UAL Level 2 Week 8

Monday 14th November

Blog Lesson:

• We worked on our blogs, updating them on the things we did recently in lessons.

Acting Lesson:

• My group and I were allowed to go home early as the teacher was working with another group.

Tuesday 15th November

Acting Lesson:

• At the start of the lesson we did a full body and vocal warm-up, this helped to relax ourselves and to be better focused on the work.
• After doing this, we moved onto an improvisation game called 'This is not a book', as a class we had to all pretend that the glasses case was anything but a glasses case, for example we used the glasses case as a phone, a remote and a gun. This improved our improvisation skills as we had to think this up on the spot, use our body to make it a thing to watch and think of a small piece to go along with it.
• Finishing off the lesson, we completed a small set of lines from a script, we had to learn the scrip, add some improvisation and then act it out to the rest of the class once it was time to perform. In order to make the script work we had to adapt it and add a story to it. 

Movement Lesson:

• Began the lesson with a warm up, as before with the board number activity for example 1. Run, 2. Walk etc. After that we did more core strength exercises including a plank in a circle, crunches and leg-raises. 
• After we were done with this we carried on improving our dance routines and began working in a group to develop it into an actual piece. After we had worked on it for quite some time in the lesson, we then had to perform it to the rest of the class

Production Lesson:

Where we worked on the creation of a poster for our chosen celebrity, for example my group chose Rihanna. Instead of working on the full poster I decided to create a teaser poster as the start instead. 

(This is the teaser poster)

After we were done creating the posters, everyone in the class walked around looking at each others, assessing them, giving negatives and positives about how they could improve it to make it look more appealing to certain audiences, or how to improve the look overall.

Wednesday (No Lesson)

Thursday 17th November

Acting Lesson:

• Worked in the dance studio rather than an acting classroom. We were given a script and had to act it out and add on more at the end decided what to create from the original text. My partner and I decided to go with a story about the dangers of smoking and how his friend tried to entice him into it after knowing his father died cancer from smoking cigarettes. 
• Once all groups were done rehearsing, we took turns performing them to the class.

Friday 18th November

Blog Lesson:

• Focusing mainly on the continuation and improvement of our blogs.
• Also worked slightly on my teaser poster.

Acting Lesson:

• I was allowed to go home early as the teacher was mainly working with other students in the class.

UAL Level 2 Week 7 

Monday 7th November

Blog Lesson:

• Starting off the lesson we looked at a documentary on Britney Spears where it was the build up to her concert of Work It B*tch, we did this because different parts of it linked into the project we are doing for our production, for example we saw people such as costume designer and hair and make-up which links into some of the roles that people in class are doing. 

• Aside from that we also did this because it was a test to see how well we can depict answers for questions from watching the video itself, and to develop our ability to understand themes from different productions.
• After this we then moved onto catching up on our blogs and adding more to it from previous lessons.

Acting Lesson:

• Looked at 2 different silent movie clips such as Nosferatu and Charlie Chaplin's Lion Cage. We did to gain a better understanding of the layout and format and general idea of how a silent film is done. The 2 clips were very useful as they showed a clear contrast on how to perform different genres as Nosferatu was a horror and Charlie Chaplin was a comedy which is conveniently also the genre our silent film has to be based around.

Tuesday 8th November

Acting Lesson:

• The lesson began with a few simple warm ups which helped us in our ability to move more freely during the lesson which was good as it was the same lesson where we started to begin our ideas on the Silent Movie. After being places into our groups we had to make a scene based around each sentence we were given. My group was given "Leave me alone", developing on this we had many ideas on what to do as a scene, eventually we came up with and idea based around 'Mean Girls'. 

• We depicted from this and created a scene where one person showed up at a party but was not let in and was turned away until a bully came up with an idea to embarrass him, after being let in he asked if a girl called 'Arla' was there so that he could talk to her, using this the bullies then decided to play spin the bottle, after the bottle landed on my character and Arla, she led me to the bedroom and told me to get undressed, when I was done getting changed I called out and said I was ready then the bullies ran in and started taking pictures, the scene ended with me running off shouting "Leave me alone" (incorporating the sentence into the piece of work. 

• After that we then moved onto a scene at my house where my best friend (who threw the party) played by Jordan comes to my house and begins unknowingly mocking me, after recapping the events of the party the scene ends with me being frustrated and saying "Leave me alone" yet again adding the selected sentence to our piece of work. Swiftly moving onto the assembly scene the 2 bullies began to talk about the recent party then showed the pictures of me naked to everyone else there. After ending that scene we moved onto the final one where it was me reading out the comments about me on social media, after reading enough I throw my computer and end up shooting myself after the test of my group read out the abusive comments, then as I pull the gun up it is dead silent until a single clap is heard signalizing the gunshot, it ends with me lying on the floor.

