See You Next Year!

This is my second time take acting class, and every time I feel that I learn so many things which I didn't realized before. In this semester, I mainly focused on building more different kinds of characters which I hadn't try before. Also, I have been working on my pace and pronunciation which are my weakest part. For example, I did characters which are more calm and quiet, and those character has more emotion hold inside not outside. I decided to do those characters because I want to make sure that I can do more and more types of character, and it will help me to achieve myself a better actor. It also remains me to slow down because of you are talking quietly you won't go too fast which I hate so much and I cannot control!

I successfully solve my memorization problem frim last year; however, I often loses my pace and my pronunciation when I act, so I tried so hard to slow down and to annunciate more. In order to do it, I keep telling myself in my head “slow down, slow down, louder and louder!” Actually it helped me a lot. For example, I was going too fast during a dialogue between me and Jack because my character should be extremely calm, but I thought it was emotionless which caused I just said my line so fast and plainly. So Ms. Guarino pointed out that I needed to slow down and analysis the character more. I will keep working more on it, so I can perform better and easier. 

I also chose character’s kinds which I didn't know much. The first one I chose was a kid who has been bullying for long time, and he finally speaks up, so I had to hold all the emotions and then show it out at certain lines. To be honest, it sounds easy, but it actually so hard to be controlled because the perfect line or moment is super hard to find. Then I started to do more work on character building before I do the actual scene which helped me a lot on finding the right emotion for character and perfect timing for emotion changes. Then I had some crazy character such as drunk guy or police officer. However, every time I do a different character it takes me some time to figure the back story and character’s achievement out, and I am improving those skills. 

I hope that I can do well on my final monologue which is a extremely dramatic one, and I never do this kind before. I got some feedback in last time rehearsal, and I will use those advises. I am also looking forward the next semester’s director job. I will and always try my best to learn how to be a director, and I believe that it will be so fun and new experience for me! Finally I want to thank everyone who worked so hard and helped me so much in the class especially Ms. Guarino who is a great teacher and an amazing friend! Merry Christmas everyone and see you next year!

Just Realized

I did not realized that half of my Junior year is almost over until I just check my final performance in Acting class is coming. Different than before, I am now trying to discover a quiet performance style which can bring out the power of silent. I started working on characters who are quiet and dramatic since the beginning of this class, and I truly want to finish this class with my last super dramatic and sad monologue. When I was selecting monologues for final project, I was looking so many dramatic monologues, and I did not chose others because this one is the biggest challenge for me. My strength is not working so well this time because this is the first time ever I act in this emotion and background, I will talk more on how I accomplish this character, and what struggles I had when I was working on it.

I guess that you must be so confused about what emotion and background I said in last paragraph. Don’t worry, and let me explain. First of all, I selected two monologues for this project, and one of them is about love and another one is about death. However, I chose the one about death because I never tried before. After I read the script, I realized that It is much harder than I thought it would be because the script did not tell me anything about the background, so I had to find it on my own. The monologue is about a person telling one of the person he knew was committed suicide, and he sold her a ticket the other night before she died. When the first time I do this monologue I focused too much on the sadness and hopelessness part, but only these two could not be as effective and powerful as I wished. Then Ms. Guarino pointed out that I need to study more on character’s emotion, and I noticed that I should also feel guilty because I sold the ticket to her. Also, Abi told me that I should control how I play with the ticket and I can actually do more dramatic things with it for example throw it away at some lines. I will work on it more and more, and I will give you all a great performance.

I enjoyed this class so much so far, and I wish it will be better by ending it with all our best performance. I have tried few different quiet characters and I will try and work more in the future. I feel that the power of silent can be much powerful than yelling because It can gather audience’s attention well, and audience do hear and feel better. Also, when you are doing a dramatic monologue, some silent can make the emotion stay in audience’s heart longer, and when they think about it they will be, like “Oh my god, that’s so creepy. I didn’t know that! But now I see.” May be, I guess that I am a little tired to be angry all the time. Anyway, this is a great semester in this class, and I wish we all learned and improved our skills.

In class writing

My character is a person who sold a ticket to a girl who I know, and after that night she was committed suicide. I am a 20 years old college student who work for a place to sell tickets. I think I was send to a psychologist and I finally told this story happened to me. I want to wear in the waiter dress and hold a ticket in my hand all the time and I want to be looked so tired and weak. I want to site down on a chair and looking at the ticket to tell all this and finally look up at the end part. My goal is that I want to express the sadness  and hopeless of my mind problem. I haven't play to many silent character, so this time I want to use the power of the emotion in stand of the voice to express the passage.

Challenge and Fun

In our Acting class, we started a new in class activity which is Improv activity. I really like it because of two reasons, first of all it can bring me so much fun, second of all it is a challenge for me which also helps me to improve my acting skills. As an actor in a live play the most important thing is that you can never kill the play which means no matter what happens you have to go with it. Improv perfectly trains me to be better at dealing with different situations. I wish we can do more those activities when we have time in class, so we can all be better actors.

