One week left and it was a really good day along with an emotional one for me knowing that Friday coming would be our last day.
Today we had a feel of our performance space, what we would be working towards and how we would be able to approach the space in a way in which would make the performance a success.
During this time we really got stuck in with Josh's story, full of emotion and meaning. Then we had a run through of songs, different stories and what we as individuals loved, showing people that just because we have taken different paths it doesn't mean we don't share similar interests.
The most exciting part for me was to hear the songs in the studio being played for the first time! - it was gonna be a madness!!
Sunday, 21 July 2013
Community - Episode 8
3 weeks left and we were able to see what the beginning video would look like in our performance (upload it shortly) and it was one full of positivity.
We started the day first of all with helping the young offenders get their Bronze Arts Award and what this consisted of was something to put on their CV, showing their actual worth, something that some people are blind to see and I felt that this was a great way to show the doubters everyone is human and we all make mistakes. For this to happen, they had to run their own game of some sort so that they had a chance to be in control of the whole class and this was really fascinating, being able to see different people leading different games and how they communicated and approached everyone else. Another thing they had to do was watch a piece of theatre (Peacock Theatre) and write a review about what they thought about it and if it sent a positive message.
Along with this we had a chance to create our own pieces of music which I previously spoke about but today was a day where we would go off in our separate groups into the studio and be able to film and record the songs. Only God could calculate the excitement in their hearts about going to the studio to record songs they've always wanted to be heard before and to have it on a CD would be a huge positive factor for them.
In the end we decided that we would make a start on Josh's story and made sure it was really detailed; this would only help the audience realise the dangers us as human beings are under living in this world and we have to be cautious of the things we do. We all represented characters in the story. We had the boy, his girlfriend, his brother, his brothers girlfriend, his mum and the individual who shot him. I believed that this was a good idea because the story was powerful and I wanted it to stay that way without the cheesy acting. i felt it could take away from the story if we were to act it out. We created movement and sounds to enhance the stories and re create the conversations he had with people that day. One vital decision that we as a group made was to have a conversation between to people spoken out to the audience instead of themselves.
We started the day first of all with helping the young offenders get their Bronze Arts Award and what this consisted of was something to put on their CV, showing their actual worth, something that some people are blind to see and I felt that this was a great way to show the doubters everyone is human and we all make mistakes. For this to happen, they had to run their own game of some sort so that they had a chance to be in control of the whole class and this was really fascinating, being able to see different people leading different games and how they communicated and approached everyone else. Another thing they had to do was watch a piece of theatre (Peacock Theatre) and write a review about what they thought about it and if it sent a positive message.
Along with this we had a chance to create our own pieces of music which I previously spoke about but today was a day where we would go off in our separate groups into the studio and be able to film and record the songs. Only God could calculate the excitement in their hearts about going to the studio to record songs they've always wanted to be heard before and to have it on a CD would be a huge positive factor for them.
In the end we decided that we would make a start on Josh's story and made sure it was really detailed; this would only help the audience realise the dangers us as human beings are under living in this world and we have to be cautious of the things we do. We all represented characters in the story. We had the boy, his girlfriend, his brother, his brothers girlfriend, his mum and the individual who shot him. I believed that this was a good idea because the story was powerful and I wanted it to stay that way without the cheesy acting. i felt it could take away from the story if we were to act it out. We created movement and sounds to enhance the stories and re create the conversations he had with people that day. One vital decision that we as a group made was to have a conversation between to people spoken out to the audience instead of themselves.
Community - Episode 7
On Monday we had a really good session, not as a whole group but individually. At the beginning we had a chance to go off and begin our scenes, wanting them to be really relatable to the main person who had experienced the situation. With this we went into separate groups and decided what would be most powerful was to not talk about our lives but instead tell a story about the young people from Turnaround. We wanted to try and bring a positive message out of this scene and I'm positive that throughout the process we will do so.
Doing a story that was really tragic and more or less too informative to put on the internet we decided that doing this story of one of the young offender's life would warn people out there that weapons and violence isn't the key to a good life and how everyone should think before they act.
In my opinion, doing a story like this would have a huge impact on people's lives and I was so glad I would be doing work about this serious topic.
Doing a story that was really tragic and more or less too informative to put on the internet we decided that doing this story of one of the young offender's life would warn people out there that weapons and violence isn't the key to a good life and how everyone should think before they act.
