Final project reflection

https://youtu.be/Wh6yEHPk2e4

For my final project I chose a poem 'Cinderella' by Roald Dahl to do as a monologue. I was having a hard time discovering a poem or short story that I could perform by myself for more than 5 minutes before I found Cinderella by Roald Dahl. The poem is very rhythmical because of a lot of rhyming words. Also, the author reinterpreted the story of Cinderella very frankly which attracted my interest. And I thought it will be really funny if I act it in one man show.

 To do this project, I needed to think about stage, filming, lighting, blocking, and props all by myself. Eventually, I asked Charlotte for some help and I could figure a lot of parts out. The biggest thing that was helpful was filming part. I thought it was impossible for me to act and also use the camera at the same time. Also, there were a lot of props that I could use i  n Charlotte's house such as extension hair which I used as a wig, barbie dolls that I used for ugly sisters puppet, mask that I wore when I acted as a narrator, and weird shape of chopstick that I used for magic fairy's wand. 

 While we were filming it, there were a lot of trials and errors. There were lots of scenes that I needed to break down because I made too many mistakes when I tried to speak my lines in one take and there were a lot of parts that I needed to change my roles. So, I decided to film it lines by lines and then connected all of them by editing. To cover the awkwardness disconnection between the lines, I used sound effects and music.

In this project I had to do a job of actor, staff, director, and editor. It was possible to complete this project because of grateful help from Charlotte. By doing this one man show, I could learn the necessary preparations and abilities of all jobs involved in the production. As an actor, I needed to be more prepared with my lines, as a staff, I needed to organize the props so that the filming process could be smoother and faster, as a director, I needed to have more specific and clear idea of whole picture of the production so that I could give a quick and clear order to Charlotte who was filming it, and lastly as a editor, I needed to film all the scenes that I needed earlier so that I could have more time and make the production better. It was really great experience to approach the production as many jobs. I was so tired and frustrated during the process because I thought I couldn't complete project, but the completed production was totally worth it to go over all that time.

Brutal Cinderella one man show

I have chosen the poem "Cinderella" by Roald Dahl for my final project in IB literature and performance class. In order to do the final project by myself, I was looking for a poem or short story that I could perform as a monologue. However, I couldn't find an adequate literature that I can perform by myself for 5 minutes. Then, I discovered the poem Cinderella by Roald Dahl which is totally different from the original story. I was shocked when I first read this literature because it is very brutal in its description. But somehow it is also hilarious. Rhold Dahl uses a very dark sense of humor in his poem. It does not seem like a children story because it is so scary and the humor would probably not be understood by children. I believe it is not the real story of Cinderella, but I liked how the writer described and composed the rhythm. It sounds like a nursery rhyme.

To adapt this poem to a stage performance, I would like to do a one man show on the stage. There should be a total of 6 characters, including a narrator, Cinderella, prince, the two evile stepsistes, and magic fairy I need to act. In order to show the audience that I am portraying a different charcter I will be focusing on changing my voice, my facial expression, and posture. I would also like to change the lighting in order to show a change in character if I will be able to have a helper. I want to portray the characters as following:

The Narrator: The Narrator should be frank and good at controlling the dynamic of lines                        because he is an omniscient character. His voice will be sounding clear, confident, and experienced. His facial expression and posture will reflect the characteristics of his voice.

Cinderella: Cinderella‘s characteristic should be young, powerless, naive, and innocent. To express the characteristics I will act more girly and shy . However, when she finds out that the prince is in fact a bad person, it opens up her eyes. Her character undergoes a development almost like she is taught a moral lesson.

Prince: The Prince is a person who is used to get what he wants. He seems like a gentle and nice guy at the beginning, like a typical prince. But his richness has made him arrogant and he only cares about himself. He is also a brute because he kills the evil stepsisters and almost kills Cinderella.

The two evil Step sisters: The two sisters are very rude, nasty and greedy. I will try to make the weird and crappy voice when I act them. Also, I will use a lazy posture and ugly facial expressions.

The Magic Fairy: Fairy can be expressed like an old wise woman. She is a considerate, caring, and motherly character. When I act her, I will use a stick that can represent a magic wand.

Lastly, I would love to use some sound effect and theme music. I will use horror or extreme sound effect when one sister flushes the shoes in the loo and prince cuts off sisters heads. Also, I will use very bright and happy music when magic fairy turns Cinderella into a princess and the ending scene.

