Powered by our collective imagination
Simpson calls his book “Touching the Void”. How does he present the sense of danger and it’s effects on the climbers ?
“Touching The Void” is a compelling book based on the prior events involving two climbers and their journey into and out of a terrifying behemoth of a rock.
There are many uses of figurative language devices, such as metaphor and personification in description,
Yet there is also a profound presence of literal use.
For example, “I gave Richards tent a good kicking to knock off the frost”.
This clearly shows how Joe, the author states things as they are, and this is good because it means that he had wanted to show the reader that he was trying to help Richard by kicking the snow off, yet it had been profound that joe had had a disliking of him, so therefore with that extra knowledge it can be seen in two ways.
There may have also been a more efficient way of ridding the tent of frost, yet because he had not liked him, he had decided to give it a “good kicking”.
We can also look at the word “good”. Joe could have just said ” I have his tent a kick to knock off the frost, yet he had used the word “good”.
The quote, “The sense of menace threatened to overwhelm me”
To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities – Bruce Lee
We were shown our stimulus, which had been the music video, “7 Years” by Lukas Graham. We had then watched the video numerous times together with my group and had eventually come up with the idea of having a young and misguided Lukas being visited by his lavish and successful 30 year old self as he receives advice and guidance which had seemed quite convincing until 60 year old Lukas bursts in and challenges him. We had decided to structure it as if the 30 year old Lukas, played by me was the devil like figure on Lukas’s right side and Gabriel had been on his left playing the angel like figure. We had also later devised recently in the play that we could help show this by using lighting. We would use red for the 30 year old Lukas to signify the devil and evil, whereas we will have a blue light for the 60 year old Lukas to signify an angel and the good side.
Item 1
For my character in the improvised performance I had made him act very brash and obnoxious as this was the stage in Lukas’s life where he had been at the height of his career and was making a lot o money compared to what he had been making before with selling botttlecaps as a kid for cheap change. Then it would show how the money had got to him and how he had become a product of money and the twisted society of fame. His costume that I had constructed had been a suit that his many advisers and makeup stylists had squeezed him in to and how they had also got him a fresh haircut to symbolize how he has to keep up his public appearances. Rings and a shiny watch I had worn to reinforce how he had money to afford such things.
The three items that I have chosen are; Character development, Costume design and our compulsory joint performance. I had chosen character development and costume design because they are very closely linked and can both benefit each over as they can almost intertwine because they are both to do with ‘the method behind the madness’.
The dramatic potential is promising because it could be a possible short independent film in which we could possibly get to see the back stories to the three characters so that we could be more immersed into the characters. The performance could even be for the music video of the song, “7 Years”.
The stimulus had been great because in “7 Years”, the Danish group, ‘Lukas Graham’ reflect on their lives and wonder about how their life would eventually turn out as they grow older. There is prominent nostalgia from the ages 7, 11, and 20 which are openly reminisced, before the band goes on to wonder about their life in the possible future; specifically, when they’re at the ages of 30 and 60, or when they have children of their own, or a wife.
Throughout the poem there are two prominent themes of loneliness and family. An example of this is Lukas attempting to remember and heed his parents’ advice at all times, “Once I was seven years old my momma told me,
Go make yourself some friends or you’ll be lonely. This helped me to understand what the protagonist had had to experience and how the character would react to certain situations. For instance, if someone had randomly started a conversation with him or he had been ‘put on the spot;, then he might have trouble communicating and may not be very open to others, seeing as he had not had a lot of interaction with other children in the past.
In verse 1, “It was a big big world, but we thought we were bigger
Pushing each other to the limits, we were learning quicker
By eleven smoking herb and drinking burning liquor”. This gives me the idea that they had to adapt to the socially challenged community of the world, by doing so it had changed them, and introduced them to the harmful substances and depressants of life, Alcohol and drugs.
This also indicates that his Mothers advice had worked in some way, although negatively as the first and second verse indicate that he had been hanging round with a rough crowd and because of this, his Father had maybe deduced that if he is taking drugs and drinking alcohol, then sooner or later he will come into contact with girls, so gives some simple relationship advice as Lukas begins to enters a period of sexual awakening. Perhaps his father was hoping that he would get “settled down” at an early age.
“Something about that glory just always seemed to bore me
Cause only those I really love will ever really know me”. He finds that he is oblivious to the people that are attracted to his fame, but instead on the people who truly matter, like his family or close friends. And on the next chorus he talks about, “Once my story got told
Before the morning sun, when life was lonely”, suggesting that being famous and being successful isn’t very enjoyable and is quite lonely despite all the attention.
