Evaluation

What went well: 

Movement

I think that the movement pieces went really well because I thought that not only did they break up the scenes so it wasn't dialogue all the way through, they told part of the story really effectively. I also thought that the cannon effect with the dance went really well as it showed that the groups split up during the mission and it made there be variation during the movement sequences.
Ending

I think the plot twist at the end was really effective as the audience wasn't expecting Jamie to be the leader of the rebel group. This made the audience be surprised and kept them engaged with the story and made the story more interesting.
Team Work

I think that most of the time the group always listened to each other and never spoke over each other. We pretty much made sure that everybody got a day to make sure that everybody's input gets to be into the piece.
Brain Storm

We were really good at brainstorming new ideas when we needed to get a new idea for the plot of a scene. This helped us to create new ideas for the scenes to help with the storyline and develop our characters and plot further.
Experimental with ideas

We were never worried about trying out a new idea and not thinking if we looked stupid or whether it worked or not. We tried it into the scene and if it didn't work, we just decided to cut it out or re-work the idea.
Costumes and props

I feel like that we really thought about the costumes and the props for our piece. We rally thought about what the rebel group would actually wear and then show our individuality through each of our costumes. With the props, we made sure that each person would get a certain type of gun (or tablet for me) it shows what type of person they are. Like Ruby was a sharpshooters meaning that she had two guns. Another example was that I had a tablet as I was the person who was good with computers.

Even Better if:

Used performance space

We could have definitely used the whole performance space next time. We always seem to have gaps at the sides of the stage or in other areas. I think that this is because we didn’t get to rehearse in the rehearsal space many times. I think that next time we could use the performance space more often. Also, I think it would help if we did a full dress and tech rehearsal to make sure that we use all of this space.

Pointless combat

I think that in our piece, we should have put less stage combat in as because sometimes it seemed like we would just start an argument and turn it into a fight just so we could move the story forward. This could sometimes make the audience feel bored as the fighting has been overused. I think that next time we could have drew more of an outline to the scene before trying to devise it.

More to the date scenes

I think that more actual meaning could go into the date scenes because they seemed like they were just fillers to make sure that our piece was long enough. They weren’t really any chemistry or shown any affection to each other in both couples and then they suddenly go on a date. I think that hints would need to be dropped that they like each other before they decided to go on a date.

Fewer distractions

I think that the group could have concentrated much more during rehearsals because we would always be going off topic and talking about other things and not getting through a whole scene and only being able to odd bits and pieces. I think that next time, we could do a rehearsal schedule so we would pre-plan what had to be done that lesson and we wouldn’t be able to go back to that till we ran the show.

Transitions

I think that the transitions during the scene could of have been much smoother and could have been less awkward. I think that we could have used just some transitions of lights rather than it become a blackout and then move onto the next scene. Next time we should spend more time on lighting.

Development of characters

I think that if the characters were more developed, people would actually rather care about them dying rather than just dying and because the audience never actually had a chance to be connected with the characters. I think that next time we should outline the purpose of every character before we start the piece.

Take more risks

I think that we could have taken more risks with our performance. I think we were too worried about making it look cheesy and a bit stupid rather than focusing on the initial ideas that we had at the beginning to make our piece much better than it could have done.

I think that overall, we needed more time and also needed to focus more in rehearsal so that we could have much more done. I think we did well with what we did have on the day and we somehow blagged through it as I think that we all felt under-prepared.

I did feel that with what I contributed to the piece, could have been better but I think what put me off was the fact that at the beginning of our piece I went home and wrote up a whole plan on how we could end the whole devising piece with Jamie killing us all off one by one. When I told the rest of the group my idea, nobody listened and they all talked over me. After that, I didn’t contribute as much as I thought that my ideas weren’t interesting.

Monday 9th February

Today, we attempted to do a full run-through of the performance and I think that we are not ready to perform yet and we need more time. At the end of every scene, we had to redo the scene due to it either not running smoothly or people asking questions so that everything could be clarified and they knew what they were doing. This lead to it not being a proper run-through. This will now mean that the actual performance will be the first full run-through of the show we will have. This means that the scene changes will be harder as we won't know what will come next. Luckily I took a picture of the plot so I can run-through the plot tonight so I remember the order of the scenes.

