Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (24) (Evaluation)

We have now performed our "Chasing Pavements" devised piece and therefore have completed this unit. Overall, we are happy with how our piece developed from the initial stimulus to the finishing product, but we felt our performance could have gone a lot better.

When we first heard of our stimulus, "Chasing Pavements", we began making a mind map of the ideas that came to mind. The ideas we initially came up with were rather broad and could be interpreted in different ways - this was a good thing though as it opened up more different ways in which we could go with our piece. The main vague ideas we decided to experiment with were as follows: time (linked with the idea of "chasing" and running), options / different pathways ("pavements" and different roads to take in life), games ("chasing" and playing tag), violence ("chasing" has connotations of danger), death (all the different routes in life end up in one place), "Burying your brother in the pavement" (a play by Jack Thorne) and relationships (the couple in the music video were lovers). We did have other ideas (such as poverty / suffering, rejection / ageism, and running away from home) but decided that the ones mentioned previously were our favourites as they gave us more inspiration.

When we had established which ideas we thought we could get the most out of, we decided to do some research into them. The main ideas we researched were domestic abuse (from the ideas of relationships and violence), abortion (from the ideas of options / decisions, time, death and youth) and child soldiers (from the ideas of violence [war], "Burying your brother in the pavement" [due to children and death] and games [children and youth]).

• The first idea we developed was the idea that involved abortions. We discussed creating a movement piece to portray a couple making love (this scene would include the ideas of relationships and childlike naivety) and would result in the couple becoming pregnant (thus giving us the opportunity to explore the ideas of options / decisions and death [of the foetus]). I researched abortions at this point, so if we decided to use this idea, we knew more about the topic, thus allowing us to make an accurate piece designed to make the audience think.
• The second idea we experimented with was domestic violence (inspired by the ideas of violence [as "chasing" has connotations of danger]) and relationships). Katya researched domestic violence so we could make our piece very factual. The techniques we experimented with during this scene were soundscapes, narration, physical theatre and slow motion. 
• The third idea we developed into a short scene was war and how it effects everyone (inspired by the ideas of violence, "Burying your brother in the pavement" and games). For this scene we used the following techniques: freeze frames, cross cutting, stop-start motion, physical theatre and abstract theatre.

After exploring a variety of different ideas by creating three different scenes, we sat down and discussed what ideas we liked the most and what techniques we found most effective. The techniques we chose to include were abstract theatre, physical theatre, narration, cross cutting, soundscapes and motifs. The ideas we ended up exploring in our final piece were relationships, decisions (whether to have an abortion or not), violence (abortion) and teenage naivety (thinking that they wouldn't become pregnant).

To ensure we made most of all of our rehearsals we tried not to waste time, so did some individual work outside of lessons and then brought this work into the next lesson. This individual work included research, making of props, staging ideas and character development ideas. In the earlier stages of the rehearsal process, we didn't use a rehearsal schedule and instead got done whatever we felt we needed to do at that time - the reason we didn't apply a rehearsal schedule earlier was because we hadn't fully established what we wanted in out piece, so the schedule would have been changed too many times. However, later on in the rehearsal process we did enforce a rehearsal schedule - this schedule kept us focussed and ensured we achieved everything we needed to with time to do several full runs of the piece and time to polish sections at the end.

Overall, I feel we worked really well as a group. We tried to incorporate everyone's ideas throughout the entire process of putting our piece together - from the initial ideas to the finished product. Moreover, we also split the individual work load equally so we all had work to do at home, rather than just one person doing everything. As well as splitting the work load equally, we tried to split the work so everyone had the opportunity to try everything - for example, we all had a go at doing some script-writing and also some prop-making too. Thankfully, there were no arguments in our group or severe differences in opinion - mainly because we get on well anyway, but also as we all share the same opinion on abortions and the issues we raised and explored in our piece. As we get on so well as a group, there was no awkwardness between us, thus allowing us to get very close to each other in the movement sections especially.

