Assesment - The Flick UNIT 3

 Part 1

Character analysis: Avery

• Shy, introspective, socially awkward

• Dreams of being a filmmaker, passionate about films which is why she works at a cinema, but it gets in the way of her dreams

• Insecure, has struggles with self-identity

• She develops from a passive observer to someone who starts to voice her frustrations and aspirations

• Desires deeper connections

Given circumstances:

Who - Sam, Avery and Rose who all work in a movie theatre but long for something more

What - Discussing the unfair treatment they experience at work, and wanting more in life than this job whilst they clean up after a shift

Where - In the auditorium of a run-down movie theatre (suggests the theatre is unloved, its dying) In Massachusetts (USA)

When - Late at night after a shift, Older time period 1897 ish (only showing films with 35mm films suggesting its not as common to still be used)

Why - They all believe they deserve something more than an unenjoyable minimum wage job in a dying movie theatre

Objectives:

In this scene the character wants to express their frustration at her friend letting the manager take advantage of her, something which is hard for her to do as she is a shy person. This is because her super-objective is to become a filmmaker, and do more with her life than work at this job. 

Actions: 

Folding arms - shows frustration

(quietly) - shows her timid nature, she says she ‘doesn’t mean it like that’ which shows her quickly apologising, feeling somewhat remorseful as if she is afraid to make someone feel bad

(struggling to find the words) - shows her struggling to communicate, but wanting to express her feelings correctly

Magic if:

I would feel frustrated if I was in the character's situation because I too have dreams for my future career as an actor, and I can empathise with her for being desperate to achieve them, but being confined in a job that doesn’t allow her to do what she loves. 

Part 2

Performance

Emotional truth: 

To become emotionally connected to the character, I found qualities in her that I could relate to myself, for example I thought her line ‘I didn’t mean it like that’ shows her to be remorseful or regretful, emotions which I can relate to after saying things I don’t mean after getting caught up in a moment. To make my portrayal truthful, I tried to deliver my lines as if it was the first time saying them, because to Avery it is. 

Clear objectives and actions:

My character's objective in this scene was to let her feelings out, and try to communicate to the others how tired she was of working in this job, feeling that her life isn’t going anywhere and she is stuck in the cycle of being mistreated by her boss. 

Active listening and reaction: 

To make my reactions realistic, I really tried to listen to my scene partner’s instead of thinking about the next line, this meant my thought process to their speech could be seen on my face.

Part 3 

Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Application of Techniques:

I used the ‘Magic if’ to imagine my emotions if I was in Avery’s position, which helped me to express her frustration. However, I’m quite an honest person, so unlike Avery I don’t struggle with expressing my feelings. But, I do sometimes struggle to say what I want in the correct way, in order to avoid hurting feelings - much like Avery. The given circumstances helped during the rehearsal and performance as they allowed me to imagine the surroundings (of the cinema), and to be familiar with the other characters personalities making it easier for me to bounce off them. 

Growth:

I felt that I understood the character well, however, after seeing the other performances I felt I could have made her quieter, even more shy. We performed it first with an American accent, as it is set in Massachusetts, but our redirection from Kelly was to switch to an English accent. Although this would usually be more natural for me, I struggled as I had become so used to doing an American accent with the lines, so some of my words still came out American. Despite this, I continued and didn’t let it affect my performance. I think my character was better with the British accent, as in the American accent I sometimes went a bit too sassy. As a team we worked well together, and managed to make the conversation seem natural. To improve we could work on it more with our British accents to make it more fluent.