One advantage of today was that we got to rehearse with our costumes and props for the first time today. This will let us have a general feel for the whole show with props and costumes helping us with the performance as we now know when to pick things up and put them down and where the costume changes will take place.

Costume

For our drama performance, we have decided to go for dark colours for our rebel clothes because they are meant to be a disguise. We also chose this because rebels typically wear dark colours because they are meant to look like outcasts and be able to identify themselves to the general population. The general population will be wearing bright clothes to show a complete contrast to the rebels which so it matches personality wise as there is a complete contrast in personality.

I have decided to go for a black jumper with black jeans and black boots because I don't think that the character would have a hat or a hoody because as he is more of a nerdy character, he doesn't go on the missions. He assists on the missions from the base by telling them what to do. He still wears black though because he is a rebel.

I also play a civilian in the movement mission scene where Jeremy kills me. I have decided to wear a lab coat for this as a lab coat is white which would easily represent a civilian. Also, this will just go over what i'm wearing making it easier to put it on and off as i'm in the scene back as Tim after the movement sequence.

Character Backstory/Description

The Name: Timothy Wood
Nickname: Tim
Age: 28

Job: Tecnology specialist for the revke group

Description:
Tim is the youngest in the group and the smartest when it comes to anything to do with technology but is very under appreciated by the rest of the group and feels really upset on the inside but doesn't let anybody find out about it. He doesn't want to complain because when he complained to Jamie, Jamie killed his family. He is the one at the end of the piece who confronts Jamie and is the first to be killed.

This is the back story of my character which a slightly shortened version will be used for a monologue for the show:
Back story:
I used to be the Head of Technology for Jamie but I got a promotion to Jamie's deputy. I was second in command but I still didn't get to see his face. I may have been the smartest but I was also the wimpiest. They called me a "Bum lick" because of my job. They told me that they shoved the last guy out through bullying and I was next on their list. I went home one day to find out that they'd gone even further, they'd attacked my family. I complained to Jamie and he said that he'd deal with it. It turns out that he ordered them to be tortured and that I should have no weaknesses. He then told me about the rebel group and I was ordered to take them out with a team or I would be next. I couldn't trust him anymore. I made an oath that day that I would one day I would avenge my family. I joined the rebels so I could achieve that but I'm no closer to my goal.

Plot for the show

This is the finalized plot for the show:

I think that the plot for the show looks really good and I think that it's clear to the audience. I think that this devising performance is really good.

Drama Devising Update

This post will be a recap of drama for the past couple of weeks:

We have now assigned characters to the role:

1. Freya-Sam-The rebel leader who is also Jamie who when she gets caught out, kills the rebels to keep her cover. She is in love with Spencer and Jeremy and when she has to choose who to kill and who to live with, she chooses Jeremy to live with.
2. Meg-Ruby (Sharpshooter)-The best friend of Sam. She is the one who is the best with the gun and when she finds out what Sam has done, she kills Sam and Jeremy to stop her from being killed. She also has a crush on Spencer who gets killed by Sam which is another reason why she kills Sam in the end.
3. Ashley-James (Newcomer)-He is an ex-computer worker who used to work for Jamie but comes to the base to join the rebels. All the others get suspicious that he’s Jamie as he knows a lot of information and end up killing him.
4. Dom-Tim (Technology guy)-He used to be bullied at Jamie’s headquarters and moved to the rebel group so he could be respected. This turns out to backfire as the rebels are now the ones that bully him and is always forced to do things for people
5. Carl-Craig (Ex-soldier)-An ex-soldier who is first to get suspicious of James being Jamie and doesn't trust James.
6. Toby-Jeremy-The person who falls in love with Sam and the one that Sam chooses to survive but ultimately gets killed by Ruby as Sam kills Spencer
7. Kai-Spencer- The other love interest who gets killed by Sam and the one that Ruby has a crush on. Ruby avenges his death when she kills Jeremy.