Below is an overview of how our piece went and what we would do differently next time:

• What went well:
  One aspect of our piece that went well was our transitions: they went smoothly, thus making our whole piece cleaner and more seamless. Also, everyone remembered their lines and showed good characterisation (due to strong facial expressions and convincing body language) thus helping the audience understand our piece better. The audience clearly felt uncomfortable during our game show scenes and they didn't know how to react; this suggested that they were effected by our piece and thought the way we presented the controversial topic of abortion was very shocking. This was our aim, as it made the audience really think about the issues we presented. Our use of props seemed to be really effective - a cyclical structure was formed by us bringing the book from the beginning into our final scene, the coat hangers made the audience feel really uncomfortable, and mine and Kat's accessories in the first scene symbolised our mental age and naivety.
• What could have been better:
  Unfortunately we had a few technical difficulties during our piece to do with the sound. Although I had written a cue list for when we needed which tracks, some tracks were played at the wrong times as we hadn't practised our piece with someone else doing the sound for us (as we had always done the music ourselves). To avoid this from happening in a piece in the future, we shall always do a rehearsal with the person who will be doing our sound for us in the actual performance. Also, we shall have all of the tracks in the right order and on one phone in one album (rather than having the tracks on two different phones). Thankfully, the only issue with sound was during the behind the scenes section of the game show - backstage there would be a lot of noise anyway, so this wasn't too much of a problem as it could have been (for example, it would have been worse if our music stopped during one of our movement sections).
• What we would do differently next time:
  Next time, we would ensure we do extra rehearsals with somebody else doing our sound for us. Moreover, if we were to do this piece again, we might put more scripted scenes in rather than a lot of movement sections (although the movement sections were effective and worked well in our piece, the piece did become very movement-based). Furthermore, we could have made a questionnaire for our audience to fill out after our piece so we could get feedback on our entire piece so we would know what to do to improve. In our rehearsal schedule, we could have included peer-assessment; we could have asked another group to watch us perform certain scenes and give us feedback on what they thought of it and what they thought needed altering. 

The Healthy Performer (6) (Practicals)

Interval Training

Interval training is physical training consisting of alternative periods of high-intensity and low-intensity training. These periods are split up by rest/relief periods. Some experts believe that aerobic interval training is beneficial as it allows you to burn more calories in a shorter period of time. Moreover, due to the short breaks and that the difficulty level changes makes the whole style of exercise seem less monotonous. Interval training allows the heart to work at its CV rate, though the periods of rest are long enough for the heart rate to drop down to its fat-burning rate, but not long enough to drop down to resting heart rate (thus meaning that you are getting physically fitter as well as burning a lot of calories).

Circuit Training
Circuit training is a form of resistance training involving only high-intensity aerobics. One "circuit" is one full completion of all of the activities in the programme. Unlike interval training, there are no rest periods between exercises, and instead you must move from exercise to exercise as quickly as possible. Circuits can either be specific, working in one area (e.g. core, legs or upper body), or they can be broad and work on various parts of the body. The first circuit we did in this lesson consisted on pads and gloves work (for 3 minutes then swap with your partner), squats (3 minutes), step ups (3 minutes), skipping (6 minutes). The second circuit we did focussed on our core: leg raises (1 minute), ball pass sit-ups (2 minutes), ab twists (2 minutes). I personally prefer interval training than circuit training, as we get to have short breaks during interval training (but we still get physical benefits during this break as our heart rate is at its fat-burning level) and therefore it seems less difficult and monotonous. However, due to the lack of breaks in circuit training, I feel like I get more out of the training (although this is not necessarily the case).

Storytelling (25) (The Snow Queen)

EVALUATION

First Story:
++ Positives: 

•  Timing for movement was good and most of the movement was in clean unison.
•  Narration recording sounded good and worked well for the scene, as the backing music set the right sort of atmosphere (tense at appropriate times but calm when it suited the narrative).
• Worked well without the masks as we didn't need to worry about finding a place to take them off, thus making our transition in to the second story smoother.

-- Negatives: 

•  When we went to mime putting on a mask, some of the group reached down and put it on, whilst others of us just put out right hand on our face. This happened due to not discussing this early enough (although I did tell the group that this is what we would do, we never got to rehearse it). However, it didn't look too bad as the people SL reached down, whilst those of us SR didn't so it didn't look as messy as it could have done.