I enjoy its process and how it suprise me every time because I can never know what is going to happen. For example, my favorite game is one person makes a motion and another person comes up a line, and the person doing motion have to say a line which goes along with the line before. I still remember there was one when William was digging a hole and another person said that here is baby, then William said that yes, and I am making a tomb. It sounds so creepy and dark, but it worked super well in the situation. In those game it can always bring us so much fun because once we all know each other we can make fun of each other to make the whole game looks better. For instance, once when we were playing the psychosis game. Charlotte was copying Wiebke’s way of talking and complaining which was so and I couldn't control myself to not laugh. After all, this is a great activity to have fun in class.

This activity can also help us to improve our skills. As I said before, you can never know what will happen on stage in a play. For example, in the fall play Peter Pan Wendy should fall with her head toward to the stage left, however there was once she fall down to another side which changed all the blocking to a opposite direction. I was so glad that we fixed it, so no one can tell we did wrong. If all the actors was so bad at dealing those situations, it will mass up the whole play which is so bad and no one ever wants this to happen. Then the Improv activity helps me to do better in those situations because every time we do the game we all need to react quick so the scene will looks good and smooth. When we put all our effort in the process we can learn so much from every round which can achieve a better self of us.

I didn't do any of these games before until this year, and I want to do it more and more in 
the future not only because I love this game and it brings fun, but also because I do learn 
things from it and it is such a big help for me as an actor! Hope we all enjoyed our classes and we will all do better in the future!

Put the gun down

https://youtu.be/ELYjiGKwSo4

stage dance

https://youtu.be/-Rot9uaVO8s

If you can make it better, Just Do It!

“Don't let fear or insecurity stop you from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind to others, even if you don't like them.” (Stacy London). My life now is just like this quote, and it is brand new page for me. Since I decided to major in theater last week, I started taking as many advantages as I can to improve my understanding and abilities about theater. That is why I am trying to be all different kinds characters now. This week in acting class, I am a detective who should be completely calm in the scene. However, my misunderstanding of ‘calm’ made whole story didn't make any sense. When I noticed my problem, I solve it with different blocking and ending. Finally a reverse ending plus a small movements saved this scene. Thus, sometimes a small change can make a huge difference.

The scene I chose is that a detective is finding the killer of his sister, and the killer is his sister’s husband. When the time he finds the killer, the killer was trying to suicide, and detective does not want him to suicide, so he starts to try convincing him to not suicide. In the original script, detective kills the killer at the end, but we all thought that there was no reason to kill the killer if detective wanted him to live. Then we change the ending to the killer killing detective. After my partner Jack and I ran the scene, all my classmates and Ms. Guarino thought that the way Jack killed me didn’t make any sense because it happened to sudden. It was very easy to make audience confused when things happened too quick, especially when we only had a part of the story which gave us more difficulties. In order to figure out why the scene is too sudden to understand. I asked feedback from all my classmates and Ms. Guarino, and they all think that I should have more movements than before. To be honest, I was not aware of that until the time they told me. I understood this character who should acts so calm all the time, so I didn't move at all in the whole scene which made the last shooting looked so awkward. I read the script and analyzed the story again, and I finally worked this scene out. I decided that I should be undefended myself when the first time I see Jack is trying to suicide, then I move extremely slow toward to Jack while I am talking to him. At the end of the scene, I try to take Jack’s weapon and I am accidentally killed by him. Finally Jack kills himself because he feels too guilty. As we worked this out, I have improved my understanding of characters and  scene which helped me to make these changes to make whole scene can be understand much better.

I am so glad I have all those great classmates and teacher who always lead me when I get lost, and I am also excited to work more on different characters and different scenes. Through this scene, I learned more on making my own changes of the scene to make it works the best for me, and it also teaches me that a little change can make a huge difference!

A little less noise there

“A little less noise there.” (J.M. Barrie). This was the first line we used as a joke in the theater, and it never stops. I still remember the first day we barely know each other. However after two months working together, we are now like a family, and we build not only character’s relationships, but also relationships between all of us. I was so nervous during the audition because I had to run the scene with Charlotte who is a excellent actress because I had saw two of her plays, and she did a great job in both of them. To be honest, I am a big fan of Charlotte, and I was so excited and happy that I could work with her in this play. When we had been working together three weeks, I found out that everyone in this play loves theater, and they are all funny and talented. Through this play, I not only learned more about theater, but also built solid and amazing friendships with everyone. I want to thank all of you for giving me such a precious and happy first play experience.

