brain storming

Introduction:

1：what happened in this scene

2: what role I played

Critical anlysis

1: anlysis each line’s meaning

2: specific lines that shows role’s characteristics

3: Through these lines, predict what is their future going to be.

blocking

1: what I did to express character’s emotion

Reflection

1: What I improved from before.

2: What I have to improve, do well next time.

sample 1

4/5

He copyed many sentences and anlysised very detailed. It is clear to see he quoted and anylsised many things,but it is a little bit general. Or he focused on Margaret’s emotion too much.

6/10

He wanted mix his acting with his thinking,but he did not expressed well. It seems like he wrote too much performance,but he forgot to say the meaning of each lines. On the other hand, he kept using his own vision to write, wirting many things that he exprienced by himself. However, we have to know lines meaning because we did not read before. After we know the meaning, we are able to see if this man his the same idea. Moreover,I feel his writes did not match his thesis. He talled about Margaret all the time which is not good.

4 /5

In my opinion,he did best on this part of language use. He has no grammar mistakes and build his essay organized. However he talked about too much literature anlysis.

sample 2

5/5

In general, It is a good essay. And it is long enough,so I think it must be a detailed essay.  In her performance she showed her character’s emotian well by using body language. In addition,she deeply go into each lines and catched charater’s attitude of what they think. She did a great job on relating her own performance and line’s meaning,which makes readers feel it is well organized.

8/10

Like what I said before, since she understood each line clearly, she can easily know by using which ways to show,to act. “ I decided to kneel down in this moment of despair,...drastically increasing my voice.” She has right blocking sense. And she gave enough reasons why she do those movements,on the other hand she expressed her thoughts. She thought it was challengable because the different states of mind she has to go through different stages. In this paragraph, she talked about what she learnt from this performance, she became more engaging with the character. That is good to hear a actor said this.

4/5

My first impression of this essay is words amount. There are 1999words. Her introduction covered completed telling Ophelia and why she chose to play this scene. Same with the sample one, there is no grammar mistake,but she organized essay better.

Scene reflection

Balcony scene is a turning point in the whole play, it is the start that Romeo and Juliet fall in love. At first I decide to try a challengeble role Juliet,but It is just unsuitble for me because I do not know much about how girl’s blocking move. It was just too awkward for me. Thus, I decided to play Romeo. In this scene, Romeo is postive, he seemes to be first time seeing girl, he eagers to get attention from Juliet or he hopes Juliet can love him in a same way. For showing this kind of attitude, I am supposed to do some movements. When I say Juliet is the sun, I have to point at Juliet and stressed the Juliet. Romeo descibes Juliet as a sun,which means no matter how bad Romeo mood is, when Romeo meets Juliet, he would feel warm. At the same time, Juliet is little nervous to accept, so at the beginning as Romeo move close to Juliet, Juliet move backwards. She worried their relationship is going to opposed by their famailes and at that time, Juliet does want to obey anything her mom orders. However,it is undeniable Juliet love staying together with Romeo. When we acting,although she moves back but just a little bit, so at the end Romeo can get her hand and promise they are going to stay forever.

In this scene, Romeo’s mood does not has big fluctuation, he keep telling Juliet “I love you and we do not have to care what others think, we can stay forever.” However, Juliet’s attitude changes. From the beginning that she is afraid this love will be a torture since their parents opposed, to the end that she trusts Romeo, they will get a bright future.

I missed two weeks of school. I have less time than others to practice, this makes me cannot remember lines cleary. In fact, I can remember every single line,but I sometimes forget the order. “What shoud I responce after Juliet talks?” is stucked in my mind. That is why I chekced lines several times. I have to improve on this shortage next time. I think the way I practice caused the problem. Since I was alone in China, I repeated my lines again and again but my partner would not react. So I am not very famailar with the right time to say my line. The improvment I see on myself is when I can do the blockings. I remember at first, I did not know any skills of acting. I standed on the stage and speaked my line. It might be good if it is a speech,but it is nothing on acting. Thanks for the help from my partner and Ms.Guarino,I started to know what should I do on stage. My body has to face to audience, I need kneel down when I show hoping something.

