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.