Second Story:
++Positives:

• The lifts were all successful and the dance section went really smoothly.
• The entrance of the Snow Queen silhouette was really effective due to our spacing.
• The silhouette of the sledge was effective due to good spacing.
• Our facial expressions clearly expressed the characters emotions at different points during the narrative (e.g. when Kay left Gerda and also when Kay was being kissed by the Snow Queen)

-- Negatives:

• The sheet could have been wider to hide us behind and to cover the lifts better.
• The music should have been a bit louder as I couldn't hear the introduction clearly and therefore was unsure when I was coming in.
• The silhouettes were quite hazy due to the fact that we had three lights so we ended up having multiple shadows.

Third Story:
++ Positives:

• Placards were really clear which helped the audience understand this scene better.
• We all used strong facial expressions (especially at the beginning when we told Gerda we didn't know where Kay had gone, and on "many sad tears were shed") and moved in unison.

-- Negatives:

• The river stopped moving in different places at different times. 
• Two members of the group unsure on the movement, so were not confident and had to check round for reassurance.

Fourth Story:
++ Positives:

• We stayed in character as best as we could, despite the technical difficulties during this scene.
• We knew where we had to be at certain points in the narration, therefore when a short section of narration was skipped, we could pick it up smoothly from where the narration cut back in. 
• Our facial expressions helped the audience understand the narrative better (e.g. when Gerda was told by the Crow that Kay had been spotted, also when the prince was woken up by Gerda).

-- Negatives:

• We had many technical difficulties throughout this scene due to the audio being in different sections, therefore we had long awkward pauses at times and a whole section was skipped. What we should have done was have all of the audio for this scene on one track.

Fifth Story:
++ Positives:

• We remembered the majority of the movement. Due to us being so close together, we could sense each other moving and so we knew when we needed to move.
• Our movement was really effective in helping the audience understand the narrative as it was simplistic and clear (e.g. when we jolted on the line "at length the carriage stopped").

-- Negatives: 

• The majority of us couldn't remember our lines so Rhiannon read all of our lines. Although this was obviously not planned, this actually worked really well as it was more like storytelling, as opposed to us acting out a story.

Sixth Story:
++ Positives:

• We created an unsettling atmosphere due to us all standing facing different directions in random places in the room. 

-- Negatives:

• We didn't say our allocated words over the top of Charlie's narration like we had planned. We should have rehearsed this scene more and without the scripts especially! As the first line was missed, nobody said their lines - although we obviously wanted to say our lines, we thought this was better than some people saying random lines as it would have made no sense and the meaning would be lost and it would simply look random.
• This scene seemed really static due to the fact that nobody said their lines. If we had said our lines this would have been fine. However, we should have gone with our insticts to begin walking slowly around the room  in random directions (as after discussing this scene afterwards with each other, we were all tempted to do this, but nobody started this off!) to give this story more movement.

Seventh Story:
++ Positives:

• The projection was very atmospheric and fit with the narrative really well.
• Oliver interacted with the audience throughout the scene, which therefore made him more engaging

-- Negatives:

• Oliver stumbled a couple of times on his words; however, this wasn't too much of an issue as it just made him sound more excited.
• The slideshow of pictures that formed the projection unfortunately went over to the laptop background a couple of times when the slideshow had finished. Although this was obviously not intentional and was a massive mistake, this would have been worse if the laptop background was a picture of someone or was a personal background (as opposed to just the Windows logo).

Entire Piece:
++ Positives:

• The majority of the transitions went really smoothly (e.g. the transition from the second story to the third story, where we had to take the sheet down was successful).
• We kept professional and continued with the piece during the technical diffiulties.
• We had a good focus on storytelling tecnhiques during the majority of the piece (e.g. Oliver's interaction with the audience, our varied tone of voice, emphasis of certain words, etc.)

-- Negatives:

• We had many technical difficulties during the piece with the audio (and at the end with the projection). We should have done a full tech run of the piece before we performed it so we could have solved these issues.
• We forgot our lines during Rhiannon and Charlie's scenes (but we did cover this well). We should have done a full run through without scripts earlier on in the rehearsal period to ensure we all knew our lines confidently.
• At times, we diverted away from the main focus of storytelling due to the large amount of movement we have in this piece. Although we did a lot of research into what makes a successful storyteller, we could have researched larger groups that do storytelling as to give us more ideas for what we could all do (rather than just a lot of movement).