• We finished off the lesson with each group showing the class the work that they had just come up with.

Movement Lesson: 

• As usual we started off with a board number exercise when there were numbers 1-8 like: 1. Run, 2. Walk etc. we did this for about 15 minutes until everyone was warmed up, after this we moved onto doing our stretches as usual before moving or bodies into our core exercises, this took longer that normal as we had to start again each time someone stopped, this core workout activity included crunches, plank and normal sit ups. Then after this we continued on and improved our 8-count dance routine with the class at the start with music then slowly remembering the beat trying to do it to no music. To finish off we had to find a partner to dance with, we did this for about 15 mins until the lesson was cut short by the fire alarm.

Production Lesson:

• To finish off the day we had a supply teacher who showed us the work that we would have to create and build on, but before this he showed us an example of his production in order to give us an idea of the work we have to put in and the outcome we would have to have come up with.

Wednesday (No Lesson)

Thursday 10th November

Acting lesson:

As the only lesson of the day we were able to completely focus on on the continuation and improvement of the idea we had come up with on Tuesday, but it was problematic as we had to perform the scenes again but this time in complete silence only using a few select word papers held up by different members of the group. After deciding on what to write on the paper we acted out the scenes and it was clear that there was a much bigger difference, it was harder to understand and follow without dialogue which proved difficult as some of the audience had forgotten parts from Tuesday so were confused of as to what was going on. After running it through we as before, finished the lesson by watching everyone else perform and with a short discussion about the work we are doing and the different changes we know have to make.

Friday 11th November

Acting Lesson:

• At the start of the lesson we were told to come up with an idea for a new comedic silent film based around the idea of revolution which proved difficult as it meant we had to completely scrap the work that we were just working on. Thinking of a new idea proved difficult as the group was focused on the idea we had just come up with, at the start Jordan had come up with the idea of a do a dance revolution where it was all the students going against the teacher, but we had difficulties thinking about how to turn it into a performed piece. After some help from the teacher we were able to come up with an idea of how to turn it into a performed piece. 

UAL Level 2 Week 6


Monday (No Lesson)


Tuesday (No Lesson)


Wednesday (No Lesson)


Thursday 3rd November 

Acting Lesson (Silent Movie Project):

• At the start of the lesson we went through the introduction to the assignment, we all sat in a semi-circle and read through the assignment together making sure we all clearly understood what we had to do and what the assignment consisted of. We also discussed the important elements of the assignment as a group such as the way we would need to use body expression and features in order to further show emphasis as we are not going to be able to speak so we will have to make our actions speak louder than words.
• We then did a quick body warm up to get our body relaxed and in order to improve on our isolation of certain body parts, this helps to make each body part more free-moving and allows us to be able to put better focus on each body part whilst acting.
• After this we did a short Mime exercise where as a group we had to pretend that we were holding an iron bar and had to move it around. Then we had to do it on our own one by one and show the rest of the class.

Friday 4th November

Acting Lesson (Silent Movie Project):

• To start the lesson off, as a group we did a bodily warm including various different stretches which allowed us to gain a better awareness of our bodies, it also allows us to develop our bodies to move better and more freely.  
• Shortly after this, we moved onto a teeth cleaning exercise where we had to Mime cleaning our teeth as a group, then we had to do it in front of each other one by one with Rob adding more stuff on such as miming popping a spot on our face then going to open the door. This helps us to further develop our skills with just using our body which then further links into making our production of the silent movie better as we cannot speak so the use of our body will have to be as good as can possibly be.

• Then we did a short exercise developing a small piece of work, with my partner, we decided to try and make our piece somewhat comedic, we started off by having my partner bring me some coffee then "accidentally" spill it on my lap, I then get up and start trying to wipe it of, she then brings me some water to drink which is hot so it burns my mouth, I then pour it on her and start to walk away, she taps on my shoulder and punches me in the face and I fall to my knees as she pretends to be a bird tweeting and flying around me, it ends with me asleep on the floor and her skipping away.
• Overall the piece worked well as the rest of the class found it funny which was good as we were trying to make a comedy, we could've improved on it by focusing and developing on that idea rather than trying to figure out various different ones thinking they would be better thus taking time away from our main one.