Lesson 1:

Warm up:
arm ups aren't just important when exercising, they are also very important in drama because they stimulate the brain and muscles which allows your blood to flow around your body which makes you feel warm, pumped up and energetic. The physical warm up made me feel tired at first but then I eventually felt awake, alert, refreshed and ready to get on with the task.Vocal warm ups do a similar thing, they loosen your vocal cords and relax your voice. Vocal warm ups done before performances help a lot, especially if it is a big performance and you have to do performance after performance because it can be easy for you to loose or damage your voice. Your voice is your main tool as an actor so you have to look after it just as you would with your body so that it can convey tone, pitch, projection and carry emotion. The vocal exercise made my throat feel clear and soothed.


Status:
Status is the social rank of a person, whether that be high (e.g a rich person) or low (e.g a poor person) it can tell a story of how a character came about and where they came from.

My partner and I managed to successfully show status in the 'Hello' scene, we did this bused different tones, postures, gestures and showed our stage presence differently. My partner was very timid and shy, she did this by standing awkwardly and in doing so she talked awkwardly too. She also reacted with my facial expressions, for example if I gave her a dirty look she would then look down to the floor and there would be a small awkward silence. I was very confident and cocky, I didn't care what my partner had to say and I was rude. I did that by standing with my arms crossed and using a unimpressed tone.

Other pairs showed status successfully by doing similar things, some pairs used a posh voice which gave the impression that that person was of the higher status whilst others used pitch, such as a raised voice.

Sephy and Callum:
In the scene Callum had the higher status because he was ultimately right and he had the power to make Sephy feel bad even though at first it wasn't quite clear who was in control of the situation. Callums status was shown through Sephys reaction.

When my partner and I acted out the scene I chose to make Sephy feisty but also very pitiful and sympathetic, I did this by making my voice smooth and strong to start off with however as the scene progressed and Callum started to get angry with Sephy my voice became quieter, softer and a bit more coarse. My partner made his voice strong throughout the scene and raised it several times to show that he had the higher status. He also used multiple hand gestured and moved towards me as I slowly backed away from him, always keeping a safe distance.

My characters objective was to prove to Callum that she was innocent, that she wasn't to blame and that she just wanted him to forgive and forget. Her aim was for Callum to forgive her so that things could ultimately be back to the way they were. Knowing the aim helped me to play the character because I would think back to it and make sure my character was doing its best to reach its aim.

Overall:
During the lesson I developed a better understanding of how important vocal exercises are and what the consequences of not doing them could do.