Exploring Ideas & Project Managment

Exploration of Ideas for Personal Project : 'Unspoken Bonds'

What my personal project is and my outcome.

The final product of our project is a short film. It’s narrative that follows a group of five friends that all struggle with the aftermath of losing their best friend, Jordan to suicide. All four friends each process their grief in different ways, telling their stories of how they are somehow connected to Jordan, revealing hidden truths to his death. Each one of them suffers from their own mental health issues. Tackling themes of masculinity, anxiety, self-esteem, isolation, and love.

My specialism in this project is acting, which will be shown through my character, Sadie Winks. I aim to effectively show the themes of loss, love and anxiety by working closely with my partner, Kevon in our rehearsal process as our characters share a very deep bond, which can be seen when they often sit in the school library and discuss their thoughts of talking to a school counselor, showing to the audience their feelings towards mental health, grieving together because of their loss.

My goal is to effectively show my character’s feelings towards mental health and her own struggles so that I can convey the complexity of the impact suicide has on individuals and communities. Personally, I want to be able to portray these emotions of self-esteem so that I can create empathy towards the audience, potentially helping reduce stigma and encourage conversations about mental health, sending a message to everyone who needs the help.

The plan and the development of the project

We are developing our project by pitching together a narrative derived from one another’s subjective experiences so that we can connect to the story in our own way. We have utilized story circle breakdowns to develop our narrative and dive into the mind and emotions of each character, which has also helped us develop a backstory about them. I was able to learn a lot about my character, identifying that my character, Sadie, does not have a strong relationship with her family and that’s why she seeks attention from her friends to help her deal with her grief.

Moreover, as a group, we have created a presentation of our short film to pitch in front of our class so that everyone can understand what our project is going to be revolved around. Pitching ‘Unspoken Bonds’ was very beneficial for us as a team to show our viewers the vison that we want to set out, but also shows the end goal of our project, which is to show the importance of mental health which does not get as recognized as much within the society. Furthermore, we also got the opportunity to receive feedback from our audience after the pitch who suggested that we should of broke down our characters a lot more rather than giving a brief explanation of them so that the viewers could understand their importances in ‘Unspoken Bonds’.

We have been able to conduct in creating character breakdowns and characterization by filling out worksheets that ask us multiple questions about our own personal characters so that we can get a more comprehensive character to work with. Using this sheet was extremely helpful for me to understand my character on a deeper level by breaking down their traits, motivations, flaws, and backstory.

Creating these characterization and character breakdown worksheets is essential for me so that I can create a believable and engaging character that resonates with our target audience. Characterizing my character by creating mood boards and conducting hot seating exercises has also guided me to creating a more authentic performance.

Personally, at home I have conducted in watching the TV show “13 reasons why” to help with my research towards the importance of suicide awareness. Watching this TV show has provided me with a valuable insight into the type of characters that have gone through losing their close friends to suicide, giving me ideas into the way I can portray my character effectively. For example, I thought it would be an innovative idea if my character was very closed off, not sharing a lot to people, however, opens up to the people she truly cares about to so that it shows she is really a fragile person who is grieving and only the audience can see that.

Project management of personal project

The challenges faced when planning and developing the project

A couple of challenges that I identified with the planning and development of our project, ‘Unspoken bonds,’ was punctuality throughout our group. Punctuality is key for our project as it allows us to have more time to spend working together collectively on the project so that we can get the best possible outcome for our performance.

An example of a lack of punctuality affecting our project is character development. This has majorly impacted our use of time to effectively create mood boards and character profiles which is key for us to have so that we can understand and gain a deeper insight into our characters, creating a personal connection with them which is important when making our performance look raw.

In the future, I am going to suggest that we could do some character development at home in our own time so that we do not have to rely on people to come in on time, which would also be more efficient as we could get more done by ourselves and then do some more character development collaboratively when we have to do activities like, hot seating.