The next verse talks about positivity and how despite all the negativity, he had triumphed. This would help me get to grips with the character and how he views himself at this age as he talks about how some peoples voices can make a big difference and have an effect on him, while he has his friends and all those that matter, beside him; “I only see my goals, I don’t believe in failure
Cause I know the smallest voices, they can make it major
I got my boys with me at least those in favor
And if we don’t meet before I leave, I hope I’ll see you later”. The last line also refers to the afterlife in which Lukas says that if you don’t meet him before he dies, then he hopes to see you in heaven.
Lukas refers back to earlier lyrics to show how his life had progressed. When he had imagined himself with a successful music career, married with children and will have eventually found true friends to share his life with. “I’m still learning about life
My woman brought children for me
So I can sing them all my songs
And I can tell them stories
Most of my boys are with me
Some are still out seeking glory
And some I had to leave behind
My brother I’m still sorry “. Lukas had also mentioned in sadness, his friends who were unable to escape the rough upbringing of alcohol and drugs that he had also experienced.
“Soon I’ll be 60 years old, my daddy got 61
Remember life and then your life becomes a better one
I made a man so happy when I wrote a letter once
I hope my children come and visit, once or twice a month”. This Talks about Lukas looking into his future, not knowing what it would look like. His father died at a relatively young age, When he says “I made a man so happy when I wrote a letter once”, he is referring to how even the smallest of things like writing a letter or making a phone call to your parents means the world to them, and he hopes that his kids will do this when he is older.
It then ends with the chorus.
The dramatic potential is vast because it displays a range of emotion and events that an actor can work with, in the sense that he or she has a lot of stimulus material to work with and therefore can put themselves into the shoes of Lukas.
Item 2 Character Development:
My Character had been that of someone that is a troubled antagonist who had been wronged in some way by society. The character would be very distant from everyone else. loneliness is a prominent feeling with him. He feel’s empty inside and it almost feels like nothing matters and that nobody cares about him. Apart from his caring parents who are trying their best to provide for their son who suffers from minimum wage work and past due rent, he forgets about those true to him because he had always seen the world from a disadvantaged point of view. Where his peers at school would use money and purchase items frivolously, where he had had to conserve the little that he gets.
I had based part of my development on Stanislavsky’s theory of really inhabiting the role that the actor would be playing by tapping into my emotions and using memories of times when I had felt angry and sad as a drive for the character so that the audience would see the subtle movements in my face and that would make it more realistic and real. The actor shouldn’t only know what lines he or she needs to say, but the story behind the why for those lines, but also every detail of that character’s life offstage as well as onstage. I had devised the character so that he could possibly be at the stage before someone would turn into a villain that you would come across in a story, where he would have plans to unleash fury on the world for his somehow preordained past. He had been used to getting the wrong end of the stick and always bullied for his individuality as he has a foreign name from everyone else and so on. So a good way to get into character would be to isolate myself from social media or interacting with friends as this will give me a feeling of the loneliness that he had felt throughout his adolescence. Another technique that I would also use would be to listen to music that had a sad tone which would get me feeling emotional and with the thoughts of how would I feel if someone that I had loved was taken from me. This would get me to the point of my eyes watering. By using Stanislavsky’s theory I would use my emotions and emotional memory for which I would focus internally to portray the character’s emotions onstage.
I had done this for a day and latter in the evening I would sit in a chair in-front of a mirror and ask myself various questions for my character. When I was asking questions, I had used a different tone of voice than to when I was answering as the character. The voice that I had used for the character had been a quiet confused voice in order to show a distinct difference. Even simple questions such as what did I have for lunch would help me get into character, for instance he would have eaten something bland or rather very simple and maybe not even eat anything at all due to the fact that he wouldn’t be going out to meet friends or have a game of football with the lads because he wasn’t invited or wasn’t ever taught to play.
Item 3: Costume Design
For the costume I had used a spider diagram in order to brainstorm through some ideas to what the character would wear. For instance, I had started off with the shoes, so would he wear sneakers or the more practical choice of boots ? If sneakers then what type, running shoes or simply ones for casual wear, perhaps I had thought to myself, casual because running shoes would indicate that he would have an affiliation with sports, but then again casual sneakers are seen as quite popular and we need the character to stand out and seem unorthodox, so the running shoes it is. These would be worn with untied laces. I had then chosen to have my character wear a hoodie because it is a comfortable top that is universally worn by teenagers and he would wear the hood, so that the character would conceal himself. Rips and holes as it has been constantly worn. Jeans would be the choice for the lower part of the body because they are comfortable and durable whilst being quite fashionable, but they would not be of a designer brand and would not fit properly because they were bought from a charity shop. They would also slouch because there wasn’t a belt.
There is also practicality, with looking at if there is a lot of action, then the actors’ clothes must be easy to move in. For quick costume changes, perhaps there must be adjustments on the costume so that the actor or actress can take it off themselves. I will also have to check how the lighting projected onto the stage affects the material. For instance, for some of the rehearsals we had had to take off our jumpers so that the different color lighting could take effect on the white shirt.
