Friday, 29 April 2016

Reflection Week 2-3



During week 2 we first combined ideas for the final story. We decided our story to be scary at the start and end happily. We added the roller coaster effect by changing the mood set with a steady flow. For example, the story could start scary and become more tense and then suddenly become scary and this mood keeps repeating till the end of the story. The rollercoaster effect is good because it makes the audience engaged and more curious.  We decided our story is going to combine elements of Narnia and peter pan together. So we decided to have mythical creatures and the setting of Neverland in Peter Pan. 


This is our Story Board:



Page 1 of story board


Page 2 of story board




In brief, our story is about a girl home alone and she drops her book under the bed. When she picks it up, the book sucks her up into a magical jungle. She is trapped and she has to find a way out. the she meets a mythical creature and he tells her a way to escape. She had to climb a mountain, cross the scorch desert and fight the three headed lion. Finally, she wakes up and she found out it was a dream. We developed and transformed our ballad/horror story for a family audience by adding mythical creatures to our story. This is good for kids because kids generally like mythical animals and creatures. We also made this story for a family audience by making the story less scary. However, we would have some tense scenes in our performance. Children usually get scared if the story or performance is too frightening. We also made the story very clear and easy to understand. If the story is complicated then the audience would be confused. During the creative process, everyone was included. We all shared our own ideas and we also included all of them. To make the amount of work fair, we decided to split the it. To make sure everyone is clear with what they are doing, we discussed and answered any queries. Everyone also put effort equally and contributed as a group. In music, we are using  live music and sound effects to make the story come to life. In art, we could do live puppet show and photos to make the story come to life. We also decided to have optical illusions, Visual effects and finally 4D effects to make the story come to life. 




Research on Phantasmagoria and Indonesian Shadow Puppets:


Phantasmagoria was a form of theatre which used a magic lantern to project frightening images such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts onto walls, smoke, or semi-transparent screens, frequently using rear projection. The projector was portable, which allowed the projected image to move and change size on the screen, and multiple projecting devices allowed for quick switching of different images. It was invented in France by a Belgian physicist in the late 18th century. It gained it's popularity through most of Europe, especially England, throughout the 19th century.


A video about the history behind the Phantasmagoria Light show


Shadow puppetry is an ancient form of storytelling  and entertainment which uses flat jointed figures  to create cut-out figures which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen . The cut-out shapes of the puppets sometimes include translucent color or other types of detailing. A range of effects can be achieved by moving both the puppets and the light source. Shadow play is popular in various cultures; presently there are more than 20 countries known to have shadow show troupes. Shadow play is an old tradition and it has a long history in Southeast Asia.


An Indonesian Shadow Puppet Performance


A Performance on the Gamelan music

Reflection Week 1

To make the powerpoint the teacher had told us to to get into a group of four. I was with Rozita, Tereza and Zainab. We had to first do an activity about what skills we had used during art, music and english and we had to write them down. Then we shared our ideas to the class. After sharing our ideas we had to create a powerpoint with your group that is about skills we used in music and art for phantasmagoria and shadow puppet show. In the powerpoint we also talked about what skills we used in our english horror story and english ballad. we had about 3 lessons to create the powerpoint. the teacher also had provided a sheet with ideas for the powerpoint and the proper layout to create the powerpoint. The sheet had detailed instructions on what needs to be included in the powerpoint.


WORK IN PROGRESS


                                      typing up the information and adding finishing touches 

discussing and sharing our ideas for the power point 
Researching about Phantasmagoria and watching many videos about it

Phantasmagoria/Shadow puppets Powerpoint










Week 1 - Rotating & Finding out the new unit


My name is Kalyani Nambiar and I'm in year 8, this is my MYP Arts Process Journal. On this blog you will find documented evidence of my learning through The Arts | Drama | Music. This term I am going to be in Arts. My strongest subject is Drama and I want to develop my skills in Art.

Interdisciplinary unit : The Art of Story Telling English Visual Art Music 
 Key Concept: Communication 
Related Concept: Narrative 
Global Context: Personal & Cultural Expression 
Statement of Inquiry: Symbols and conventions used to convey meaning to audiences are influenced by time and space 
Inquiry Question: What is the relationship between arts and audiences? 
ATLs:  Social collaboration, research: media literacy, self-management: organization/affective skills

Stage Combat Tutorial

Melodrama Titanic Video and Reflection

Link to my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdUgPRDo6qQ&feature=youtu.be

The members of my group (excluding me) were Aria, Mario, Jad and Jackson. We wanted our plot of the act to be a romantic revenge story. 