= If we had no restrictions: 

• If we had a bigger group and more time to create this piece, we could have made more interesting movement sections (e.g. Robert's section could have more people for the line waiting to see the princess). Having a larger group would also mean we wouldn't need to multi-roll as much and therefore we would have less to learn, resulting in us being more confident and less mistakes being made.
• We could have put some thought into costumes for this piece, however, this would lead us further away from storytelling and more towards a performance of a story. 
• If money wasn't an issue, we could have a better sound system (to ensure all of the tracks were audible at all times) and a technician (to solve any problems and to mix the different tracks into one to avoid the problem of skipping sections).
• If we had more time on this piece we would have done more research into different storytelling techniques for groups (rather than just individual techniques), a thorough tech rehearsal and more rehearsals without scripts.

The Healthy Performer (5) (Circulatory & Respiratory & Nervous Systems)

Circulatory System

• The circulatory system functions in the delivery of oxygen, nutrient molecules and hormones. It also functions in the removal of carbon dioxide, ammonia and other metabolic wastes.
• The three components of the circulatory system are the heart, blood vessels and the blood itself.
• The heart beats approximately 100'00 times a day, and the beating sound we hear is the clap of valve leaflets opening and closing.
• The heart is a cardiac muscle as it never gets fatigued, meaning it can continue working without ever getting tired. It is protected by the ribcage. It acts as a pump, pushing blood all around the body. It is separated into two sides (by the septum) as to ensure oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood don't mix. Blood only flows one way due to valves. 
• There are three types of blood vessels: arteries (carries de-oxygenated blood to the lungs), veins (carries oxygenated blood to the heart and the rest of the body) and capillaries (one cell thick - transfer site of oxygen and other nutrients from the bloodstream to other tissues).
• De-oxygenated blood is pumped from the heart to the lungs (via the pulmonary artery), where the blood becomes oxygenated, and then the blood is returned to the heart (via the pulmonary vein).
• The circulatory system is essential for getting blood to different parts of the body; ensuring you have good circulation means you shouldn't become numb in certain areas. Having full feeling means you can feel what you are doing and so can correct and perfect your movements.
• Knowing about this system can help a performer in training as they would be aware of their heartbeat and how to improve their overall fitness (by improving the strength of their heart)

Respiratory System

• The human respiratory system is a series of organs responsible for taking in oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide.
• As we breathe in, air enters our nasal cavity (where the temperature and humidity is regulated by the sinuses). The trachea then filters the air. The diaphragm lowers and the intercostal muscles contract to allow the ribcage to expand, allowing the lung capacity to increase. As we breathe out, the ribcage contracts and the diaphragm forms a dome shape again, causing the lung capacity to decrease, to squeeze more air out of the lungs.
• Carbon dioxide is expelled by breathing, where we break down glucose and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water. Water is lost through sweat and urine.
• A large lung capacity means you would have good breathe control and a strong diaphragm enables you to support your voice effectively. Knowing about this system would make performers conscious of their lungs and diaphragm and their importance - understanding their importance may encourage them to try and use them more effectively.

Nervous System

• "The network of nerve cells and fibres which transmits nerve impulses between parts of the body".
• Stimulus --> receptor --> sensory neurone --> relay neurone --> motor neurone --> effector --> response.
• The nervous system enables you to respond to different events. For example, if you saw in your peripheral vision that another dancer was too close to you and was going to kick you, you could move out of their way.
• Knowing about the nervous system would make performers conscious of their bodies and they could learn about how to look after their bodies.

