Fire
Water
Air
Earth
Today we focused on the characterisation of our monologues and labelling our characters as "elements".
Tom came in and demonstrated an exercise he was introduced to at a workshop he took part in during the summer and it focused on relating our characters emotions to one of the four elements: Fire, Earth, Water, Air.
We first were asked to associate ourselves to each element and first was Earth. We were asked to simply walk around the room as ourselves and were then simply asked to walk like someone who would be described as Earth. At first, I didn't have a clue what this meant but I then grasped that their wasn't one singular attachment to the term and that it can be described slightly differently but around the same idea. We were also told that if it made it easier we could associate our walk with someone we knew. I associated Earth with my friend Ben as I felt that Earth was very content and was confident in what they want and who they are. I represented this as when Ben walks, he flicks his feet when walking and is very confident with his footing. However, upon sharing our ideas, I feel that I got Earth wrong and that Earth may be confident but they're very rooted and assured of their actions. So still very confident, but I feel the flicks in my feet aren't very "Earth-y".
We then repeated this action for water. For Water, I thought of my brother as to me water is chill and fluid and doesn't seem too concerned with the world around him. Water is lighthearted and funny and also seems very sluggish. I slouched back a bit whilst also leading from my pelvis. Water to me seemed very similar to Harlequino from Commedia Dell'arte minus the silliness. Upon discussing our interpretations, I was correct in thinking that Water was chill and that he seems to be fluid in the way he thinks and lives him life; much like my brother.
For Fire, we approached it very differently as Fire works differently to the rest of the elements. We were asked to stand still and imagine that we were a tiny flame in a candle and over the space of 5 minutes our fire spread to be a full blown house fire. We did this in increments going from candlelight to larger candlelight, to paper being caught alight, to desk on fire, spreading to the carpet and finally setting the entire house ablaze. When I did this activity, I took to it straight away and began slowly making flowy movements as the fire became bigger, I flickered and twitched and became bigger and more violent with my movements; if I didn't have a sore throat that day then I would've added noises too. We identified Fire as very unpredictable as one minute he can be comforting and cosy but when given the fuel to do so, they become violent and uncontrollable.
Finally we looked at Air. We were all very unsure on Air as it seemed to be very odd compared to the other elements. We originally thought that Air was very outgoing but we were told that Ollie Marshall, from single, is a great example of Air. Our ideas changed to someone who is free and is also very airheaded; they haven't a single trouble in the world. When walking as Air, I walked at my own pace and without a sense of direction; I was free to walk where I wanted.
We then applied this idea to our characters in our monologues by deciding which one suited our character best. For Syme, I'd say he's very Water as he's constantly chill throughout the monologue. Also because Water is fluid, he would be very manipulable and this suits Syme as he is practically brainwashed by Big Brother.
When it came to performing our monologues, we were asked to first, act it as the element we chose for our character, and then, we were asked to adapt it to a different element which wouldn't typically be associated with our character. When I was asked to perform as a different element, I was given Fire and this couldn't be any further away from my character. Fire is quite unsure about things and uncontrollable whereas Syme is adamant on the idea of Newspeak and is currently controlled by The Party. The way I portrayed Syme was with twitching, darting looks, and stuttered words. This truly showed how different a character can appear based on what element we're portraying. Next lesson, we will continue to work on our contemporary monologues.
Today we focused on the characterisation of our monologues and labelling our characters as "elements".
Tom came in and demonstrated an exercise he was introduced to at a workshop he took part in during the summer and it focused on relating our characters emotions to one of the four elements: Fire, Earth, Water, Air.
We first were asked to associate ourselves to each element and first was Earth. We were asked to simply walk around the room as ourselves and were then simply asked to walk like someone who would be described as Earth. At first, I didn't have a clue what this meant but I then grasped that their wasn't one singular attachment to the term and that it can be described slightly differently but around the same idea. We were also told that if it made it easier we could associate our walk with someone we knew. I associated Earth with my friend Ben as I felt that Earth was very content and was confident in what they want and who they are. I represented this as when Ben walks, he flicks his feet when walking and is very confident with his footing. However, upon sharing our ideas, I feel that I got Earth wrong and that Earth may be confident but they're very rooted and assured of their actions. So still very confident, but I feel the flicks in my feet aren't very "Earth-y".
We then repeated this action for water. For Water, I thought of my brother as to me water is chill and fluid and doesn't seem too concerned with the world around him. Water is lighthearted and funny and also seems very sluggish. I slouched back a bit whilst also leading from my pelvis. Water to me seemed very similar to Harlequino from Commedia Dell'arte minus the silliness. Upon discussing our interpretations, I was correct in thinking that Water was chill and that he seems to be fluid in the way he thinks and lives him life; much like my brother.
For Fire, we approached it very differently as Fire works differently to the rest of the elements. We were asked to stand still and imagine that we were a tiny flame in a candle and over the space of 5 minutes our fire spread to be a full blown house fire. We did this in increments going from candlelight to larger candlelight, to paper being caught alight, to desk on fire, spreading to the carpet and finally setting the entire house ablaze. When I did this activity, I took to it straight away and began slowly making flowy movements as the fire became bigger, I flickered and twitched and became bigger and more violent with my movements; if I didn't have a sore throat that day then I would've added noises too. We identified Fire as very unpredictable as one minute he can be comforting and cosy but when given the fuel to do so, they become violent and uncontrollable.
Finally we looked at Air. We were all very unsure on Air as it seemed to be very odd compared to the other elements. We originally thought that Air was very outgoing but we were told that Ollie Marshall, from single, is a great example of Air. Our ideas changed to someone who is free and is also very airheaded; they haven't a single trouble in the world. When walking as Air, I walked at my own pace and without a sense of direction; I was free to walk where I wanted.
We then applied this idea to our characters in our monologues by deciding which one suited our character best. For Syme, I'd say he's very Water as he's constantly chill throughout the monologue. Also because Water is fluid, he would be very manipulable and this suits Syme as he is practically brainwashed by Big Brother.
When it came to performing our monologues, we were asked to first, act it as the element we chose for our character, and then, we were asked to adapt it to a different element which wouldn't typically be associated with our character. When I was asked to perform as a different element, I was given Fire and this couldn't be any further away from my character. Fire is quite unsure about things and uncontrollable whereas Syme is adamant on the idea of Newspeak and is currently controlled by The Party. The way I portrayed Syme was with twitching, darting looks, and stuttered words. This truly showed how different a character can appear based on what element we're portraying. Next lesson, we will continue to work on our contemporary monologues.
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