Character Mind Maps

As a cast, we discussed each character in quite a lot of detail, to expand our knowledge of the production, its characters and their relationships with one another. I found that this helped my own characterisation, as well as understanding my relationships with the others. This was a good activity particularly as I was playing multiple roles, who each have a different relationship with the key characters in the production, and I therefore wanted to understand each character to a great extent.

Gym Sequence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdHZGBkQIy8

This is the link to the gym sequence, which was a scene that had been changed since a cast member was no longer a part of the production. I took on the role of Mr Avila as well as my other characters after Jake Kavanagh could no longer be a part of the performance. I found it to be an enjoyable challenge, adding obstacles such as quick changes and changing characters even more to differentiate them for an easier understanding for the audience. I became the teacher seen in this sequence, instead of one of the students. The sequence itself is of a circuit training sequence that you would normally see in primary school and early years of secondary school. I made Mr Avila seem like a drill sergeant here to show that strictness of his character in comparison to the Dad. It was also to illustrate the passion he has for his subject. These little characteristics, in my opinion, are key to characterisation, and help in differentiating each character that I had to play, as well as the costume alterations between each character.

The song was an instrumental of the suggestion by Ali, Fort Minor's song 'Remember The Name'. We chose this for it's gym-like beat, which allowed us to create movement sequences that flowed with the music itself. We also chose the dialogue to be silent at first, but I changed this when I took the role on, as I felt that with the interjections of Mr Avila's shouting allowed the sequence to be more grueling for Oskar, which is the narrative point we were trying to make.

Oskar's Dream

This is the sequence we choreographed for Oskar's dream. It takes place after Oskar and his Mum finish their scene, discussing the next door neighbours. His mum, in her drunken state, enters Oskar's bed, and tells him he is a "good boy". The sequence that follows is a dream from Oskar's point of view. Characters such as Halmberg feature as we discussed that in a dream, we picture people who we have seen but may not have necessarily ever had contact with. So, Oskar at this point knows of Hlamberg, but has never spoken to him, and so through his subconscious, he has imagined Halmberg into his nightmare, of being bullied and even murdered. The sequence also shows how a mysterious figure (Hakan) takes Eli away from him, another subconscious fear that we feel Oskar has planted in his own mind.

Personally, I choreographed some of the movements, as we only got a certain amount of it done in our first lesson staging it. I went home and listened to the song and created simple yet effective movements to illustrate the idea of murder and bullying that circles Oskar's mind.

General Research

To create my character profile, I required certain information, such as first names and the ranks within the police service. I found a website that lists male Scottish names, to which I found a suitable first name for Halmberg. http://www.namenerds.com/scottish/scotsguy.html

I chose Alan as it flows well with the name (Alan Halmberg), also as I felt it sounded quite officious in the sense of his characterisation as an officer of the law. The idea of it meaning "rock" in a Breton context also works, as he is the 'rock' for his family, the bread-winner and overall role model for his children. 


I also researched into the ranks within the United Kingdom Police Service, as I wanted to understand Halmberg's current ranking in his career. He is a Police Commissioner, the highest officer rank available. This gives him the opportunity to seek promotion to the city, where he can go for ranks such as Chief Superintendent and more. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_ranks_of_the_United_Kingdom


I then wanted to know where we would base our production. We had already decided that we would use Scottish accents, and therefore I wanted a real Scottish village to base our piece in. This website (http://www.visitscotland.com/about/towns-villages/) helped me find 'Doune', which is quoted as being "a quiet historic village situated eight miles north west of Stirling on the River of Teith." I feel that this is a perfect place to base our production, as the idea of a quiet village suddenly featuring a disturbing case of murders is more horrifying to envisage than in the city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Right_One_In_%28novel%29

"Let the Right One In is a 2004 vampire fiction novel by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist. The story centers on the relationship between a 12-year-old boy, Oskar, and a centuries-old vampire child, Eli. It takes place in Blackeberg, a working class suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. The book focuses on the darker side of humanity, dealing with issues such as existential anxiety, fatherlessness, alcoholism, school bullying, paedophilia, child transgenderism, and murder."

"The book was a bestseller in the author's home country of Sweden and was translated into several languages, including English. A Swedish-language film, Let the Right One In, directed by Tomas Alfredson, was released in 2008. An English-language film adaptation titled Let Me In, directed by Matt Reeves, was released in 2010. An English-language stage adaptation premiered in 2013.^"

The issues mentioned above are featured quite heavily on our production, and I feel that they should be taken into account as well as the overall narrative, for a deeper meaning for the audience, to create a greater effect, gripping them not only to the narrative and to Oskar, but to his future.

