We can make words mean just about anything. Think of the phrase “I love you.” That can mean anything from “you are nice” to “I’m going to kill you when we get home” depending on how it is said and in what context. To make the accented syllables and words we identified with lines and the most important words we marked with boxes in Day 1 come to life we have to decide what the words we are singing mean. It isn’t just a matter of definitions of words or translations. It is identifying what our character is intending to communicate in its most unrefined simple form.
[Read more…] about What we really mean by what we sayDay 2
Action and Emotion Triggers
What we want is driven by what we sense, feel emotionally, or think. We feel is driven by what we sense or think (yes, other things like hormones and chemicals influence these as well but for since this is a beginning class lets focus on what we see, feel, think, and what that makes us want to do. What we think will be discussed in the topic heading where discuss subtext and inner-monologues. This leaves making decisions about what we sense and feel like our character in response to this context we have created.
[Read more…] about Action and Emotion TriggersPutting drama into boxes.
Context is essential but it doesn’t create drama. What creates the drama is the WOTE. Every time there is a significant shift in the music (like where you put boxes in your music as outlined in Day 1) by definition something had to have changed in your characters WOTE to make sense of the musical change. We will discuss why this is in a later lesson. For today it is enough to identify that the music needs to appear to be a natural product of whatever your character is trying to express or do.
[Read more…] about Putting drama into boxes.Creating a specific and emotionally charged WWWWW
I never regret anything. Because every little detail of your life is what made you into who you are in the end. Drew Barrymore
It isn’t just enough to decide that you are a “guy in love” or a “girl who just landed her dream job”. It doesn’t give enough information for our brain to lock onto and connect with. Practically for a performer, it just results in a performer going through really general, stereotypical stock gestures that are bland and lack authenticity. These kinds of characters don’t engage an audience because they just aren’t real or human enough. We have to make the WWWWW specific and emotionally potent.
[Read more…] about Creating a specific and emotionally charged WWWWWSTART WITH THE STORY – Part II – CREATION – Introduction & Overview
The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.
Charles Dickens
On day 1 we focused on identifying and gathering relevant information to spark our imagination. Now we are ready to start putting our imagination to use in making decisions about what we think that information we gathered means. Once we have these two steps down we are ready for the majority of the course material where we learn how to show the result of the decisions we make by what we do. This is the “how”. It isn’t until day 3 though so hang in there.
[Read more…] about START WITH THE STORY – Part II – CREATION – Introduction & Overview