Moreover, I also feel like availability has also been a challenge when developing ‘Unspoken Bonds’ as not everyone in our group is available every day of the week due to other commitments, which has made it difficult for our rehearsal time.

Reduced time for us to rehearse has made it complex for us to use that time to block scenes which could be complicated. For instance, in the library scene, we needed to block where all the props were going to be as we wanted to make it look like a high school as best as possible by adding in bean bags, schoolbooks, posters and school equipment. However, we needed to work together during our rehearsal time to figure out where we were going to get these props, who will get them and also how us actors in the scene would work with the props given to make the scene look realistic and natural.

Overall, having a lack of punctuality and availability has caused a lot of challenges, such as stress and last-minute changes to our rehearsals, as cast and crew members have not been in on the days where they are needed which slows down and delays the process of ‘Unspoken Bonds’.

In the future, I am going to suggest that we plan ahead of the days we all need to come in so that we are all in on time and that we can use as much rehearsal time as possible, so that our performances are to their best ability and we can really create a meaningful connection with our characters.

How I managed the challenges

One solution that I have done to solve punctuality for the progress of our project, ‘Unspoken Bonds’, is creating a schedule for the times and dates of our rehearsals.

In order to create the rehearsal schedule, I communicated with the whole cast and director to see when everyone is definitely available and to see if they had any special requirements for the schedule, such as certain time slots to rehearse on some of the days of the week. After discussing with everyone and determining their availability, I was successfully able to work with Ataya, our director, to establish a schedule that allows us to all have plenty of time to rehearse, further character development, script learning and blocking. Having this schedule also shown our cast the time they also have to themselves, which they could use to do some independent productivity on their character.

Furthermore, I also worked collaboratively creating this schedule with the director majorly, typically with discussing what scenes need more time working on during our rehearsals, which allows us to look into any adjustments that need to take place or character relationship changes. This would ensure that our performance is too everyone’s best ability and satisfies the audience’s view.

Personally, creating this schedule meant that I also communicated with the director and the rest of the cast my availability and if I could not do some days as it did affect certain days that we needed to rehearse on. I also communicated with my director to see her opinion on what scenes I need to independently need to go though to make my performance better. For example, Ataya gave me the feedback that I should work on my monologue more especially towards the end of it where my character goes from being upset to frustrated so suddenly. This helped me with my performance as I was able to spend time breaking down the monologue in the extra time I had on the schedule and delve deeper into how my character would be feeling at that time.

Overall, I do believe having this schedule would help with punctuality as it would drive us to work harder on what we need to perfect to make our performance look a lot better.

Moreover, another solution that I took part in to solve the non-organization in our project was suggesting doing more production meetings at the end of every week.

In order to make sure that our final project is all organized with making sure that we have all of our props, costumes, show date, cameras to record the show, location of the show, I decided that it would be ideal if we all contributed in production meetings so that we could all discuss where we are up to date with and anything that we still need to do. For example, our group has still not thought of any props we need in the library scene, and I thought it would be beneficial if we had a production meeting on the props for that scene and work out how we can get them and make a list of the props.

I did work collaboratively with my group to organize production meetings by asking each member what times they can do on a Friday to contribute to a production meeting as we have quite a tight schedule with our rehearsals at the same time. However, after communicating with my cast and director, I was able to learn what times would be best suited for everyone to do the production meetings and how long they could go on for.

Personally, I prioritized making sure that my attendance on Fridays was up to its best standard so that I could go to every production meeting and make sure I am updated on what is happening in our production and what needs to happen. This allowed me to be more organized with what I need to do independently, for instance, I need to work on getting my own costume for my character, Sadie.

Overall, having the production meetings are successful as it helps our production team a lot more organized with making sure that our performance goes as smoothly as possible and that there are no delays in our way.