 The lack of a paternal figure seems to lead to a confusion in Oskar's desires and sexuality, with the question being raised of what attraction he has to Eli, and what sexuality she even is at this point. This is a heavy narrative plot point, even if it is rarely brought up, as it helps to decide what Oskar wants from his friendship with Eli. Even at the young age of 12, he understands love more than any of the other characters in the novel. He understands it more than his own father, who he walks out on, as he chooses a 'friend' over his own son. That is a clear illustration of his lack of understanding in the true meaning of love, and therefore makes Oskar an even more sympathetic character at this point.

http://www.lettherightoneinmovie.com/
"BASED ON THE BEST SELLER BY JOHN AJVIDE LINDQVIST
Lonely, 12-year-old Oskar is regularly bullied by his stronger classmates. A new friendship develops when Eli, a pale, serious young girl who only comes out at night moves in next door. Coinciding with her arrival is a series of inexplicable disappearances and murders. As Oskar becomes more aware of Eli’s tragic plight, he cannot forsake her. However, Eli knows that to continue living, she must keep relocating. But when Oskar faces his darkest hour, Eli returns to defend him the only way she can..."

Cast & Crew

Director:
Tomas Alfredson

Cast:
Kåre Hedebrant
Lina Leandersson
Per Ragnar

Writer:
John Ajvide Lindqvist

"Family Tree" Of The Town

Character Profile: Halmberg

Basic Statistics 

Name: Alan Halmberg
Age: 43
Nationality: Scottish
Hometown: Doune
Occupation: Police Commissioner
Siblings (describe relationship): One sister, strong relationship, weekly contact via phone
Spouse (describe relationship): Strong
Children (describe relationship): Strong
Relationship status: Married


Physical Characteristics: 

Height: 1.86 metres
Weight: 81.3kg
Race: White
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Ginger
Glasses or contact lenses? None
Distinguishing features: Faint scar on forehead.
How does he/she dress? Dark overcoat, smart shoes, white shirt, black trousers.
Mannerisms: Paces often, doesn't make a lot of eye contact when conversing with large audiences.
Habits: (smoking, drinking etc.) T-total for 10 years. (no alcohol or other substances for ten years)
Health: Healthy Lifestyle
Hobbies: Football with his children, fishing
Favorite Sayings: A trip to a dangerous murder site might seem exciting...
Speech patterns: Officious, confident, evenly-spaced
Disabilities: none 
Style (Elegant, shabby etc.): Confident, not necessarily any class division within him
Greatest flaw: Has to finish things. This is often seen as a perk, but in terms of the narrative, becomes his flaw. He is addicted to his work.
Best quality: Devotion to work and family.


Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes 

Educational Background: Degree in Law
Intelligence Level: Fairly high
Any Mental Illnesses? none
Character's short-term goals in life: To work towards a major bonus within his line of work.
Character's long-term goals in life: To earn money for retirement, to focus on his family.
How does Character see himself/herself? Right for the job above him.
How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others? As a confident and capable individual.
How self-confident is the character? Quite strongly self-confident.
Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof? Emotional attachment to his line of work.
What would most embarass this character? Being taken off the case he is working on.


Emotional Characteristics


Strengths/Weaknesses: Confident, but emotional attachment to his job leads to anger issues when pursuing it further.
Introvert or Extrovert? Extrovert
How does the character deal with anger? He is seen to take it out on suspects within the case, and relatives of suspects and victims, as they merely are in his way in the path of solving the case fully.
What does the character want out of life? A high role within the police service (which would mean moving to the city), and a healthy family lifestyle.
What motivates this character? His family.
What frightens this character? Losing his career through dangerous judgments in cases
What makes this character happy? His family, and achieving great successes at work.


Spiritual Characteristics

Does the character believe in God? Beliefs change as he explores the case he has further.
What are the character's spiritual beliefs? These develop upon searching further into the murders, with the ultimate shift being when he is attacked and killed by a creature that he can't describe. The actions made in the final moments of his scene are indescribable to him.
Is religion or spirituality a part of this character's life? Not greatly.
If so, what role does it play? Not highly pursued, left in his subconscious.


Relationships with other characters:

1. Oskar: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the narrative). Oskar only knows Halmberg as the  police officer from the TV. But as we have set this in a small village/town, they soon come into contact with one another. The relationship changes from merely an officer to an enemy of Oskar, as he tries to look after Eli whilst Halmberg pursues the case further. The final moments with one another are when Oskar threatens Halmberg with a knife, as he knows too much and will soon discover the murderer, who he once thought was the body without a heartbeat in the chest in Eli's apartment. This is where Halmberg's life comes to an end, as the 'body' awakens and kills him.

2. Hakan: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel). Halmberg chases down Hakan as the murderer. However through Hakan's lack of communication, and some more research, Halmberg realises that Hakan has not been working alone, and searches further into the case, which becomes his downfall.


