'Opening Doors'

Producing The Performance

 

We first began Opening Doors, around the 10th of September. But, before we went on to look at the script, our teacher had the class running through some warmups. The point of the warmups is to help all of us loosen and warm up different parts of our body. We started with some tongue twisters, which one of our teachers, Sarah, went through with us. For example, we had the phrase "Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Tongue twisters are used so that we can articulate our mouths and voices, to stretch our mouths, in order to make sure we can pronounce words properly throughout the tasks.

Furthermore, the class completed posture warmups. This time we were shown this by Tom, he taught us that when you’re acting out a performance, posture is extremely important! It can help in how you speak and act during a performance, without good posture your performance can be so much worse! Not only can it affect how your performance looks but, also how it sounds (with bad posture you’re more likely to mumble). Without correct posture you can’t act to your full potential.

In addition to this we also did some normal warmups, or at least normal to those who exercise or have had a physical education lesson. Activities like, running and star jumps help us to wake up and feel full of energy. These activities help us to warm up our bodies and minds for a performance. All of these exercises really helped because when we started on a Monday morning everyone was tired and the entire class was new and a bit shy. Therefore, these warmups helped us get into the groove, release our nerves, and woke our class up. So, we could properly act out our performance. Helping us get to know one another better was brilliant because this is a key part of our course, to have the ability to work together. We needed a good relationship with the people in our course so our performances would look of a high quality and allow us to work together as a team, which is essential for any performance.

Following on from this we started Opening Doors. This was the first time we had seen the play that we would be performing, so naturally we started off by reading through the script together. Every student was handed a random character to read from as we talked through it together. In order to acquire a feel for what the play was about we discussed each scene and what the characters and directors were hoping to convey. We looked in detail at each character’s story and worked to give them a background and an intention behind all of their actions. The emotions behind each scene are important to understand because when we come to perform it would allow the performance to feel truthful to the audience. To accomplish this, we were taught the technique, the ‘magic if’. The ‘magic if’ is a way of letting actors’ step into a character’s shoes, by posing different situations for the character to react to. In order to give the piece that sense of realism was a big part of our performance.

Finally, we began to direct ‘Opening Doors’ scene by scene. For instance, in one scene the group came up with the idea that  we would appear through a door one by one and shouting our respective lines. We looked into adding layers to our characters, the script only mentioned that we were ‘door keepers’, but as individuals we needed to think and plan as to why were we going through that door? Why have we chosen those words? Why does my character choose to say, “closing them quietly”? In my interpretation I said that my character must have been sneaking out in the night and didn’t want to wake anyone else up. Due to this I decided that my movements had to be slow, exaggerated in order convey this to the audience. When we had gone though the majority of the scenes and had rough ideas of what we were to do, as directed by Kelly, we put the piece together. The group then decided that the piece needed more depth. We performed what we had done so far for our teacher, Tom, to acquire his input. Overall, he was impressed, although he did wish to make it a little cleaner and cut its run time (it was just a little bit too long). Tom’s changes made our performances more fluent and quicker.

Unfortunately, not too long after perfecting our performances we were broken the news that due to Covid-19 we would be unable to perform in front of a live audience.  Since then, we have had to film the play like it was a scene from the big screen. This did mix up the performance just slightly but nothing too drastic. All that truly needed editing was our places and movement, we needed to emphasize our facial expressions and body language. The cameraman sees everything, we needed to be in character 24/7.

In fact, this turned out to be a good experience for me, as I have not had to work in front of cameras before. This change in production meant that we now had to incorporate the ‘Film and Tv’ students, they were learning how to film and direct the piece for camera. From the first scene it was crucial to put forward my finest acting, the camera would be on my full body and face watching everything. I put my best foot forward and tried to fully embody my character. Looking back, it is my belief that I could have done better. However, in the moment I did the best I possibly could in my facial expressions and body language.

I had so much fun working with the film crew and just having a new experience. This is the future I want, to be working with cameras, to focus in on action and make productions as immersive as possible. In addition to this I find that it was a lot less stressful to film, rather than having a live performance. Even though I realise that live performances are enjoyable and are capable to teaching so much in terms of acting and different skills. Personally, I like working behind a camera to be the better of the two.

 I believe this is why I loved performing ‘Opening Doors’, it gifted me real insight into the career and world I would be entering. From just a fifteen-minute performance I learned a great deal. From how to prepare for a piece like this, how to create character development and new techniques to warm up for our act. What I most took away from our preparation was how to stand out? Stage presence counts for much and it can be the little things that affect this. Such as if for a moment you break character, even if its just through posture, and it is caught on camera, it can ruin the rest of your act. All together I found ‘Opening Doors’ to be an wonderful piece, as always it is the people whom can make or break a production. In this sense I am incredibly lucky that everyone on the course can work well together, work hard and are willing to help on another. I know that this course from its students to teachers will help each other to further their skills.

My Character Development

At the beginning of our production, we were all assigned different characters to play. This was done randomly, and we did not audition for any particular parts. Our characters started off as just numbers; for example, I was ‘Door Keeper Number 12’. In order to create a good piece, we needed to give every character an identity, to make them real people. So, I started with a name, each and every character no matter how small was to have a name and personality that had to come across to the audience.

For my first character I decided they were a teenage boy, sneaking out of the house to go to a party. I named him ‘Jack’. This was quite an easy character for me to develop as I am a teenage boy who has snuck out the door before. I really tried to become the character, by placing myself in the situation and forgetting the world around me. Just for that moment I am focusing on only that situation, where there is only you and the camera.