Cinderella

I guess you think you know this story.
You don't. The real one's much more gory.
The phoney one, the one you know,
Was cooked up years and years ago,
And made to sound all soft and sappy
just to keep the children happy.
Mind you, they got the first bit right,
The bit where, in the dead of night,
The Ugly Sisters, jewels and all,
Departed for the Palace Ball,
While darling little Cinderella
Was locked up in a slimy cellar,
Where rats who wanted things to eat,
Began to nibble at her feet.

She bellowed 'Help!' and 'Let me out!
The Magic Fairy heard her shout.
Appearing in a blaze of light,
She said: 'My dear, are you all right?'
'All right?' cried Cindy .'Can't you see
'I feel as rotten as can be!'
She beat her fist against the wall,
And shouted, 'Get me to the Ball!
'There is a Disco at the Palace!
'The rest have gone and I am jealous!
'I want a dress! I want a coach!
'And earrings and a diamond brooch!
'And silver slippers, two of those!
'And lovely nylon panty hose!
'Done up like that I'll guarantee
'The handsome Prince will fall for me!'
The Fairy said, 'Hang on a tick.'
She gave her wand a mighty flick
And quickly, in no time at all,
Cindy was at the Palace Ball!

It made the Ugly Sisters wince
To see her dancing with the Prince.
She held him very tight and pressed
herself against his manly chest.
The Prince himself was turned to pulp,
All he could do was gasp and gulp.
Then midnight struck. She shouted,'Heck!
I've got to run to save my neck!'
The Prince cried, 'No! Alas! Alack!'
He grabbed her dress to hold her back.
As Cindy shouted, 'Let me go!'
The dress was ripped from head to toe.

She ran out in her underwear,
And lost one slipper on the stair.
The Prince was on it like a dart,
He pressed it to his pounding heart,
'The girl this slipper fits,' he cried,
'Tomorrow morn shall be my bride!
I'll visit every house in town
'Until I've tracked the maiden down!'
Then rather carelessly, I fear,
He placed it on a crate of beer.

At once, one of the Ugly Sisters,
(The one whose face was blotched with blisters)
Sneaked up and grabbed the dainty shoe,
And quickly flushed it down the loo.
Then in its place she calmly put
The slipper from her own left foot.
Ah ha, you see, the plot grows thicker,
And Cindy's luck starts looking sicker.

Next day, the Prince went charging down
To knock on all the doors in town.
In every house, the tension grew.
Who was the owner of the shoe?
The shoe was long and very wide.
(A normal foot got lost inside.)
Also it smelled a wee bit icky.
(The owner's feet were hot and sticky.)
Thousands of eager people came
To try it on, but all in vain.
Now came the Ugly Sisters' go.
One tried it on. The Prince screamed, 'No!'
But she screamed, 'Yes! It fits! Whoopee!
'So now you've got to marry me!'
The Prince went white from ear to ear.
He muttered, 'Let me out of here.'
'Oh no you don't! You made a vow!
'There's no way you can back out now!'
'Off with her head!'The Prince roared back.
They chopped it off with one big whack.
This pleased the Prince. He smiled and said,
'She's prettier without her head.'
Then up came Sister Number Two,
Who yelled, 'Now I will try the shoe!'
'Try this instead!' the Prince yelled back.
He swung his trusty sword and smack
Her head went crashing to the ground.
It bounced a bit and rolled around.
In the kitchen, peeling spuds,
Cinderella heard the thuds
Of bouncing heads upon the floor,
And poked her own head round the door.
'What's all the racket? 'Cindy cried.
'Mind your own bizz,' the Prince replied.
Poor Cindy's heart was torn to shreds.
My Prince! she thought. He chops off heads!
How could I marry anyone
Who does that sort of thing for fun?

The Prince cried, 'Who's this dirty ****?
'Off with her nut! Off with her nut!'
Just then, all in a blaze of light,
The Magic Fairy hove in sight,
Her Magic Wand went swoosh and swish!
'Cindy! 'she cried, 'come make a wish!
'Wish anything and have no doubt
'That I will make it come about!'
Cindy answered, 'Oh kind Fairy,
'This time I shall be more wary.
'No more Princes, no more money.
'I have had my taste of honey.
I'm wishing for a decent man.
'They're hard to find. D'you think you can?'
Within a minute, Cinderella
Was married to a lovely feller,
A simple jam maker by trade,
Who sold good home-made marmalade.
Their house was filled with smiles and laughter
And they were happy ever after.