Evaluation:
Improvised performance:
What had went went well in the first improvised piece had been how we had all acted fluently and there had not been an occasion where we were lost for words so therefore we had been confident and the performance would be real.
What I would do better next time would be to exaggerate with what I was saying and my actions so it would seem more clear to understand my character.
Character Development:
What had gone well had been how the posture and body language had told you what the character was going to be like even before he had spoken a word.
What I would improve would be to prepare and get into character for a longer period of time before the performance.
Costume Design:
What had gone well had been how I used specifics on how the costume would be worn and what type, the for instance, jeans would be.
What I would do better would be to have alternate design ideas showing the many different alterations from experimenting with different ideas.
Other Peoples performance:
Amjad and Josh’s performance had been very interesting to watch and the concept of having a duologue between Lukas at 7 and Lukas at 60 because it was showing the two extremes. It showed this because Amjad who had played Lukas at 7, had been very naive and this was good because it had displayed his understanding of the character being at that age and therefore had understood how someone at that age would react. Josh, who had played Lukas at 60, had been somewhat depressed and battle-worn, as he had experienced the scorns of time and is now perhaps paying the price for the mistakes that he had made when he was young, by not having anyone to celebrate his 60th birthday with him. At first I was skeptical about the use of lighting as they had only used blackouts, but It had in fact worked well as they had obviously worked on their character development.
There is mostly praise, but I believe that it would have been more powerful If they had there is also the subject of costume design. Well, it is evident that they had not put the majority of their attention onto their costume as Amjad had been acting as a 7 year old child with a fancy wrist watch. Also Josh had not put in much thought as someone of that age would not have a ‘fat tie’. This could have been changed by Amjad wearing clothing that would indicate at first glance to the viewer that he had been of such a young age as it had seemed that the only indicators had been the body language. Josh could have worn brown and earthy-like colors to indicate that he had been old and wise, like a tree perhaps.
Il mio sito preferito è ‘YouTube’, che è un sito web globale di video creata nel 2005 da tre amici. E’ un sito che può essere utilizzato per vedere diversi tipi di film corti.
Si va da uso didattico, con tutorial su come creare le cose e risolvere i problemi; come il modo di cuocere i biscotti e dolci e anche come risolvere il teorema di Pitagora. Vi è anche l’uso intrattenimento, con divertenti video comici di scherzi sulle persone e brevi film con effetti speciali. Ci sono anche molti altri video diversi da guardare e tanti altri tra cui scegliere. Mi ricordo, il primo video che vidi era stato un animazione con i Lego che aveva catturato la mia attenzione perché in quel momento, avevo molto apprezzato lego. Il video era stato di una scena in ‘Star Wars’, che era stato il mio film preferito che era stato ricostruito con i giocattoli Lego e con voci fuori campo umane. Questo è stato divertente da guardare perché sembrava come qualcosa che anch’io potevo fare, che poi ho fatto – creando una piccola scena con Batman nel bagno che saltava sul mio cane.
Alcune persone hanno addirittura scelto ‘Youtube’ come una carriera e hanno guadagnato soldi da esso. Lo fanno attraverso la raccolta di visualizzazioni abbonati da altre persone che lo guardano esso. Per esempio, un famoso YouTuber chiamato ‘KSI’ ha un patrimonio netto di fino a 4,5 milioni di euro e ha usato i suoi finanziamenti per l’acquisto di una Lamborghini e la carriera rap. Questo dimostra fino a che punto ‘YouTube’ ha colpito. I miei video preferiti da guardare sono normalmente musica
video o trailer dei film in uscita. ed è per questo che è il mio sito preferito è YouTube.
For my reading journal, I had chosen the film ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
by Christopher Nolan.
8 years after the events of The Dark Knight, we find Gotham at a time of peace. Due to Batman imprisoning the infamous crazed criminal known as the ‘Joker’ and taking the fall for criminal lawyer turned criminal Harvey Dent’s (Two-Face) self inflicted, death. However, a new evil force to be reckoned with named ‘Bane’ has arrived in Gotham in order to fulfill ‘R’as al Ghuls destiny’, which had been to take over the city and detonate a nuclear-bomb in order to wipe out and cleanse the corrupt in the city. Now that Wayne Manor has been completely rebuilt ( Watch Batman Begins) – Bruce Wayne has become almost reclusive and rarely leaving the estate. Due to the guilt that he had not been able to save his childhood love, ‘Rachel’ from an unjust demise handed out by ‘The Joker’ as he questions his morals and code of not killing, as if he had killed him then perhaps she could still be alive. And with Bane taking over the city by direct force, it forces Bruce Wayne to come out of retirement. But his allies are few and far apart. He comes into contact with an elusive feline-like vigilante, Selena Kyle (Catwoman) the notorious jewel thief who is perhaps will be a key factor to stopping Bane – but whose side is she on? Will he prevail and foil Bane’s master plan of destruction ? Is Batman the hero Gotham needs or deserves ?