How character is different at the end of the narrative from when the story began:
At the start, he is merely an officer trying to do his job. A police commissioner looking to further his police career by getting promoted to work within the city. But from pursuing the cases of murder within the village/town, he soon becomes emotionally attached, and addicted, to the point where he is taken off the case by using his own personal views to take the case in a certain direction. He continues to search for answers however, to finish what he started, which leads to his downfall. It is hard to determine whether Halmberg is a good or bad character. In terms of morality, he is 'good', as he just wants to support his family, he is a family oriented man. He is also merely doing his job, however the audience are somewhat aligned to the murderer in Eli, as she has a connection within the harmless, innocent child that is Oskar. The alignment with Oskar has been established, and it is soon made clear that Eli is Oskar's saviour from the bullies, his parents and everyone else around him.

Writing in role - Halmburg

"I spoke to the suspect  today. He did not cooperate at all. The suspect has disfigured his own face, clearly to protect his identity. How could someone do that to themselves? The extent that this man has gone to in order to prevent further investigation is unimaginable. To pour sulphuric acid on yourself is insane.
He had some paper with Morse code on it. He clearly has someone to communicate with. I am certain we have the right man, no one uses Morse code unless they need to keep things secret. I need to investigate further."

I have written an extract from a diary entry from Police Commissioner Halmburg. This is to further explain the scene that occurs between Hakan and Halmburg at the beginning of Act 2. Halmburg knows that Hakan is involved in the murders, he's been discovered, disfigured facially, by an unconscious school student. However he cant be working alone, Halmburg knows this from the Morse code on the paper. He wishes to investigate things further, and Hakan's mocking nature in the scene, or at least from Halmburg's perspective, only provokes him to get aggressive towards Hakan, before leaving the room. 

Writing in role - Dad

"Janne, you have always been there for me. I want to be there for you, but I'm being held back by this divorce thing. I'm pushing for it to be finished as soon as possible, so that what we have goes uninterrupted. Its my ex-wife's fault. She's lazy, a drunk with no responsibilities. Oskar, he is becoming a tearaway, and she has done nothing to stop him. I am sorry for his actions, and I just wish I had more of a chance to discipline him and make it right. I'm sorry Janne, I will speak to you soon."


Here is a letter to Janne from Oskar's Dad. Our class had a discussion whether the Dad was in fact homosexual. He has a good friend in Janne, but the relationship seems more than just friends. Therefore I have explored that idea with this letter to Janne. As there is only one scene with these characters, ut allows the audience to choose their relationship, and question their motives together. So this piece of writing allows a further exploration into their relationship together, with the idea in mind that they are in a homosexual relationship together.

Over the Christmas Break

Over the Christmas break from school, I have learnt my lines and looked into what costumes I want for each character. This is because in the first week back at school, we will fit the set together, run the performance once or twice on the inset day, then throughout the day for the actual performance days.

Costume:
Base costume - black trousers, school shoes, white shirt
Halmberg - overcoat
Jocke - jumper and hat
Dad - cardigan
Child in gym sequence - take shoes off

The base costume will be worn throughout the performance, and the other characters will have these as additions to differentiate the characters, along with changing the accent slightly.

Weekly Targets

Each week, Miss Cordell is setting us targets to meet as actors, that have an individual focus for each member of the cast.

Target from week beginning 3/11/14:

Revise each monologue, making a clear differentiation in the way each one is addressed.

I looked at each monologue that I have as Halmburg, and made notes on each, to revise each time I rehearse the lines. The first monologue is in a news interview, and so I speak formally with no clear target audience, but a general overview of what has happened, and the details I require for my job role. Therefore I will speak clearly and authoritatively, to ensure that the audience (who I address in each monologue) understand that this is a formal interview for the news.

The second monologue addresses the audience as school children. Upon researching the ages of secondary school children in Sweden (which in turn is similar to the system in England), I noted that I am aiming the speech at children aged 11-16, as it is a whole school assembly. Therefore I will speak authoritatively, but will have a relatable tone, as I refer to my own children (which needs to be made clear to the audience as this will assist in their feeling of both sorrow and anger anchored towards my character in his death). This tone needs to be both friendly yet with some formality, as I need to uphold the power of authority as a character.

The last monologue sees Halmburg discussing the murder cases with co-workers. I address the audience much more informally here, and relay the information that I no longer head the case as they have brought in someone else to finish the job. I need to display both hatred for the higher powers that have stripped me of my role and input into this case but also still need to hold the strong outer shell that the character has throughout the production so far. Ultimately, I need to show a character who seems to have been beatn by this baffling and harrowing case, and has a clear lack of sleep from the stress of it all, but with a strong outer shell to still have some form of authority amongst my co-workers.