IB exam

For the IB exam, I didn't prepare enough to take an exam. First, shamefully I didn't complete the book "Whale rider". I only watched a movie and read some parts of the book that we talked about in the class. So, when I was taking the exam, I actually had no idea what I was writing. I spent 30 minutes to read a book during the test. It was very embarrassing experience to just sit there down and stare at the questions without coming up with any ideas. Eventually, I chose one question and tried to answer it, but my point was totally off from the question. I described the scene when Kahu goes into the ocean to reach to whales and finally she rides those whales and grand father realizes that Kahu is the true leader of the tribe. I didn't even complete it. I only wrote one and half pages about when Kahu was trying to approach to the whales and ended up with couple of lines that describes when Kahu actually rides the whale because I was out of time. 

The second day's exam was even worse. My teacher recommended us to memorize two poems from each of two poets, so that we could bring them up during the test and answer the questions. However, I.. . didn't memorize any of them. I honestly don't know why I didn't or couldn't do the works that my English teacher told me to do. Even when I had extra review session with her, I was just starring at the poems and not thinking anything. Thus, when I was taking the exam, I couldn't write a single word until most of the time passed. I literally wrote three sentences about "Because I could not stop for Death" and handed it. 

I really don't understand my behavior in past few weeks. I was totally out of my mind and  the book and the poems were not coming into my brain. I handed several quizzes without writing any single word. I felt so sorry and shamed to my teacher, but my mind was not on working.

Notes

Emily Dickinson
Death

Immortality, civility, eternity
Slant rhyme

First stanza
Death-, ourselves-

Second stanza
He knew no haste
My labor and my leisure too
Away, civility

Third stanza
We passed the ×3
School, children
Recess, Ring
Gazing grain, setting sun

Fourth stanza
Gossamer, Gown
Tippet, Tulle
Chill, Tulle

Fifth stanza
Ground, ground

Sixth stanza
Horse's Heads
Day, Eternity

Key words
Death, immortality, eternity, civility, we

Are black and white opposite?

Emily Dickinson – Death

“Poets often withhold certitude, which can at the same time empower readers to think creatively.”

My favorite part of literature is poetry. It is because I hate reading and it takes extremely long time for me to read novel. However, since I am a musician, I love to read lyrics of songs. As a singer, I think delivery of the lyrics is one of the most important part of performing. To deliver it properly, singers need to put a lot of time and effort to understand the lyrics. It might be impossible to fully understand the message of author. But, readers can receive the literature and understand it in their own way.

Firstly, death is the biggest theme of this poem. Emily Dickinson mentioned a lot about characteristic of death. Personification of death encourages readers to think about characteristic of death which most of people usually don't think about too much. Ironically, the other biggest theme in the poem is life which is usually considered as an opposite idea of death. By combining the characteristics of those two opposite ideas, it encourages readers to think about the idea which is important but is avoided by people to be thought about.

There are a lot of poems and lyrics that often withhold certitude. It is because human can never understand others' thought perfectly. So, the smart poets know the fact and try to write their ideas that they want to speak out to the world in the most effective way. In my opinion, that is why readers feel like poets often withhold certitude. Also, themes of poems always exist in somewhere in every individual's life. People just forget about things that are not related to them at the moment or are not considered as important part. And those small ideas that authors mention stick into readers brain and makes it to work in different way, which causes the thing called creativity.

Too well described...

Last Wednesday our English class had a sweet trip to New York Broad Way. Since, it was the first time that I visited Manhattan after I came to this school, and my girl friend was also accompanying, I was extremely excited. The show that we watched was "Curious incident of the dog in the night time". The play was basically about a boy who has an autism. The boy tries to find the person who killed a dog, which leads him to find his mom who left him when he was young. In the first half, most of the story happens in the boy's home town but the second half was about the boy's journey to find his mom which lives in London.

 The biggest thing that caught my attention was staging. They used a lot of weird sound effects such as siren sounds and electronic sounds. Purpose of the sound effects was to describe the characteristic of autistic individual. People who are affected by autism has great ability of visualization, but also has poor hearing ability. The sound effects that they used perfectly expressed how autistic feel when they hear things. Also, the lightening was very captivative and splendid. It made me to be speechless. The other thing that I was so interested was the cool props. The whole floor was built up by the tiles which could be opened, closed, and go down.

