UNIT 12 Extended Project
UNIT 12 Extended Project
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Project proposal
1A
1B – Separate blog
2 - Audition write up
For my audition, i chose a monologue from ‘Jack and Jill Plays’ In my monologue, a wife is talking to a husband who is dying, and she is grieving him before he actually dies, i wanted to show that in a way, people can grieve someone before they are even dead, as i want to go for Ruth and Lindsey, i thought that this monologue worked well for Lindsey, because the whole Salmon family grieve Susie before they actually know she’s dead. I think that my audition went quite well, i did it once and becasue of the way i had rehearsed it, i was looking to the side, so kelly redirected me to do it again, but to do it imagining the bed is infront of me, i tried, but becasue of muscle memory, i couldnt help but look slightly to the side still, i knew this was something i had to work on.
When i went in to do my audition again, but for Railway Children, it was infont of Tom too this time, i did the same monologue but i remembered the reedirection Kelly had given me and i did it better, i think i improved this time, Kelly even said to me that she was glad that i had listened to her redirection and managed to take it on.
Then, we did recalls, i had a recall with Will for Ruth and Ray, for the scenes that we did, we did quite a bit of preparing, i was nervous for this because Ruth is such a big character and i wasn’t quite sure how to play her, but i think i did a good job and it was good working with Will becasue it made the audition easy, he is a very good person to work with.
2.1
Character research – Franny
As Franny is not in the film, there is not much to go from on who she is as a person, ive done lots of searching about her the only information I could really fins about her was on Lit charts, it still wasnt much information: “Susie’s intake counsellor, guide, and mentor in heaven. A social worker in her life on Earth, Franny is a nurturer by nature, and helps Susie to understand both the mechanics of her heaven and the ways in which her desires, emotions, and needs influence the course of her afterlife. Franny urges Susie to remember that watching life on Earth is not the same as living it, but allows Susie the time and space to come to this understanding on her own.”
More research i did was on social workers in the 1950s- 1960s, because it is never specified when she dies but if it is now the 70s. I think she's been dead atleast 10 years. So I went for the 50s - 60s
In the 1960s. Women social workers were meant to be very empathetic whilst also staying tough and maintaining a professional distance, which i think is perfect for Franny because she tries to keep a distance from Susie but is still really caring and un the end she becomes more empathetic and creates a closer bond with her.
And because in the 50s -70s people who were more caring and empathetic were usually hippies i used this as a character choice for Franny.
I also thought more into her as a person, I thought that her full name would be Frances Bullman and I think that she had a fiance when she died which is why she has a soft spot for Susie when she is using Ruth to kiss and say goodbye to Ray because she never had that opportunity.
Costume research
Fashion in the 70s
The 70s was a decade of fashion individuality
Athletic wear, denim, power dressing, floral patterns, leather jackets, and platform shoes were prominent trends
The 70s fashion scene was chcracterised by bold colours, patterns and innovative designs
Denim revolution
Jeans became a fashion statement
Jeans became something everyone wanted to wear
Bell-bottoms or perfectly fitted
The resurgence of floral patterns
Floral patterns made a big comeback in fashion, bringing a mix of old-school charm and something new.
Everything from tiny daisies to big, eye-catching flowers on dresses, blouses and even accessories
Leather jackets
In the 70s, leather jackets moved from being a sign of rebellion to becoming widely popular
They changed from being just biker gear to being something you could wear anywhere
Polyester became a very popular fabric to be used in the 70s
At the start of the 70s, mini skirts were very popular
Midi skirts became very popular as the 70s went on
2.2 - production role
My production role is costume, i started off by making mood boards and researching each character, i then figured out the time line of the play and how many costumes each character may need, i really made sure to research the characters in detail so that i knew everything about them when figuring out what they would all wear, for example, i couldnt just tell everyone they need 1970s clothes because each character has a different style, i also used the movie for references on how to dress people, but this wasnt always that easy as there is characters in the play that arent in the movie, for these characters i went to each person and talked to them about what they imagined their characters to be, and i used that to come up with their costumes.