Oskar's point of view: Looking at my character (Dad)

Bearing in mind that Oskar is a 12 year old schoolboy who has not had much luck in the way of making friends, and that he seems to have an alternative viewpoint on the rest of the world, Oskar’s relationship with his Dad is not a positive one. Oskar seems to remind me of Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time, as he has some sort of social anxiety and problem reaching out to others. When researching this, I looked into Asberger's Syndrome symptoms, and referenced a few of them with Oskar's character. Using this link, http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/mental-health-aspergers-syndrome, I found the following symptoms to relate quite well with Oskar's personality:

"Communication difficulties: People with Asperger's syndrome may not make eye contact when speaking with someone. They may have trouble using facial expressions and gestures, and understanding body language. They also tend to have problems understanding language in context and are very literal in their use of language.
Problems with social skills: Children with Asperger's syndrome generally have difficulty interacting with others and often are awkward in social situations. They generally do not make friends easily. They have difficulty initiating and maintaining conversation."

Even when encountering Eli, he has an odd approach in making the friendship, as well as Eli making it even harder with her exclamation in Act 1 Scene 6: “I can’t be friends with you.”

So when interpreting Oskar, and looking at his relationship with his father, I have written from his point of view, an angry diary extract detailing his attitude towards his Dad.

‘Dear diary,

I know I haven’t written in a while, I have been busy with my new friend Eli, although I’m not sure that she is my girlfriend anymore. But I want to write today about my Dad. He is being a bitch! He sat there playing draughts with me, like a normal father would, but then as soon as his friend shows up, he forgets I even exist. He pretends that his life is so hard, but he just drinks his ‘special drink’ with Janne all the time, without giving me any real advice on what to do about Eli. He doesn’t understand me. No one understands me. Mr Avila doesn’t really know what the other boys are like, and no one knows what my home life is like. My Dad just drinks, without caring for our game of draughts. I don’t care if Janne was “a guest”, whenever I see my Dad he is always “a guest”. I don’t want to play draughts with Janne, and I don’t even want to speak to him. Well, I’m fed up, and Dad clearly won’t worry about me anymore. I’ll never speak to him again.’

I envisage this diary entry to be written just after Act 2 Scene 6, where Janne enters the tranquil scene of draughts between Oskar and his Dad. This creates a tension between Dad and Oskar, and illustrates an underlying strain between Oskar and Janne as well. This diary entry allows Oskar to have a voice where he normally wouldn’t. I feel that someone like Oskar is likely to use a diary to do this, as he struggles with normal social skills, and would therefore voice himself through a diary, making his comments about others more private than most other characters in the production. 

Weekly Summary and Analysis

Week Beginning 13/10/2014

This week we spent a lot of time on the physical movement pieces within the production. I made sure that I focused on characterisation through these pieces, as in some of them we play characters that we are throughout the script, and in other pieces we become neutral or briefly a whole new character. In the snowball fight for example I play a school pupil, yet I don't ever return to this character, and so I wanted to construct this part to be unique to the other pupils that feature in the production. I have made him childlike at first glance, with the initial snowball fight, but as the physical theatre piece progresses he becomes more violent, with a crescendo of violence in his actions until Oskar is lying on the floor surrounded by the other pupils, to which I attack him with kicks and punches.
As well as this, when running through the script at the end of the week, I tried to get a rougher Scottish accent for the character Halmburg, to further differentiate him from Jocke and Dad, my other roles.  I have decided that Jocke should be the oldest character of the three, and he will have a deeper accent. Halmburg has a few monologues in act one, to which he addresses the audience, and I want him to come across as officious and empowering at first, but as the last monologue comes, I want him to seem beaten by this case, as if he is struggling but trying not to show it, before making it a personal vendetta to find the killer.

One activity that has helped me develop my understanding this week is the lifts in the physical movement pieces. I felt that the choreography we created for each piece works well, and with these i have learnt how to lift another actor safely and subtly without much effort. In the 'Closer' movement piece, Danny and myself lift Liam by his chest and upper back into the air. He charges at us in an upright position, and without too much strain we lift him high into the air and launch him backwards. This is through the momentum that Liam creates from running, and Danny and I have learnt how to utilise it to have the best effect in the lift. Similarly in the snowball fight piece, we use Liam's momentum to execute the lift easily and successfully.

This week I continued researching accents. I re-watched the accent video that I posted on my blog. I have worked on tapping my R's as the video informs, and have seen a slight improvement in my accent. I will revisit the video and others as the weeks progress.

Strengths of this week: We rehearsed every physical theatre piece in the production, as well as choreographed a new piece for act 1 scene 11, just after my character, Jocke, is murdered by Eli. This meant that we weren't just rehearsing our lines but were creating and improving movement pieces which I feel are now at a very high standard.
Weaknesses of this week: We took a while to deal with a certain bit of the choreography which was out of time every run through in the Closer movement piece. This meant that that became the focus of the beginning of the next lesson. However once it was addressed the piece looked more slick and less random, which was the initial worry. I feel that we were professional in our approach to dealing with this issue of timing, and the fix that we found works. To address the timing we all return to our sporadic actions and wait for Amanda to do her movement three times, then we all return to the uniformed movement piece.