Because this is my first time participate in a English play, I had a hard time figuring out my characters. I would not be as good as I am now if Ms. Guarino, Rachel, Anna and Sam didn’t help me with lines and character’s understanding. I would not be in character so well if Amy and all crew members didn’t help me to find the best costumes and props for me. I would not be so confident and happy if Erin, Wiebke, Charlotte and William didn’t help me to find my position in the play, and Amalia, Maddy, Abi and Dilyara always make me laugh. I also want to give a special thank to William because when we were working together we can always get new ideas for characters, and I always feel like that we are playing together instead of doing an act.

After all, this was a great play, and it feels so differently when I was on the stage than sitting in the audience. I wish that I can work with all these awesome people together more in the future. I love all of you, and I am so proud to say that I finally get on the right track and I could not be happier.

In class writing

I am a detective who is trying to find the killer who accidentally killed my sister, and the killer is also my sister's husband. In this situation, I see he puts the gun to himself to try to suicide, and I don't want him to get hurt, so I tried to convince him by putting my weapon down and talking so peacefully. I also want to stop him, so I walk slowly toward him during the coversation, and finally I hold his gun down. However, he doesn't want to live anymore, and he also thinks that I don't really care about my sister and him because I act so peaceful and emotionless, so he shoot me and then suicide.

J&J group scene

http://hollywoodactingworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/No_Intent_-_2_men.pdf

Video

http://youtu.be/Q4T0lWOB1Ww

Don't make audience so confused

I have been working on a three people's scene for one and half week, but we did not finish our scene yet because we were taking PSAT on Wednesday and we have three group in our acting class. I have tried all our ideas of this scene, and I hope we can finish it tomorrow. Through this scene I have learned a new way to improve my short scene work and my character's building. Because we are not ready to do a long play or long scene, we are now doing so many short scenes. However sometimes short scenes cause a serious problem which is that they are much harder than a play or long scene because audience sometimes don't know the whole story or how a scene happens. I had a extreme hard time to figure this scene out because our scene is a car accident which happened without any prescene or back story. After Ms. Guarino pointed out our scene's problem, we tried so many different prescene, such as dark environment, driving crazy, and drunk characters, and finally we got our precene to make the whole scene easier and better to be understood.

I didn't realized that a short scene can make audience so confused, so I had a hard time to come up with a idea to make it more sensible and logical. Since I got this script, I couldn't give a explanation of what and why happened in the scene, and I was also confused because this scene can be both comedic and dramatic. However, my group thought that they liked it to be comedic, and also we finally created a pre scene to make a completed short story. To be honest, I enjoyed writing a scene by myself because it gives me more space to be creative and flexible. I can decide the style of the whole story instead of sticking to the original script. I always like to create new elements in a scene to make it better, and this time we decided to make our characters to be drunk which not only make the story better but also make the scene much more funny. When we were acting drunk character, some of us reacted so excited and some of us reacted so different from the normal reactions, which made this scene much more interesting. Thus, adding a pre scene not only make the scene much easier to be understood, but also make the scene a much better scene.

I love this class because this class can always bring me new things which help me to be better with theater. I had a so tough time last week with my classes and major selecting, but this class gave me more and more reasons to keep my belief and passion of theater. I will use all I have learned in the future, and I will try my best to discover more, especially things can help with play and audience. Thus, it is such a pleasure to have these experience, and I will make my scene better and better by more creative and interesting prescenes.

Character study

30 years old, 

hasn't get married yet, 

graduated from the university, 

New Jersey, 

single and shy with other people, but I have really good relationship with Marry and Brittany,

Cedrick is driving and hit a hitchhiker, and I don't want to get in jail because he hasn't date anyone yet,

We are all super drunk and driving home, but we all got in trouble and deal things without thinking.

Group Scene

http://hollywoodactingworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Over_the_Edge_-_3_women.pdf

To care more and carry more

This is my second time to tack this class, and the reason why I tack it again is not only I like this class, but also I still need to improve myself more and more. I used to do more actor's work than director's work, but this year I started to do more director's work in my first project. To be honest, it was harder than I thought it was going to be. I think there were three major things that I need to work on as a director, and they are filming, blocking and stage setting. Filming from different position can make a scene much better than just filming with only one position; a good blocking can help audience to understand a scene better, and a good stage setting makes a scene more smooth. I noticed that I still need to improve more on my director’s skill.

I used to use only one filming angle; however, I found out that multiple angles make a silent movie much better. For example, another group’s movie used a slow motion when they were doing the fight scene, but our group used normal speed, so some of our fight movements were hard to see. Another problem with my filming is that some of my movements were gone, and my hand got into the screen during the time that I should not be in the scene. I didn’t consider well when I was crating the video, and I think the reason was that I thought myself as a actor not a director, so I did not pay my attention to the whole scene. I will be careful in the future to make sure that my production can make myself pleased.

