Campaign Log

Our lesson was based on the importance of music and sound in a piece of performance, and ways to extend our movements to be interpreted in various ways. We had to all create a move for each letter of our name (if 'a' is in my name twice, i would use the same move for it), to put together a sequence of actions/ movements, almost like a dance. We had to air up and teach each other our own name dance sequence and put them together, adding in transformations, effects like cannon, repetition etc, to create one big dance sequence. Then we had to present it to the class in our pairs. First we performed to a comical, bouncy, happy type of music, which made many laugh and feel they wanted to jump up and dance with us. The music was changed the second time we performed, to a more serious, spy kind of, heavier, darker toned piece of music. The audience expressed that rather than the previous comic feel, the performance now had a more timed, sharp, reformed touch to it. From this activity we learnt how a simple piece of music can change completely how we feel or think about a scene. We agreed that we would use various pieces of music like this in our performance to change the mood in each scene etc.

Then we looked at Tracy Chapman's poem/song 'Behind the Wall' and we devised what we thought was happening in each line of it. Creating numerous different interpretations of what was actually happening in the scene. We thought about the issues it touched on i.e domestic violence, police's tolerance of domestic violence at the time: they were not allowed to step in even if they knew it was happening, if it was between a man and his wife etc. This helped us date the work to the 80's.

From this song, we had to take 3 lines we liked and develop 3 still images for them. Our group used physical theatre also as some of us became the wall between the married couple, and the children.We later went on to use transformations from one still image to the other, we used a turning in spirals while yawning tranformation for one of the still images. We performed this to the other group using 2 different pieces of music, again looking at how music was a large factor in creating the mood and emotions the audience felt. We also had to use sound scape here, to introduce sound made by us, and build up tension etc in our piece. we used the clapping of the two girls, Abisola & Moshoumi, who were the wall, followed by me repeating 'shhh', then Tiyonne whispering 'Listen'. After that we had Zara creating a heartbeat thumping on the floor by stamping, and then Abigail increasing the speed and force of the heartbeat, as if the person is feeling scared and their heart is racing. We learnt through this that as well as music being an impact, sound is equally as important to create mood and interpret the message and meaning of your performance to the audience.

Campaign Log

In our group we chose that we would do our final performance as an Installation piece in 4 parts. The 4 parts will be:

1)Introduction & Powerpoint [We also put up a board showing famous celebrities with and without make up, as well as before and after plastic surgery/ airbrushing/ photoshopping]
2)Video presentation [of Airbrushing/ How easy it is to Photoshop & possibly plastic surgery]
3)Drama Performance [Put make up on , while on stage, before performance, then take it off in the middle of the performance, where the main girl, Tangina changes into a natural girl, while on stage, facing audience like a mirror]
4)Audience Discussion [using questions which we chose specifically for them to answer, so the discussion has a good flow and kickstarts the peoples' thinking]

Campaign Log

Alex exposed to us different types of stages that shows etc could be performed on. The four kinds of theatre stages mentioned were:

*Proscenium -The most common type in the West. Here the audience is located on one side of stage (the front), and the rest of the three sides are used by the performers, technicians and stage crew etc.
*Thrust -This is similar to proscenium stages but with a platform or performance area that extends into the audience space so that the audience is located on three sides (fourth side being the background).
*Arena (Theatre in round) -Where the show is perfomed on an open stage, and audiences are seated watching from all four sides. The stage is ofetn raised to improve sightlines.
*Profile (Created and Found) -Stages which may be constructed specifically for a performance or may involve a space that is adapted as a stage. Can also be improvised space, where ever found e.g. non traditional spaces such as a basement of a building, a side of a hill or, the street etc.

Some other types of theatre stages are:
- End Stage -Flexible Theatres ("Black Box") -Sports Arenas

Later our group had to use one of the stage types to perform a scene from our performance. The type given to us was not one that is on this list, but equally interesting and used for effect. We had to perform in a really small square of space, in the corner of the room, with audience all around us. It was quited cramped and hard to perform a little because of the lack of movements we could make, but at the same time very effective as the audience could grasp all of our emotions on our face to the full, and feel more connected with the performance, as if 'we are inside the performance with you' as one audience member expressed.

Then we had to perform again on the platform space, on top of the spiraling stairs in our Drama Block building, where the audience were located at the bottom of the metal stairs, watching upwards. This made us aware about the directions we face, not showing our backs to the audience, projecting and exaggerating our voice and character, and using all the space we have to the best of our abilities. We recieved much postive feedback for our effort and professionalism.