Unique selling point

The strengths and areas of devlopment considered within the project

In my opinion, I feel that my communication skills with the pitch for ‘Unspoken Bonds’ could have been better if I changed the way my body language was shown as it was quite shut off and not facing the audience throughout it. For example, when I discussed my character development within the pitch, I was reading word by word off the board and turning my back away from the camera/audience which made the pitch look very disengaging and not satisfying for the viewers to watch. It also does not allow myself to build that connection with the audience, it shows that I am addressing them personally, which would make them feel more Involved. In the future, I need to adapt my communication skills by engaging more with my audience doing a formal speech. For example, I am going to learn to use bullet points more during the pitch so that I can expand off them in my own way so that I do not read word for word from the board, making it look uninteresting to watch.

However, a strength of mine that was noticed was my character development and the development of my subtext in my script for ‘Unspoken Bonds.’ I have been able to go through my script and breakdown every line that my character says and write down a truer meaning to what she is saying. Through this, I feel that I have really taken on the techniques and skills with character development through my script breakdowns and analysis of Sadie. In the future, the character development that I have successfully done for this personal project is a skill that I want to continue to develop and have for my progression in the future into the industry so that I can impress directors in auditions when I bring my character to life through the development, I have indulged in.

How this project will benefit my own plans of progression into the industry

Firstly, this project, ‘Unspoken Bonds’, is going to benefit my own plans for progression into the industry in the future as it has taught me the important skill of line learning within my specialism as I am aiming to have learnt my lines by the end of the first week of rehearsals.

In order to learn my lines for our project, I used the technique of visualization. For example, when I read over each line in scenes, I imagined how the scene would play out in my head or the scenarios that could potentially happen in which the lines would naturally occur to me, helping me understand the reason my character is saying their lines. Using this technique helped me majorly contextualize the lines, therefore helping me remember them.

Furthermore, I also worked collaboratively with my cast when learning lines by going through our lines together and using repetition. For example, in one of our rehearsals, when we were learning the lines of our monologues, we each performed the monologue with our scripts by our side twice and then when we felt more comfortable, we would give our scripts to our partners and perform the monologue without it. Whilst performing them, our partner would also help give us prompts if we forgot any lines. For instance, during my monologue I forgot that I had to stand up during a certain line, which allowed my partner to prompt me to stand up when I went through my monologue, also allowing me to remember the lines.

Personally, to remember my monologue more in-depth so that I do not need to be prompted, I used a lot of exaggerated physical gestures for each line to represent how my character is feeling in that moment and then I toned it down each time I performed my monologue so that the gestures and physicality of my characters emotions would help me remember my lines or prompt me to.

Overall, practicing different techniques, such as physicality and repetition, to help me remember my lines will most definitely help my progression into the industry for the future when I must use these techniques for any auditions or roles that I could get.

Furthermore, another way this project is going to help benefit my progress into the industry is by helping to advance my sense of creativity within my specialism, as I am aiming to be more creative when developing my character for ‘Unspoken Bonds’.

In order to help bring my creativity side to life when developing my character, I indulged in a lot of research by watching TV shows to help immerse myself in the world of the character and look into the similar roles to my character, Sadie. For example, the TV show, Thirteen Reasons Why, was the best for helping me with some inspiration towards Saide as I felt that the character, Clay Jensen, related to who I am playing in my personal project as he is quite an introvert and does not like to speak a lot, however is a kind-hearted person towards his friends, especially his friend that passed away from suicide just like my character. This helped me to observe different interpretations, gestures and emotions from that similar character, allowing me to gain insight into how actors approach these types of roles. For example, Clay Jensen portrays guilt and grief through his facial expressions which convey a sense of heaviness to it which I could adapt to my characters behavior.

I also worked collaboratively with others when seeking creativity by conducting improvisation lessons. Taking part in doing improvisation with our characters gives us the chance to explore deeper into them. For example, I thought it would be a good idea if my character and Kevon’s character improvised out a scene in the library after they have just been seen by the councilor which gave us the chance to discover new facets. During our improvisation scene, I discovered that my character and Kevon’s character have a much deeper relationship between them, and I felt that Sadie has hidden feelings for him as she seems to push him a lot and always be keep being with him constantly, showing me that she has a crush on him really.