I had very much liked the film and it stands in my top five favourite films that come to mind. Partly due to the fact that I am an avid reader of Comics and love science fiction action movies.
The character of Batman, had been acted seven times before, yet the majority of comic lovers alike prefer Christian Bales performance over them all. The character of Bruce Wayne is a billionaire playboy philanthropist that was induced to a somewhat, ‘Life of Pain’ due to the fact that Bruce Wayne watched his parents murdered before his very eyes.
Thomas and Martha Wayne were walking home from the Monarch Theater one night with their son due to the fact that he had not enjoyed the play and had demanded that his parents take him home, when they were held up at gunpoint by a mugger who demanded the pearl necklace that Martha had been wearing. His father, Thomas Wayne refused to surrender it, both he and Martha were shot dead in the streets.
Bruce had blamed himself heavily for this, as it will be the drive to which he leads a life of anger and retribution. Bruce Wayne swore an oath to rid the city of the evil that had taken his parents’ lives He spent his youth traveling the world, training himself to peak intellectual and physical perfection whilst learning a variety of crime-fighting skills, including chemistry, criminology, forensics, martial arts, gymnastics, disguise, and escape artistry.
Christian Bale had performed this well because even in silence, the facial expressions and body movement had said a thousand words. Due to Bruce Wayne being a recluse, he had been out of shape and fragile, vulnerable etc. All of which he is not.
“Oh what a Lovely war” is a theatrical musical feature that was present in 1963 and latter, made into a film in 2006.
The original production was performed with the cast in Pierrot costumes and metal helmets due to Littlewood’s abhorrence of the color khaki and anti-war feelings. Behind them projected slides (operated by projectionist Tom Carr) showed images from the war and a moving display (what Littlewood called her “electronic newspaper” from having seen one in East Berlin on a railway bridge) across the full stage width with statistics, such as “Sept 25 . . . loss . . . British loss 8,236 men in 3 hours . . . German loss nil” and “Average life of a machine gunner under attack on the Western Front: 4 minutes”. These are figures that seem preposterous in the present day and perhaps even 10 times off what shouldn’t have been lost and could have most likely been prevented. The most responsible for the thousands of deaths had been the infamous, General Haig.
Haig was British commander on the Western Front for most of World War One. The huge casualties that his military strategy produced has made him a controversial figure.
Douglas Haig was born in Edinburgh on 19 June 1861 into a wealthy family who owned a whisky business. He studied at Oxford University and in 1884 went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He then served as a cavalry officer for nine years, mainly in India. He later took part in the Sudan campaign (1897 – 1898) and the Boer War (1899 – 1902). In 1906, Haig went to the War Office as director of military training. His responsibilities included the organisation of a British Expeditionary Force (BEF) for deployment in the event of war with Germany. On the outbreak of war in 1914, Haig was commanding the BEF’s 1st Army Corps, whose overall commander was Sir John French. By the end of 1915, it was clear that French was ill-suited to the role, and in December Haig was appointed commander in chief in his place.
In an attempt to break the stalemate on the Western Front and relieve the pressure on the French at Verdun, Haig ordered the Somme offensive, which began on 1 July 1916. The British army suffered 60,000 casualties (just under 20,000 of whom were killed) on the first day, the highest in its history, and Haig’s conduct of the battle made him one of the most controversial figures of the war. In July 1917, a new offensive – the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendaele) resulted in further heavy casualties, but did succeed in weakening the German army and helped prepare the way for its defeat in 1918.
Haig believed that the war could only be won on the Western Front. This caused friction with Lloyd George, secretary of state for war and prime minister from December 1916 who disagreed with this strategy, supported alternative schemes and intrigued against Haig. The great German attacks of the spring of 1918 almost broke the British army, but inspired the creation of a single command of allied forces on the Western Front under the French commander Ferdinand Foch, strongly supported by Haig. Between August and November 1918 the Allied forces under Haig’s command achieved a series of victories against the German army which resulted in the end of the war.
Haig served as commander in chief of British Home Forces from 1918 until his retirement in 1921. He also helped establish the Royal British Legion and worked hard to raise funds for it. He was created an earl in 1919 and died on 28 January 1928.
Dramatic picture of soldiers charging into battle.
Not all that are responsible for the many deaths are directly affiliated with the military. Some come in the form of Ammunition companies that had profited during the wars by simply funding them. These companies had made millions from manufacturing ammunition and rifles to other sorts of equipment that could be sold in order to profit.
