Drama Term 1- Reality TV Reflection

How have your characterization skills developed in this reality TV unit? (give examples)
During this reality TV unit, I think that I was able to develop and improve characterization skills because I was able to change my body language, tone and hand gestures whenever it was needed during a performance. I think the reason I was able to develop my skills was that I was able to first understand the character that I was performing on and then think creatively about each and every scene that my character would have done in each part. 

 What target can you identify for yourself in order to improve on your characterization skills next term?
I think that a target that I can identify for myself in order to improve my characterization skills would definitely be my creativity. Even though I was able to think about me becoming my character and doing what my character would do, I still didn't make too many big changes from my character's original description. I think that maybe if I changed my character's attitude and accent I could have performed much better in character. Next term, if I was given a similar task of having to act a character by description, I would make changes to my character to make him stand out but not too much to the point where he seems to be a different person. 

 How can you improve your homework when completing written work about the practical explorations in class? 
I think that I have done a great job on homework when having to complete written work about practical performances in class. I do think that I think creatively and add detailed responses to my written work, however, I still think that there are ways that I could improve. I think that I could improve my written work by not just exploring my strengths and weaknesses of my performance but by also comparing my performance to my peers, classmates, and actors to see the way of how I can improve.

 What have you most enjoyed about this unit?
I think that there were many things I enjoyed about this unit. However, the main reason is that this unit which is reality TV is very versatile. In this subject, we get to do more different things and try things that haven't done in previous units or in a unit. For example, we switch groups with other people to practice our characterizations skills. It is also the first time that I had to act as a character based on a just plain description and a bit of creative thinking. 

What was your greatest achievement in drama this term?
During this term, I think that my greatest achievement was being able to improve on characterization with body language and thinking creatively based on a description. In previous terms and years, I wasn't able to understand the required need for good characterization. Only in last year, I understood the importance of using body language and hand gestures, however, I wasn't able to use them in performances and practicals as effectively as I had expected. This year because I worked with several different people, I tried to understand their use of characterization and tried to put it into my own. This way I was able to develop my characterizations skills slowly but effectiely. 

Best Bits Preparation List and Link

Group: Salma, Sireen, Hyeonho, and Nasser 

List:

Hardware materials for recording:

• An iPhone: For recording (Preferably Sireen's as she will be responsible for editing)
• A mac/laptop: This is used for editing the video and sireen will be using this

Software materials for recording:

• Windows Movie Maker/ iMovie: Will be used in Sireen's map editing.

Props:

• Hula hoops: As a recreation of the Olympic events 
• Regular Drama Blocks: As a recreation of the Olympic events 
• Casual Clothes for all members: When talking about Kim 
• Clothes that will match the event: This is when we will recreate a few scenes (Olympic event=Sport clothes, Fancy clothes .etc) 

Link:

https://youtu.be/y-YvWG34z4U

Art Blogger Reflection

Blog Reflection

When I first started this unit, I wasn't very sure of the things that I had to do. Therefore I did the most obvious thing I could think of when I started which was to draw a square and in it, draw as many lines that were symmetrical and matched as much as possible. When I have started to draw a few horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines, I thought of the idea to create the patterns by creating, even more, lines which will supposedly give me more inspiration for creating a more better tesselation of shapes that would always be connected in a simple yet fascinating design. After I had a rough idea of what my design would be, I started to choose my color paintings and tested out a few vibrant colors for my design. I have tried 5 different color combinations, but in the end, I have only used two color combinations because it took too long to create anymore and use it in my designs so I used two color combinations and two basic colors. After I have started to choose my colors, I went and chose two different sized brushes, 1 small thin brush for detailed outlining near the lines to create neat designs and 1 big thick brush to color and fill in the designs. After I had chosen the brushes, I went straight to painting my ideal design tesselation, it was a mix of a circle, lines and a star with triangles near it. It was a mix of one dark color so that the other colors would look more eye-catching and appealing to people seeing it. After I have finished creating the A4 piece and have stuck it on my book, I then proceeded to work on my big A2 piece where I had to create 3 tiles instead of 1. I then used the same technique where I created lines in the tiles for inspiration and easier and more accurate designs. However, something about the first design didn't seem right as the design was supposed to be simple and tessellated. While I was creating more lines and shapes in the last tile, I managed to create an effective design using my first design as it's base. I decided to keep the circle in my second trial as a base and a more simple and famous diamond pattern. I then also changed to more simple colors as color combinations were just testings and they took too long to create as I had only a lesson left. I think that my second design was a huge success as it took account of many famous Islamic patterns as it needed to be simple-patterned and could tesselate. Overall I think that I have learned a lot from this unit as this was a very important unit to me compared to other lesson and units we have learned so far because we could use this later on in our lives. I think this unit alone has changed my view of this very subject because of how different this seemed to me than just abstract drawing as it has a bigger importance than just for practice. 