Personally, from that improv session, I suggested that I could do a hot seating exercise on how my character feels towards Kaiden (Kevon’s character). Conducting in this hot seating exercise allowed me to explore Sadie’s different perspective towards Kaiden, fostering a deeper understanding on why she feels this way. For instance, I got asked “What is it about Kaiden that pulls you towards him”, which gave me the chance to improvise and think about my annotations that I made on my script to help me answer. From this, I found that my character finds herself loving Kaiden for how confident he is and how motivated he is to getting his life back on track, especially after sad circumstances that they have both gone through.

Overall, finding out and using different techniques to help bring my creativity side out in this production was very successful as it will help me in the future when progressing into the industry with different jobs but also so I can show that side in my auditions to impress casting directors and directors so that I can stand out.

Developing the personal project

The steps I have taken to create my personal project

To begin creating my personal project ‘Unspoken Bonds’, I began researching and looking into TV shows and movies with the similar concept to our project, such as ‘The Perks Of Being A Wallflower’ and ‘Euphoria’, which would help me explore their characteristics and help inspire me with my personal project.

By watching ‘The Perks Of Being A Wallflower’ and ‘Euphoria’, I was able to learn how they both share similarities in their portray of mental health and suicide. For example, one similarity that I picked up on which I could use as an idea in my personal project is that they both explore teenage experiences. Both stories center around the complexities of adolescence that teenagers go through, which includes issues like peer pressure and societal expectations. I also found that after watching the two shows, I realized the importance of relationships especially when dealing with mental health and grief. Whether its forming bond of friendships, relationships or seeking relationships with family members that have been lost in the past.

Furthermore, I also worked collaboratively whilst researching for our project by creating a mind map of distinctive character ideas, which all allowed us to share our ideas as well as hearing everyone else’s ideas on their intake of different character ideas or how we can improve the ones we already have. For example, on our mind-map, one of the cast members thought it would be a good idea if we had a character who was in a relationship with the person who committed suicide so that it shows a different side to that character and makes the story become more heartbreaking.

Personally, I suggested that another character idea could be someone who was nasty to the person who committed suicide in the past to also show a different side to that character, showing to the audience the guilt and regret of doing something so horrible to someone who was suffering deep down.

Overall, creating this mind-map for our pre-production phase to write down as many ideas for our characters was very beneficial with helping us create character dynamics into my personal project as well as prompting us with how our story\plot will turn out with these different characters.

Moreover, to create my personal project, ‘Unspoken Bonds’, we also began contributing in making script treatments for our idea of the script.

In order to begin writing a script treatment, we had to think of a plot idea. As a group we always wanted to do something based around mental health, a drama, which evolved around the lives of teenagers. From this, we produced the idea of Jordan Anderson, a high school student who commits suicide due to their mental health and leaves his close group of friends behind who reminisce on their old days with Jordan. As a result, we all worked together by collecting different ideas from each person of the title name where we ended up calling it ‘Broken Destinies’.

When creating our script treatment, we worked collaboratively to produce the log line for ‘Unspoken Bonds’, where we all researched deeper into different films and TV shows, such as ‘Its kind of a funny story’ and drew inspiration from their loglines to develop a compelling and interesting one to our viewers. We also found that when researching loglines, they were not too over-complicated and had a sense of simplicity to it so that it keeps the reader’s attention throughout which is an important element we needed for our logline.

‘Follows a group of diverse high school students who are eager to uncover the story behind their best friend, and their decision to end their life’.

Furthermore, I personally suggested that we kept our log line to a maximum of 1-2 lines so we can leave the reader hanging and wanting to know if and how the students un-covered Jordan Andersons life.

Overall, creating a script treatment was very beneficial for us to understanding a lot more about my personal project and how the script will start to look when we write it together.