We started our opening scene with an empty stage except for Tim and Sam on stage at the computers. Then Jeremy come on and covers up the cameras using spray paint. The guard then catches him and attempts to kill him. Spencer then comes running in from the audience to try and stop the guard but then gets too violent and Craig and Ruby drag them out before they kill the guard as the rebels never kill anybody.

I think this scene could be made more entertaining. I think that the audience would be confused and wouldn't understand what is going on and needs to be introduced more to the story before we start with the action. Also, I don't think that it really looks interesting visually either.

Then the team come in one by one and Jeremy comes in injured and Freya is out the back talking to him when James walks in and the rest of the group confronts James and he is checked by Tim to find out that he is clear. Sam says that to get into the group that he has to go through a training program which is a movement piece of us trying to see if he useful for anything. I like this movement piece because it shows time passing and him failing at all the missions. I also think that it makes the audience understand that we are trying to expand our rebel group but we don't let them in without going through training. They will also visually see that he couldn't do any of the exercises that I've been he's been given. This leads to Sam telling him that he’s not getting into the group and tells him to leave. He then overhears our conversation on the way out and reveals that he knows a lot about Jamie and where the cameras are Sam then accepts him into the group whilst Sam tells us to remove us from the news and do various other tasks to make sure we still stay unknown to the outside world. Craig immediately is suspicious and talks to Sam about his worries and Sam say to keep her posted on the matter.
There are then two date scenes. One with Sam and Jeremy and one with Spencer and Sam.
We have now changed this to two different date scenes:

1. One is a date scene with Sam and Jeremy which ends up with Sam not wanting to actually go out with Jeremy because she doesn't want to reveal her identity.
2. Another is that Spencer and Ruby now confess their love to each other and end up going to bed together. This now means that Spencer doesn't ever have a crush on Sam. He now has one on Ruby instead.

I think that this makes more sense that Sam having two boyfriends because it would be hard for her to cheat when she the group is very small and intimate. It would also make more sense for Ruby to kill Sam as well.

The rebels then are back training at the base where they all have a discussion about if James is Jamie. Tim and Craig think that he is whilst Ruby doesn't which leads to her having an argument with Jeremy about it and Jeremy squaring up to Spencer. Tim gets Sam and they have an argument and she gives him a final warning as he has warned him about his violent nature before. This turns out to be the start of the downfall of the group.

Then they all go on a mission with Sam and Ruby leading. This is a movement piece where everybody apart from Tim goes out on the mission to try and get the cameras down. After choreographing the movement, we then added strobe lighting and cannon affect to make the dance more interesting.

I like this movement piece because the lighting looks really affected and I like the choreography we have put into the song. The audience will really understand that we are on a mission to take the cameras down.

This then leads to Jeremy getting angry and kills an innocent civilian. This then leads to a split screen of Jeremy and Sam arguing and a news report that gets the others frustrated as Jamie is lying about them and spreading fake rumours around. This then leads to Jeremy getting kicked out the group. Jeremy then confronts James and accuses him of being Jamie. This ends up with a fight scene between James and Jeremy. Jeremy then lies to Spencer saying that he is going to kill Ruby which gets Spencer involved in the fight. Then Craig and Tim beat him up. The scene blacks out then comes back on with James being dead. The rebels then blame each other on who killed him and agree to hide the body until Ruby walks in and see the body. Ruby agrees to hide the body from Sam but Sam then walks in and tells them to explain themselves. They say how they were suspicious and wanted to take no chances. Sam then says that they were wrong, they’re not Jamie. Tim then confronts her saying that he thinks that she is Jamie leading to her killing Tim, Craig and Spencer and keeping Jeremy alive. Meg then kills Jeremy and Sam and becomes the new leader of the world. I then decided that we could then finish with a news report of the anniversary of Ruby taking over which the group then agreed.

So far I think that the show is coming along really well but I think we should do a full run-through when we can because that will give us a better understanding on the scene transitions.