Blocking and stage setting usually need to be thought together. However I missed some of our setting and blocking, so some part of our silent movie looks unclear. For example, I did not put cupcake in a good place, and the tea set blocked it completely, so audience cannot really see it. Another example is that my fight scene with Jack was too bad because we did not practice so much before we did it. If there is a chance that I can do it again I will do it by using slow motion, so I can control it much better. Thus, I was thinking too much about myself instead of our group, so I did not make the best choice for our scene, and I will learn from it.

I am feeling sad because I didn’t do this scene will, but I also feel happy because I found out what I can so to improve myself, and I am so glade that my partners did a great job in the scene. I will focus more on filming, blocking and stage setting when I do my scenes in the future. I will also learn how to make my scene much easier to understand, so I can make audience feel more comfortable. Thus, I wish we all improve next time, and we can make a much better silent movie. Go Acting Class!

In class writing

To be honest, I like both our silent movie and girls' silent movie because they are all creative. For example, their silent movie has two music then they switch music to build the story and characters' emotion. However they still need to work on their movie making skill, so they can finish it more quickly. I know it is hard to make a silent movie with a iPad because my first time was much worse than their first time. I like how we make a scary story changing to a funny story, but I don't feel good enough with my fighting scene because Jack and I were not in same pace, so it was not so realistic. I really want to do more with my blocking and fighting scene in the future. Thus, thank everone's great performence and hardworking, and I hope we can all improve more at the end of this class.

You don't always need to stick to the "plan"

I have finished my second silent movie this week, and I only spent four days on this silent movie. Comparing with my first silent movie I changed my work order and I added so many new ideas while we were writing the plot and doing rehearsals, and this is why I improved in this silent movie. I also learned how to choose music from girls' group because they gave me a idea when I was watching their rehearsals. Thus I have improved my skills from last year and I am enjoying creating my videos!

The first thing helped me to improve my silent movie is the change of my work order. For example, I used to writ the plot then choose the music, but this time I started to choose the music then write the plot. I think this is a good way to start a silent movie because music can give me ideas and feeling about the story line. While I am choosing the music I have so many possible scene in my mind and I can finally decide my final story line. To be honest, our first choice of the movie was a murder silent movie and it supposed to be scary. However when I was listening the music automatically change itself to a another music. I suddenly had a idea to make a comedic movie because I thought it would be funny if we suddenly changed our style during the movie. I am so happy that this plot worked so well. Another thing I improved is that I became more creative. For example, in my final production I picked up the cupcake at the end, but I didn't do it in any rehearsal. When I was out of the scene I saw the cupcake was on the ground and Jack didn't pick it up, so I decided to pick it up and leave to make this scene even more funny. Thus, even though I have all my plot I still can be as creative as I can because you never know what would happen in a scene.

This time I started with music not only because i can find a better story line, but also I learned from girls' group. I used to put only one music in a silent movie, so I don't have to change it. But this time girls' group choose to use more than one music in the scene, so they can make it more interesting. That is way I started to look for music at the beginning, and I was so lucky because I found the music so fast. It seemed like the music was there waiting for me. Using more than one music in the silent movie not only helped to make the movie more funny, but also helped me to control our pace. For example, every time when I need to change the music I know what I will do for the next music, so I don't have to worry about when I should do what. I just need to remember when I need to change the music, and the scene will go well. Thus, how to choose good music for a Silent movie is a key to make a better movie.

I am so happy that I have anther chance to make a silent movie because I didn't feel so well for my first movie; however, I do feel so well about this one. I also like girls' silent movie because they did a great job on switching music when they are doing the bingo game. I hope that you would like those movies, and I wish that I can be more creative in the future, so I can create a better performance! Go Cats!

plot

Detective leaves and there's a cupcake on the table so I grab it and as i'm about to eat it Jack stabs me and runs off with the cupcake, as i'm trying to crawl to the door John comes out and steps on me

Detective throws open the door and steps on the victim killing him

He examines the body confused, Photographer takes a picture of the body

Photographer is taking a bunch of pictures of random things while detective checks closets and cupboards

The murderer comes out and tries to kill the detective but misses because the detective bends down to open a bottom cupboard

Photographer tries to tell the detective but he shushes him and shows he’s working

After several incidents the murderer gives up and taps him on the shoulder and puts up his fists

While this was happening I tried to tell him again but I eventually gave up because he obviously wasn't listening so I sit back and watch the attempts to kill him

The murderer looks at me confused and I just shrug

Fight Scene

When words can speak silent does!

https://youtu.be/mpjEyBKSfJQ

This is a silent movie which was presented by Chaplin. Chaplin is one of my favorite actors, and his silent movies were so great. I really like this movie because his facial expression is so great, and I can feel his nervousness and scared from his face. Other things I like are that the music and setting are perfect in this scene because the audience can clearly see his face and body language and music makes the scene funnier. I don’t really like how the woman reacts, and I think she can be more interesting if she tries to wake the lion to scare him. However, I still learned three thing in this video, and they are body language, setting and timing. If I can do well on these three things, I can make a great silent movie.