Reality TV debate

Do you think reality TV is more 'entertaining' than dramas or documentaries?why/why not?

In my opinion, I think that reality TV is usually more entertaining than documentaries because documentaries are usually a summarised essay meant to cover a specific topic filled with information. On the other hand Reality, TV is a show that shows how people responds to certain situations that can be very relatable or interesting to see how they deal with it. Then there are dramas; this is particularly a show interesting and emotional events that don't usually happen in your typical day to day life. I would prefer dramas than reality TV shows because they are usually unique and because they don't happen in your day to day life, it makes it all the more interesting.

What moral or ethical problems might there be with a programme like Big Brother that is filming its contestants 24 hours a day? Explain.

Programmes like Big Brother are constantly filming their characters 24/7 because they want to get as much action and drama as possible to keep their show running. Obviously, with a show like this, there will be many problems. Firstly because this show is constantly filming people 24/7, they won't have much privacy to themselves and they can't relax and be who they want to be because of the audience. This makes the characters feel a sort of anxiety and tends to feel stressed after a long period of time acting this way. In general, having hundreds of people watch you on a daily basis is not gonna leave one to have any privacy nor good mental state

What reasons do you think some contestants might have for quitting a reality TV programme?

Like I have mentioned previously, shows like Big Brother can cause some serious problems. Some problems, mentally, ethically, morally and even physically. I think that a reason a contestant might quit is that he might be exhausted and strained his body from having to act all the time and feel the nervous tension of people watching them. Another reason a person might quite is because he doesn't want people to know too much of his private life, therefore, he quit so could continue to do things in private. The last reason I could think of was that the contestants might be bored as they won't be able to do much in their new houses. 

How 'real' is the action or coverage that we see in reality TV programmes? Explain.

I think that during reality TV shows, there are definitely parts of it that could be fake, however, because this is a reality TV show most of the situations would always want to be real to catch the audience's attention. During moments in reality TV shows that are not out of the ordinary, this usually indicates real coverage or footage. However, I think that moments in Reality tv shows that are too awkward and weird could be a fake coverage or just plain acting without honest responses. Overall I think the main purposes of reality tv shows is to show how regular people turn into contestants and respond in their own way to familiar and unfamiliar situations. 

Emotianal Entraces

Entrance to the house

Me:

During the practice of creating this short play, I made sure that I knew my classmate's role info and personality so that I could grasp a good idea about how they would react to certain situations. That was why we were able to perform the way we did without hesitation.
During the play itself, I didn't do too many hand gestures or body language. However this meant that I was showing that I was calm and composed, the only few times I was showing hand gestures was in the beginning where I spread my arms to show how interested I was in meeting the people and seeing the area. The second obvious time was when I was trying to stop the army officer from attempting to attack the model (noodle hair girl) to show and tell him to not do anything reckless in the show. 

My Character:

When I first met the other contestants I knew from that moment that I will definitely have to be patient with them. There is this female model who has noodle like hair who is honestly a good person at heart but is just getting a little too cocky as a model. There is this other person who abides by the law and is an army officer which is an impressive achievement however he is a little bit short-tempered. The model and army officer don't seem to get along very well at all and it won't seem to change at all which is a pain to deal with all the time. Last but least, there is the singer who is really quite and would not talk unless asked to. Honestly I don't think bad of her but she is just too suspicious to enter this show as a singer and say nothing else. 

As soon as I entered the house I was delighted to see how much more beautiful it was than expected. When I was asked to go to see a tour of the house by the model I was thrilled but was obviously hiding it as that was my job to stay composed especially not in front of all these successful people. Everything in the house seemed to be very expensive so I made sure that I would use the furniture, equipment , food and materials to the best extent so that I could try to win this contest. 

