3/1/17:
Initial Thoughts:
So today we found out the casting and surprisingly, I got James. This is quite a daunting task since James is the main character of this play has a lot of dialogue and is definitely the most developed character in the play. On the initial read through I had no idea what to make of the play or how it could be performed. I read for the character for about a third of it and he had so much to say, I won't say that I wasn't intrigued by it and some of the weirder elements of the play I did find very funny which showed some comedic potential for the play. However when reading it there was also a lot of dramatic potential for a lot of these scene especially the ending or at least with the vague idea I had of what was going on. Admittedly I couldn't follow it too well upon first reading it and I would usually put more of a focus on body language if this were a regular play since I usually think of that first and then it influences my vocal delivery. However that's cut out entirely so not having the physical base to work with made my delivery (Mixed with the fact it was my first reading) pretty bland overall. I have a lot responsibility in this piece, if I'm bland then the play overall will not live up to it's full potential at all. So I see potential for this play I just need to look at it more.
4/1/17:
Today we did our first full read through of the play. It went well but there was some definite room for improvement especially on my part. I had only just been cast as James and was obviously not too familiar with the material at this point.
Firstly I found the script very difficult to read as in since there's so much dialogue I found it difficult to keep up although that maybe due to it being the first full read through as the character. Also there was a lot of pauses, transitional moments and a lot of full stops that on the first read, made some of it seem unnatural and hard to read properly. As well as that I was just stuttering an awful lot, so with this focus on just trying to actually read it, I very rarely fully characterised James. This also meant that the pacing was very slow any time I had to read something. There are moments where it will go from me talking and then it transitions into a moment in the past and I didn't how to make them sound good, any time they had to flow it sounded very unnatural since I was always unsure if I should set it up as if the character's voice over is anticipating it or if the voice should cut off abruptly. Either way it didn't sound right.
My main criticism in my feedback was that I lack any real variation in my voice. In some scenes I did well but in others I was very one note. I put this down to not having read it before but I still feel I could've done better. I can tell that the scenes do have very varying emotions, I just haven't worked them out yet or really got a full grasp on everything.
Something I feel I must rehearse, is how to properly act with punctuation marks since with full stops, I often ignored them making the paragraph seem to fast and then other times I'd make the pause beat last for too long so either way it wasn't well executed especially with the previously mentioned transitional moments. So really I had the same issue as I mentioned in "The Christmas Tree" where the punctuation didn't seem to be well timed. The rule seemed to be that when I come to a full stop, stop for about a full second, possibly.
As I said there were no characteristics although when I thought about it afterwards the only quality I thought of that I could bring forth or identify vocally was the fact he's socially awkward. This could be shown by a use of pauses or slowing down his speech and adding an uneasy tone to it when ever he's interacting with anyone. I'll have to read it more to get a good feel on that though.
13/1/17:
After the read today I was thinking about what James is like and how he should sound. I feel I'm giving him a delivery that's very similar to how I actually talk although when reading him, I get reminded of a certain character. He reminds me of Will from "The Inbetweeners" in some regards. Everything about the way he talks, in terms of when he's talking about himself implies that he's fully aware of why he's unpopular but he's just grown to be comfortable and even embrace it in some regards. He doesn't like the fact he's unpopular and genuinely hates some of the reasons why but he also looks at the benefits of it. I get a slight optimistic feeling from him at certain points during the play, especially when he's talking about being a library monitor and how the quiet does him some good. There is a slightly optimistic tone to him at some points. Although at others he's acknowledging how rubbish his life is so he varies a lot in terms of how he feels although it seems as though he really just wants to be normal. Going back to the optimism, he's aware that his uncle has a lot of issues but still looks on the positive side of having him there, how ever that changes when he realises that Patrick may ruin his chances of making a friend.
This is showing that I will have to look even more at this script to pin point the emotional variants from moment. The plays tone as well as James's emotions shift a lot so I will have to do the same and show this other wise the one note performance will seem very out of place, some moments won't flow very well and certain parts will probably be boring.
A problem I'm having with reading this script is when I get to longer paragraphs such as my breakdown near the end. I feel I have to read it rather fast to reflect the panicky over thinking nature of it all but when I read it, I do stutter a lot and lose my place. It was an issue I had the last read through and it hasn't gone away. Even though we were told we don't have to memorise it, I really think I should look over the script quite a lot during the lead up other wise the final read will have absolutely no natural flow and seem forced. If it seems forced then all potential of emotional connection will be gone.
20/1/17:
Today we finished our third read through since we had to stop yesterday after 20 pages and this is the day where I got notes as we were reading the script which I found very helpful.