 This show changed my opinions of  autism or those people whose actions are weird. I used to keep away from those people, as if they could hurt me. But the show described the life of autist so well. The sound effect, lightening, blocking, choreography, acting, and the way how author told the story strongly encouraged me to focus on the play and helped me to understand the mystery of the human brain. Although the show had lots of interesting and funny elements, topic was still heavy.

I suppose that the show affected the audiences in all different ways. For me, before I got into the theater, I was just glad about watching a Broad Way play with Charlotte which is huge fan of Theatre. During the show, however, there were a lot of scenes that reminded some of my personal memories which made me extremely nervous and uncomfortable in the theater. Fortunately, she recognized that I was having hard time just sitting there down and watching it. I sincerely appreciated that she hold my cold hands and helped me to release my tension. After the show, I was exhausted and surprised because of the too well described play. I would say this play is a awesome show, but I won't recommend it to people who already know and understand about an autism. You will feel extreme pain in either your brain or heart for 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Time to go back to a student from an actor

We played "Once On This Island" for the winter musical in Cheshire Academy. This musical is an adaption of a novel called My Love My Love by Rosa Guy. I was one of the member in the casts and I played Daniel. Daniel is one of the main characters in the musical. For me, it was really hard to play Daniel because I have never done romantic actings before and it was my first time acting on the stage. So I had been getting too much stress and pressure before the show. However, fortunately the show went pretty well. Among the entire music in the musical, my favorite song was "Pray". Even though I lay down on the floor for the entire song and pretend to sleep, I could feel every actor's energy from the song and a lot of audiences told me they got goose bumps by that song. 

When I first got a script of the musical and watched the entire performance on the youtube, I was actually so confused. Before I read the script and watched it, I was just excited about the fact that I got the male leading role. However, after I realized that I need to be a jerk and the time of my singing part is less then the time of laying down on the ground and driving, I was disconcerted and disappointed. It took quite a lot of time and effort to get rid of those emotions and focus on my role. I think this show was generally very interesting and well fitted in our black box theater. First of all, I think the four gods were very well described and each characters were very well cast. Maggie's voice expressed the Agwe's dignity, Abigail's vibrant performance expressed characteristic of Asaka, Charlotte's intensity and moderation expressed the Erzulie's beauty, and Gianna's acting and make up perfectly expressed the Papa ge's creepiness. Also, I think the actors who had peasant and rich roles did a great job to express their character. Even though I had little bit of dissatisfaction of my role and the ending, I would say the play was very interesting and beautiful.

Two months of preparing for this musical "Once on this island" was very meaningful time for me because a lot of things were new experience to me and I felt those time healed my scars from my past. Firstly, this was my first performance that I acted on the stage. When I was in Korea, I once dreamed to be an actor and learned acting but things didn't go well because of my back problem. Eventually, I needed to give up everything that I sincerely desired and had a hard time forgetting everything. So, I truly appreciate this chance that I could be on the stage and work with everyone for the performance. I needed to answer the question "what was your favorite memory during the rehearsal?" for information about me that was gonna be hanging on the wall with my photo. I answered "when I wear the microphone" because wearing microphone was totally new thing and somehow I felt wearing microphone was kind of funny. However, my real answer that I hid in my heart was "every time when I open the black box door". It's really hard to explain that feeling but I always got emotional and excited when I opened the black box door and stepped into the black box. However, that doesn't mean I only had easy and joyful time in the black box. Honestly, there were several times that I wanted to storm out of the black box during the rehearsal or just skip the rehearsal and not show up. When Ms.Digiacomo yelled at me although when I was trying really hard, when I could imagine my history grade was falling down because of 4 hours rehearsals, when my partners attitude, words, and actions annoyed me and drove me crazy, when I needed to lay down on the cold, hard black box floor for more than 30 minutes, and when I could never get the one single note for my duet song and practiced it like for a hundred of times, I really wanted to kick the door and run away from the black box. I actually don't know how I handled those hard time and have good feelings and memories about everything that happened in the past two months. The truth is I learned a lot of new things that I haven't learned in my life before and became a little bit bigger person than couple months ago. One thing that I really felt bad for everyone was even though I was the oldest kid among the students, I couldn't fulfill the role of it because of bunch of my excuses. For the next year's musical, I hope I can be a person who can embrace the group and contribute to make a better team.