frantic Assembly, September 2010. The lights, the outstanding choreography, searing vitality, the knockouts and the unbeatable storyline, are all factors which made this particular play an unforgettable one. I had rather high expectations of the play when I read that Mark Ravenhill had directed one of the adaptations plus the engaging reviews I had read had led me to believe it was going to be brilliant. However, even though the play was spectacular, from my point of view the storyline isn't something that would have attracted me initially and to be blatantly honest a few scenes during the production lost my interest and attention several times, therefore my expectations of the play where slightly let down by the ongoing boxing chatter and masculine cliché fight scenes. A brief description of the story is the dream of a young man and his manager for the young boxer to triumph in the boxing world and become a legend, his dreams are in the blink of an eye stolen from him when during a championship game he is injured and disabled for life, showing that his abilities an love of the game when put into perspective weren't worth it due to the loss of his normal everyday abilities, this proves boxing to be a controversial sport. The play was indeed gripping, due to its controversy, mainly because boxing in the past and present day is one of the most dangerous

  • Word count: 1024
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

Playhouse Creatures - Act 1, Scene 9 -What do you want your audience to understand about Nell and Mrs Farley? How would you direct it to achieve your aims?

Drama Homework Christian Lunn What do you want your audience to understand about Nell and Mrs Farley? How would you direct it to achieve your aims? In this scene the audience need to understand the jealously of Mrs Farley to Nell. Mrs Farley sees that Nell is better than her and she is constantly trying to put Nell down. In this scene Mrs Farley realises that Nell is better than her and taking her place in the theatre and becoming close with the king. When Nell enters Mrs Farley initiates an attack at Nell after seeing the mood of the senior actresses in the theatre who she wants to impress and stay in favour with she says "Beg your old job back, if you don't want to starve". When Mrs Farley delivers this line she sticks near Mrs Betterton who she wants to stick with, this isolates Nell from the rest of them and puts Mrs Farley in with the main crowd. Mrs Farley will say "beg your old job back" to Nell moving her left hand in her direction as if she is dismissing her and slightly moving away from the other girls. Mrs Farley delivers the second part of the line "if you don't want to starve" she looks back at the others seeing if she has impressed them and moves back to them to feel that she is in the majority. Nell doesn't see Mrs Farley's jealously as she is in a daze with her experiences on stage. She is away from the crowd standing still and

  • Word count: 961
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

Family Disintegration in Death of a Salesman

Family Disintegration in "Death of a Salesman" John Bailey : March 2009 In the play " Death of A Salesman," it clearly shows the disintegration of an American family. With Willy living in his fantasies, Linda constantly making excuses for him, Biff, being the first born, not making anything of himself, and Happy being too caught up between girls and avoiding the situation, the family was bound to breakdown soon enough. The family was living a lie for some time, and eventually it led to their disintegration. Willy, was what he said to be a "respectable salesman." He went out on business trips, travelling all the time, just barely getting by. He had many dreams and expectations for his first son Biff. He wanted him to go into business and make a lot of money, but Biff just did not have the enthusiasm or the motivation to do such a thing. He tried to make his father see that he was not meant to be a businessman, but Willy was far to set in his ways to be told anything different. His wife, Linda, also did not help the situation any. She was constantly making up excuses for Willy and why he was the way he was...caught up in his fantasies. She did not help Willy see that he was suffering from psychosis. She, in a sense, hid it from him, and blinded her sons to the seriousness of the situation in the process, as well. All of this put a lot of pressure on Biff, which led him to

  • Word count: 968
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

Review of "Island" at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London

Theatre Review On Wednesday the 21st of May I went to see "Island" at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. It was a play performed without dialogue and used no facial expression because all the characters wore masks. This play concerns an old woman's memories of her childhood and all the precious things that symbolised special moments in her life. The play represents the small things in life that actually mean a lot to people. As the play progresses the audience start to feel a sorry for the woman whom the play is about because there are so many deaths of people who mean a lot to her. The old woman feels lonely and lost during the play and feels like she needs to do something with her life. This leads her to her continuous thoughts about her life that has passed her by so quickly. Although she is not famous and hasn't done anything particularly magnificent in her life, many people in the audience can relate to how she feels because it is a play about the simple life of a simple woman. This space used in the play was very small. The set was plain and the costume was simple. The same set was used for many different scenes. One thing that worked really well with the set was the "keep left" sign that was used as a road sign when the scene was meant to be outside. When the play was inside the sign was turned around and used as a shelf. The set consisted of a wall a workmen's hut

  • Word count: 1079
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

Write a continuous media analysis of the opening of Apocalypse Now, explaining the ways in which media language is used to present character, theme, genre, plot and representations.

