Thursday 18th December

Today's lesson consisted of blocking the argument scene in greater detail. We worked out the dialogue for it where abouts on the stage it would take place. We showed the argument scene to Dan and Ellie and they said that they liked it but there needs to be more slow motion in the combat. They also said the punches/kicks need to be closer to each other as it currently looks like we're not making contact with each other.

After getting this feedback we went back to trying to perfect the combat by using more slow motion and getting the punches closer to each other's face. Whilst we done this Ellie and Dan made choices on what we need to research over the Christmas holidays, I'm going to be doing my research on 1930s gangs and The Great Depression. 

When we come back from the Christmas break we plan to show each other our research and use that to help us develop our performance.

Tuesday 16th December

Today we finished off the Speakeasy scene and decided to add more dialogue between the gang in it. We then had the hard work of trying to think of the argument scene and how we could make it so bad that it would cause Finn/Kyle to do the endings to the book. The argument scene was eventually blocked and stage combat and slow motion were the techniques we used in it. 

We've decided that Finns line "I'm done with this" will be where we start each of the endings from. The reason we chose to use this line is because it can easily lead to the endings that we have chosen, this is a good line to use because in our 3 endings the audience find out that Finn is done either with his relationship or with the gang.

Monday 15th December

During today's lesson we added more to the dance between Finn and Tess. I then brainstormed ideas with Dan on what extra scenes could be added after we see the gang in the Speakeasy. These are the ideas we came up with.

The main idea I came up with was that the argument scene is what leads to each one of the 3 endings. The group liked this idea and we are planning on using it.

Next lesson I'd like to do a full run through what we have currently got and make a start on the argument scene. I'd also like to develop on my character by doing some more research on 1930s gangsters. Finally I'm going to look for more music that would suit our performance.

Opening Scene Video

We decided to do our opening scene in darkness so that our characters stay anonymous but then the audience can still get to know us and what we do. In the performance once the audience hear the gun shot there will be a spotlight on the character that was tortured, he'll be tied to a chair and have a bag over his head which will be covered in blood.

Tuesday 9th December

During this lesson we decided that our opening scene will be the torture chair scene, in this we find out about our main characters in the gang (Boss, Hitman, Stan and Finn). We then decided on our second scene on how Finn and Tess meet, my idea was that they met in a bar where the gang regularly go to talk about previous missions and jobs. The problem we faced with this idea was that alcohol was banned in the US until 1933 so we done some research online and found out that there were private clubs called 'Speakeasy' clubs, these were places where people would go to illegally buy alcohol. After finding this out we decided to set the second scene in a speakeasy club where Tess and Finn would meet whilst the rest of the gang are busy trying to sort out our next job. Our opening scene was filmed and added to our class blog. (http://www.revolutionarts2016.blogspot.co.uk)

An idea I had during the second scene was that the Author could be narrating throughout some of the scenes or he becomes a character in the scene and tells the audience the story. For example in the second scene he could become the bar tender and explain to the audience what's happening/say it how it would be wrote in his book. This idea was used and woks well. Proof of this is when Tess and Finn meet  Finn stops her from falling over, before she falls Dan (The author) says "Sorry Tess" as he knows what is about to happen.

Next lesson I plan to work on the dance scene between Finn and Tess. This is done in the speakeasy club when they meet.

First week overview

In the past few lessons we've been trying to come up with ideas on what to base our devised performance on. Our most recent and favourite idea was that our performance will have a puppeteer/controller and they'll be an author of a book. This person is under a lot of pressure to release a new best selling book which is the link to Chasing Pavements where in the lyrics it says "should I give up", during the performance the author will be writing a book but not know how to end it. The author will keep coming up of new ideas of how to end his book, we'll perform each ending and when he decides he doesn't like the ending he'll rip it out of his notepad. We'll then perform each ending until the author realises that he can't take anymore and hangs himself. The audience is shown the hanging at the start of the performance by the use of shadows and silhouettes but do not find out who it was until the end.

Monday 8th December

In today's lesson we assigned characters for each person in the group. We then focused on how we're going to stage the hanging scene which is done with silhouettes, we tried many different ways and thought about how we could show the author hanging himself. First we tried it so Dan (the author) was standing on the floor and used a pole behind him to symbolise the rope, we then tried putting him on a chair and lifting him down.

In the second half of the lesson we then sorted out a stage plan of our opening scene which is someone being tortured by the gang, this is the stage plan we had. The circles are the areas where each gang member will enter and the square is where the torture victim will sit. The room will be in blackout when this happens and when the victim gets shot the lights will brighten and we'll see the dead victim in the chair with a bag over his head which will be covered in blood.

My ideas to add music to the performance was the song 'April in Paris' by Thad Jones, this is because it's a song from around that time period and would go well with the type of gang we're trying to portray.

Devising

Today we found out that our next piece will be devised. The stimulus we were given was the song 'Chasing Pavements' by Adele, from this my group brainstormed many ideas about how we could make a performance out of using the song title/lyrics. Our main ideas were that the saying 'chasing pavements' was someone chasing a dream or for a better life. Our best ideas so far have been that our performance will either be about American gangsters and one of them is chasing a dream to live a better life by leaving the gang. Our other idea is about soldiers that are in a helicopter that's blown up and they are left walking down this long road, fighting to stay alive.

The pictures that I have uploaded is the look that if we chose the American gangster idea we want our characters to have.