In future rehearsals, I would like to measure the space accurately so that we know exactly what we are working with. I also feel that we should do a run through of act one without scripts soon so that we can have an even deeper focus on staging the scenes and address any issues with staging afterwards. I will aim to learn my Dad and Jocke scenes by the end of next week. This will allow me to work on actions that I would make as those characters, without one hand being occupied with a script.

Week Beginning 20/10/12

We had a big discussion this week on what songs should be used for the gym sequence to make it more of a movement piece. Alongside this came the idea of an interval, in which my input was made. I decided that we should have an interval in which we don't stop acting. Similar to the beginning of the production, where each actor takes on a character that either relates or does not relate to the others that they play in the production, and move around the performance space, we do this again but in character this time. I, for example, am going to play Halmburg, showing his stress and anxiety relating to the case he is dealing with. Before the end of the interval, I suggested that the set for scene 2 of act 2 is placed, and Connor and I take our positions and mime in role. This then makes the scene flow better as it joins in as if we have been having a conversation the entire time. Throughout the interval, I found three songs that we could use to act as house music, however they relate to the narrative and the other tracks that we have used, and keeps the atmosphere alive. I also suggested that the audience could explore the 'town', and step into the performance space for the interval, to see the scenery up close. In furthering the production, I feel that we should rehearse this interval, to make sure we have a rough idea of what we are doing, and if the audience to enter the space, perhaps we could interact with them silently, and acknowledge their presence in character, as if they are towns people. This again helps with my characterisation, as in Act 1 I address the audience multiple times as if I'm talking to a hall of school children, or on the news, and as my work colleagues later on.

On Friday, we had  a lighting workshop. Prior to this, I did not have much experience in lighting for theatre, I had a little bit of experience in sound but lighting was new to me. The workshop allowed me to appreciate the work of the crew in a production, as well as better my understanding of the use of colour and lighting designs to create a desired effect. For example, we are using LED Par Cans that are daisy-chained together, to give us the opportunity to change the mood of the scene taking place in an instant. We would likely be using a harsh red LED light setting for the murders at the end, with Eli saving Oskar from drowning.

With regards to research, I watched another film based in Scotland to better my accent. I watched a film called Filth, in which James McAvoy plays a detective gunning for a promotion to win back his wife and daughter. His aims are somewhat similar to Halmburg, in that he wants to complete the case and earn something from it, and the more the case takes hold of him, the more ruthless and relentless as a police officer, and a person, he becomes. The accent used by Bruce (James McAvoy) is something I will listen to to keep my accent up to scratch, and to ensure that it is both clear and not too distant from the Scottish dialect itself.

This week gave us even more movement pieces to work with, with the gym sequence being revised to a certain rhythm (Remember the Name - Fort Minor INSTRUMENTAL). This allowed us to improve our timings when doing movement pieces, which I feel as a cast have improved greatly. Also, this week allowed me to work on the scene with Connor (Act 2 Scene 2). I felt that at first this scene was weak, as I hadn't characterised myself to my own satisfaction. However, upon re-visiting the scene and implementing the ideas I had from the interval, and the direction from Miss Cordell in how the set should look for this scene, I was able to attain the level of characterisation I desired, and felt that I reached his emotions as a character as well. The emotional relatability of this character is apparent, as he is a man struggling to achieve personal goals in his work, and it affects his home life as well. He becomes emotionally involved in the case, and the situation he finds himself in emotionally can be relatable to the audience, keeping them engaged, as they can experience similar problems in their day-to-day work.

Week Beginning 3/11/14

There were 2 suggestions that I made this week that I felt would assist in the characterisation of Eli. With Eli, Amanda pinpoints the voice and its intenations accurately, making her seem slightly supernatural without it being a giveaway until the audience are shown her bestial side. However, in her violent acts, such as killing my character (Halmburg) and the death scene of the three bullies in the closing scenes of act 2, Miss Cordell and myself made suggestions in making Eli more animalistic. Amanda's approach to killing me seemed too fast, and not gruesome enough in my opinion, as she bit me and I died straight away. I suggested that we alter the death sequence, so that it makes Eli seem even more animalistic, and would in turn help Amanda in her target for this week in making her movement more fluid and less rigid. The new way that she kills Halmburg off will need Amanda to throw herself in making her character has freakish and unstable as possible, with the bloodlust being the main objective. The death becomes more gory and violent with the movement given to Amanda, and therefore inspires me to approach the death with confidence in screaming and squirming for escape. The whole death scene becomes more realistic, as much as it can be with the supernatural aspect reigning supreme, and more shocking for the audience. As much as Halmburg intrudes in the relationship between Eli and Oskar, he is in reality a 'good guy', who is just simply looking to do his job and solve the murder case.
The other suggestion that I made was that in the movement sequence where Jimmy, Johnny and Micke are murdered by Eli, Johnny's death could be more violent, and slowed down to show the redemption and revenge for Oskar's suffering, led by Johnny throughout the narrative. I suggested that he be brought to the front of the stage so that his death was in front of the audience, and they can witness up close, the suffering he has to undergo as a result for the torment he gave Oskar. This will amplify the effect that it has on the audience, in that they are aligned with Oskar and forced to hate the bullies, but at this point they are almost made to feel sorry for Johnny, his violent end to life is in their faces, and they cant escape it, and he cant either. The entrapment feeling only worsens the feeling for the audience, and I believe that the feeling of being uncomfortable should occur here to ensure both the engagement from the audience but also their fear for Oskar in the next scene, as the enigma of what lies in Oskar's future leaves the audience in a state of fear for his life. This scene amplifies Eli's violence, and will allow this fear factor to have more depth.