Wherever there is a war, look for CIA/IMF/private military war profiteers covertly funding and supporting both of the sides in order to keep the wars raging and the profits rolling in. As former CIA Station Chief John Stockwell explained: “Enemies are necessary for the wheels of the US military machine to turn.” The US had even supported Afghanistan by funding Taliban.
On June 7, Afghanistan became America’s longest-ever war, a source had reported on an ongoing investigation in-order to prove that private security companies are using American dollars to bribe the Taliban. Fueling combat and thus enhancing demand for their services. The news follows a “series of events last month that had suggested all-out collusion with the insurgents.
“The American people are paying to prop up a corrupt government that may be using our money to pay private companies to drum up business by paying the insurgents to attack our troops”, Kucinich said…. The Times interviewed a NATO official in Kabul who “believed millions of dollars were making their way to the Taliban.”
These companies cover up operations like these with almost a false presentation:
Halliburton is an example of this,
With approximately 65,000 employees, representing 140 nationalities in over 80 countries, Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the global energy industry such as weapons etc. The Company has corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Halliburton serves the upstream oil and natural gas industry throughout the life cycle of the reservoir – from locating hydrocarbons and managing geological data, to drilling and formation evaluation, well construction and completion, and optimizing production throughout the life of the field.
Weapons [wep–uh n]
Noun : 1. instrument or device for use in attack or defense in combat,fighting, or war, as a sword, rifle, or cannon.
2. Anything used against an opponent, adversary, or victim: the deadly weapon of satire.
3.Zoology. any part or organ serving for attack or defense, as claws,horns, teeth, or stings.
Verb (used with object) : 4. To supply or equip with a weapon or weapons: To weapon aircraft with heat-seeking missiles.
The first recorded powered flight was in 1903 when the Wright brothers flew their aircraft. The first powered crossing of the English Channel was by Louis Blèriot in 1909. Therefore it could only be expected that in 1914 aircraft remained remarkably crude. In the autumn of 1914 a new recruit to the Royal Flying Corps had a greater chance of being killed during training than during combat. When British aircraft took off from England to fly to bases in France for the first time in the war, navigation was based on map reading while in the air and, if the lack of clouds allowed, looking out for landmarks on the ground to guide the pilots.
Initially aircraft were thought to be of little combat use. One unknown British general commented:
“The airplane is useless for the purposes of war.”
Ideas for Stimulus:
Prisoner of War: There will be a small squadron of soldiers who have been captured and have no means of calling for help. They talk to each over as-if the next day will be their last and they open up to each over.
Pilot in a Gunship: Soldiers are in a gunship high up in the sky and use a remote control to shoot down the opposition with guilt residing as there is no counter force against them and how easy it is to kill while safely behind combat.
Sniper on a dangerous Spec-Ops mission: this involves a Marksman and a spotter. They are on a high vantage point in which looks over some enemy territory in which they’re mission is unclear to them as the militia are torturing villagers yet ‘high-command has told them to gather Intel and information, yet the spotter can’t just watch what had been happening and go home. He finds he needs to help them. The Marksman has done many operations like this before. He understands that he must try and do something to prevent higher casualties that won’t matter the the government’s officials by rests in the mind of soldiers.
Although these had all been good ideas to stem from, the group had gone from an original idea of focusing on the battle of the Somme concept. of an individual in considerable power or authority, ordering soldiers to their deaths.
Cue sheet for lights:
Start of performance
Begin with darkness
When all props are set, put up the red light only
When Josh finishes talking on the ground, dim the light down to pitch black
Dim up to white light when Josh and Eugene are sitting down beside the blocks
When Josh begins reading the letter, dim up to blue light only
When Josh finishes the letter, put up the white light only
Wait for everyone to leave the stage and dim down to black
Put up to blue when Amjad is centre stage.
Dim down blue when Amjad leaves the stage
When Eugene and Josh are on the floor, bring up the white light.
When Eugene begins his spoken word dim the light to red only
When he’s finished his spoken word, dim the light to pitch black
End of performance
Prep day :
We had come in to school at 10:15am to be briefed on what was due to happen. Soon after, we acted out our improvised scene and were given immediate feedback from our fellow peers and teachers on how we could improve our performance and acting/directing techniques. Then we all took part in group exercises in which we would be asked to somehow move to the other side of the room in the ‘wackiest’ way possible. Other instructions included “the lowest way possible to the left side of the room” etc. This ways to show how something can be executed in many different ways.
We had also focused on the matter of ‘Death’ on stage, and how it cannot be acted out initially, due to the fact that it would not look real and the audience would stop imagining that the story is actually happening and analyse the ‘corpse’ for signs of breathing or any sign of life and movement. We were instead taught how to utilize lighting techniques and subtle movement to showcase a death.