It was my first time performing on this stage, I think next time I have to express my emotion more realistic because this time it seems like I just obey what my partner told me.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare is a tragic love story. It tells two young teenagers dead for love at the end. I chose balcony scene in this play, involving two characters totally which are Romeo and Juliet. This is the scene Romeo and Juliet make sure their relationships. It is a turning point that they decided to stay together even their famaily say no. In this balcony scene,Romeo shows a very postive attitude. He hopes Juliet will accept him, and he views Juliet as something bright and warm. “It is the east,and Juliet is the sun.” At the same time, he also wants Juliet loves him in a same passion way,that is why he shouts when he heard Juliet. “She speaks,speak again! my broght angel.” I think since this is the first time Romeo feels love, he needs his lover to responce him in a same way, it makes him feel safe and happy. If Juliet gives him any signal showing like him, Romeo will be so excited. Love is not only about like each other, both have to carry some responsibilies. For man, one of the responsibility  for sure is giving safety to woman, so lots of men would like to promise to do something. Our Romeo is like this too, he told Juliet “I take thee at thy word. Call me but love,and I will be new baptized;Henceforth I never will be Romeo.” Moreover,Romeo shows an attitude that he hates this love cannot be blessed by their famailes only because his famaily and Juliet’s famaily are enemy. He somehow hates he born in this famaily, “By a name,I know not how to tell thee who I am, My name,dear saint,is hateful to myself,because it is an enemy to thee.” I understand what Romeo feels, he hates anything that try to stop his love. He must imagined that if he is not Romeo, he might can love a girl without many people oppose. Reomoe is not afraid of those who want block his love, he is confident that he can hold Juliet’s hands to the end. Romeo is brave, he
 

4
Detailed analysis,but at the beginning it is useless talks.
5
Not approach too deep
3
Only had few quotes but no explanations

First day:

At the beginning, we had a short conversation discuss about which role should I play. My first choice was Juliet,but when I look at the scripts I changed my mind. As a actor, one thing that has to keep in mind is always remember your scripts, you cannot say “I forget what I gonnna say” during the performanc. So the main goal for the first day is to remember the first part ( we decided the parts that seperated into three parts) scripts. That was really hard for me, especailly there are some weried pronunciations like “wherefore art thou Romeo” or “I take thee at thy word.” Thanks for helping me,my good partener translated into mordern language for me. That helped me to remember scripts easily. And one way to I figured out is in this scene that Romeo’s only goal is to spend time with Juliet. So,he must be very excited when he hears Juliet sound. When I think about this, I would know scripts. At first day,I could not remember scripts detaily, but I could know what should I talk about next.

Second day:

After one day, I already knew all the scripts. We just practiced. Our purpose is to get more famailar with those scripts. However this time,I was being more emotional. I read scipts slowly and let audience can hear clearly. Anyway we kind of like reviewed what we did yesterday.

Also,one more thing to add. I looked around how others doing their scene, I found out some of them using props. I thought that is a good idea, because sometimes I feel awkward when I do not know where I should put my hands. If I have a prop,at least I can hold something. And I believe that is usually how professional actors do.

Third day:

For the previous two days,we worked on scripts. Today, we designed blocking issues. After we had a conversation,we made an agreement. At the beginning of the scene, we stand in the opposite place. And as we say one paragraph, we move one step. And At the end, we are going to meet. That shows a process of Romeo and Juliet fell in love. However,we feel only feet moves is not enough, thus we decided to add more layers for example face expression ad arm moves. All these movements are for enhancing the role’s personailty.

I like constantin stanislavski'theory a lot. He taught actors it is not necessary to exaggerate in a play because sometimes it can only makes unreal. He propose actors should act normally and naturally.
From the scene I play, I try to act or speak normally. I feel if I put so much attitude to it, audiences will think the original Romeo is not that radical. We've already practiced the blocking part, but I don't think that is perfect. We lack some layers. Me and my partner only have a general idea that Romeo and Juliet stand in opposite place, and as they say their scripts, they move closer. However, when we really doing that, I feel a little awkward that we are like Roberts that only feet move. So why not add some face expression, for example when Romeo saying "oh she speaks,speak again bright angel. I could show a face like love Juliet so much,eager to hear her voice.