In my opinion, doing a story like this would have a huge impact on people's lives and I was so glad I would be doing work about this serious topic.
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Community - Episode 6
Friday's session was one full of promise and was full on proof that this project is going in the right direction. It started off differently this session; we first of all sat around the projector and saw our unfinished video of the 3 ambitions each of us have. This was a brilliant situation to be in because I saw different reactions from different people. "I looked spicy" (nice) said one individual then someone else said 'Wow, I'm never looking at myself on camera again!" but I'm positive that'll all change because that's what this whole project is about. Change.
We then went straight into work and instead of pockets going into the music room we all went and had a listen to both songs and then we decided who would be in the main singer\rapper's group. In my opinion this was best for the group as a whole as this would be the way to produce more work in such a short space of time. Working on Amber's song was such a positive experience for me as I could understand her lyrics and I could put my emotion behind the beats I was hitting on the drum, something that everyone in our group did, either vocally or on the piano.
The end product wasn't complete on that day but tomorrow will definitely be one where we'll be able to deliver something special, something that an individual that wasn't heard in the past can now be heard.
We then went straight into work and instead of pockets going into the music room we all went and had a listen to both songs and then we decided who would be in the main singer\rapper's group. In my opinion this was best for the group as a whole as this would be the way to produce more work in such a short space of time. Working on Amber's song was such a positive experience for me as I could understand her lyrics and I could put my emotion behind the beats I was hitting on the drum, something that everyone in our group did, either vocally or on the piano.
The end product wasn't complete on that day but tomorrow will definitely be one where we'll be able to deliver something special, something that an individual that wasn't heard in the past can now be heard.
Community - Episode 5
The previous Monday was one full of promise of us really bringing something together. Our first piece of work that would be put into the project. The beginning we had our usual, a nice friendly warm up to get the mood going and I really enjoyed the two games that I ran. One was called 'Up and Down', and the previous one I did before called 'Sunshine On' which is personally my favourite mainly because it has people going and it usually brings people out of their comfort zone which is what we want.
Then my favourite part came where we had the chance to partner up with someone from The Turnaround Centre and from there we had chosen 3 still images that showed what we wanted in life. Some of us had similar things which once again showed that just because we're on different paths in life that doesn't mean we don't share the same views and ambitions. I was partnered with Shaquille, someone that wanted to be a professional footballer, own a massive house and have a lot of cash. Those were his ambitions and from there he moulded me into his perfect person and so did I with my ambition to become a young Oscar award winning actor, adopting a child and being in a film with my idol, Will Smith.
After all of this we were able to video the movements around the school and at different paces which showed real difference to a normal paced movement and this was to be the beginning of our new project. I will be uploading the video tomorrow.
After the break we came back and we had two groups, one going off to concentrate on music and the other group consisted of three departments, one was spoken word poetry, one was a dance sequence for the songs that were being created and the last was the directing of the music video that would be made in the future. At the end of the session we each got to share a piece of our work that was made and we decided that we would include all of those things in the day of our performance but we would decide later on where they would be suitable.
Then my favourite part came where we had the chance to partner up with someone from The Turnaround Centre and from there we had chosen 3 still images that showed what we wanted in life. Some of us had similar things which once again showed that just because we're on different paths in life that doesn't mean we don't share the same views and ambitions. I was partnered with Shaquille, someone that wanted to be a professional footballer, own a massive house and have a lot of cash. Those were his ambitions and from there he moulded me into his perfect person and so did I with my ambition to become a young Oscar award winning actor, adopting a child and being in a film with my idol, Will Smith.
After all of this we were able to video the movements around the school and at different paces which showed real difference to a normal paced movement and this was to be the beginning of our new project. I will be uploading the video tomorrow.
After the break we came back and we had two groups, one going off to concentrate on music and the other group consisted of three departments, one was spoken word poetry, one was a dance sequence for the songs that were being created and the last was the directing of the music video that would be made in the future. At the end of the session we each got to share a piece of our work that was made and we decided that we would include all of those things in the day of our performance but we would decide later on where they would be suitable.
Friday, 14 June 2013
My objective of this term
Simply to give them a chance and different paths to take to a much better future and I will do it.
Community - Episode 4
Today was another unbelievable experience and honestly bringing me so close to tears. Unfortunately though we didn't have the whole group but that didn't stop us from progressing through the project on a positive and it has been a positive two weeks so far. I can now say I'm more than happy with this group and I have found that the impact we can have on them is one in a million; not everyone gets a chance like I have now.
