Interview Whitney Houston – I always love you

 

Who wrote it?

 Discussion about the original version by Dolly Parton - (Country)

The particularities of the interpretation of Whitney for this movie: context and finding the emotions that would make sense.

 One example of a extraordinary performance under  pressure and limiting factors such as time, audience, and judges: Kody Lee - X factor audition - live. 

For today’s performance:

THINK-PREPARE-SAY IT

A song of free choice to show your emotions .

Nuria, Elisabeth, Maisa performed to the class.

Story Components:

Beginning: setting, characters, relationships 

Middle: the conflict

End: resolution

what specific things need to happen in these components?

Beginning: 1-first you need to show and explain to the audience: the setting, who is who, where you are, what your relationship is to the other characters. Time of day, time of year, period, the Society you are in (if applicable). Show your audience these things. Never assume because this is a well-known song,  your audience knows it all and you only need to go through the emotions.

Don't cheat the audience and don't cheat your performance. Music tends to be slower the beginning which is the liberated to give you the opportunity to show these details. Take your time and show them.

When your character appears for the first time be sure you ‘introduce’ yourself to the audience.

2) What does your character want? Who or what is preventing your character from getting what they want? Or who wants something from you that you don't want to give?

What strategies and tactics can your character use to get what they want?

How can you put off that person in avoid giving it? What can your character do to win?

3) There is resolution of the conflict. Did I get what I wanted? How did I get it? If I lost, why? Who are the winners and losers?

Remember: your character does not know How the music ends and you must play it for the best outcome the character would want to the very end. Never play a scene like you know how it will end. Create surprise.

stories tend to have a instrumental at the beginning to allow time for the introduction, the tempo sets  the pace for the conflict, leading to  explain the outcome while maintaining the intensity.

Learn to play the story like it's the first time it has ever been told. This requires skill.

Make no assumptions.

Explain/show the details in the introduction.

What does your character know and not know?

Don't predict the outcome of the story.

 

Your character within the music has a story progression, a narrative, so we start at the beginning and move it through the progression of this story. Your character learns and develops as they story unfolds. Find those moments and show those discoveries, realisations, new ideas.

And this applies to each song, scene, each act, to the entire show.

 

By imagining your environment, show us:

·       where you are.

·       What time of the day.

·       The weather.

·       Remember to show us what you think and what you feel about this setting.

Use actions in phrases of music. Always use simple proactive verbs that can be expressed physically. I want to charm, threat, comfort, tease, patronise, seduce, insult, dismiss, plead, beg, and so forth.

What effect are the actions having on the other characters? Are you making full contact? (i.e. head, heart, guts)

 

·       You have misplaced the book.

·       You remembered you have your wallet in your pocket.

·       Getting home and realise you have forgotten something.

·       Deciding not to answer the phone.

·       Realise you forgotten something while coming through a book.

·       Finding a wallet while on the phone.

·       Cleaning your teeth and decide not to answer the phone

·       Writing a letter and realizing you are in love.

·       While you are reading a letter, you can hear someone coming up to the steps, so you must find a place at to hide the letter.

 Students that participated: James, Melissa, Stanley, Archie, Izy, Elisabeth, Nuria, David, Melissa, Rinev.

Song: Killing me softly - Fugees

 

I will tell the story with my own words: that’s my true and I will express it through emotions, gesture, and preparation.
 

 

Getting the thought 

Thoughts are repeatable, emotions are not. Get the thought and emotion will follow simply and naturally. 

 

Origins of the western Theatre Tradition. Imagine your ancestors sitting by the fire in the cave. What happened?

6^th Century BC – Greece. The first actor, Thespis, steps out of a choir and speaks as an individual for the 1^st time in the theatrical history. Why did he do that?

 

1)      One is blind

2)      One is deaf

3)      One cannot understand the language and subtitles aren’t available.

 

Your task, using your talent, imagination, craft, and passion is to reach each one of these audience members equally, sharing and projecting the story of your character.

Expressing you thoughts trough action is the "glue" that brings the story and the character together .

Remember the thoughts must come first and then the actions 

Think  - Look – Move (action) – Sing 

 

 

Exercise1 : The hand:

Thinking in pictures (visualization)

Visualize a gorgeous landscape, a mountain, a light house in a storm (repeat to grow the images on your imagination).
 

To play the situation, play the opposites. 

Group exercise: Expressing your thoughts with actions only ( no props, no voice).


Performance Practice:

In group or individually, choose a song that will be rehearsed in the afternoon using the process of expressing emotion trough actions and perform it to the class.

Group 1:
 David, James, Stanley, Izy, Maisa;  Roses - Outcast

Group 2:
 Nuria, Elisabeth, Nicoletta; Romantic Homicide

Duo: 
Rinev, Debora;  Say Something - J.T

Solos:
*Keanu:  Chelsea grin
*Evans: own composition

Individuate your character 

Character groupings: 

Quartets, couples, duets … 

Know and show the character development 

What was I like before the curtain went up? 

How do I change in each act?  

How am I different from the first scene to the final curtain quest from?  

Have I learnt anything? 

How have I matured or grown up?  

Have I aged? 

 

Relationship exercise 

Without speaking and not miming show us a relationship: 

* Remember to show not only the relationship but how the individuals think and feel about each other.