6th March

This lesson we combined all of what we learnt into this lesson to practice telling stories.

We started by walking around the room and we each stood at the front of the room to tell a part of the story but we had a different audience group to aim for. This audience groups ranged from children to the elderly and could be gender specific so considering we have been focusing on children the entire course it was a challenge to accommodate to the older generations. As we were focusing on audience we also had specific techniques to focuse on, weather it was voice or movement. I think there were moments where I did alright but I feel that my self consciousness came back and I found it hard especially when doing the adult story of 50 shades of grey but tell it to kids. So I think I could have done better. 

We ended the lesson by splitting into two groups and planning an opening to a performance, my groups story was set under the sea so we had to make the audience believe they were under the sea. We did this by starting with a sound scape of the ocean then we played the song of under the sea from the little mermaid. We choreographed a dance to do to be engaging and entertaining while ensuring it was ocean themed. I felt that though we were engaging and funny, I don't feel we were successful in making the audience believe they were under the ocean.

3rd March

In this lesson we focused on telling a story through movement. We started the lesson by stretching and warming up out body. Then we started by acting out scenarios like a mole burrowing through the ground or a rabbit being chased by a fox but we weren't allowed to act like a rabbit of mole we had to move in a way to show how these creatures are feeling. I found it hard to not simply be the animal but it got easier when we were inanimate objects like the corn in a hot pan and how we feel about being heated up the poped and crowded with other popcorn like me and how I felt about having maple syrup poured over us. It was funny and I feel like I stepped out of my comfort zone and didn't worry about what the others thought of me but I was still acting like a bit of popcorn.

The next thing we did was work on our special awareness, we held out our arms and closed our eyes so that we could just see out of them and walked around the room. This caused me to focuse on my surroundings more and use more of my senses to sense around me as I walked. We then got relaxed by lying on the floor and tensing our bodies and individual muscles so we were relaxed for the rest of the lesson. I felt this worked and I was kind of tired afterwards. 

With our bodies relaxed, our next job was to create a setting with our bodies. The first location was a feild so we created a feild with bushes, a tree and wind. One of us then became a character in the scene so a rabbit in the feild and we acted out what happened. The next setting was more abstract a bird in the sky so there was the main bird but some others also became birds and there was wind and clouds all good things to create the scene. At one point I was a polar bear in the Arctic looking for its mother so it was fun to react to all the things everyone was being and the emotions they gave as those things. We then became even more abstract and became a snowflake in a snowstorm so again others became snowflakes but some became clousa and wind pushing the snowflakes around. This was fun to do and I felt we were starting to work together to create the scenes.

Our final piece was us splitting into two groups and were given two stories to tell. The other group were given the story of a storm cloud stuck surrounded by normal clouds. My group was given the story of a leaf blown from its tree then blown by the wind to hit cars and then land in a river to flow back to the tree. I feel my group did really well showing the leafs journey and the harsh coldness of the wind and the cars but also the kindness of the river to flow the leaf back to the tree. I really enjoyed this lesson as it took me out of my comfort zone and I feel like I stopped caring what people think of me.

27th February

Today we looked at how to get an engaging storytelling voice. We started with an exercise to improve our diction where we projected to vowels phonetically and focused on how it sounded not on how it looked. I think I need practice on not caring how I look because I think it held me back. We then practiced by saying young twisters but pronouncing each verb as we went. Again I feel I was held back by me caring what I looked like.

We used what we practiced to say "Once upon a time" in a storytelling way, I found I was good at my diction and projection but I needed to direct it towards the audience to keep them engaged.

We then applied what we already knew about using our voices and what we learnt and practiced today to tell the opening and set the scene for the story Red riding hood. I feel like I was clear in what I said during the story and my diction was good but I do feel that I need to hack into the audiences imagination a little, so just stimulate it and let them do the rest "and the cookies smelt delicious (act like you're smelling cookies)" 

We watched a video of a bbc storytelling segment and I learnt that some good ways to tell a story is by having a gentle voice, eye contact and friendly exchanges like names and personal opinions at the end.

We ended by us as a group creating and telling a story where we applied all of what we learnt today and in previous lessons. I think I did really well with getting close to the audience but not too close, I had a good voice and my opening was simple but with small details which make it interesting.