How did I perform?

I think I did great with the improvising part while the audience have already laughed enough from the previous act. Instead of pretending the eagle as a “great big rock”, I have changed it into a yellow fluffy thingy” because I wanted to use simple and funny words so the eagle will be their biggest impression in the act. (like a symbol)

How were some of the difficulties? Solutions?

Some of the difficulties we have faced during the practices were the part where we had to think of a way to let our group mate, Tom, so speak under the mask clearly and with expressions in his voice. What we did later was to put the mask behind his head, so when he talk he will be facing his back to us, but his voice will be clearly projected.

What were some achievements?

Some of the techniques we have learnt during this unit are expressions in voices, audience interaction, and different gestures. We specially have worked on the audience interaction part of the show because our target were little kids. The more things we include them into, the more they’ll enjoy it and the more they will have great impression inside it.

Which group was successful and why?

In my opinion, Iruka, Mary, Jamie, and Axel‘s group was the most successful. All their group mates have stayed in their character and they have changed between them quickly so the show does not pause. Nice use of the scarf as the wings of the fairies and also the scarf for the old women in the bar. The narrators were great especially with throwing questions at the audience and connect with them. Not many kids have laughed or answered the questions and probably because they did not know they were could answer the questions or either when they asked, they did not try to pull the audiences into the show.

7A Drama: Storytelling Performance from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

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Myth – Stories humans have made to explain the unexplainable things using supernatural being such as gods, monsters, nymphs, and etc.

eg. Greek Mythology

http://school.eb.com/comptons/article-284873?query=myth&ct=null

Legend – Stories based on a historical event or a miracle that have happened in the past.

eg. Robin Hood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend

Folk Tale (Fairy Tale) - Short stories usually including folkloric characters such as goblins, fairies, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants, mermaids, or gnomes. It usually includes a lesson inside the story to teach kids what is right or wrong.

eg. Little Red Riding Hood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_tale

The Story of the Rainbow – Traditional Taiwan (A mixture of myth and folk tales)

Long time ago, in a village in the mountains, there lived a poor girl. The girl have always dreamed of wearing beautiful cloths everyday. One day, a rich man from the same village have announced to marry a young women. The rich man made a dress made of seven colors, red, orange, yellow, green, sky blue, dark blue, and violet, and showed it to everyone the day before the wedding. When the poor girl saw the dress, she couldn’t get her mind off of the dress so she had decided to steal it that night. It was a rainy night. After the sun had set, the girl sneaked into the rich man’s house and stole the new dress, but as she tried to leave the house, the guards have found her and began chasing her. The girl ran through the woods into an open field and found herself standing in front of a cliff. She was being trapped and the guards had gotten closer. The girl did not want to get caught and lose the dress so just as before the guards had caught her, she leaped and jumped off the cliff into the endless darkened beneath. Few minutes after the girl jumped, the sun had rose and it was the next day. The rain had stopped and a transparent bridge of 7 colors had appeared in the sky. Just the guards had tried to make out what it was, it disappeared. Later, people began to believe the 7 colored bridge was the girl who stole the dress, and she had disappeared so quickly because she wanted to show everyone the dress but at the same time, she was ashamed of what she did.

7A Mimes from YIS Academics on Vimeo.

During this unit, our task was to act out one mime scene in groups. Our group, Sophia, Mitea, Thomas, Axel, and I have decided to choose picnic area as our setting for this mime project. My role in this mime scene is a person who went to picnic with her friends. We have driven a car to the picnic area and we were setting up for the picnic and checking out the area. As Axel had set up for the blanket, the wind blows the blanket away twice. The first time, I ran to catch the blanket in time but then the wind had changed its direction all of the sudden, and I have tripped and fallen because of the sudden wind. The blanket flew out of my hands and landed onto Sophia’s head, which made her fell too. Finally, we have managed to set up our picnic and it was time to eat the cake. Just when we have settled down and began to eat the cake, a fly came and start to annoy us. In the meanwhile, Mitea got a fly spray from the car and sprayed the fly but at the same time, he sprayed all of our faces. The rest of us got really mad at Mitea’s action so we chased him off the stage. The End.

During this unit, I have learned that when acting out mime, you will have to act S-L-O-W-L-Y and CLEARLY. By acting slowly and clearly, we could realise some details of a simple action and become aware of those small details. With out the details of each action inside the mime, the audience will not understand the story of the whole mime. Also, at the first part of this mime scene, I accidentally walked through the car door because I was not aware of the fact that the car door was not opened wide enough. Also your expression in the mime scene will be another important skill to have. By over exaggerating about your face expression, the audience will understand your feeling inside this mime clearly.

I could use these skills in performances such as musicals. Sometimes in musicals, there will be some silent parts inside the story where you’ll have to act out everything just by the actions but not only the words inside it. Also, we could use these skills inside a silent movie. In a silent movie, there will be music to help the audiences to understand the plot of the story but with only the music, it is still not enough. The skills of acting SLOWLY and CLEARLY will become important as well.

I have known somethings about mimes before we have started this unit. From the movies of Charlie Chaplin, I have learned that mimes are not actually as easy as it looks. Even though in the mimes the actor will not have to remember all of the words they will have to say like in the normal skits and movies, but they will have to be creative to think about using the right expression at the right times.

Now, after this unit, I would still want to know more skills about how to act without going through objects or moving the objects by accident.