Day of Rehearsal : On the day before the performance we had brought our costumes to school and performed our scenes in front of a whole year of pupils.
I had really enjoyed using the different types of lighting used in order to change atmospheres. For instance, a red beam of light would indicate a key event, a white beam of light would indicate a normal setting in the present and a blue light meaning a spoken thought that is a monologue delivered directly towards the audience by a single character.
This is an example of the red beam being used for Josh’s character, Private Herbert Smith reading aloud a letter that would have been sent to his mother in order to reassure her of his well-being.
Costume :
My costume had consisted of my ‘Army’ cadets uniform that I had borrowed, seeing as it would have been difficult for the entire group to acquire all of the ‘World War One’ garments, —————————————————————————!
On this picture we have a good view of the attire worn on stage. As my character had a cocky, self obsessed lieutenant, he had an unbuttoned shirt and his sleeves rolled up. We had also thought it would look more war like if we had painted our faces with black paint. I had chosen to wear brown all terrain boots, seeing as we would be in the mud along the trenches of France. However, as we see with Josh’s character with the blue overalls it shows the Generals disliking of him, seeing as he has not supplied him with the correct equipment.
The General is also the only individual with body armor when he will not be anywhere near the front-line. This displays the selfish attitude of the officials during the war.
My Character, Lieutenant Rogers is very up of him,self and slightly self-obsessed. However in his spoken thought, he declares how he is actually scared of the situation that he has found himself in and that it is also visibly noticeable from the audience that he perhaps takes care of how he looks so that it distracts him from the real issues around him.
I had watched films like ‘Captain America : The winter soldier’ and ‘Fury’ in order to prepare for the role as I had needed to understand what it was like in those times.
What worked well?
What had worked well was that even though we had not been sure on what to do when a problem would occur, we had worked well and improvised as a team.
What didn’t work?
Using a play pistol as a prop for a gun as it makes it too unrealistic to the audience so we had decided to use an imaginary gun instead which had worked better.
What changes did you make throughout the development process that improved/focused your performance on its main driving question?
The changes that we had made had been taking away scenes as some parts of the story would derive from the main story-line so we had taken some away and it had then given us a chance to focus then on improving and advancing in other scenes.
How did the audience respond?
The audience had responded well because they had laughed at the more comedic scenes and we had all heard a healthy clap and cheer afterwards.
What would you do differently?
I would of perhaps gotten a more accurate costume for the ‘First World War’.
What did you learn?
I had learnt how efficient it is to perform a performance without a direct script with dialogue and more loosely restricted as it allowed the actors to relax and decide what and how the character would do and react to certain situations.
`The Equipment Used :
High Performance Stage Light : Lighting equipment was used to control atmosphere and mood, as said before.
Camera used – Canon EOS 60D 18.0 MP DSLR Camera – 1080p : This was used to take some of the snapshots that will help to point out where we had made our mistakes and to also record our exam.
In the start of chapter one in the book “Into The Void” by Joe Simpson, it takes us through the voyage of two avid explorers or climbers called Joe and Simon, and we are introduced to them in a tent amidst the Mountain Lakes of the Peruvian Andes.
Alongside our two antagonists, another character introduced from the start is the bewildered “Richard”, he is seemed to come off as quite accident prone as it says his most recent companion had been killed. However he does not know how to climb and this does not go down well with Joe, none the less, they invite him into the camp.
The Narrator, Joe describes his mutual affection for Simon and why they are both suited for each over in this trip for the voyage.
The weather had been unpredictable and therefore they had decided to not go through with the climb that day and had just decided to go exploring, amidst the mountain with Richard tagging along. They say that they will be back in a few days and head off leaving Richard back at base while they attempt Siula Grande.
They ascend their climb through the treacherous blizzard and whiteout, and have no other choice than to find sanctuary in a “snow-hole” like crevice.
How do the studied poets and Shakespeare use literary techniques to show how people respond to forces in the world over which they have no control.Shakespeare alongside many other poets uses literary devices in order to reflect how characters or people react to forces, such as Fate in the seemingly twisted world around them. In the chosen poems: “On my first sonne”, “Do not go gentle into that good Night”, “A song in a storm”, “Dying of the Light” and extracts from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, all utilize the presence of death as they had all lost someone very close to them. I know this because from my own knowledge I can gather that Shakespeare had named the infamous play, “Hamlet” after his first son, named “Hamnet”, who had succumbed to the symptoms of the Bubonic Plague and eventually died. As most did at that time.
Shakespeare may had felt a lot of grief following his death as “Hamnet” was his only son, heir and individual who could carry on the Shakespeare name. As his daughter who would have not been entitled to the same gratification in the 16th century. The plague was almost impossible to evade as the sanitation in the 1600’s was vile and wretched, meaning it was only the inevitability that one in three people would catch it.