First of all, we should always focus on our movements when we are acting. For example, when the first time I did my acting I blocked the other person in the scene which made the whole scene so bad. Then I started to focus on my movements more, so I can make the scene better. Another example is that we should do the moments more dramatically because we do not have a dialogue in a silent movie. We have to represent all information by our reactions and face, as we can see, movements are one of the biggest part of our presenting, and we should work on them harder.

Next main thing is that we should always have a plan before we make a silent movie. To be honest, my first time creating a silent movie was not so fun because we did not have a good setting and plan which made us to do it over and over again. Finally, plans can help so many things in a movie, so remember that we should always have our setting before we do our silent movie.

The last important thing is timing because timing can make a show better. For instance, in this silent movie the tempo is back ground music, so it needs to control the time for different situations in the right time. The first time I set my silent movie was too bad because I missed my time, and the result was that we couldn’t make the movie represent what we thought it should be. I highly suggest that we should know how to use the time and tempo to show a better movie.

Finally, I am so glad that I had made a silent movie before, because I had learned so much. I used to act, but I had not decided what I should do, and chose everything for the movie before I really act. To be honest, it was harder than I thought it would be. I still need to learn more and more stuff. First thing I should do is that I will have a good plan, moments and timing for the the movie I am going to make.

The way back home

https://youtu.be/Nb0K_QjLbVY

It is all about character!

I have been working on my dramatic monologue for a week, and I have remembered all my lines, but I am still working on my blocking because this is the first time I do this kind of monologue. In this scene, I should be a boy who was bullied by a group of other boys for a long time, and finally I stand up for myself, but I should be scared and brave at the same time which makes me so confused. To be honest, since I have memories I was never bullied by anyone, so I built my character so brave and strong when the first time I did this monologue. Then my classmates and Ms. Guarino told me that I should build this character more shy and terrified. So I changed my blocking and the way to deliver lines, and it helped me to build this character better.

The first thing that I changed was my blocking because It can make a huge different with character’s emotion state. For example, I did step forward and point at someone so many times in my first acting, and it seemed to others that my character is so angry with others and it is a strong character. However the truth is that I should be scared of other kids and trying to stand up for myself, so I changed my blocking. I tried to step back and low my head, and it worked well because when I am looking down and step back It shows my fear to audience. Instead of point my finger to someone so many times, I only did once at the end of the scene which was the time I was finally brave enough to stop other kids. It was a acting new experience  for me and this is also a challenge for me. I will try my best to improve it more because I want to improve my acting skills more.

Except the blocking I also had to change how I deliver my lines because I was yelling too much in my first version, and it made audience cannot hear me clearly. It also make audience thought that I was the guy who was trying to bullie others. So, I tried to build my emotion much slower; for example, I tried to be so scared of speaking at the beginning and it turned to be a little angry in the middle, then lose all my tempo at the end. To be honest, I am so happy that I enjoyed the process of building up the strong emotion. I hope this will work better than before.

It seems to be my biggest struggle for me in this class, and I like it because it can improve my skills and ability. I like this scene because I have to care more and work more with the character building, and It is my weakness because I feel a little hard to understand the script in English, but I will still try my best to do it. Go John!

In class writing

My character is a kid who gets so many bullie from his classmate. Finally one day he cannot take it any more, so he stands up to against. I understand this character should be a little afraid of them at the beginning, then the emotion builds up and up. Finally he opens his all emotion, and he finally get stronger. I think the setting of the scene would be on the street, and he is alone in the corner. My movements would be a little push around and step forward to show that he is not afraid anymore. Instead of showing angry emotion at the beginning, I want to show it more like that he doesn't care. Then he turned to be angry. 

Dramatic Monologue

Do it then! You're always threatening yo beat the crap out of me. So, come on, Bruce. I'm sure your friends would like to see that. They think you are cool cause you talk like you're so tough. I think you talk that way because you're scared that nobody would like you if you didn't. (Beat.) No, I won't shut up! I'm sick of shutting up because you say I should! Every single day of my life I am scared of walking home because of you. I have felt like such a loser because you wanted me to. And I let you do that. Well, I'm not gonna let you ruin how I feel anymore. You got that? So either move out of the way once and for all and let me live in peace, or show me what you've really got - right here, right now. Cause I'm not scared of you anymore. So, come on. It's your move.

Giving audience a better show!

I have wrote so many blogs for acting class last year, and today I finally saw myself became a better actor, so I can give a better show to audience. I watched my first monologue, last  monologue and some old blogs. I want to thank Ms. Guarino and all my friends who always be there for me when I need help; who give me so many great suggestions that I cannot count. I also want to say that I did not let you down. I organized what I have improved and what I still need to work on, and I hope that I can keep achieving a better self.