Map of House (Design)

This is the map that me and my group worked on in the previous lesson. This map is focused on the design of the house that me and the other characters will be living in for some time. This house includes all the rooms that we need and want. In my group there is another strong Russian man who enjoys training so me and him voted to have a gym in our house for training and killing off time. Out of all the rooms I think I helped contribute to creating the Gym the most than any other room because I was focused to help keep my character intact as well as get along with the other member (especially the  Russian man). Then the rest of the rooms were necessary so the entire group the two males and two females decided to position them in a way where the main room can connect to all of the necessary rooms while the necessary rooms lead to the optional/fun rooms. I think that my favorite room in the entire house is the bar because it is my hobby to serve drinks and a small practice to my part-time job that nobody knows about yet. I think that it is a good thing that the rest of the group members decided to place a bar without me having to request so that they don't know about my job. 

Character Selfie

Little Sister Application Form

 Application Form 

I decided to name my character Bart Ender as a pun to my character's part-time job as a Bartender. My character just graduated High School and is working part-time as a Bartender on night shifts. My interest is serving drinks to people and working out with my friends. I've been a fan of the TV show the walking dead as soon as I was able to watch it. My favorite food is pancakes with maple syrup because it is delicious and cheap. I don't like the show Big Brother because they make the prices just for watching it a bit too expensive and because it is very popular because of that.  I chose to put Chinese cuisine as my least favorite food because I want every detail to match with my info as much as possible. I think that when a person who is financially stable show their humbleness towards people, that appeals the most to my character. I don't like meeting people who are arrogant as that is the trait that annoys my character the most. 

               

Little Sister-First meeting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=207qBCijOic

Miss this is the link to the video of the little sister's first meeting. 

By: Nasser 9CC 

Music Weekly Blog

Week 1
The first week was the hardest for us because we were not used to creating our own music so the first week was spent for us organising our group and researching our stories for the claymation. First we were told to find a group of people, 3 from art, 3 from music, 3 boys and 3 girls. It took us about 5 minutes to finish searching for a group that could be trusted for the work required. After we were in our groups the teachers ( Miss.Cross and Miss.Jewanjee) explained the assessment that we needed to work on and showed us a good example that we could follow our ideas from. It was a short YouTube video on how claymation could be created and how stop motion works with the claymation. Next we started planning a story for it and a good genre.

Week 2
The second week was much easier because we have managed to research the genres of our story and the theme which was private peaceful. First we started to plan out the main key events on what we will be doing and then we wrote them down in a storyboard form with notes. Then we started discussing about the themes we used in the key events so we know what music is required for that particular scene. After we have finished learning the scenes in the storyboard, we started our research on the internet about the music we had to work on.

Week 3
In the third week we have assigned roles with each group and person so we know what to work on. This week the art and music group split up to work on their assigned jobs and roles. The art group was focusing on creating their specific main characters, since there were 3 main characters, each art student was focusing on creating a main character of the story. Then we discussed what type of music was necessary for the story, first we decided to use happy and calming music in the beginning of the story and then sad music when Molly enters. When Charlie and Tommo enters the war, there will be a marching band theme and then loud war music to compliment their time in the war. After that we were split up to work on our roles.

Week 4
In the fourth week we have found some music we can use ideas for from YouTube and have decided to use different instruments in different emotions of the story itself. For instance we have started to choose our instruments based on the genre we were focusing on. For the happy and sad music my classmate decided to use a piano because it doesn't make too much of a loud noise and the rhythm is peaceful. I have decided to use the drums for the marching band theme and my friend a lightning shaker to create the loud noises used in the war.

Week 5
In the fifth week, we have started to use our instruments and practice on the them that we were to perform. First we gathered the instruments that were available and quickly went to any of the rooms so we could practice performing without any disruptions. We tried to get the room with a piano so that my classmate could practice using it to know the two themes she had to work on. Then me and my classmate could practice after she had finished. At the times when we couldn't get the room to practice in, we would look at our storyboard and revise it while looking at our notes.

Week 6
In this week we have started to fully be able to use our instruments and play our music correctly. After that we started to record our music in the recording room and save it to files. When we were able to fully practice our themes on the instruments we started to record it one by one on my device, first we started by recording the easiest which was the loud noises created by the lightning shaker and saved it, then we did my theme which was the marching band theme on the drums and saved it. Last we recorded the two themes my classmate practiced on the piano and saved it on my device.