Campaign Log

Today our main topics of the lesson that we worked with, with Alex, were space and teamwork. We had to think about using space to the best of our abilities and advantages, and acknowledging space around us, as well as the benefits of working together as a a team, rather than indivually. Alex and his friend introduced and played many little games and activities with us for example one of the games were where the whole class had to work together to count to 20, one person saying each number, without speaking over someone else, or more than one person saying each number. Through this game, we learnt to be patient, listen to each other, and recognised when to not rush into things without thinking first, and when to think fast, on your feet. All the exercises taught us to be always looking for free space when creating our performances and working on stage, and prevent huddling up in bunches. All in all, a very useful and advantageous lesson.

Campaign Log

Today we Alex came in to help us, and my group members; Abigail, Abisola, Tiyonne, Zara, Tangina, Moshoumi, and I had to finish off creating sequence of scenes for the performance part of our campaign. The storyline is about a girl who wears a lot of heavy make up because she wants to impress a boy she likes. But she later overhears him saying to his friends that really dislikes those types of girls and that they should just wipe all that 'Crayola' off their faces. She then grows up and matures and understands that she should be how she wants to be for herself, not for other people, and so she stops wearing the excessive make up and goes out with her natural/bare face everywhere. She then meets his friends again, and finally the boy himself, years later. But now, when asked whether she should like to get together with him, she rejects him, as she feels that she deserves better than someone who judges her for her looks and not for her personality. However we still may change some things. Alex came over to watch and review over all that we've done so far, and also to help us by giving us some tips of what we could improve. We also considered fridays after school for our rehearsal time for this performance.

Campaign Log - Lesson 2

In this lesson our class was seperated into groups of 3 by Ms Burges to work as a team on a single campaign we choose as a group, and together create a presentation of some form, be it a powerpoint, short drama scene or interpretive dance, which we would show to the rest of the class and teacher, and be graded for. In my group are Humaira and Tangina. Once put into our groups, we had to go off and carry out individual and team research on our chosen campaign. Here we had to find out what types and ranges of Media are used for the campaign, what the campaign was, what services they provided and other such things.

Our team chose the Stop Smoking: NHS Smoke Free Campaign to present on. When being graded we will be marked based on our presentational skills, so I noted that we would need to print off slide notes seperately. We decided as a group that as Tangina liked the designing side more than the research side, she could start off the powerpoint, with the titles etc, and Humaira and I would gather any research we found related, and allow Tangina to write it up however she wanted, and then fix it up, design it and add pictures etc all together at the end.

Some of the research we found was the services they provided e.g Home Support, so you could recieve texts, emails, posts etc from other people who are trying to stop smoking or are ex-smokers at your most critical moments to make it easier, meetings to attend individually or in a large group run by professional trainers to allow you to talk about your concerns about it and fight smoking, and medicines such as nicotines patches, inhalators etc, that increase your chance of quitting, and many more.

Campaign Log - Lesson 1

In Creative and Media on monday, we worked on our segment of the Diploma called Campaign. Firstly we were introduced to our new teacher for the topic, Ms Burges. Our class gathered in a circle with our chairs and we got a long mega strip of sugar paper to write on and think about Campaign in closer detail. We first created a brainstorm of what ideas we think of when we hear the word 'campaign', and also to jot down what we already knew about the word or things that we associated with it. We came to the conclusion that campaigns were created for main reasons such as raising awareness about an issue/ problem or certain topic you want to change and then finding a way to solve that problem or cause that change to happen, an operation people pursue to accomplish a purpose , and a plan to achieve a certain goal.

After we had a rough idea about what the word campaign meant for us, we decided to list the campaigns that we knew, international and local. The list included PETA, NSPCC, Cancer Research, Love Music Hate Racism, FRANK, Change4Life, Human Rights, Stop Look Listen Think etc. On the sheet we also went on to think about some of the issues or topics we could use for our own campaigns which we'll have to carry out later this school year for example Mental Healthcare in Tower Hamlets, Women's Portrayal and Importance in the Media, Knife Crime, and Postcode Wars, among many others.

The last thing we discussed was venues and locations we could carry out our campaigns. There were countless places listed. Among the venues that were suggested were Tower Bridge, London Bridge Arches, London Dungeons, Thorpe Park Car Park, and Buckingham Palace Courtyard/Garden etc. In this first lesson we were briefly introduced to the Campaign Project and given an insight to all the hard work and organisation, as well as deep thought that we'll have to do this year in order for our campaigns to be a success, and carried out to achieve our goal.