Ben Johnson’s son had also died from an illness, yet Johnson’s son had been presumably diagnosed as terminally ill from birth, as in his poem, “On my first sonne”, he mentions “Seven yeeres thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay”. This translates to his son being given life for seven years and now he has to deal with the grief. An extract from the monologue in Hamlet reads, “Thousand natural shocks that fleshy is heir to”. This means that throughout life your body will be introduced to shocks and pain that your body is to inherit almost as if everyone at some point in time is introduced to the suffering of life which Hamlet had gone through but Ben Johnson’s son did not as he had died young. Johnson is known for his tongue and cheek satirical poems, yet due to the death of his son, it had changed his writing momentarily which shows the severity of the depression and pain. However Dylan Thomas had lost his Father and this could give an alternate relationship from son to Father. His Father had died from old age (natural causes) and yet again there had never been a way in which to prevent this. Finally Rudyard Kipling’s loss had been the many comrades and soldiers who had died around him. Compared to the other poets mentioned, Kipling was not entirely close to the dead around him and therefore was not in depression as we can see in his poems, they are not direct towards a specific person or entity yet of describing the atmosphere of battle etc. He also stands out from Shakespeare, Ben Johnson etc. As his poems tend to give off a positive vibe that leaves the reader feeling uplifted and may have uplifted the morale of the fellow-men around him.
Whether there are small or significant differences between them, all poets mentioned have something that they all have in common, whether it describes this in their poems or in general. Apart from themselves all being men, another similarity is that they have all lost someone close to them and it had been of no fault of their own, as the illnesses caught by Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet and Ben Johnson’s son, Benjamin, had been all terminal, and nothing could have been done to of prevented those deaths. Along side Dylan Thomas who’s father died from natural old age, which as we know is the most certain inevitable event during life. Soldiers dying in battle is also expected as it is fundamentally known that in battle there is a high risk of being killed, so therefore Rudyard Kipling could certainly not have prevented this.
They all know that they could not of prevented them being witness to loss, yet feel somehow guilty or portray this in their poems. This may just be grief towards the fact that what they once held close was taken from them.
Now looking at other similarities, I can say that even in other poems by other poets, there is a heavy use of metaphors. Metaphors help describe and give personality to a piece of text. The poet can explain, in detail how he would have liked the word to be used. For example “Hamlet was angry” could be emphasised with the use of a metaphor such as “Hamlet almost had fumes seeping out of his ears as he was visually infuriated”. This is more descriptive and helps the reader to understand the level of anger that Hamlet is undertaking.
A great metaphor in Hamlet is “For who would bear the whips and scorns of time”. I believe this means that through time, all will experience many different types of pain ( the fate of experiencing pain) such as mental and physical illness and maybe even spiritual like a family loss.
In Ben Johnson’s, On my first Sonne, ” Seven yeeres thou wert lent to me and I thee pay, Exacted by thy Fate, on the just day”. In this metaphor, Johnson views God as a banker or lender in which had lent him his son to come to earth. When it was time for his son to return with God, his son had died and exactly after seven years. Johnson had known that his son would be given back prior so it had been a loan in some sense.
“Do not go gentle into that good Night” is a poem written by Dylan Thomas, the use of metaphors is profound in the poem as the poet had been an avid reader of Shakespeare from a young age, which can be seen throughout his writings. There is a re-occurrence of light and time of day etc and they are metaphors for death as it explains a lifespan as if it were a day, specifically sunrise being birth and night being death. Seeming as the poem explains that it is sunset which would mean this person or entity is approaching death and is almost saying that you should accept death yet have your head held high This is exactly explained in the poem, “Old age should burn and rave at close of day” overall the poem’s fate is that death will come and the only choice you have is whether to embrace the inevitable or not.
“A song in a storm” is tattered with metaphors such as “The glimmering combers roll”, the abiding oceans fight” and “As our streaming bows rebuke Each billow’s baulked career”. The poem, hence the name is using a storm like setting of a sea to describe a battle, “The abiding oceans fight” or “By force of weather, not of war, in jeopardy we steer”. It is a good use of metaphor as a ocean can be wild and destructive with tidal waves and tsunami’s etc, but yet it can be calm and bearer of wondrous species of fish and coral life. Looking at the physical presentation of poem, the stanzas are much like waves in the sense that as a paragraph glorifies death and righteousness, it heaves back with a parting of the next paragraph and the reader is then hit with a new wave of metaphors and repetition.The sentence “Be well assured that on our side The abiding oceans fight”, is quite comical as then ocean is thought to be against whoever dares to sail through it yet somehow, something that is treacherous and uncontrollable is on their side.Rudyard was present during the first world war so perhaps he uses these metaphors to display that the battlefield was chaotic and like an ocean, unpredictable.
