In Class Writing

Dayna Freeman                                                                                                                   10/15/15

In Class Writing - Acting


To my surprise, I really enjoyed doing a silent movie in class. It was really fun to perform and really entertaining to watch the other group. I think both our groups did an excellent job with their silent movies. Silent movies are not an easy thing to pull off and can be confusing to the audience if not performed well. I believe the greatest strength of both of our groups was doing a great job portraying stereotypical characters and working along well together. You could tell in the silent movie we all knew how to interact with each other to make it funny and believable.

 My group did a silent movie called "Back in my Day". My group got along really well together and all put in our ideas for the silent movie. We had good coordination working together to perform our silent movie and we helped each other if we were struggling. I really liked our story line. My role of the nurse I could understand and relate to because my grandmother has dementia and absolutely hates senior centers. She says they're full of old people and that she hates card games and bingo. She refuses to go to any senior center and insists on living on her own. While performing, I was imagining that Abby, Lisa, and Alexis were my grandmother that was cranky at a senior center. I imagined that I was trying to calm down my grandmother when she got mad. Of course, towards the end, I get exasperated with the fighting seniors (I can get a little exasperated with my grandmother too!) and just give them a blank stare as they continue to be annoying. My group did a great job at facial and body expressions. I could absolutely believe they were stereotypical cranky old people at a senior center. I think one thing I could've done better was having more consistent facial expressions throughout and showing the contrast between the kind, patient nurse and the annoyed, exasperated nurse. As a whole, I think our group could've been more focused in rehearsals. I feel like if we were a bit more focused on the performance than the music we could've done a better job.

The boys' group performed a silent movie called "The world's best cupcake". I loved their silent movie because it created suspense but was also very funny to watch. I also love the opening song to their silent movie (I forget what it is called but I've heard it before) because it creates a serene atmosphere but also one of mystery. Another thing that stood out to me was Jack behind the wall peeking his head around the corner to watch John. It was a classic "bad guy hiding" move and it was stereotypical but funny. I also liked the exact moment when Duncan and Jack reached for the cupcake. It was the iconic moment of the silent movie where the fighting starts. One thing I think could've been done better was a little less talking in the beginning. It was a little tedious to me and I think it could've been shorter and more to the point. Another thing I would've liked to stand out more was when Duncan was dying, but John actually killed him by stepping on him. It was a little difficult to understand and I think it could be more pronounced.