“I cannot remember all my words, and I have a hard time to think the main thing I need to show, so I may need more time to work on my memoirzing” (Emotions & Feeling Jiang). This was a sentence from my last year blog, and I was struggling with my lines. However, after Ms. Guarino told me that I can record myself reading lines and listening to them. It was a huge help. I spent almost two weeks memorizing my lines when I was doing my first monologue which was around one minute, but I only spent three days memorizing all my lines for my recent monologue. I have improved my memorizing skills a lot, and I started to get the main idea of a scene faster than before. “I hope that I can learn more and more things in this class, and one day I can act at Cheshire Academy theater!” (Emotions & Feeling Jiang). This was my goal for last year, and I made it this true. I am going to be Mr. Darling in Peter Pan for this fall theater program. This is my first time to be in a play, so I will put all my efforts in it to make it a great performance. Even though I have improve a lot, I still have some problems with my acting.

My pace is one of my biggest problem, and I spent two days figuring it out. I wrote this monologue, so it was easier for me to control the pace than other monologues. However, I am still bad at pace. I think that I need to work on my monologue not only with lines but also with blocking. I remember that I added two new lines in my monologue when I first time blocked it, and new lines made the scene much better. Thus, while we practice our scenes we can always find what we need to work on and what I did well, so we need to do our best for every rehearsal.

It is such a pleasure that I am in this class, because I love acting so much and I did not have a chance to take this class until last year. I have learned a lot, proved a lot and enjoyed a lot. I want to say that I will try my best to improve my skills such as pace, memorizing, pronouncing and blocking, and I will give audience a great show!

John's Monologue

https://youtu.be/6_Lg6tAyA0E

There are always things you need to improve!

We have been learning acting for two weeks. It was so hard for me to learn because I have learned most of them, but I also found out that I still have three major skills which are needed to improve. The first time I performed my monologue was not good because I lost my pace. I find two most important things that will help us to deliver our scenes better, and they are emotions and feeling. I still remember that Michel was not in the right emotion in today’s class’s scene, so all audience can not get into the situation. The last thing I found I need to work on is that the movement on the stage.

I wrote a one minute monologue about my self last week, and I tried to practice it in the class today. To be honest, I don’t like it much because I delivered lines badly and I lost my pace. I was telling myself that I only have one minute, so I was a little hurry which caused that my speed was a little fast. I will try to improve my pace and deliver and hope that audience will like it.

Emotions can help us to find the right way to act, and it also can help us to show better. I remember when Michel was doing the scene, he had to be angry. However he cannot get into the emotion, and this makes audience feel hard to know what happened in the scene. We have tried many times, and we could not make it, so we gave up. I hope that we can have another chance to do it again. I suggest that we need to study characters’ emotions before we act them, because emotions can make acting more real and vivid. Feeling is another thing that we need to consider, when we are acting. Every times, when we are acting, we need to think about the characters’ feeling in the situations. It help us to get in the situation much faster. As we can see, emotions and feelings are very important things to work on.

The last lack is that we did not do will on our movements. When the first time we dis our scene, two of us was blocked in the back corner of the stage which was so bad. After Ms. Guarino told us that we need to move us out we tried again and we did it better. However I still don’t feel so happy with it, so I truly want to do it again.

At the end, I want to talk about what I learned from this class. I learned what should I do to make my acting more successful, such as body languages, timing,tone, voice and movements. My acting skills are getting better. However, I still need to improve my other skills, for example I cannot control my pace, and I have a hard time to think the movements. I do had a good time in this class. I think I will work even harder. I hope that I can do well in this fall play Peter Pan!

Monologue John

My name is John! I like to see my self as two parts which are working and relaxing in my coach. As you can see, they are so different, but they also have some commons. I always show my bright side to people.

When I am working, I never say I can't!!! I say I'll do!!! I also like running, but I don't have much time during school days so I get up at 6:30 and go running, and I will work hard for the rest of my life.

When I am relaxing I normally playing video games and eating junk food. I laugh aloud and do silly things. More importantly I always want to influence others with my positive energy. Once my friends told me,Oh John I just lost my rank game and all my teammates are stupid!!! I said, come on dude at least you were laughing and you enjoyed it!!!

Always be the bright side

Who am I? I like to see my self as two parts which are working and relaxing. They are so different, but they also have some common. My working side is more exciting, and my relaxing side is more casual. However, I always show my bright side to people.

I will talk my working side. At the first, I want to talk my goal for my whole life. We all have our own definition of lives' worth. In my opinion, my life's worth is that I can help others. I want to help others as long as I can. I consider that helping others is a way we can influence the whole world. For example, when the first time I came here at Cheshire Academy, I was lonely and hopeless, because my flight was delayed, and I was stuck in New York City. However, Mr. Barens made Cheshire Academy my second home and I remember that he always help me when I needed him. He always put smile on his face, and he seemed that he knew everything, so I decided that I will help new students to get in this community faster and more comfortable. I helped Mrs. Dykeman for three days, and it was so hard, but when I saw new students' happy smile I feel that everything is worth.Now, I help everyone who needs help, and I will do that for the rest of my life.

