Acting and Performance Workshop 22/10/15

Acting and Performance Workshop

Introduction

For the next few weeks we will be doing acting and performing workshops to gain a better understanding of stage presence and improve our confidence as a performer and around our peers.

As animators we need to understand the principles of acting because what we animate (human or not) are essentially actors on a screen. Therefore what we learn in these session are essential to understand to make our work effective. Within the session we took part in multiple exercises and games which tested us in a number of ways including, confidence, staging and presence.

Session

 We started with introductions to meet the actor that was teaching us that evening. We then did a short exercise where we would be in groups of two, standing facing each other we would then have to say the sequence: One ,Two and Three. The 1st person would say 'one' and then the second person would say 'two' followed by the first person saying 'three'. This was more challenging than it sounds because I lost track of what number was said and found it hard to laugh because, between two people, we couldn't count to three. We eventually got the hang of the task, at that point it was changed where we have to clap our hands instead of saying 'two'. This was followed by whistling instead of saying 'three'. This game was done to introduce the session and warm up for the other games and task s to follow.

After that, we started another task where we started to walk around the room and then were told to observe another person to examine their walk. We had to then imitate their walk and exaggerate their movements to the point it was ridiculous and rather insulting. This helped me notices subtleties in peoples walks and almost a view into their personality. This will help me further develop my characters by using their walks to reflect their character, emotion and personality.

We then had a task where we would take on a role of an animal and replicate their movements. This included: Apes, Squirrels and large cats such as lions, tigers etc. This challenged us to accurately replicate their movements in a natural way to make the movements effective. This was emphasised by the contrast of the movements of a tiger which moves slower, calmly with large shoulder movements being on all fours whereas an ape would jump around and bounce using their back legs supported by their arms. This gave us a better understanding of an animals movements and how the body works together as they: run, walk, swim, fly etc.

Next we were put into small groups of five-six people where we had to recreate an object or scene by using our bodies and actions. An example of this was where we were challenged to create a waterfall; therefore three people stood waving replicating the water, whereas the rest of the group would be around to represent the stone and rocks that make up the rest of the waterfall. Other tests included: a motorbike, a draw bridge and the Eiffel tower.
This tested our team skills and communication within a group as we were competing with the other groups to create the best and most convincing scene.

 We finished with the final task of re-enacting sections of a poem within small groups. Each group had a section of a poem to reenact with no dialogue and had to choose how they interpreted the section of the poem. This is because not one group knew the whole poem and only knew the section they were given. After that we then acted the sections together in sequence. This required us take on the different roles of different characters and act together to show the other groups what the scene is. 

Conclusion

This session was heavily team based and developed our understanding of movement and how it can be applied to make our animation effective in the future. I also felt that this session boosted my confidence as I had to express myself in front of the rest of the group. I wish to also improve for the next session, next week.