Anti AssociationI found the 'anti-association' exercise one of the most challenging. The first thing we did was sit in pairs in opposite directions but so that our ears were side by side. We then had to whisper a word in our partners ear, they could only reply with something that was totally unrelated. This then repeated itself until someone made a mistake. I found that the more I thought about what I was trying to say, the harder the exercise became and the more difficult it was to think of a totally unrelated word. Because of this I found myself trying to think of a word to say before it was even my turn however, I found that this put even more pressure on the situation and made me panic and again, unable to think of anything to say. The idea was to keep as calm as possible, and more than anything else, try not to over think. Just say the first thing that came into your mind. Glove Puppet PerformancesThe glove puppet performances help us learn how to manipulate and perform with these types of puppets. The sketches were mainly improvised so we didn't worry too much about what was going on so we could therefore focus on how we were using the puppet and what we were doing wrong and how we could improve it. We looked at elements of the performances such as how we were making our puppets talk. We saw how you should try and only move the bottom jaw of the puppet when making it talk so that it looks more life like and natural. As well as this, by making the mouth movements more exaggerated it became easier to speak with the puppet. Other tips included making sure that your arm was up straight when the glove puppet was on your hand so you know exactly where you are making it look and rather than looking at the audience, make sure that you are looking at you puppet at all times so that it almost becomes an extension of you and your aware of everything that you are making that puppet do. Hand SlapsThe hand slapping game had two parts. In pairs you both played your hands out in front of you. Taking it in turns, you'd try and slap the other persons hands without breaking eye contact. If they flinched and you hadn't slapped them, they lose. If you were to miss when trying to slap them, you'd lose. The second part of this game is almost the same only this time you'd have your hands by your sides instead of out in front of you. This exercise was all about reading the other person and trying to anticipate their move before they slapped you. Newspaper Improvisation and AccentsIn small group, we took it in turns to read a chosen article out from a newspaper. The other people in our groups would then instruct us on how to read the article out. For example, the could ask us to read it in different accents, talk louder or softer, fast or slower. Some people took to this very well, whilst others like myself struggled with it. I found it hard to read aloud anyway but when you have people asking you to change your voice whilst your reading it I found it quite hard to concentrate on doing both. Not only this, but I am also not very good at putting on accents however it was fairly amusing to both myself and the other people in my group when I tried. MimingFor this miming exercise, we were in groups of four people. One by one, we took it in turns to stand facing away from the rest of the group whilst they got into a position that could potentially tell a story. Once they were held in a 'freeze frame' the person standing away from the group was allowed to turn around and look at the freeze frame, but only for a second. They then had to close their eyes and answer questions about what was happening and what they saw from the people who were originally in the freeze frame. Intriguingly, sometimes the person with their eyes shut picked up on the smaller details of the pose but couldn't remember how many people were in it or what more than possibly one or two people were doing in the pose. They'd focus on giving this a back story then, if asked about the others, they'd have to think of a way to bring it in with what they were saying. When being asked about the pose, I found that you had to improvise quickly, without giving it too much thought otherwise you'd just complicate it for yourself as well as everyone else. CharadesCharades took place in teams. One member of the team would be given a film title from Matt and they would then have to act it out, without using any sound, to their team within a set amount of time. If their team couldn't guess it before the time was up, their opposition could have a turn to guess, if they guessed correctly, they would win the point from that round. We saw that the nearer you got to the end of your time, the bigger the gestures that were being made got as the player would try to simplify their actions as much as possible. There were a few examples of films where the 'actor' had never seen the film and had no idea how to give any clues so they would be left to act the film title out word by word and hope for the best. Clumps (Pictionary)Clumps is fairly similar to Pictionary. In pairs, we'd take it in turns to get a word given to us by Matt from a list. You'd then have to draw the word you were given and only allowed to move onto the next word once your partner had guessed correctly. This became an extremely competitive game very quickly. It tested our non verbal communication skills and it was also interesting to see how different people interpreted different words. We saw that by keeping the drawings as simple as possible, it made it quicker to not only give your partner more clues, but it also often made it much simpler to guess. Animating Found ObjectsEach person within our puppetry group bought in a small object. These ranged from sets of keys, to a tiny clog and an air freshener. Putting each of these objects on a table in the middle of the room, we each picked a single object at a time to experiment with. We discovered how we could 'animate' these objects to make them move, whether that would be flying through the air or jumping on the ground and what sort of noises would suit these otherwise inanimate objects. At first there was a sense of embarrassment throughout the group, with some members being more willing than others to make what they thought a toilet roll should sound like. However, after a while, things seems to drop into place, how we were moving the objects seemed to suit them more and more and whilst everyone was making strange noises to represent their objects, it became much less embarrassing. This was an interesting exercise as we really learnt how much we could do with an object that has no facial features, no limbs or for that matter, isn't even seen as a proper character. Swapping ChairsThis activity required a lot of concentration as well as communication between the people playing. Everyone in the room was sat on a chair, apart from one person who would have to stand up. The standing person would have to aim to sit down on the one remaining chair however, the people who were sitting down had to try and to avoid this from happening by moving seats to sit in the spare chair. This meant that at any one time, there was always a spare chair some where in the room. The sitting people could only move one at a time and the standing person could end up running around the room aiming for the spare chair. For the sitting people, it was all a matter of communication, mainly through the use of eye contact to make sure that if they were to move, they would be the one to reach the seat first. This was such a fast moving exercise you really had to concentrate on what was happening and work with the people around you.
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January 2017
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