Oct. 23, 2009

This week Mr. Smeed talked about Commedia Dell'arte.
My first impression of Commedia Dell'arte was comedy, when Mr. Smeed showed us the videos, the first thing I thought was it being funny. From all the characters I know from Commedia Dell'arte, I actually like Pantalone, because he is a really interesting character. He is a bitter and old man, he is a lonley man, which I like because it is kind of cool to "be" this character, and of course I mean acting. One question I want to ask about Commedia Dell'arte is, what do you do if an actor changed the story line accidently and the whole story changed? I hope to find the answer before the end of the unit. If one actor messed up on the story line, and imporvised too far, maybe it will affect the play.

On Monday, we did this Drama Reflection, we also had to evaluate ourselves and our group mates. I thought that it was pretty easy. I think that group work is really important, even though my group's team work was the best, but it was pretty good, and i'm proud of that. :)
On Wednseday, we watched a slideshow that introduced Commedia Dell'Arte. I heard that we had to find a character from Commedia Dell'Arte and we have to be them for the rest of the unit. I am pretty excited about that, even though I am very nervous about which character I am going to be. We have to know our character really well so that we can be "pros" in our character, which is pretty hard, because you need to do loads of research about that character. I heard that an actor had to lock herself somewhere just to get used to that character, she had to research a lot about that character, I think she stayed locked for a few months. That must be tiring!!!
Even though i'm excited to be a character, i'm still scared, mostly because we have to improvise while acting...which I don't think i'm good at. :( But still....it's going to be fun!

0ct. 15, 2009

Today our class went to the LLAC to watch out silent movies.
Our video was O.K, because some parts were good and some parts have to be improved.
One of the things we have to work on is not to shake the camera or move the camera when filming. I noticed that the other groups didn't really have this issue, because all their shots were really still.
Another things we need to work on is the last part of the movie. because our music stopped for some reasons.We also didn't really have a lot time of edit the movie, because we were kind of slow. That leads to another things we have to work on...we have to be more efficient!
When I was watching other groups' silent movies, I saw many exaggerated movements and funny actions, which is good, because it makes the movie more interesting and it is easier to understand what the character is talking about.

- Pearl :)

Drama Oct. 9, 2009 (Friday)

Today I learned that editing a movie is really hard.
Especially because we are not professional (obviously), and because we don't really have much experience.
A part of my group searched for music and another part of my group edited.
When editing, we found some parts where we didn't need, it was a blooper.
When we were talking about deleting it, Mr. Smeed told us not to, because we might need a part of it. That is another thing we learned today.
We also found out the clips we took were really wobbly. We forgot that moving the camera with the person creates a bad effect, so all the clips turned out weird. That was something we should have done better.
Our movie is not really done yet. Even though we found some songs to add into the movie, we are still in the process of editing the clips.
So far, me and my group's co-operation is O.K. Even though it could be better.
Hope we will finish the movie next class so that we can make it in time for the premiere!

- Pearl