Write a continuous media analysis of the opening of Apocalypse Now, explaining the ways in which media language is used to present character, theme, genre, plot and representations. The opening sequence in 'Apocalypse Now 1' shows many different aspects of media language. The whole scene contains moving images and sounds which work together with one another to give the audience an overall jist of the entire film. The mise-en-scene in the opening shot in 'Apocalypse Now 2' is of a Vietnamese forest. The scene shows the forest with a clear blue sky. During the wide shot of the woodland, dark, ominous smoke rises upwards. Before any scenery is shown on the film, music of a blues genre and is non-diegetic can be heard and this suddenly becomes very loud when the camera is focusing on the evergreen trees. There is a sound of helicopter blades in slow motion that grows louder until we see the helicopter cross the screen from left to right. The combination of the flames and the sound of the helicopters, gives the audience a foreboding sense of danger. Single helicopters then fly across the scene and almost immediately after seeing the smoke and the helicopters, the forest bursts into flames and then there is a slow pan from the right to the left showing the audience the damage which has been caused. As soon as the forest erupts into flames, the words to the music begin. The words

  • Word count: 1147
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

My essay will mainly focus on

Media Essay The word quiz possibly originates from the Latin word "Qui es?" meaning "who are you?" it was also used to define a droll or eccentric person. Later it came to mean a practical joke, we therefore know the word "quiz" is of an uncertain origin. Wireless radio shows first became popular in 1934, it bro8ught with it a strange new programme called "The Symington's soups film star competition programme". This was the first quiz show broadcasted and proved to be very popular. Contestants would follow on screen instructions, write down answers and send them in to the show; winners received vouchers for powdered soup. The BBC's first quiz is believed to be on the "children's hour" programme in November 1937. Called regional round the position of authority was taken by uncle Mac. A correct answer from one lad was rewarded with the compliment 'that's absolutely wizard'. Very soon after this the first BBC quiz for adults was broadcast and was called "Trans-Atlantic quiz". In 1955 ITV formed a large number of quiz shows that became popular such as "take your pick" and "double your money". However in the 1970's and 80's limits on prize money were imposed by TV watchdogs and the maximum prize would be the equivalent of a small car every four shows. Therefore if more questions resulted in too many minis's being won, then the pre-recorded shows had to be screened out of

  • Word count: 1863
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay

Analyse the ways that the director builds suspense and scares the audience in the film 'Jaws'.

English coursework Kirsty vanderwens Analyse the ways that the director builds suspense and scares the audience in the film 'Jaws' The film we studied for media is called 'Jaws' by Stephen Spielberg. 'Jaws' is about a great white shark, which is in the sea attacking and killing humans for food. This film was set in Amity Island, in the summer, so a lot of people would go there for tourism and to be on the beaches. The 4th of July in an important day as a lot of people would go to beaches for a public holiday, it's a special day and a happy time where a lot of people go. Spielberg connects the music to the shark, so when we hear the music we know the shark is coming. The music builds up tension and sounds like beating of the heart by getting quicker and quicker and louder and louder as the shark gets nearer. The music builds up a lot of tension to the audience that is why the audience are so tense and scared. The first attack is scary, as we don't know what was going to happen and when. There is a contrast between all the screaming and splashing from the girl and when you see the boy slumped on the beach with low-pitched music playing in the background. We know when the attack is over as for the sudden silence at the end of each attack. The second attack is similar, with all the people panicking and screaming seeing this little boy getting eaten, but

  • Word count: 2092
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
Access this essay