This week we also attempted to run the production without scripts where possible, and this helped me in giving me more motivation to get my lines learnt, as I found that in the monologues that I had learnt, I gave it more emotion, and felt more as one with the character of Halmburg. It also made the death scene with Jocke easier as I could move more freely around the stage, and carry Amanda more effectively.

By the end of next week I aim to do some research into the films, to work on characterisation and to see how the story is told in film style, as when we first started rehearsals for 'Let The Right One In', I made the point that the scenes seem to jump in a filmic style. For example, the opening seems to jump from Hakan's attack on Torkel, to another narrative strand, then back to the death of Torkel in a manner similar to films where they run scenes side by side and switch between them. The overall manner of the production suits both film and theatre well, and I will therefore apply some research time into watching the films, to better my understanding of the narrative and the characters in the show itself.

In developing the production further, I feel that we should all have our lines learnt by the end of next week, as we can then consider costumes and props, as many of us have multiple roles, and will need to carefully plan which side of the stage we exit, with consideration of the costume changes for each role.We will also need to consider what costumes we use with the use of blood packs in mind, as we need to be able to use the costume again for the 2nd performance.

Strengths of this week: knowledge of act 1 lines was adequate, but with improvement will make the production and the rehearsals more professional and smooth. Also the general focus on each scene was strong this week, in ensuring that each movement and line was mimicked in the way that we staged them in the initial blocking stages of the production.
Weaknesses of this week: knowledge of act 2 lines was poor in comparison to act 1, and therefore is a definite aim for everyone for the next week, as once we have those lines learnt, we can focus on other things.

 Week beginning 10/11/14
This week was constructive in the technical side of things, and characterisation. The blood workshop allowed us to get a clear understanding of how to create the blood-like colour, and how to safely attach it to a character's neck and slice the pack open to create a realistic blood-pour, to instil shock and horror into the audience. Normally when performing, blood is not used due to the mess it can create, but I personally feel that in this production it is vital to illustrate the murderous acts effectively, and to add to the realism to a narrative that has a supernatural, unrealistic taint to it throughout. Tying this with characterisation, we can effectively portray a death scene with the addition of blood, as it creates the atmosphere that enables the death to be shocking yet realistic.
We also helped Amanda (Eli) in jumping with an animalistic motion, as the character needs to be able to create a freak of nature in her movement without stating the bestial aspect of her narrative strand straight away, the audience should just get hints of what Eli really is before it is revealed. The jumps have to look bestial and supernatural, but need a silent landing to add to the aspect of being abnormal and off-key with reality.

This week I researched the song to which Liam (Oskar) wants a movement piece that represents his nightmare, just after the scene where his mum joins him in his room. This nightmare aligns with the Fallout Boy song "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark", which has a repetitive drum beat and build ups that work well with physical movement pieces. I researched this song, and choreographed more of the routine, after the movement that we had created so far in the lesson on Friday. I constructed movements up to the end of the first chorus, or where it should be (as we are using an instrumental). The song itself fits with the other songs as it has no words and is subtle in the right places, but the drum beat distorts it from the other songs we use for the surreal scenes, and therefore helps to illustrate the nightmare state that Oskar finds himself in at this point in the narrative. These were my notes for the choreography:

Sleep choreography for first 20 seconds
6 seconds in the choreography actually starts Turn to the left for first count of 8
Lay flat facing up for next count of 8
Turn to the right for next count of 8
Lay flat facing up for next count of 8

On three drum beats, slam right fist to floor, then left, then raise upper body slowly to seated position.

Head rises slowly until next beat of three, where we quickly grab our heads and throw them to the left, then the right, then back to the left on the drum beats again.

Hands to the right on floor, slowly turn 180 degrees on floor, then place feet on floor, rise to standing position, ready for the next drum beats to come in

Stomp right foot, then left foot, then throw upper body into a more upright position, with better posture on the three drumbeats.