How I am using my writing and performance skills to improve my development

Firstly, in our pre-production phase when we were all finalizing the last draft of our script for ‘Unspoken Bonds’, we all had to read over the first and second draft of the scripts that were created mainly by the script writer, Ataya, and use them to help write the final version.

In order to perfect the script and create the finalized version of it, we all gathered together and went over the first two drafts of the script so that we could get an idea of how we could make this version better than the others. For example, in the first two drafts of my personal project, the character, Sadie Winks, was a girl who seemed very bubbly and outgoing, however I felt that this persona did not really match the lines she was saying as they were quite down and depressing, but she was a positive girl in contrast. As a result of this, we all came to agreement to make her character less upbeat and a little more serious to match the energy of her lines.

Furthermore, we also worked collaboratively whilst writing our final draft of the script by writing a scene each. Fortunately, I was able to write the last scene of our script, where all the characters, Sadie, Kaiden, Jordan and Madison all came together to watch over Jordans grave, each giving a meaningful speech each and having Jordan appear as an angel in the scene, which I thought would be good to represent him in all in white. Writing a scene each allowed us to all gain more experience writing scripts, but also, it helped our director, Ataya, with any stress when writing the script.

Moreover, some feedback that I personally suggested for in the future, is that when we each write our own scene to put together, we should all help each other out so that we all know what we are writing and can understand briefly what each scene is going to be based around.

Overall, each writing a scene each majorly helped creating our last version of the script as we were all able to write scenes each and finalize ‘Unspoken Bonds’.

On the other hand, I also received some feedback from my director, Ataya, after performing my monologue in front of her camera.

A piece of feedback that I received from her after performing my monologue was that I should use a lot more physicality in my performance to bring it to life and get across to the audience how my character is feeling more clearly. She also believed that it would make my performance seem more naturalistic as it is a stage piece and requires a lot of movement for the audience to see.

I did work collaboratively with my director to help create more physicality in my performance by looking into my character’s physical objectives. Ataya and I worked through my monologue, breaking down each line and deciding what my character wants physically which are shown in between the lines. For example, in one of the lines that we broke down, I found that my character wanted to leave the councilors room when she stated that she ‘had never done this before’ nervously showing that she does not usually show her feelings and that she would rather not do that. To show this, my director suggested that not only do I show this through my words, but also through my physical gestures, like twiddling my thumbs, rubbing my legs or biting my nails, which would be effective showing the audience how it effects my body language too.

Personally, after watching my monologue on camera, I suggested that I should take some more pauses in between my lines so that I could have more of an effect on the audience when saying certain words that could stick with them and make it more impactful. For example, when my character, Sadie, talks about the time she found out her friend had passed away, she should take a lot more pauses between her words to show her deep feelings of sadness that follow her when she talks about it. It also sticks with the audience after each word, making it more emotional.

Overall, having feedback on our process of writing the script and our performances on camera did improve my skills majorly as it allowed me to understand how I can break down a monologue and read the words in between the lines so that I could create a more impactful character. Moreover, having feedback on our script writing process also helped improve our story telling skills by understanding how our character fits into the story or if we need to adapt it to allow the character to fit, which is what we did with my character Sadie.

Showcase & feedback of the personal project

The skills that I have gained during the development of my project

Firstly, one skill that I have gained during the planning of my personal project is leadership skills.

One way I was able to show my leadership skills for the planning of ‘Unspoken Bonds’, was creating rehearsal schedule’s for both the cast and crew so that we could have determined times and days to practice our performances for my personal project. Creating the schedules required a lot of planning and organizing when determining the days all cast and crew would be available as it was difficult to rehearse when people in the project where not available. To do this, I had to go to ask every person the days and times they were free during the week and gather all of my information to create a schedule for the days we could all rehearse.

Moreover, I also worked collaboratively with others during this by working with them when they were available and working around everyone’s schedule’s so that I could plan. I also worked collaboratively with my cast by asking everyone which scenes they would want to prioritize over others so that I could work that into my schedule and add any extra time if there is space for certain scenes.