The Healthy Performer (4) (Skeletal and Muscular systems)

SKELETAL SYSTEM:

• The five major functions of the skeletal system are as follows: support, protection, movement, production of blood cells and storage of ions.
• The skeleton is split into two main sections: axial (skull, ribs, spine) and appendicular (shoulder girdles, arms, legs, pelvic girdle)
• We have 206 bones in our bodies.
• Bone are connected together by ligaments, and muscles are connected to bones by tendons.
• There are four types of bone: long (femur), short (carpals of the wrist), flat (sternum) and irregular (sacrum).
• There are four types of bone cells: osteogenic (bone growth), osteoblasts (build bones), osteoclasts (destroy bones) and osteocytes (holds bones together).
• Joints: bony (bones merge together as you get older), synovial (joints surrounded by liquid), fibrous (fibres join the bones) and cartilaginous (cartilage joins the bones). Hinge joints (e.g. elbows) move in one direction, saddle joints (thumb) can move in two directions, and ball and socket joints can move in all directions (hips and shoulders). 

MUSCULAR SYSTEM:

•  The purposes of the muscular system are movement, and to maintain posture and body position. Voluntary muscles are muscles that we can control to perform tasks like walking, whilst involuntary muscles are for the beating of your heart and for digestion. All muscles work in groups to undergo the tasks that you set them.
• There are five types of muscles: fusiform (thicker in the middle and thinner at the ends - biceps), parallel (thighs), convergent (fan shaped - pectorals), pennate (feather shaped - quadriceps) and circular (orbicularis oris).
• Antagonist and agonist muscles often work in pairs. As one muscle relaxes the other one contracts (e.g. the triceps relax so the biceps can contract, so you can lift your arm).

Commedia dell'arte (16)

Today we ran all of the scenes we have so far and began developing ideas for what we would like to do. We began by developing our opening scene. We begin with Pantalone and Doctor discussing when the critic would be arriving - this is to establish Lewis's and Ollie's characters, as well as the setting and the scenario. We then moved on to them coming in to the kitchen to see the place in a mess. During this scene all characters will be on stage, so the audience are introduced to all of them briefly and get an understanding of hierarchy (as it were) and the relationships between the stock characters.

After this scene we ran the "prawn soup" scene to ensure they still remembered it and that it was still tidy. This run through was actually the funniest they had done it as it was natural and fresh. This scene really showed the relationship between Pantalone and Doctor. We then moved on to the "New Waitress" and "Tasty paper" scenes. These scenes introduced Columbina and Harlequin better, showing Columbina's flirtatious nature and Harlequin's care-free attitude to everything. The next scene to be run was the "cupboard cuddles" scene, between Il Capitano, Doctor and Harlequin at the end. This scene was very comical and fits well with the Commedia dell'arte style due to its comedy.

Afterwards we ran the "syrup" scene, where Zanni attempts to style his hair, but we made some alterations. Instead of having Il Capitano come on and threaten Doctor, some people came up with the idea of having Brighella come on instead (as Il Capitano already has a lot of scenes). Instead of Brighella threatening Doctor, I came on and shouted at them, demanding to know what they were doing and why they were not following their orders. Angrily, I split them up with ease and told them to get to work. The three of them all look at my character in astonishment, shocked as to how I had split them up so easily when they had been struggling for so long.

The final scene we performed was our finale! We performed the scene leading up to Zanni's performance, and then the performance itself. We then discussed what we need to do next; what we have left to do is as follows:

• get all the props
• get costumes
• paint and adapt masks so we are comfortable in them
• devise a scene between Pantalone, Brighella and Zanni
• inform the plants on what they will be doing!

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (23) (Full run)

In this lesson we ran our entire piece, polishing anything that needed polishing as we went, to make our piece as smooth as possible. Below is what we have left to do:

• Do a costume run
• Do a complete run with all lighting and the music.
• Sort the hangers for the Game show scene with numbers and signs
• Strengthen the book with card to ensure it doesn't bend 

Before our performance on tuesday Katya will strengthen the book with card to make it more sturdy and stand up by itself.  I have got the "Deal or No Deal" theme tune and just edited it with a fade in and a fade out to make the piece cleaner and sounding more professional. Between now and the performance, I shall make the signs for the hangers and the boys will work out what they are going to wear. In our final rehearsal at the beginning of next lesson, we shall ensure we include all of our props as well as our pieces of music. We shall ask someone in our class to do the music and sound for us, and we shall brief them in what they need to do.