Thursday 16 January 2014

First Observation of 2014

Hello all, I'm sorry (again as usual) for not blogging as much. I've been busy with several stuff that has happened and will be happening. 2013 has been a fantastic year, at the start I was just at college, doing highers but since April, I've been doing a lot of work (theatre wise). I was excited and was travelling to a whole load of places including London, Dundee, Glasgow and Inverness. 2014 will be hopefully a good year for me. I'm going to be talking about my experiences at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where I've observed two things: the production week of the Shakespearean play called "The Merchant of Venice" and the students filming their own TV show at the set of "River City".

I haven't read the play of "The Merchant of Venice" before so it was going to be a new play to me and got the story explained by Wendy Rae (one of our interpreters for the day). I was kinda knowing what would happen that day as it was the "plotting". Wasn't an exciting thing as it was just us watching them setting up lights but what was nice to see was the students getting support from the lecturers but allowing them to do what they feel is right and allow their creativity to go wild. It was nice to see that the people working on the production were mostly students working on this production. The director was Ali de Souza who allowed us to sit and observe the rehearsals (thank you Ali!). I've enjoyed watching the actors and I thought the show sounds really good. Sadly I couldn't go as I am saving up some money for London next week. The actors were fantastic and the play looks stunning. I couldn't really judge the play as I am not able to see the show but it seems good. There is a modern element to this play. Does it actually work? I think it does but what is important is the script. With Shakespeare, there are vital scenes that people sometimes forget. Sometimes people do Shakespeare to "show off" their knowledge and say "I know Shakespeare so I will say the lines just to prove to you". Overall, it was enjoyable and I was gutted that I'm missing the show.

Moving onto the film set, the number one thing I was shocked about: EVERYTHING IS FAKE. The houses were fake, the street were fake, the drains were fake. I thought that the streets was abandoned so that the BBC decided to use it for the show but nope. Fake. I laughed at EJ going into the toilet and thinking that it was fake. This laptop could be fake. Okay I'm getting carried away, what was I saying? Oh yeah, the set was fake.

The students did a great job over the two days so they should be proud of themselves. They are still currently filming. There was a lot of waiting around and cameras being set up and sets being set up. I applaud the actors and crew for being patient. It was great to see the students being professionals. It was interesting to see that people who were used to the theatre sector thrown in the deep end of the film sector. They seem to be able to cope with it. I loved being on the film set and learning a lot of new terms (Double Banking). It made me realise that I might like to give this a shot. Acting on a film set. I strongly believe that this is something that should be on the new degree course for deaf people. I don't think it would be a major difference if you're hearing or if you're deaf. It would be really useful if we are wanting to see more deaf people in the arts world. We should introduce people to filming deaf people in film set. Only difference is shouting on set for them to come on might be difficult... After the couple of days, it made me think of my future and the future of the degree course.

Well I won't be doing any Apprentice work for a couple of weeks as I am off to London for two weeks, exciting! I'm doing a course called "Step Up" which is lead by Upswing. They specialise in Aerial. I can't wait but at the same time I am terrified as I am off to London on my own, staying at my brothers (thank you Cameron for allowing me to stay at his). I want to be able to develop numberous skills and aerial is one of them. I will be blogging about my experiences and let you know what has been happening. It will be exciting and scary. I am feeling the burn after the workouts...

This is what it looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=330qixrHs_w
Their website: http://www.upswing.org.uk
RCS website: http://www.rcs.ac.uk

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