At the beginning it was business as usual and having a few more people in we would have to go around the circle again and learn each other's names which I feel is right only because you don't want the new people to feel left out like they aren't known when really and truly that's what we're trying to do. The first game we played was one I really enjoyed but at the end disliked as I kept on losing (Yup, I'm a sore loser) but it was a nice way to get people to know each other more. It was a game where someone would ask a question then another person would have to ask back another question but what they couldn't do was repeat the same question so throughout the time we played we just had one to one bantering in the room which was good as it boosted the morale. One thing that really proved effective but at the same time considerate was one moment where someone got asked 'How's your mum?' and the person responded back with a laughter which showed character and how he can handle a bit of banter but the only thing that I would say is make sure you're saying that to the right person as none of us know what happens in others' personal life.
The second half of lesson was about to begin but before that I thought it would be nice to blast some tunes in the room and to have a few of the young offenders come in and dance with me to the song I was playing was surprising but it was a moment/feeling I'll never forget. We were dancing for quite a while and to think that they have the same taste in music as us was really nice and that was just the beginning of the second half!
We were split into two halves; one would go off and create their own piece of music and the other would go and do some spoken word poetry which I joined in and I was blessed enough to have just the right person in my group. We heard a poem and it was all about young girls growing up and my view on that was and still is quite strong. Then after I made my point I had of the boys say 'Yeah, I really agree with Tuwaine on that one... I'm gonna change my ways and treat my sister better, talk to her more and that' and that's exactly what I wanted. To have the same view as someone wanting to make a change was one thing but to hear the poem and say that them themselves were 'moved', that really made my day..
The last activity we done which I really enjoyed as I love music was one full of promise for these guys. One individual in particular, Jack, was reluctant to get his lines out there and give us an encouraging bit of chorus then for him to play over a drum beat, guitar strumming and piano playing with his verses just showed that these people have so much potential no matter where they are or what position they are in. We all posses something special, we just have to find out what it is and use it at the right time. I am seriously wanting to actually help more youth offenders in the future hopefully as it will be an even more moving experience and to give them options for the future to help them change is exactly what I want.
At the beginning it was business as usual and having a few more people in we would have to go around the circle again and learn each other's names which I feel is right only because you don't want the new people to feel left out like they aren't known when really and truly that's what we're trying to do. The first game we played was one I really enjoyed but at the end disliked as I kept on losing (Yup, I'm a sore loser) but it was a nice way to get people to know each other more. It was a game where someone would ask a question then another person would have to ask back another question but what they couldn't do was repeat the same question so throughout the time we played we just had one to one bantering in the room which was good as it boosted the morale. One thing that really proved effective but at the same time considerate was one moment where someone got asked 'How's your mum?' and the person responded back with a laughter which showed character and how he can handle a bit of banter but the only thing that I would say is make sure you're saying that to the right person as none of us know what happens in others' personal life.
The second half of lesson was about to begin but before that I thought it would be nice to blast some tunes in the room and to have a few of the young offenders come in and dance with me to the song I was playing was surprising but it was a moment/feeling I'll never forget. We were dancing for quite a while and to think that they have the same taste in music as us was really nice and that was just the beginning of the second half!
We were split into two halves; one would go off and create their own piece of music and the other would go and do some spoken word poetry which I joined in and I was blessed enough to have just the right person in my group. We heard a poem and it was all about young girls growing up and my view on that was and still is quite strong. Then after I made my point I had of the boys say 'Yeah, I really agree with Tuwaine on that one... I'm gonna change my ways and treat my sister better, talk to her more and that' and that's exactly what I wanted. To have the same view as someone wanting to make a change was one thing but to hear the poem and say that them themselves were 'moved', that really made my day..
The last activity we done which I really enjoyed as I love music was one full of promise for these guys. One individual in particular, Jack, was reluctant to get his lines out there and give us an encouraging bit of chorus then for him to play over a drum beat, guitar strumming and piano playing with his verses just showed that these people have so much potential no matter where they are or what position they are in. We all posses something special, we just have to find out what it is and use it at the right time. I am seriously wanting to actually help more youth offenders in the future hopefully as it will be an even more moving experience and to give them options for the future to help them change is exactly what I want.
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