Our story has 5 characters:

1) The villain - the villain is the captain. He is an evil, jealous and intolerant man. This character is played by Jad

2) The henchman - the henchman is the captain;'s assistant. He defends and supports the villain in any situations. He is also bossed or controlled by the Captain. This character is played by me.

3) The Hero - the hero is a very successful and rich politician. He is a handsome and charming. This character is played by Jackson.

4) The maiden - is a beautiful and young school teacher. Innocent and humble. This character is played by Aria

5) The fool- Is a poor Mexican cleaner who is working in the ship. He is in his fifties. He has a silly personality and is unwise and foolish. This character is played by Mario. 


The story begins with a conversation between The captain and his assistant. Then the maiden and the Hero are introduced. Suddenly the maiden and the hero bump into each other. The hero falls down and the maiden helps him up. He maiden and the hero start flirting and eventually fall in love. The sailor notices them two flirting and starts getting jealous, since he was also in love with her and wanted to marry her. So, the assistant and the sailor make plan to ruin their relationship. They decide that on the next day they will crash into an iceberg nearby to make ship sink. However, when they were discussing the plan one of the cleaners overhears them. The cleaner decides that he should go and them that he heard them discussing the plan. So, the cleaner went to them and told the captain and the assistant that he heard them talking about crashing into the iceberg. Then they pick up and argument and the captain kicks the cleaner out. Since the captain doesn't want anyone to find out that he has come up with this evil plan he decides to frame the politician.  The captain and the assistant inform the politician that he is trying to sink the ship because he wants the maiden to be dead. However, the maiden overhears the conversation and after the politician left the conversation the maiden creates an argument with the sailor and the assistant. The maiden said that the politician was lying and he wanted to make the politician look like he is the villain. The assistant slaps her and takes her to a small chamber/box and puts her inside. Then the captain convinces the maiden to marry him. The cleaner see them torturing her and goes and informs the politician. The politician gets angry and fights the assistant and the assistant is punches and falls down. It was getting too late while the politician and the captain were fighting the assistant crawls to the bridge of the ship and stops it and the ship suddenly hits the ice berg. the ship starts sinking and the politician, captain and the assistant die. The cleaner rescues the maiden. the maiden finds out the politician is dead and she commits suicide. Finally, the cleaner ends up surviving.

To show my character:
  • I had a very strong British accent
  • I wore a suit vest 
  • I used body language and gestures
I think the performance was successful But I could have Improved on two things:
  • I could have stayed in character since I laughed in one of the scenes
  • When the scene were captain and I were having a conversation with the politician I could have sailed the ship since there was no one doing that

Props for Melodrama Act


I am going to be using this blazer/ suit jacket since I am going to be the henchman or in this case captain John smith's assistant. I chose this item because usually sailors wear a blazer which is white but I didn't have one so I used a black one. This blazer shows my character because a blazer is usually worn by a captain of a ship. But they blazer also have embroidery and a badge.

Melodrama Video and Reflection





This video shows a melodrama act. There are characters like the hero which is played by Jackson, the villain by Jad, The villain's sidekick by me, the fool by Mario and the maiden by aria. The story starts off with the maiden being fancy and pretty. Then the villain whispers to the sidekick to go tell the maiden that the villain want to kiss the maiden. So the sidekick walks up to the maiden and whispers to her that the villain wants to kiss her. The maiden slaps her and the sidekick chases her and ties the maiden's hand with a rope. The maidens floppy hat falls onto the ground. Then the sidekick grabs the maiden and ties her to the train track (in this case we used blocks). The maiden cries and screams and the the villain and sidekick circles around her. Then the fool who walks by sees the maiden and the hat and goes and reports it to the hero. Then the hero walks towards the sidekick and punches him and the sidekick fall down and dies. Then the villain and hero have a gruesome fight and the villain dies. Finally, the hero and the maiden hug and they live happily ever after!

Melodrama Stock Characters



The Hero: 


  • usually saves the maiden/damsel
  • Handsome
  • Manly
  • believes in justice






The Maiden/Damsel:
  • Beautiful
  • Saved by the hero
  • Innocent
  • Courageous







The Villain: 
  • sneers behind the back of the victims
  • has a evil laugh
  • long moustache that he curls
  • comes up with an evil plan
  • well dressed
  • lacks integrity




The Aged Parents:
  • Weak
  • deaf
  • rich
  • usually blackmailed by the villain
  • Sophisticated
  • Parents of the damsel/maiden