Furthermore, I personally suggested that we could also plan zoom calls to do at home when we were not together so that we could get as much rehearsal time as possible or help each other with our line practicing so we could be off script for the next days rehearsals.

Overall, I believe that during the planning process (pre-production phase) of ‘Unspoken Bonds’, I did gain the skill of leadership as I took on the responsibility of creating the schedule’s which was very effective as we were all successfully able to have a lot of time to practice our performances almost everyday where we were all there on time.

Secondly, during the development of my personal project, I felt that I gained the skill of my writing skills as I had to create various character bios for my character until I finally understood her background.

In order to begin writing my character bio, I created a mood board of my idea of my character that would help me draw some inspiration from. Creating this mood board did allow me to set the tone of my characters bio and gave me an insight into what II could write for it. It allowed me to resonate with my characters traits, which helped me define their personality, likes and dislikes.

Moreover, we also worked collaboratively with our project groups when writing our character bio’s by helping each other hot seat our characters. Hot seating our characters allowed us to delve deeper into the characters minds, emotions, and motivations. It helped us to understand our characters' backstories, desires, and personality, which led me to a more well-rounded and believable character which allowed me to write more about her in my character bio. For example, I learned that my character, Sadie Winks, is quite a clean and tidy person and is a perfectionist, especially after the sad circumstances of her friends passing, which I find affects the way she dresses as she is always dressed smartly or clean.

Personally, to help me write my character bio, I suggested that I could create a mind map of the different ideas that I gathered from my mood board and the hot seating exercise and use them to write on my mind map about my character. Creating the mind map to help me with my character bio, allowed me to write down a lot of information, such as my characters favorite color, food, hobby and places to travel too, which opened a lot more about my character that I could use when writing the character bio.

Overall, I believe that during the development phase of’ Unspoken Bonds’, I did gain the skill of writing as I was able to work on the planning of the bio and learning the techniques which I practiced, such as creating a mind map, that are more beneficial to consider first to give myself the idea of how to begin writing my bio.

Lastly, during the execution of my personal project, I did gain the skill of communication throughout our performance.

One way I put into practice my skills of communication during the execution of ‘Unspoken Bonds’, was by working closely with my director to interpret and follow directions given by Ataya so that I could ensure her vision for certain scenes are succeeded. For example, one scene where I worked closely with the director on, was with the ending scene where Kaiden apologises to my character, Sadie, for not looking out for her. However, during the scene there was not a lot of physical contact, so Ataya thought it would look more emotional if my character gave a lot of eye contact and was keen on hugging Kaiden during his mini speech to show her overwhelming happiness as well as being understanding, which I did achieve for this scene.

Furthermore, I also worked collaboratively communicating with the crew during the execution of ‘Unspoken Bonds’ by establishing any new blocking that needs to be made, for example, in the first scene, my character Sadie and Kaiden, both sit closely next to each other whilst in the waiting room to be seen by the councillor, however, on the day of filming, our director thought it would be more impactful to put an empty chair in the middle of us to create the tension in the room with Sadie and Kaiden. So because of this, we all had to work together to make this vision happen and have a slightly new blocking for this scene.

Personally, to also practice on my skills of communication, I suggested that I could use non-verbal cues such as eye contact during the performance to crew members that are coordinating any sound effects or lighting. For example, during our ending scene, on my last line the lights are suppose to slowly fade into darkness after we all said our speeches at the funeral and my line is the last one before it fades off, so I thought it would be beneficial to make eye contact after my line to indicate that the lights needed fading away.

What I have learnt from the making of my personal project

My personal project, ‘Unspoken Bonds’ has evidently demonstrated my skills within my specialism.