Next drumbeats throw right arm down, then left arm, then raise both arms up to 90 degrees position facing down.

Slowly turn facing the middle, with Liam (Oskar) entering the middle, we slowly approach him as he tries to push us away.

On the build up to the drop in the music, all outside cast members raise their fists, left in front of the right fist, and slowly walk backwards a few paces

Sprint to Liam and lift him up, Harry and Danny on thighs and Steve and Ali on shins, launch him into the air on where the lyrics "light 'em up" would be.

On second drum of chorus, bring arms back down to fists like before

Third drum - arms by your side

Fourth drum, vampire bite like in 'Closer' movement

Fifth drum, throw to the left

Sixth drum, one step closer to Liam, who is cowering on the floor throughout previous moves

Seventh drum, another step closer, liam kneeling facing the front

Eighth drum, Liam throws right arm out

Ninth drum, Liam throws left arm out

Tenth drum steve grabs Liams right arm,

Eleventh drum, Ali grabs liams left arm

Twelth drum, Danny places right hand on  right side of liams head

Thirteenth drum, Danny places left hand on
Other side of liams head

Fourteenth drum, Danny throws liams head to the right,

Fifteenth drum, Danny throws liams head to the left

Sixteenth drum, Danny throws liams head to face the front

Seventeenth drum, Liam makes a silent scream, facial expression to illustrate his torment in the dream

This research allowed me to appreciate the effort that choreographer's go into to achieve their ideas visually, and the time it takes to create movements to music. My choreography is much simpler than that of professional choreographer's as well.

Strengths of this week: The blood workshop was ideal, as we understood where in the narrative these would be used most effectively, and I personally learnt how to create the blood packs, which can be useful for future use in the industry.
Weaknesses of this week: I could not find any weaknesses for this week.

For the next few lessons, we should finish the choreography to 'Oskar's Nightmare', testing the choreography I created at home, and finishing the piece with Oskar back in bed, informing the audience that it was just a dream. We should also perhaps start working with some of the set in place to ensure that we know how our scenes will work with the trees for example. This will prevent any hesitance in the final performances.

Week beginning 17/11/14

After working on creating another movement piece last Friday, I went home and choreographed more of the movement up to the end of the first chorus. I taught these movements in the first lesson back, and we then practised the entire choreography before bringing the physical movement piece to an end, with Oskar being placed back into his bed, illustrating that it was all a dream. Later in the week, we assisted Liam and Danny, who are studying the Set Design unit for the Triple award of the BTEC, in creating the four trees that they planned on having for the production. We wrapped chicken wire around crumpled balls of paper, which gave the chicken wire stability when packed tightly throughout the chute of wire. We tied the wire to itself to prevent it coming undone, and by the end of the lesson, we had four trees ready for the mod rock plastering. On the last lesson of the week, we ran through all movement pieces to ensure they were still fresh in our minds,and also started applying the first layer of the mod rock plaster to the first tree. The construction of the trees helped us as a company to realise that although the trees are large and stable, they will be prone to falling if any harsh contact is made with them, and so I reflected over what I do in the production (in the movement pieces and in the scenes themselves) to ensure I would not accidentally come into contact with the trees. Hopefully the trees will all be plastered and painted by the end of next week, so that we can hoist them up to work with them when we do a full run of the show.

The tree construction has helped me to understand other approaches to tasks like these. For example, we originally rolled the wire without the paper, and then stuffed the paper in from each end, but it was quicker and more sufficient to roll the wire around the pre-set paper balls. Also I learnt about mod rock plastering, and how to apply them to these designs in the right fashion to maximise effectiveness. Personally I enjoy doing the construction of the set,as I get an insight into the life of stage technicians and designers for theatre, which I feel is useful for a performer to have a knowledge of. It allows you to give the career path that others may take more appreciation, as it helps you realise how much work goes into a production both on and off-stage.

This week, when rehearsing my lines, I tried my monologues in different tones and actions to convey my message in each monologue, as planned from my weekly targets blog. My character’s objective and mannerisms shift in each monologue, and I tried to factor this in when rehearsing.

Strengths of this week: On a personal level, this week gave me an insight into the work that choreographers do, and I gained personal enjoyment from seeing my visions come to light when teaching my ideas. I also felt that the set construction gave me an understanding of the practical work that stage crew and technicians do, and I felt that I would like to do more of the practical work in the future, to further my understanding and to better appreciate the work of everyone involved in theatre.

Weaknesses of this week: When revising my lines, I did not know them as well as I had hoped, and so I will be rehearsing them in my spare time between rehearsing for my auditions which are allocated throughout December.
My recomendations for developing the production further would be to do a full run with scripts down next week, and also to finish the construction of the four trees so that we can do this rehearsal with more spacial awareness.

