Devising - Week 3

We started off by doing a warm up game called Grandma's footsteps to allow ourselves to key in to our lesson, in other words to get us focused. To help us with our devising we had done multiple exercises to practice creating ideas by slightly improvising with brief planning. For example, we were put in to random groups and were set to put together multiple freeze frames of the stimulus given like the letter 'G' and 'N'. We were then set the task to get in to pairs and commit the task 'Yes Let's' where whatever our partner said we should always say yes to. This implies that whatever idea is shared to the group, it should at least be tried out before it can be reviewed, improved or expanded. Personally, this is very benefitial for myself as I am not very confident at devising as now I have the mentality of trying out ideas rather than dismissing it.

The next task we were set was to create a piece off of the quote 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is if good men do nothing' which is stated by the Amnesty international. In groups of 4/5, we performed and got feedback on our initial interpretations of the quote itself. In my group, we had discussed what we thought about the quote and what could it mean to multiple different people. We then decided to do a performance off a double good 'karma' portrayal of the quote where the scenario was that where obvious trouble can be caused is put on to one where in someone elses perspective the idea may be good. In this case, the objective was given to Stephanie but Isaiah decided to do it (this may be a good intention for Isaiah). After the objective has gone ahead, disaster strikes and the owner of the car that Isaiah broke in to arrives. However, in Stephanie's persepective, leaving the situation would may have caused trouble (evil) if she did not do anything to help whereas Sally and I had ran away to avoid guilt.

Devising - Week 1 and 2

Ever since we came back from the Summer Holiday, we had been introduced to the different Units that we will be completing this year. In this Unit, we are covering different aspects of devising. We first discussed what we had done over the holidays in small groups after participating in a warm up to welcome us back in to the practical side of the course.

I was in a group with Grace, Stephan, Keiran and Sally and our task was to make a short adaptation of what we had done over the Summer break. This was a brief form of devising where we took a stimulus and developed it in to a performance. At first we had attempted to portray the stories all in one with basic scenes. As we received feedback we had been set the task to improve our performance such as adding a narrator to allow the storyline to be clearer. We also had to make the transitions easier as the first run through, this contributed to a confusion in the storyline.

As Grace's holiday story was part of the Notting Hill Carnival, we decided to add a lot more noise and drum beats as we interpreted the Carnival to be full of energy and life. We added this to our performance as it was a clear representation of the Carnival.

The following week, the task was very similar to the previous. We had to make a trailer to the stimulus of something that we are very passionate about. We were first put in to a line from a scale of 1-10 with confidence on devising itself and what we thought devising meant and what could we relate to the definition. Some of the ideas that were said mainly revolved around communition, teamwork, punctuality and freedom to create whatever idea comes to mind. Personally, I felt that I was in between a 5-6 with devising as I am not really confident when it comes to devising itself.

We had then been placed in groups with Alexandra, Stephanie and Peter. Our stimulus of our passion was success and that it did not need to occur through the 'general' education system. In other words it can relate to the phrase 'do not go where the path may lead but go where there is no path and leave a trail'. We did not want to go through the cliché routes of where someone fails and suddenly succeeds, we wanted to portray that success does not have to occur through the education route but by perserverance and passion no matter the situation you are in.

As we had performed our piece, our feedback was to make the transitions smoother and to have a clearer storyline. So what we attempted to do was to use chairs to establish exits and entrances and objects such as a bed that Peter laid on.