I got only a couple of notes and they were mainly to do with the way I was saying a certain line, usually it would be said with the wrong intention. For example when I say "Because truthfully I haven't got the symptoms of autism. Really." I originally said it like I'd been hiding it and I was ashamed to admit it, which didn't work in the context of the scene. it was meant to be said as if I was letting it out as if it was just a bad excuse I'd been using and I was being very serious about it. I tried that and it was much better.
A note of criticism I gave myself was that I felt my voice was too weak and not properly warmed up. There were points when reading (Especially during longer paragraphs) where my diction was very poor in a lot of places and the words just melded together. My projection wasn't great today either but is improving a bit from the last session.
While I have read them a fair few time I still think I need to get more familiar with the longer paragraphs since there is still a lot of stuttering and the natural tones and inflections go away when I'm noticeably struggling to read the lines
I've noticed despite my words blending together at points, I'm getting a little better with the punctuation and recognising the structure of certain lines. I even read a line wrong and then recognised how I should say it after I finished reading it. I can't remember hat the line was but I picked up on it whilst I was reading it. I even corrected myself before Sally could give me the note about it.
A good thing about this rehearsal was that I noticed an aspect of my performance that I think is key. I noticed I was differentiating my voice between narration and in scene dialogue. My voice when narrating is generally a bit more projected and feels like it has a lower tone, almost like during narration, he's fairly comfortable and has the slightest bit of confidence. Whereas when I'm talking to someone else in the play my voice is usually a tad quieter and awkward since that is how socially awkward people can interact. They could have confident thoughts but in real life they can't handle things as well. This is good since it makes a key distinction between if it's an interaction or exposition and that needs to be clear other wise it can be very confusing. In a film you can see when narration kicks in, but not here, so as of now I think I'm on the right track in that regard.
3/2/17:
Today we had another full read through of the script and it went very well.
My main note was that even though I'm doing very well and showing some good potential, I just need to read the script more. I have been reading it as often as I can but it's just the big paragraphs I struggle with. I think I just have trouble balancing the speed and the emotion of the scene while trying to keep track of where I am. I'll still keep reading it though whenever I can. This does bring up a problem however about the fact that if I still have this problem when actually recording, it may lose something since I'll still be looking at the script (Even though I'll have my head up) it may make me lose focus on the emotional tones in my voice and make me just focus on the script. I'll be honest that is something I really don't want to happen.
There is a part in the script where I start panicking and I'm supposed to start crying. I've never done this before, not even in a regular play so to try and just convey that through my voice could be difficult. I tried it out and found it initially quite hard to do although as I went along it got better. Something I tried doing was like what I mentioned with "Bioshock Infinite", just trying to reach an emotional place. I tried imagining I was in this scenario and and compare it o whenever I've been stressed to make some anger surface. Not much just enough so I could show frustration or fear. It seemed to work OK but is something I really need to practice.
One technique that I have used when rehearing was to make sure anytime I had to take an in-breath, I would move my head away from the microphone, so that the quick although still mostly inaudible breath isn't heard. I have problems with breath control in terms of knowing when/how to take small breaths in a sentence to keep the flow in the way most actors can, so they are less frequent than everyone else's. I often remedy it by carrying on with the sentence and when I get to the end of a sentence or a punctuation mark, I feel the need to do this. It does help with the flow a little bit and still cannot be heard which is a good thing.
During that same scene is a point where I have to shout "Sorry" to someone I run into by accident and to create the illusion that I'm moving and that I turn my head back to say sorry to him, I will actually turn my head backwards. It's like with what I saw in the session for "Family Guy" and acting out what you're actually doing. It really does help if it's planned out well and this when it's properly mixed into the background sound effects as well will suggest what my character is doing.
9/2/17:
With everything I've talked about and researched and rehearsed over this project I think I'm ready as the recording session is almost here. I'll certainly be rehearsing, reading and familiarising as much as I can. I still have a couple problems such as a dry throat occasionally and some horrible stuttering but everything else such as vocal energy, variation and timing I believe is up to a decent standard and I should deliver an effective performance. Two concerns I have are that being in the recording studio for the first time may make me nervous and something may change but that isn't very likely at all. Also I'm wondering how the stand I hold my script on will affect how I perform. I will have to find a place for it to go so it's not blocking me or pushing me too far back from the mic. In terms of page turning, I've done it so that I don't talk while I'm doing it so the slight pause can be cut out if need be. I'm going to hold a page up and have the next page visible just in case any sentences carry over which a couple of them do. I feel prepared so I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do.
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