Virtual Trajectories intro. Acting concepts.

It is already autumn and we are back in the studying mode; and there is a lot to be explored and learnt, and enjoyed at the same time. This term we have this unit called Virtual Trajectories, and to me, it sounds very mysterious.

During the first session we were exploring acting concepts. We talked about the seven of them: 

1. Thinking leads to emotion and movement.
2. Acting is reacting. Acting is doing.
3. Your character needs to have an objective.
4. Your character’s objective can change.
5. All actions begin with movement.
6. Audiences emphasise with emotion.
7. A scene is a negotiation.

After discussing all of the above concepts, we watched an animated short movie called “Kitbull” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZS5cgybKcI) and analysed it. It was interesting to look at the production from this deeper, different from the usual, perspective.

We also discussed another character analysing concept called C.R.O.W., where we talked in depth about the Character, Relationship, Objective and its World. As a group we tried to analyse a couple of the scenes, and then individually, we worked on a chosen scene. 

I have chosen a scene called Simba’s presentation from the Lion King movie (1994; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GNJfb9kb5Y). There are several characters in the scene, therefore I decided to analyse three of them using the C.R.O.W. acronym.

C. Rafiki, a mandrill (baboon), a wise one, a sage;

R. trusted, respected; close relationship to the royals;

O. to mark the baby and present it to the crowd gathered around the rock;

W. Mufasa’s kingdom; the rock = royals’ house.

C.Mufasa, a lion; the king;

R. a lion king, a husband, Simba’s father; a friend;

O. to have his son presented to the kingdom and somehow blessed by Rafiki;

W. the rock, his kingdom.

C. Sarabi, a lioness;

R. king’s wife, Simba’s mum; leads the hunting party;

O. to be with the baby and her husband, to be present by the king’s side;

W. the rock, her and her family house; their kingdom.

The above characters play various roles in that scene but they are all connected, there is a close and positive relationship between them all and they have a lot in common. They complement each other in the scene. 

After discussing our presentations, and talking more about showing feelings and expressing them through acting, there was a time for our final task that we were to work after the session.

We had to get a character to walk but also express a chosen feeling based on the knowledge and skills we have just gained. In a simple way, we had to animate a character in Maya or Blender. There was a video tutorial available (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6jpQLM3Gvo), as well as some characters we could choose from. The outcome will be presented in my next blog entry.