This is my Oscar Performance for Semester One Screen Acting. I will be exploring the process as well as my thoughts on the final product. We were to work in a pair or small groups to present a notable and engaging scene that we had to film, selecting shots that most effectively presented the story. This scene was to showcase our range as an actor, challenging us in the process. Prior to the filming, we had to plan our vision for the scene. This included the shot types, technical requirements and context. We also had to rehearse and annotate the script to note down our choices. My partner and I chose to do a scene from Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, where Harry Potter first meets Dobby the House Elf, due to our shared interest in the series. We discussed our idea with some peers, and they liked the idea of doing a Harry Potter scene.

Leading to the final production, we first had to familiarize ourselves with the context of our scene, so we could make informed and creative choices about how we play our characters. The Chamber of Secrets begins with a dreadful start to the summer holidays, with the Dursley’s characteristically mean behaviour making Harry yearn to go back to school more than ever.

Harry stops stunned as he sees Dobby.

Unexpectedly, Harry finds himself face to face with Dobby the house-elf, who tells him that if he goes back to Hogwarts, disaster will strike. My objective is to find out why Dobby is present, but his urgent and insistent pleas for me to not go back to school present an obstacle. My super-objective is to protect myself and those I love & care for.

I prepared for this performance through research (about the context and technical requirements) and rehearsal to put my knowledge into action. My partner and I could have rehearsed in a more practical way so we could utilize muscle memory to a fuller extent, however, this was difficult for both of us as we tend to prepare in our heads and then approach the practical task. Nonetheless, we each made several choices about how to play the character and the final technical design. We used Stanislavski’s techniques to develop performance.

Emotional memory involves the actor drawing on their own experiences to show what they would do if they were placed in the scenario, which was used through out. For example, in the line ” See why I’ve got to go back? I don’t belong here. I belong in your world — at Hogwarts. It’s the only place I’ve got .. friends.” showed emotions through voice.

Harry in a defensive position when meeting Dobby.

I used the beats/units to show when Harry’s train of thought changed, for example, when he says ” I see. Not to be rude of anything…” I used the given circumstances to understand the wider context of the scene in the whole story line and then to make informed choices. For example, to design the set effectively, the fundamental question of Where am I shows us that the scene takes place in a bedroom, so the set was a bed and small table. I also frequently used beats to develop the performance by showing the audience what the shifts in thought were.

Harry gestures to Dobby

However, I think I need to work on pauses and using longer beats to lengthen the moments of silence to show the emotion and make it seem more natural. (I think that this was somewhat of a problem/something not done very right because the moments of silence feel longer when you are performing it, rather than watching your performance back or from an audience perspective.) For example, when tell Dobby that “it’s the only place I’ve got friends.”, there should be a longer beat between that and ” I belong in your world — at Hogwarts.” This is to show the extent of the embarrassment I am feeling in having to admit something so personal to someone I’ve only just met, in order to persuade them and to clarify the situation to Dobby.

Harry is desperately quieting Dobby.

Throughout the scene, I made vocal and physical choices to play my character. I spoke in a natural voice at a normal speaking volume with no significant change to pitch. Upon entering, I halt my walking, stumbling on each of the first words (“what.. who are you?”, “I see, Why don’t you sit down?) to show that I am still struggling to comprehend the absurdity of the situation at hand, and how I am connecting the dots; that I have seen Dobby before, through the hedge when I was unwittingly being spied on (but did not give further thought to, as I think it irrational). This use of voice and movement also draws light to the surprise at the strange creature in my room, no less, on my bed. I also slowly stage move backwards as I am approached, revealing my apprehension and caution: he is a foreign creature, and I might want to keep my distance from him.

Harry using his kind and empathetic nature to care for Dobby

When Dobby tells me “It is difficult, sir, Dobby doesn’t know where to begin”, I scratch my head, gesturing to my bed as I suggest that he take a seat. When he bursts into noisy tears, I run over to him with outstretched arms, showing the desperation I feel about this pathetic, sobbing creature and the noise level. I think I may have slightly overdone this. To me, this looked slightly unnatural because if a stranger started bawling, you wouldn’t rush over that fast or shush them that loudly (this conflicts even more because Harry is kind). When I quiet him, I slightly back away from him, never touching. I did not use emphasis a lot, although at the start, I say “house elf” as if I do not know how to say it, as Dobby is the first of the foreign species I’ve met. The first half of the scene is meant to show my unsureness and the fact that while I want to find out what Dobby has to say, I do not want to offend him and I also need to keep it quiet enough for the Dursley’s downstairs.

Harry and Dobby mid-conversation.

In the second half, after Vernon comes, my voice is faster and thicker with emotion, as I have gotten to a desperate point where I want to convince Dobby, and myself, by admitting to intimate facts: that I only have friends at Hogwarts and not anywhere else. It shows the vulnerability Harry is feeling at this point. I was somewhat pleased with my use of voice in the second half, as it showed the spectrum of emotions that Harry feels, including vulnerability and isolation. When told I must not go back to Hogwarts, I look around, visualizing life with the Dursleys, and then turn to face Dobby.

Harry’s voice is thick with emotion as he admits he has no friends outside of school.

The horror I feel just by visualizing what dreadful things would happen shows in my voice. Leading up to this, when Uncle Vernon leaves the room, I step back and gesture to Dobby that “I don’t belong here”, emphasizing how I don’t fit in with the muggle life, with the Dursleys. It is to show him that I belong in Hogwarts and that it’s the only place I have friends – friends, as Dobby slyly suggests, that don’t even write to me. To this, I reply that my friends have probably been busy, which is why they haven’t written to me. I am faced away from him as if answering my own insecurities – I need to persuade myself as much as Dobby. I think that to say this line more effectively, to portray the character, I need to say this slowly as if I am unsure but am trying to sound confident.

On filming day, my partner and I were prepared, with our props and costumes ready. I think that this went relatively well, as we were prepared and we did several takes to get different shot types.

Harry grabbing his letters from Dobby

This semester in Screen Acting, I learnt how to be more subtle and more natural with mannerisms, movement and voice as the audience is (technically because of the camera) much closer. We also learnt how to use voice to convey the character’s thoughts and emotions through pace, pitch, emphasis, tone and intonation (how the voice moves). I also learnt how the objective and super-objective influence the choices that the actor makes so that they can develop character better. We also learnt how to use Adobe Premiere Rush to edit the scenes we did by cutting them and altering the audio.