When I am relaxing I normally playing video games and eating junk food. I laugh aloud and do silly things, but I never yell or be angry with my friends when I lose a game. I have seen a lot of people saying horrible things to their friends because they lost a video game. I consider that video games are only for having fun, so we should not make it a weapon to hurt others.

I am also so happy that I can take this class, because I love acting. I have three main goals for this class. The first is that I will put all my effort in this class. I will try to understand every play. I am not good at memorizing , so I will try harder to understand them and remember them. The second one is that I will try my best to help my classmates. I am not the best student; however I still will help others. If they need me for homework or any assignments I will be with them. Last one is that I will try my best to learn, and I will work hard in both the black box and classroom. I will learn harder, and my goal is that I can deliver a great performance to the audience. I saw a show in the black box once. To be honest, that was amazing. All actors are hardworking and they did a great job. I will stand with them and work with them.

At the end, I want to say that it is a big pleasure to meet all of you, and I hope we will have a wonderful class experience with each other in this year!

Keep It Up!

"I have three main goals for this class. The first is that I will put all my effort in this class. I will try to understand every materials. I am not good at memorizing things, so I will try harder to understand them and remember them. The second one is that I will try my best to help my classmates. I am not the best student; however I still will help others. If they need me for homework or any assignments I will be with them. Last one is that I will try my best to learn, and I want to join into the theater at Cheshire Academy. I will learn harder, and my goal is that I want to join in the show." This was three goals that I made at the beginning of the semester, and I have done over 70% of them. I hope that I can complete all of them next year when I join in the show. This was a fast and slow semester. It was fast, because I don't want to leave yet; it is slow because we have so many memories that I won't forget. 

My first goal is also the goal I put my most effort in. To be honest, memorizing lines gives me so many troubles in this class because I am not a native speaker. When I was trying to remember lines, I cannot really understand all of them, so I have to spend more time to understand them better to make my acting better. My second goal is the one that I did best because I had helped so many things in class. For example, I helped others to post and make scenes. The last goal is the biggest and it is also the one that I want to do most. I told myself so many times that I should join the theater before. However, I wil definitely join the theater next fall to achieve my final goal, so I can tell myself that I finally use what I learned in the class. 

I thought that I was a good actor, but I found out that I still need to learn more things. At the start, I was having a hard time to act. For example, I could not make a blocking in my first silent movie, but after I learned and practiced more, I finally learned how to do my blocking and other movements. Another big thing I learned is that how to set our scenes and videos which also help so much with my other classes. For example, I made a video to introduce my topic in writing class. 

Finally, I want to thank Ms. Guarino for teaching me so many useful skills and helping to improve my acting. I also want to thank my classmate Amanda and Jacob for helping me to set every scenes and giving me a good learning experience. I will study in acting class next year, so I will see you next year.

Surprise

The only word that I want say is surprise. I went to the black about three times a week before the show, but when I came into the black box on Thursday afternoon it looked like a extremely different place which I never been. When the music was on and the light was working, it gave me a feeling that bad things are going on. Thus show is a great show because it has so many talented actors and people who set the stage like Jack Jack. As a comic mystery, it is so successful because it ont only make the audience think and worried, but also make the audience laugh aloud.

The first thing that  make this a great show is that all the actors are working hard, and they are talented. I am taking acting class, so I know how hard it is to do a over two hours show especially the one have so many dialogue in a complicated logical order. They did the best job to deliver all the lines. Another important thing is blocking in the scene. There was 13 people on the stage, and I can saw every single one of them and their movements. I still remember the first time I did three people scene and I covered a person completely. The last thing is that all the lights and music were so good. When any one said that you are the killer the music have a weird sound and makes everyone to think about who really the killer is. I also want to give a special thank to my roommate Jack for helping the show to built the mystery. When I saw a hand killing the light, I recognized that it is Jack’s hand.

The second important thing that makes it a great show is the story line. At the start, I thought Andrew is the killer, but then I thought the lawyer because she always pushed everyone to say what they know, and she never leaves her position much. The truth is that she is the killer, but what police officer did scared me. I thought he is the good man at the start and I believe he will save them. However, the truth is so different the police officer actually helped the lawyer to kill people. Also the cook's reviviscence is the biggest surprise because I saw her were hung up. At the almost the end of the show, the cook came out and beat the police officer down. The only thing I can say is that this is a amazing show.

I suggest everyone go and see the show, and you will be as amazed as me. I wan to thank for all the actors hardworking and performance crew members' hard working. Because of them we enjoyed a great show, and I have learned from them. I hope that I can join the next show and I can make it a show that everyone like.

What Was Burned?