For example me and George had a conversation about what we thought for Mr Harvey would wear and we blended our ideas together to create a costume, the same for Detective Fennerman
George Harvey
George’s costume, we both had discussions, I showed him ideas and mood boards, he sent me his ideas and we worked together to figure it out, we both had ideas so we joined our ideas together, and came up with a costume. We came up with two, one for act 1 and one for act 2.
2.3
I have used my research on time period, to help with my costume work, also researched social workers through the 1950s – 1970s because it is never actually stated when Franny dies but we know that she was a social worker, so i researched the three decades. This really helped to know what she was like when she was alive which then helps to build the idea of how she is when she is dead.
My evaluation of my journey.
My goals and objectives for this performance were to show the audience who Franny really is, I wanted to use the words written on the paper and really think further into it. I wanted to portray to the audience who she really is, she is not just Susie’s guide in the afterlife. But she’s sort of a mother figure to Susie and the other dead girls, and I think she is like this because when she died, her life stopped and she couldn’t become a mother, as well as her continuing her ‘social work’ in death because that is what made her happy.
Playing Franny, it was hard to truly know her emotions because I am not dead, neither am I a social worker in the 1950s-1960s. I had done a lot of thinking on what it might be like and I really thought about who she was, how each little thing would make her feel, for me I think that she is a very tough, strong-willed person, but when it comes to Susie and the girls she does have a soft spot, especially Susie, there is points in the play where Franny tells Susie to stop what she is doing because it is not allowed, but even when she is doing the most unacceptable thing, for example taking possession of Ruth’s body, Franny tries to stop her, but then she realises that if she had a chance to be back with the person she loved, she would do it too. I wanted to portray throughout this part that she was not just the tough person that she tries to be, but she is that loving person that will always want Susie to be happy (as she can be) in the afterlife.
Things I know that I needed to work on during rehearsals, my volume was not the best, but that was one thing I knew I needed to improve and is something I worked hard on. Another thing that I spent a lot of work on, was my voice and how it sounded, one note that I always get is about my voice being too sweet and that I need to change it, during the final rehearsal before the show the note that I was given was that on my first couple lines my voice sounded too sweet and Disney princess, but that the rest of the show, my voice sounded better, tougher. So, during the show, I used this note, and I made sure to focus on my voice, and I managed to do it.
I had made it so that when she is walking, she is walking with a purpose, because her sole being is to help Susie. When I was sat down reading, that is what I believed Franny really enjoys doing, but when she was sat down I had used body language to have her sat with a straight back and her legs together to one side, because I thought it was more purposeful and I also think that Franny is just very confident and a proud person. I think that body language is particularly important because it really distinguishes a character for who they are.
During this show, the ensemble scenes were really important, they were meant to be powerful and emotional. There was memorial scenes and a search scene, all of which were important because they added to the story, of how when someone dies people come together. In this case, Susie was murdered and everyone in the neighbourhood came together to honour her memory. This is important because it really adds some emotion to the show. When in these ensemble scenes, there is little things that we did that really added to the scenes - in the first memorial scene for example, when Lindsey faints, I
helped catch her and then when she says “Mr Harvey” people say different things, I had a conversation with scarlet and lily saying he's the man that lives in the green painted house, I think these little things add so much to the scenes, in the final memorial scene, we are singing in the cornfield, and Jack walks through the crowd of people, and we all give him a little acknowledgement.
Coming up with an idea for my costume for my character, in my head from the start I have seen Franny as a bit of a hippie, and my costume was a big part of bringing that character to life. For the characterisation of Franny, I did research on 1960s social workers and hippies because I really wanted to be able to portray that right, there wasn't a lot to go from in the script about who Franny is, apart from the fact that she was a social worker in life and has dedicated her time I the afterlife to helping Susie and the other girls. So, it was a challenge to bring Franny to life, but it was really enjoyable to go on that journey.
I think that my strengths were, staying in character, because throughout the process, one of the notes I got a few times was not to let the character slip whilst I was sat watching over Susie, and that I was always watching her, always following her with my eyes, which was a challenge. I think my area of improvement is definitely my volume, although I was loud, I do think maybe I could have pushed it even further and been even louder. I think for the future, my goals are to keep pushing my characters as far as I can and stretch them to the furthers lengths that I can because doing this has really helped me to be the best I can be on the stage, and to also work on my projection to push it as far as I can.
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