Our task was to present an Oscar winning performance. We first needed to choose one we liked. My group and I chose 2 scenes from the first Harry Potter movie as we thought we could do lots with them and we knew the scenes quite well to begin with which helped us. We then needed to select shots and costumes. We chose to shoot the scene from 4 different camera shots so you can clearly see what is going on in the scene and it makes it more interesting. We all also chose costumes relating to our characters. For example the character I was playing was Ron and because Ron comes from a big family that is poor, I chose clothes that would suit him. Instead of wearing expensive suits or nice clothes, I chose brown tracksuit pants and a navy blue shirt. We then had to learn our lines which was quite easy as my group and I were familiar with the scene already. Then we had to film. We brought in props and our costumes. We used a green screen to resemble a train background as that is what we needed for our first scene. We also got other people from the class to be in the second scene to resemble a classroom.
reflection:
I paused when talking to Harry for the first time and throughout the first scene. This made the talking seem more natural and awkward rather than it being scripted. In the second my scene I was kind of straining my voice when the spell wasn’t working to make it seem like I was really trying to make it work and was frustrated that it didn’t. I also made my voice quieter when the spell wasn’t working making it seem like I had given up.
I made my facial expressions seem natural rather than the huge expressions people do on stage. This makes it seem normal and not too exaggerated as Ron wouldn’t do that. I also fidgeted a bit with my hands during the scene to make it look more awkward and that I was nervous. In the second scene I made sure to direct my eyeline up when the teacher ‘levitated’ the feather to give the affect that it was actually happening. I did the same thing when Hermione levitated the feather. I also made sure to aggressively waving my arm up and down when trying to do the spell. This helped make me look frustrated and like it wasn’t working.
I used the techniques to learn about my character more such as where I am (on a train so I looked out the window/at the green screen). I also learnt more about my characters background. An example of this is that Ron comes from quite a poor family so when I was choosing a costume, I chose pants that didn’t fit me right to show that they were hand me downs and an old shirt. Having a costume that represented Ron’s background helped me to get into character as I felt more like him.
We used design elements by getting costumes that represent each character. My character Ron was wearing brown trackpants that didn’t fir right to show he is poor. He was also wearing an old T-shirt to show that he doesn’t really take much pride in his appearance and the main thing about him is his personality. We used lighting to show the friendliness of the scene. We did this by using warmer lighting as warmer lighting kind of makes you feel more at home and safer where as white light is very bright and can make you feel nervous. We also used a green screen to help us show the background of our scene. This helped us as we could film in a spot with the best lights whilst also having a nice back drop.
I am really pleased with how well we all knew our lines and how flowy the scene was as everyone talked quite a bit and felt comfortable with each other which makes it easier to act alongside one another. Because we all knew our lines and were comfortable with each other, this ended up making our scene look more natural.
I think we could have taken more awkward pauses in the first scene as it was their first time meeting. This would make the scene go on for longer and make it more realistic. We also could have rehearsed the second scene more as we mostly only rehearsed the first scene. We all knew our lines for the second scene but I think I could have used more emotion if I had rehearsed it more.
