One of the masks that was used by the Greeks. The mouth is very big so as the voice is more amplified.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Info on the Greeks!
The Ancient Greeks and Mask Theater
The ancient Greeks were one of the first people ever to record what they had done in terms of drama. They were really the foundation of all known drama today. The ancient Greeks were also the first people to record the use of masks in their theater. There were a few recorded cases of neutral masks but the masks were mainly used so that the audience could see who the character was and what emotions they are feeling. For instance an angry god would be portrayed by a man wearing a mask resembling Zeus and the mask would have a very angry expression on it's face.
The areas where the Greeks preformed their plays were usually very large and so the actors had to project their voice out a lot. This however was very difficult. The Greeks devised an ingenious way of fixing this problem. They developed masks that were quite big and extravagantly painted. These masks were big so that the Greeks could fit pipes inside them. This meant that the actors voices could be head with great clarity and without hurting the actors lungs.
I found this to be the most interesting aspect of the work the Greeks did with their masks. It interests me personally because I quite like engineering and this was a very smart idea which involved engineering.
The ancient Greeks were one of the first people ever to record what they had done in terms of drama. They were really the foundation of all known drama today. The ancient Greeks were also the first people to record the use of masks in their theater. There were a few recorded cases of neutral masks but the masks were mainly used so that the audience could see who the character was and what emotions they are feeling. For instance an angry god would be portrayed by a man wearing a mask resembling Zeus and the mask would have a very angry expression on it's face.
The areas where the Greeks preformed their plays were usually very large and so the actors had to project their voice out a lot. This however was very difficult. The Greeks devised an ingenious way of fixing this problem. They developed masks that were quite big and extravagantly painted. These masks were big so that the Greeks could fit pipes inside them. This meant that the actors voices could be head with great clarity and without hurting the actors lungs.
I found this to be the most interesting aspect of the work the Greeks did with their masks. It interests me personally because I quite like engineering and this was a very smart idea which involved engineering.
Emotions
With normal drama, your face is exposed and with minimal movement you can show what kind of emotion we are feeling. With a mask to make realistic anger or sadness seem serious would involve very little body movement. How could one achieve this? You could give a little sob or something. What about if it was silent? Well then that would be a bit more difficult. I may have to look into this and incorporate it into my final performance. This idea came into my head when I was really angry and sad at the same time but I had to put on a neutral expression so as not to cause suspicion about how sad and angry I really was.....
Friday, 9 September 2011
Just a though
What if, for my final performance, I walk up to the mask, put it on and immediately music starts playing. Once I take it off it stops. Perhaps I could also get background Images and act out what would happen when my character moves through them, lite the last performance we did. I may have to play around with that concept.
While I am writing I may as well talk about the lesson we had yesterday. I remember doing the exercise involving te music and movement once before. I can't remember when though. When I first did it, I was up on my feet like crazy. This time I wanted to watch other people. I have noticed that once all the embarrassment and judgment goes away you can see people for who they really are. I guess the mask is the opposite to that exercise. The mask is like a shield against judgment, you can do what you like without feeling the glares from people who think that what you are doing is wrong. I can't really describe what I mean because I don't really know either. It was a fun lesson, nonetheless.
While I am writing I may as well talk about the lesson we had yesterday. I remember doing the exercise involving te music and movement once before. I can't remember when though. When I first did it, I was up on my feet like crazy. This time I wanted to watch other people. I have noticed that once all the embarrassment and judgment goes away you can see people for who they really are. I guess the mask is the opposite to that exercise. The mask is like a shield against judgment, you can do what you like without feeling the glares from people who think that what you are doing is wrong. I can't really describe what I mean because I don't really know either. It was a fun lesson, nonetheless.
Hello everybody.
My name is Max and I'm a Grade 9 Drama student. I decided to start this blog because of a recommendation made to me by my teacher in a very degrading comment about my work. Here goes! First I'm going to post my daily journal that I have been keeping in a word doc.
My name is Max and I'm a Grade 9 Drama student. I decided to start this blog because of a recommendation made to me by my teacher in a very degrading comment about my work. Here goes! First I'm going to post my daily journal that I have been keeping in a word doc.
August 25th:
Well I just did my first Drama performance of the school year! I’m actually quite pleased with the performance even though we improvised all of it. I was put into my new group and given a new task today. I will try to not start thinking about it at the last minute but that sounds like something with not a very good chance of happening.
August 27th:
I was thinking about what we could do for our scene and I had a few ideas come to my head. The Sahara desert for instance would be an interesting one to do. Or maybe something more close to home? I don’t know I’ll have to get the teams opinion on this.
August 30th:
We talked about it and decided to do a scene about the Sahara desert but when we found out another group was doing the same thing we changed our idea to mount Everest. I will most likely be a funny scene but I’m not sure at this point because I don’t know how well Ben and Anna can improvise humour.
September 1st :
We did our performance today. II think we did OK but I noticed that ben kept putting his back to the audience. I tried to inform him but I did not want to break character. We also got our masks today, I named my mask Neil!
At this point I was going to post the work I had so far, but I've been told that it is Completely horrible so I shall post a better version later. Until then.
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