Week 7
In this week me and my group were asked by the teacher to edit our music. First we started by sending the music that I recorded on my device and sent it to my two classmates via Gmail so they could access it through the school computers. Then we all accessed it through the working available computers and tried to edit it the best possible such as putting it into one file or separating for extra effect. We tried to create our own copy to see which one was the most effective. In the end we voted for which file was best to be used and used it for the music.

Week 8
In the eight week we convinced our teacher to allow us to help our art group so that they could finish the art models faster and more effectively. First we started by fixing the art models so that they could be compatible with being used in Claymation stop-motion. Then we created two backgrounds to be used for the stop-motion. After we created more models that would look better than the previous ones so that the could be more effective when being used in the position that they are in. Once we have finished adding our final touches to the clay and the background, we were set to start our recording.

Week 9
In the ninth week we have finished creating our clay models and the back ground for it with the music. We have started to take photos of the clay models so that we could edit it and add music with it. In the first lesson of this week we started by taking the clay and placing it in positions and moving slowly in small different areas while taking pictures of it in the first small peaceful background. We have successfully managed to complete this task as well as a few scenes in the second war background. In the second lesson we have managed to finish taking pictures of the rest of the scenes and have managed to record the voice for the narration. After we have started to edit the entire project as homework.

Art Reflection

Art Weekly Blog

Week 1

In the first week of Art, we had a joint class with the Music students so the room was filled with many students. In the first lesson of Art we mostly practiced policy and rules for the class room while the teachers tried to remember our names. In the second lesson of Art the students in my class room (including the music students) were introduced to Phantasmagoria. First we watched a clip of phantasmagoria to gain a better understanding of what it really is. Then the whole class started to analyze the clip of phantasmagoria and made points and had evidence to back it up. We mainly talked about the visual features we could see and the type of sounds and pitches used in phantasmagoria.

Week 2

In the second week of Art, In the first lesson we were mainly put into groups of our choosing but then changed to the liking of the teachers so we could with new people and 4 art students and 3 music students. We then discussed our English stories so we can get a more creative horror side for the phantasmagoria project. The second lesson for the second week of Art, our group decided to choose a few interesting parts of stories that our group have come up with. We then combined our idea into a massive improvised story. We then talked about the story and started explaining the story itself so our whole group can understand the steps in how well organize the pictures for our phantasmagoria.

Week 3

In the third week of Art, We were given a poster to work on so we could analyze our story and think of ideas and pictures that we could come up with so we could make it for our phantasmagoria. Once we've finished analyzing our ideas we started adding more detail to our ideas or improving it. On the second lesson of the third week we started on working on our action plan to where we basically had to explain our beginning, middle and end of our story in detail so our teachers can have a greater understanding of what we are going to do for our performance.

Week 4

In the fourth week of Art, We were editing our action plan and trying to place in our finishing touches so our action plan is easy and understandable. After we have finished our action plan and had given it to our teachers, our group split into the Art and Music so the art moved and my group started to draw ideas for our images. Since my whole group wasn't there, I only worked with one more person when coming up with the ideas but I mostly just listened to my partner because she has the full description of the pictures so i decided to try and draw it to make it realistic.

Week 5

In the fifth week of Art, Since our whole group for art was there, we were able to work on designing and finishing our storyboard so the teachers can get a copy of what we are going to do in our storyboard. After we have finished working on our storyboards we started to design some our characters and have different masks for the same person but in different state. In the second lesson of of the fifth week of art, we had started our rough sketch of our characters and gaining eyes and facial features from the internet to add in our stories to make our own characters with their own different features. Most of my group have started but haven't finished on the rough sketch.

Week 6

In the sixth week of Art,  we all had our own characters that we were supposed to work on. The two best artists in my group were Arthur and I so we were assigned the groups to sketch out the characters while the other team members cut out the faces and edit it while we glue them in after wards. First I sketched the main male character which was the main character's best friend, Jimmy  and tried to copy the hairstyle to what was shown from the internet. After that I had to work on the main character herself so I had to gather many facial feature from different cartoons just so the look could be original without copying a whole look from cartoons or movies.

Week 7

In the seventh and final week of art, we finished sketching all the characters and were thinking of ways that we could edit and improve it such as adding colored transparent paper to the back of masks to make a particular part of the face be seen clearly and properly. First we started of thinking the masks and areas that should be covered with the transparent colored paper then we started thinking of how the movement could be made with the masks that we made. With our two main characters, we made it so that their jaws could be opened at will to show as if they're scared,surprised or both.