We had made so many hypotheses in class, and we also had some part that is correct. For example, we all considered that Johnny, Mirren and Gat was died at summer 15, so the ending did not make me surprised, but it did make me to think. To think what is the right to do and how money changed the way people consider things. 

This book is most about how Cadence realized that what her grand dad did is not correct, and she was trying to change the way of how the family live. They are the one of the richest family in the world, but all those good resource did not make this family a happy family. Everyone in this family is being unhappy, worried and nervous. They consider that the only happy thing is the money, and their biggest goal is grandad's all money. However, after the fire, all the people in the family started to be nice to each other, and they starts to realize that there are so many thing could make them feel happy. I am keep asking my self. Did the fire really changed the family that much? I still don't have a clear answer, but there is one thing I believe. It is that all of the family members find out the relationships between people and love is much more important than money. We cannot say that this family is not a good family because no one can be completely calm and peaceful in front of a huge amount of money; however, we should always remember that people are not living for money, they are living to enjoy their time with people, every little touchable moments and love. 

I like this book and this ending because it makes people to consider themselves and what they did. Sinclair family might be a story, but there are always stories like this going on. I want to say that we should be happy for what we have now, and we should always discover our own happiness from life experience but not from pieces of papers.</span>

To Achieve a Better Self

I have been working on Meet The Husband for almost two weeks. Thus is the first three people dialogue scene that we work on, and this is a new challenge for all of us. I consider that I have three things to work on. The first is that I need to improve my pronunciation. Second one is that I need to be careful when I am moving around. The last thing is that I need to find the right emotion and use it in the scene. However, I am not acting as well as I did before, so I have to put more effort in this scene.

In this scene, I am some lines with extremely strong emotion, so I cannot pronounce every words clearly. This makes the scene looks not so good, and I want to make the scene as good as I can. If I cannot say the correct words, it will make the audience confused which will be unacceptable in the theater. I will read and practice more times on the lines which needs me to pronounce more clearly. Thus, good pronounce helps to delivery the scene better.

Another problem which has been arousing me since the first rehearsal; it is my movements. To be honest, I think we are so lucky because we can always use black box setting in our own scene. However, this time we have a bar which we have to sit in a row, so it is so easy to cover others completely which is pretty bad. I had changed my movements so many times to fit the scene, and I think that I need more thinking about my movements, and I will work on it in classes and hope that I can find a best blocking. I am looking forward to see how we can solve this problem.

The last one is that i did not find the absolutely correct emotion on this scene, and I think the reason is that I don't have much experience. Ms. Guarino helped me to build the emotion in today's class, and I think that I find the right emotion to represent, so I want to thank Ms. Guarino for helping me. I will practice more and see if I can improve my skill. I hope that I can show the emotion like the last monologue. Last monologue had taught me how emotion improve the whole scene, so I will try my best to make this scene even better than the last one.

Finally, my acting class almost over, and I have been enjoying in this class and working with friends and teacher. We have improved our skills. I remembered that we can only do a three people silent movie at the beginning, and now we can do a three people dialogue scene which is a big progress. I hope that I can use what I have learned to achieve my goal next year and hope I can be a good player.

Challenging Is The Way To Build A Better Self

I have done my first serious scene in my acting class, and this is the longest monologue I ever did, so this was a challenge for me. I also learned and improved my skill in this scene. I had a hard time to set the scene at the beginning because of my memorizing and positioning. After hard working, I finally found the best position for me, and I used the way that Ms. Guarino told me to memorize the lines. I would give myself A- for this scene, because I think I still need to improve myself to a higher level.

I consider that I found the correct emotion of the scene, so I can deliver the right information to the audience which I think is the best part of my acting. Another ting that I think I did well is that I make the good time of the scene by stoping and move. However, I have more things to work on.

The first thing that I need to work on is memorizing. To be honest, I am so bad at memorizing because sometimes I am too worried to remember the line. I keep thinking how to act and control the right emotion, so I always lost the line even when I read along. I tried many ways to remember the next line, but I still cannot find one that works well for me. I will keep working on it, and it brings me some problems. For example, if I lost my line in the show, it would be a extremely bad thing, so I have to remember all my lines. Thus, remembering all the lines is one of the most important thing that I have to word on.

Anything thing that I need to practice is body language. In this scene, I do not have much movement, but I still need my body language to show the character's information. At start, I standed up all the time, but I kept looking down which make the whole scene looks not good. Then I tried to set a two chair scene; however, it is so hard to talk to a chair. To be honest, I have no clear idea of what kind of body language is the best, finally I decided that I would sit at the start, then I would stand up.  Thus, it is so hard to do the best movements in this scene, but I tried my best to work on it.

This is the first serious scene I did in this class, and I hope people would like it as my comic one. I will do my best to memorize and find the best way to act for my next scene. I will keep working hard on what I did not do well, and I will also make my good part even better. I am looking forward to get some feedback form audience.