Level 3 Diploma Unit 8 Project Proposal pro forma

Level 3 Extended Diploma Unit 12 Project Proposal Proforma

Name Erin McNeela

Pathway Level 3 performing arts diploma unit 8
Project A midsummer night’s dream
title
Section 1: Rationale (Yr 1 approx. 100 words) Yr 2- 150 words

 What have I learnt from the projects I've done so far?

Through my time in this diploma, I have learnt and developed many skills, such as
directing and confidence in my own ideas, time management, line learning and fluidity of
movement on stage Confidence in my ideas is very important and will help me a lot in the
future for this project as I always have ways in my head to improve a scene, however
always feel they may not be good enough, whether as now I feel I can contribute to
directing the scenes I am in. Time management is also a very good skill I am learning, but
definitely still need to work on, as there are going to be so many elements to this project
such as line learning, research, design, it will be important that I can complete all these
tasks to the same level. Before units 1-4, I had only ever performed Shakespeare once
and so found it very difficult to learn the old English lines as they did not make sense to
me. Now I have been thrown out on stage performing a whole monologue on my own I am
confident to learn everything word for word for this production. Lastly, I learnt so many
skills when directing practicing and performing in unit 6-7. This was the first time I had
ever participated in that style of acting and so began very awkward and stiff whether as
now I do not feel embarrassed to open up my body and move in weird and unique ways.
This will help me a lot when performing A midsummer nights dream, as there are many
strange and wonderful creatures in the forest who will not move like normal humans.
Therefore, if I receive one of these roles, I can do it to my best ability.

 What does all the work I have completed/ learnt so far on the course mean to me?
Every piece of work I have done whether it is research, performances, practical skills, or
anything else, has helped me improve as an actress as everything has a reason and
really helps me to develop my understanding of different parts of acting and theatre. I
think research means a lot to me, as without knowing all about your character, it is
impossible to become them as you do not understand their upbringing, their relationships
with others, their super objective, what has happened to them before the scene and what
will happen to them after. Without all of this knowledge, it is impossible to create a realistic
performance as you will not create real love or hatred on stage and you will not actually
know what your doing and why.

 How has this helped me to think about my skills as a creative/performer?

Research has allowed me to create realistic and believable characters on stage as I go
through thoroughly and find out everything I can about the person or creature I am
playing. I will take this with me into A midsummer night’s dream, as I will not be able to
create a tribal warrior without knowing about the amazons if I received Hippolyta for
example. Practical skills are also extremely helpful and will allow me to develop my skills
as an actor. As I reflect on what I have done well, and so will keep doing that, but also
constantly give myself things to work on which I did not do to my best ability or would like
 to learn how to do, this will therefore help improve my skills, as I am reflecting and so
improving on the daily.

 What are my strengths and weaknesses form my last project?

Unit 6-7 was my last project and I found I was very strong as a performer, and defiantly
improved on my fluidity on stage as I symbolized the destruction of an old mans brain and
had to do that through numerous frantic assembly techniques creating a mainly movement
based performance, Therefore I thought I ended the piece with a knew strength in fluidity
which I had never had before. Although I have mentioned increasing my confidence in
directing, I still need to get better at this, as our performance was mainly directed by Jori
and so I felt I could not put in as many suggestions and ideas as I would have liked to and
did not have the confidence in myself to say it out loud. Therefore, going into this project, I
would like to be loud and confident, not doubting my ideas and just suggesting them even
if they do not end up being used. I would love to be the leader of costume design for
example, and so will like to improve on that confidence to show Steve I am the right
person for the job.

Section 2: Project concept (Yr 1 approx. 200 Yr 2- 200 words

words)

 What are my interests and ideas that I want to explore in my final project?
In this project I want to explore the style of Shakespeare as, like I have mentioned, I have
very little experience with old English and performing in this era. I once performed with the
royal Shakespeare company and have done one Shakespearian monologue for LAMDA. I
have thoroughly enjoyed doing both of these performances and really loved becoming
Juliet in unit 1-4. Therefore, I am really excited and interested to explore the different
techniques that take place when performing Shakespeare and how acting is very different
now then it was back when A Midsummer Nights Dream was first performed.

 What will I research?

I will research my character in depth, so I know everything about them characteristics wise
such as what they are like as a person, what they think/feel about different situations,
following Stanislavski’s teaching. I will also research the history of them, what their
upbringing is, where are they from, do they have any family. I will also find out their super
objective as this will help me to put actions into the scenes as every action has a reason
and it is to achieve the character’s objective. I will also research into the 1970s based on
which project role I get given, for example I really want to be leader of costume design
and so would research into the different eras of fashion of that time and what people wore
based on their status in society. I also think it will be important to research into all the
characters, as without knowing why everyone is where they are and what they hope to
achieve, I will not be able to make realistic relationships with them.

 Why do I want to explore this?

It will help me in the future as I will have a greater amount of developed acting skills, being
able to perform realistic and modern, frantic assembly styled surrealism, and now even
old English Shakespearian. A higher amount of skills will increase my chances of
receiving a job in this industry as I am not held back by only being able to perform in one
way, and can audition for everything that comes to me, making the most of all
opportunities. Furthermore, I would like to explore different styles of acting so I can find a
favorite and the one I am best at, as I will not want to only audition for modern pieces and
realistic acting as that is all I have tried, staying in my comfort zone, if it turns out
 surrealism is my best type of acting. As then I will never know and will not be able to for fill
my potential in the industry.