One skill of mine that has been shown within my personal project is time management, especially during the pre-production phase of the project. For example, when we first began creating ‘Unspoken Bonds’, I spent a lot of time at home after rehearsals going through the script and translating my lines into what I mean inside my head, what I do not want to say really. By spending my time on this, I found that there was a hidden relationship between Kaiden and Sadie, as I was able to analyze that Sadie wants Kaiden to reach out to her and stop ignoring her because deep down she really likes him and only finds a comfort in him to help her, which I did not realize until I analyzed my lines.

Moreover, I did work collaboratively when analyzing my lines during my own time by working with my teacher during my free time to help me on some lines that I did not understand Sadie was mentally thinking. For instance, on one of my lines, I was explaining to Kaiden that she does not want to go to university like he does as she does not think its beneficial, especially after the passing of their friend. However, I was very indecisive whether there was no analysis needed here or she is taking out her angriness on Kaiden after he ignored all her messages in the previous scene. In contrast, after working with my teacher, he suggested that because she truly cares for him, she just simply does not want him to move away as she may be scared that she will be alone since the passing of their friend and needs Kaiden to comfort her.

During my free time at home, I also went through my script and highlighted anywhere where it implied that I needed a prop for that scene. To make it easier for myself, I created a list of the props I highlighted on the back of my script so that I could sort out the props I needed to bring In my own time, which made me feel a lot more organized when it came to show day.

Overall, I did effectively use my time management skills during the pre-production phase of my personal project as I was able to delve deeper into my character and find out any hidden secrets about her that were buried in the script. Going through my script and locating any props needed also reduced a lot of stress and prevented last-minute rushes, especially if we were missing anything that we needed on the day of the show.

Furthermore, during my performance, I was able to show my skills of creativity within the last scene.

To show off my creativity side, I decided to improvise my ending scene, where I give the small speech at Jordans funeral. I thought that improvising this speech would have been more beneficial when showing the impact of Sadie’s feelings as I did not want to think about the lines in this scene, but instead how Sadie would have genuinely been thinking in this exact moment. For example, during the last scene, I spoke in a way that I would in real-time to make the moment more genuine and rawer.

I worked collaboratively with my director in this by communicating with her that I thought it would be a more successful performance if I could improvise instead so that the scene seems more natural and realistic to myself. I felt that this would also give me the opportunity to expand my confidence in improvising for the future so that I felt more confident with it.

Personally, I also suggested that during the ending scene, we could all hug as the lights fade off into darkness to show the audience the love and affection, we all have for each other. I thought that the importance of physical touch at the end was necessary to show that we are all there for each other and the fact that it ends with us hugging and fades off, shows that it’s eternal and everlasting.

Overall, I do think I showed my creative side a lot during my personal project as I was able to suggest a lot of ideas to the director of anything that I thought was important to add, such as the hug at the end and also suggesting that I should improvise as I thought it would show a deeper meaning to my words and actions throughout, which was successful.

Final performance

Overall, after looking at my final performance, I do believe that it went very well as I did feel that successfully I portrayed my character, Sadie Winks, authentically and showed clear expressions, both emotionally and physically. I showed this perfectly in the beginning scene when I had my body turned away from Kaiden to show how annoyed I was at him when I tried reaching out to him but continues to shut my character away. However, I did feel that I need to work using more props with my character as it did not clearly show where my character was at times or show what she was doing, which is important for the audience to understand how her actions correspond to how she is feeling.

From the audience perspective, they all thought that my performance of Sadie Winks was very authentic as I was very raw with the way I used my physical gestures within my performance, especially when I performed my monologue as I was constantly using my physical gestures to express my feelings which is hidden. Being more physical conveyed the subtext of how I am feeling. For instance, in this scene , my character does not seem too annoyed when speaking to Kaiden, however my body is turned away from him, which shows that I am annoyed at him and do not want to speak to him. However, I also did receive from the audience that whilst I was performing, I looked like I was thinking about my lines too much, so in the future I need to make sure I remember my lines more indepth or be more prepared to improvise in any given circumstance so that my performance is more fresh.