Rehearsal Diary

Friday 10th October

- discussed Halmburg

- rehearsed knife sequence

- revised and improved snowball fight

Tuesday 14th October

- ran fight sequence at the end, I took photos

- choreographed new movement piece after scene 11 in act 1 

Wednesday 15th October

- ran all physical movement pieces

- finished choreographing Kings of Leon physical movement piece 

Friday 17th October 

- Ran Closer physical movement piece 

- ran show with scripts to Mum and Halmberg scene

Tuesday 21st October
- discussed interval ideas
- re-staged act 2 scene 2
- ran snowball fight physical movement piece and bullying scene that follows it

I came up with an idea for the interval, and what the cast could do during it. Much like the beginning of the production, where we all have characters and cross the stage slowly to open the show, we could do this again, this time as specific characters such as Halmberg, Hakan, Micke and the others. We each would have a purpose, and would interact if necessary. The audience will be allowed to move around and get a drink or use the restroom much like an interval normally is in the theatre. I also thought that the audience can have permission to explore the town that we have created in the small space provided. They can view the scenery and the set that is on stage, but up close. The bed and chair for Act 2 Scene 2 will be set within the interval, as cast members cross the stage, making it subtle and seem to appear naturally. Connor and I will be in place for that scene within the last few minutes of the interval. I will act as though I'm interviewing him, but this would be in mime. Once the interval ends and Act 2 begins, Connor and I will freeze, and once our scene starts we will do the dialogue as if it is mid-conversation, to illustrate that I have been interrogating him to no avail.

We also then re-staged this scene, so that I could characterise Halmberg properly for this scene, and so that we could work out a new way for Eli to enter the scene instead of 'climbing the wall', as this wouldn't be possible with our set design and space. I have made annotations in my script for this scene and how I will act with character's thoughts and objectives. My line "Are you involved in some kind of cult?" seems like a ridiculous question, but is understandable in the circumstance that all the killings have been ritualistic and Halmberg therefore questions not only the mannerisms of the murders but also the sanity of Hakan. How psychotic can this man really be?

Wednesday 22nd October
- discussed songs for gym sequence - Fort Minor 'Remember the Name' instrumental
- discussed songs for interval - songs I found for gym sequence were used for this as they fit better
- revised gym sequence, implementing myself and Steve as classmates
- rehearsed act 2

Friday 24th October
- lighting workshop

After discussing the tables shown above and what each light did, we took control of the lighting desk, and discussed the designs of the show for specific scenes, such as what scenes would have the daisy-chained LED's glowing red for danger and death, for the murder scenes in particular.

Tuesday 4th November

- ran act 1 scripts down 

Wednesday 5th November 

- Ran act 2 with attempts at knowing our lines 

- discussed Halmberg's death and I re-choreographed it

Friday 7th November

- rehearsed Halmberg death scene

- ran act 2

- revised the death scene at the end where Oskar is drowning

- I suggested changing Jonny's death, make it bigger and more vicious

Tuesday 11th November

- blood workshop

Wednesday 12th November

- blood workshop
- jump practice for Eli (Amanda)

Friday 14th November

- started choreographing Oskar's dream to 'My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark' by Fallout Boy

Tuesday 18th November

- I taught choreography that I created at home for the Fallout Boy sequence
- we then choreographed more before deciding that after the last move in the constructed sequence, the music will fade and we leave Liam back in his bed, awoken from his nightmare, back in reality

Wednesday 19th November

- created the four trees for the set (chicken wire with paper crumpled into balls to stuff the trees for strength and stability) - ready for mod rock plastering

Friday 21st November

- ran through all the movement piece
- started applying first layer of mod rock plaster to first tree

Music for Knife Dance

Revolution Arts: Music for Knife Dance - Let the Right One In



This is the music we are using for Act One - Scene Six, to which we have devised a set of movements that will all be performed at exactly the same time, much like the show itself. This movement piece will add performers after each routine, so that it builds up so that nearly the entire cast is on stage repeating the stabbing movements in synergy. The track loops around three times to make sure that everyone is involved. The rhythm itself comes across as vicious and works well with the actions that the cast make on stage, with violent stabbing actions and aggressive facial expressions.

Accents

For this production we have decided to focus our voice work with a Scottish accent, as the company that the class saw were Scottish, and it appealed to the students. To do this, I have been researching various videos to help replicate the tone and pace of the accent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mALkCGVA2BU

This video features an actor and voice coach who takes the audience through dialect and vowels and how they sound for a general Scottish accent. This is marked 'general' because accents differ from all over Scotland.

After watching Trainspotting, the Scottish accent also seemed to be more natural, from hearing it the entire time throughout the film. To ensure that I have nailed the accent, I will watch this film again at a later date, nearer the time of the performance to keep the accent updated.