Personification is used in poems to to give a human characteristic or quality to an object or entity that would not normally feel and think.
For instance, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are many examples of this such as when Hamlet is questioning the solidarity of life and he says, “Currents turn awry”. Awry means for something to go off on an almost unexpected course, so maybe the word “currents” accompanies the word awry as, when in sea, the ocean and water can be unpredictable and therefore may alternate from calm to awry and can often feel that the sea had changed its mind and had wanted to make your journey hell. The use of personification with water is also present in “A song In a Storm” by Rudyard Kipling.
In Rudyard Kipling’s, “A song in a Storm”, it is tattered with uses of personification as he talks about the ocean being a metaphor for war and battle. For instance, “To welcome Fate’s discourtesy” as it is saying that fate is somewhat inconsiderate of people lives and well beings, by inducing them to pain and suffering. The poem is positive and was probably used at that time for propaganda as the government had needed more people to enlist into the army and this was a good technique to make the readers believe that they had owed something to their “country”.
“Dying of the Light” is an example of personification present in Dylan Thomas’s ‘Do not Go Gentle Into that Good Light’ as light does not die, as it is not alive and an entity as it is portrayed throughout the poem rigorously. As the poem is based around fighting against the inevitability of death as a a flame can be calm and elegant with wave like movements or aggressive and primal like a scorching torch. Fate is present in this poem spiritually almost as the poem is a voice in denial of almost “growing old gracefully” or with reluctance to accept departure from the ground beneath us. “Curse, Bless me now with your false tears, I pray”, This is a very powerful collection of words as it describes everyone as being doomed with a time of death even before you are born. The “Fierce Tear” is powerful because the entity is crying because of anger not sadness and really expresses the emotional image being as it is not passing across sorrow for the fact that he is leaving, yet angry almost at “God” that he has to go through with this transaction in the first place and that there is no choice as it is decided before birth.
Personification is present in Ben Johnson’s, “On My First Son”, as “O have so soon ‘scap’d world’s and flesh’s rage”. As he is describing “flesh” as life and that “flesh’s rage” is all the troubles and evil that occur in life. He uses this sentence to describe how his son dyeing before a ripe age had prevented him from experiencing the pain and suffering which occurs throughout a life time.
Rhythm in poetry is the method of describing audible features of a poem. Metre is the basic rhythmic structure of verses or lines in a verse. Many traditional verse forms utilize a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study and the actual use of metres and forms of versification are both known as prosody.
In Shakespeare’s’ Hamlet, and many works, all have metre and rhythm present, as the actors would often perform with a step in their feet to pronounce the beat(Pardon the pun). For instance in Act 1 Scene 2, there is a good representation of metre and rhythm with iambic pentameter.
O that this too too solid flesh would melt,Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ’gainst self -slaughter! O God! O God! The iambic pentameter consists of ten syllables in each line, and has stressed and unstressed syllables. The following letters are what the iambic beat consists of, “Ba” is followed by “Bum“. The Iambic pentameter is said to be of the same beat as a heartbeat or a “Tick-Tock” of a clock.
It is present in Ben Johnson first two lines of “On My First Sonne” that there is rhyme and metre. The words “joy” and “lov’d boy” both rhyme and both appear at the end of both lines.
“Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.
This appears frequently throughout the poem, as Ben Johnson had been perhaps influenced by Shakespeare and had both lived roughly around the same time period of the 1600’s, so the style of poetry would have iambic pentameter and metre etc.
In “Do not go gentle into that good night”, Dylan Thomas also shares a connection with Shakespeare as to end the Iambic Pentameter they will both use a repetition of a word i.e. Rage Rage against the Dying Of The Light”. And Shakespeare’s, “self -slaughter! O God! O God! The physical structure of the poem is in a pattern also as the “Stanzas” are each three lines each, except the last, yet the first two lines of every stanza are longer than the last.
Rudyard Kipling’s poem “A Song In A Storm”, has many types of rhythm and metre. For example, “Be well assured, though wave and wind Have mightier blows in store,That we who keep the watch assigned, Must stand to it the more”. The words, “Have mightier blows in store” and ” Must stand to it the more” both rhyme and have similar phonics. I.E. “Store” and “More”.
Iambic pentameter is also present, “No matter though our decks be swept, And mast and timber crack, We can make good all loss except, The loss of turning back. So, ‘twixt these Devils and our deep Let courteous trumpets sound, To welcome Fate’s discourtesy
Whereby it will be found, etc.
The studied poets and especially Shakespeare use literary techniques to show how people respond to forces in the world over which they have no control, as with the help of metaphors and metre, they are able to talk about their feelings on fate and how it has affected their life. For instance, they are moved by the loss of something close to them and may find writing a poem about it, healing and even maybe comforting. They make subtle references to God also which they could often blame for their chosen fate.
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