 How will you use this research to help you shape your practical work?
All research will help me to become my character on stage instead of portray them on
stage. The more research, the more realistic the character will be as you know so much
about them they are like a part of you by the performance. Knowing everything from my
characters family upbringing and so influenced views and thoughts on situations, to how
the act with others will help me to truly understand whoever I get given so when I step out
onto stage I am my character, and think feel and see as them instead of me to create a
highly realistic performance for the audience.

Section 3: Evaluating the Process (Yr 1 Yr 2- 150 words

approx. 50 words)

 How will I check that I have achieved my personal aims within the project?
I will create a weekly vlog on a Friday and set myself targets for the following week. This
will therefore make sure I know what my personal aims are and so I know what to work
towards. I will then be able to check if I have achieved those aims in my following recap as
I will be able to reflect on what I have and haven’t done.

 How will I know when all this has been achieved?

In my final recap I will be able to reflect on everything I have achieved during the project,
everything I have done well and not so well and what I have completed and still need to
work on. This is useful as I will not only know which of my personal aims have been
completed but will also know what to improve on for year 2 in the diploma.

 How will I measure my own progress?

I will write notes after every rehearsal on what I liked about my performance in the scene,
and what I didn’t. This will help me to measure my progress as each day I can add to the
notes and see if I have developed/ improved on the part I did not like. Although I will be
doing this on my Weebly anyway, notes make it very easy as I can just pull them up
before a rehearsal and have a quick look so I know what to improve when going into the
scene.

 How will record high and low points of the process?

I will write daily recaps every day and set myself clear targets. I find this very helpful as
writing these recaps force me to reflect on every rehearsal which I wouldn’t do otherwise
as I would just go home and do my research instead of considering what I have done.
This also helps me to give myself compliments, knowing I did things right as well as what I
can improve on next time. This is very important as although it is good to reflect on the
bad things, you must give yourself some credit otherwise you will constantly feel not good
enough.

 How can I best evidence and show my skills in decision making?

I will take pictures of scenes or designs that I have come up with, whether it be blocking,
an outfit for a character, a piece of set, and put that on my website so it is clear that was
my idea and shows everyone what it looks like. I will also write about each idea and
concept in my recaps and explain how it did/ didn’t work and give a reasoning for my
suggestion.
  How can I best evidence and show my skills in collaboration?
I will evidence it in much the same way as with decision making, however explaining how
we created a scene or a design as a collective and explain how everyone’s input made it
the best it could be. I will also insert evidence such as photos, videos, rough designs
whether it be a finished PowerPoint or just a scribble on a piece of paper just to really
show the process in creating whatever we have created together and how it is not an easy
process but we did it as an ensemble.

Proposed research sources and bibliography (Harvard format)

 What sources of material will I look into?
I will use a range of different materials to make sure all of my research is to the best
standard it can possibly be and give me as much information as I can get, as the more
knowledge, the better my acting will be. Therefore, I will use the internet as it is very easy
to find out information, but make sure I use a range of different websites so I can find out
as much as possible about one thing. I will make a bibliography on my website to
evidence this so all sites I use are clear, although I will use numerous, I will stay away
from Wikipedia as it can be changed by anyone and so is not always the most reliable and
true source. A lot of websites cannot always be completely true and so I will also read
books in the library or find old magazines, so I get a full true and complete idea of the
topic I am researching.

 Why do I think these will be helpful?

This will be very helpful as I want to be able to know everything about the topic I am
researching as the more knowledge the better. When creating a role you need to know
everything so you can become them rather than impersonating them. You can not truly
understand why your character is reacting to certain situations without knowing everything
about them as you will not know their personal beliefs and relationships. This is also
important if there is not a set reaction in the script, as you will not be able to create a
realistic facial reaction to what is going on, on stage if you do not know everything about
our character.

Project action plan and timetable

Week Date week Activity/what you intend to Resources / what you will need to
beginning do - including independent do - including access to resources
study
03/01/2024 Research the summary of the YouTube videos of the scene I am
play. auditioning.
1 Learn lines and rehearse for Articles about the play.
audition. Read the play and the modern
English translation.
 Rehearse for audition. Youtube videos of the scene, and
2 08/01/2024 other scenes my character Is in.
Online websites/ articles about the
character
Find out characters. Script
3 15/01/2024 Group read through of whole
play.

Start blocking the play. Interviews.

4 22/01/2024 Act 1 and 2, from pages 1-14. Youtube videos.
Research into character given. Articles
script
5 Scene blocking Script
29/01/2024

6 Blocking Articles and photos of clothes in the

05/02/2024 Start creating ideas for 70s
costume design Research into different styles of 70s,
articles and photos.
7 Blocking Stanislavski, read the book an actor
19/02/2024 Research more on character. prepares and use it to add detail to
Relationships, objectives, my character.
given circumstances.
8 Independent rehearsals of YouTube videos of those scenes.
26/02/2024 scenes we’ve already blocked.

Finalizing costume design. Videos, photos, articles of 70s hippie

9 04/03/2024 and punk culture.

More rehearsal. Watch many versions of the play,

10 11/03/2024 experiment with the different
interpretations of my character.

11 Start rehearsal with music. Research further into character,

18/03/2024 analyze all scenes in the script that
my character is in, label emotions felt
in each line.
12 Start building and painting the Images of 70s style
25/03/2024 flats

13 Set design finished. Images of 70s themes and designs.

01/04/2024 Costumes finished.
14 HALF TERM script
08/04/2024 Go through lines so don’t
forget them.

15 HALF TERM Script

15/04/2024 Face time people in scenes
and run lines

16 Rehearsal with tech run

22/04/2024

17 Full run throughs

29/04/2024