Similarly, for my other characters I put a lot of thought into the situation they were in at the time. In the wedding scene, I was thinking about the scene as a whole, that the people at this wedding didn’t actually wish to be there and therefore were making fun of the couple in question. To fit in with the piece as whole I created my character, ‘Dave’. ‘Dave’ was to be an average and plain man, he himself has been married for many years but has become bored of his life. So, when ‘Dave’ was to say his line about marriage I tried to sound as if I was bored of it all. I had seen everything there was to marriage, its ups and downs, he had seen it all and did not want to be at a wedding.

All of my characters were developed over a long period of time, with much trial and error. Character development is so important to a performance because even if I didn’t have the largest of roles, I could still make my characters stand out. If I did not put enough effort in it could have the ability to throw off the entire performance. Every character needed depth and I tried to make sure of this, that all my roles had depth and that their presence could be felt.

Overall, I learnt masses from this experience. I learnt that one can’t just jump into a character. An actor must do their research and create the character one is given. Why are they there? What has happened so far, their life? What has led them to this point? Even the basics of name, age and occupation are significant.

Recording

Before recording the performance properly, we did a preview video for Kelly. In this preview we had to record a small clip of us saying our first line at home, acting as if we were in that situation. When I first recorded my scene, I thought to myself that it didn’t sound like an actual person but rather just that I was reading off of a script. I wasn’t giving my character enough depth and emotion; I definitely didn’t sound like I was sneaking out of my home. After replaying my initial recording, I knew I had to make some serious changes to my performance. I needed to become the character, I had to put myself in his shoes and let the performance flow. After a couple of attempts, well a lot of attempts, I was happy with what I had accomplished. This was a big lesson for me, that sometimes you think you’ve done well but then you watch it back and can see that big changes need to be made. I also learnt that sometimes recordings can take more time than first thought, I have to take the time to practice and create a credible performance.

Whom I Admire In The Industry

My inspiration for following an acting career came from David Tennant. I find him to be a truly amazing actor with a wide range and breadth to his characters. He was the first actor I looked at and said to myself, “I want to be like him”.

David has had a long career and his performances have always been inspiring, I always learn something new when watching him. The first time I saw David Tennant, I was very young, about 2, and was watching the Christmas episode of ‘Doctor Who’. He had just become the character and my love for the programme began. According to my family I was transfixed by the episode and went on to watch all of Tenants’ episodes on a continuous loop as I became older. I believe I did this because David Tennant has brought the character to life and introduced an entirely new generation to ‘The Doctor’ and his adventures. Tennant could always make the viewer feel what his character was going through at that time.

Catch Doctor Who HERE!              

‘Doctor Who’ was only the first performance of Tennants’ that I watched. As I became older, I watched ‘Broadchurch’, a detective programme that Tennant played the lead role ‘Alex Hardy’ for four years. Throughout his tenure on the show he did a phenomenal job of playing a rough yet hurt character, whom had bee through much in his life and is struggling with an addiction to pain killers. There was a great deal of mental struggle to this character that Tennant is able to put across to the audience. ‘Broadchurch’ even won a British Academy Award for Best Drama Series.

Catch Broadchurch HERE        

Often considered one of Scotland’s greatest actors, David Tennant was born David John McDonald in West Lothian, Scotland, to Essdale Helen and Sandy McDonald. When he was about 3 or 4 years old, he decided to become an actor, inspired by his own love of Doctor Who (1963). He attended Paisley Grammar School and while there he wrote about how he wanted to become a professional actor and play the role of ‘The Doctor’. He made his first television appearance when he was 16, after his father sent some photos of him to a casting director at Scottish Television. He also attended a youth theatre group at weekends run by The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. At 16 he auditioned for and won a place at the academy; the youngest student to ever do so and started as a full-time drama student when he was 17. That was the start of a massive career; that not only went onto TV and Film but on the stage as well. Tennant is well known for his work in Shakespeare’s plays at The Globe Theatre.

Most recently his work has been in a TV programme called ‘Des’ on ITV. He played a heartless killer who was confusing to the police and indeed to anyone he talked too. David has this amazing skill at showing emotion or in this case a lack of it to the audience.

Catch Des Here                    

Once scene in particular of his that I love, is in fact his final scene as ‘The Doctor’. His character is about to die, and his performance is exceedingly moving. That scene encapsulates the reasons why I love David Tennant as an actor. He always put his all into every performance and creates amazing roles and characters. He has so much skill and talent that comes across to the audience. 

David Tennants' Final Scene in Doctor Who

Conclusion

Our performance was something new for every one of us. It was something we had never done before; we had never worked together before. So, everything was new and exciting. When we started getting into the swing of the performance, we actually put together a good piece of work. All things considered we did quite a good job, we didn’t have much to work off. But this allowed us to create the story the way we wanted to. After the ups and downs of creating a performance, the changes that needed to be made, the long rehearsals and a little bit of arguing along the road, we ended up creating a solid piece of work. There was plenty of character development and good camera work. Working with the cameras was very interesting, having to create different angles, shots and learning what constitutes as good lighting. This made the performance come together as a whole, made it feel more fluid and not just individual scenes. In my mind the final performance was something to be proud of, we had all put our best skills forward and created scenes that were well put together. Personally, in terms of my own performance I thought it could have been better. Though, I remembered that over the coming weeks and months I would be improving my skills with the help from my teachers and peers. Hopefully, my future performances will be better, and I will be confident enough to ask for bigger parts. I cannot wait to work on future performances and to see the differences as we all become more skilled.