Year8 Drama

MYP: Melodrama
Key concept: relationship
Related concept: audience, presentation, expressions
Global context: fairness and development
Statement of inquiry:a hero saves the day in Melodrama to ensure that justice and peace will overrule the destroying plans of evildoers
Inquiry question: •will the hero always destroy the evil plans of the villains to save the day?
•will melodrama always have a happy ending
•must all stories have  a happy ending?
• will good always win against evil?
•. How can the world become a better and more peaceful environment for all?

Homework

My first homework in the topic melodrama was choosing 3 different stocks from melodrama characters and post an annotated still image of ourselves costumed as them then explain why it makes the picture be the character. I did the villain, the maiden and     for me, maiden was the easiest since I could manage to imagine what to use for myself to be the character. When I was doing the villain, I had to borrow my fathers tie, jacket, and I had to remake the hat since I couldn't find any tall hat that makes me look villainy. 

Villain                                    

The picture above is the villain. I made myself look villainy by putting on the make up which is a big mouth and dark circle around my eyes. I have also added a touch to a hat to make it look taller since most of the villain had a tall hat which is black and has red line around it. The first image that came up in my head when I think how villain would look like, it was red black. This is the reason why I only used those two colours for my costume. I used freaky fingers to frighten the maiden.

Henchman                             

The picture above is the henchman. I wore the bow tie since villain wears  

 the tie. At the same time, henchman does the work for villain, that's why I am holding a bomb to show as if I was doing the  work for the villain. Next thing is the hat. The sidekick doesn't wear a tall hat for most of the time. In addition, the henchman is a bad guy, but not as much as the villain is. This is the reason why I did not use the colour such as black and red for the sidekick. I tried to make my face look even a little villainy but because I never made a face like that before, it was difficult. 

Maiden

The two pictures above is the maiden. Since the maiden is usually fashionable, I wore a dress, wore high heel shoes and carried a bag that  suits the colour of the dress. Only for the maiden , I used a filter (Chrome) since the colour was vague before I used them. I wore a light lipstick. The maiden was probably the easiest one since I could imagine how I should dress and use immediately when I was told about the homework. The picture that I have imagined for this situation was the maiden before knowing about the evil plan of the villain.

Train Track Terror

I chose to do Nadia's group's performance.
The group's good points are: -they used overreaction (voice) to show that it is a melodrama.
                                              -the characters fitted very well
                                              -they memorized most of the script in a short time.

The improvements that could be made is: -give more gestures to show the audiences clearly.
                                                                   -Not to be quiet when they made a mistake in the act.
                                                                   -Give some sound effects of the train coming.

Props that may be used is: -bright coloured cape for the hero
                                           -tall hat for the villain
                                           -dress for the maiden

Although I have made some improvement points, I think their overall standard of the performance was very high. They projected their voices very well, and they thought of the way to do a performance with 3 people, although they needed 4 people for this task.

Drama reading comprehension task

Which century  did melodrama develop?

-Melodrama developed in 19th century in France

Why is it called melodrama?

-It is called melodrama because the word 'melo' came from music/melody to heighten the emotional impact off the audience. 

Why was melodrama so popular?

-It was popular because it was a mixture of violence, romance and sentimentality which was short but full of action 

List three segments of melodrama and what action does each involve?

-The three segments of melodrama are provocation, pangs and penalty. Provocation includes initial cause for setting action. Pangs include consequential sufferings of the good and innocent characters. Lastly, penalty includes last minute twist of fate. Wicked characters have their plan failed

What are some conflicting themes a melodrama usually explore?

-violence, romance and sentimentality

Are the characters life-like or stereotyped?

-It is rather stereotyped since it was not meant to be life-like

What is the difference between faithful servant and maid servant?

-Faithful servant provides comic relief and does dirty work where as maid servant flirt with the faithful servant.

What is aside?

-Aside is where any character speaks directly to the audience to reveal the plan or thought. 

Me, myself and I project

This video is all about me. It was quite annoying that I had go through thousands of pictures and get the most suitable one. I have made this video using iMovie, however, as I have never used them before, I had few troubles trying to add the music and adding the pictures to the movie. My video is the link below. I found many pictures that I don't even remember that it happened. I quite liked the project actually because as I was looking through the pictures, my sister who is currently 2 years old, came up to me and said it's her pointing at the picture of me when it was the first day of kindergarten. I am really sad that this is probably the last music project we are going to be having in this rotation, but at the same time, I am excited about what we are going to do in music in Gr. 8!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJU2dgfDsHY&app=desktop

Cat's theme edited using mixcraft

This is my video for cat's theme. 

this video is edited using mixcraft. 

For this theme I have looked at the notes for the piano and I have learnt this theme by myself. As I had no one or it may be just that I didn't know, I didn't have anyone to teach me and I also thought this is a good chance for me to understand the notes and try playing them in a way that I thought. Also, my difficulty for this project was that when I practiced, I have managed to play well and I was successful, however, as I started to record, my fingers got mixed up and I couldn't play well. Then I asked my teacher and she said "record while you are practicing" so then I thought that I should look at the notes even while I am recording because that is the way I practiced my cat's theme.  I would like to try to use this way because I usually get scared when I am recording or playing/saying something in front of a lot of people. 

Wolf's theme edited using mixcraft.

This is my video for Wolf's theme edited using mixcraft. 

For this video, my difficulties where choosing the right part for the video itself because for this video, there is no introduction for the video. Usually there is one so it is easy to find but this one was the one that I struggled the most with. Playing the theme wasn't easy but wasn't hard either. I practiced the theme for a few times and I was able to play the theme. I liked this theme's tone. I would like to move on to my cat's theme which is something that I will be playing next!

Peter's theme using mixcraft

Peter's theme using mixcraft

Completing this task was not as hard as the Hunter's theme. Although, Peter's theme was a little longer than any other themes, I liked it because it was not too hard for me if I look at the music notes.  After recalling my memories for this piece of music, I recorded them like a hundred times. This was due to the fact that I did't know how to speed up the tempo as when I record the music is too long for the video. As I learnt this technique, I would like to be using this skill in my Wolf's theme. I would like to make them as perfect as possible as I have not practiced my wolf's theme very much.

hunter's theme using mixcraft

The video below is my Hunter's theme 

this video is made using mixcraft and the music played by me. 

As I had no partner for my work, I had a few problems as when I didn't understand something, I always had to ask people who is in other groups. At first, I didn't get how to use this Mix craft at all. However, since Mille helped me to do this work (like how to record me playing, how to edit the music, etc.) I have been able to complete this video. I will have to thank everyone who actually helped me to make this video. The part that I felt hard was when I finished recording, I had to edit them so that it will fit perfectly. I like this rhythm the best because it's short and uses only 2 keys on the piano so it is easy to remember too. As I was alone, I had some difficulties (as I am not very good with computer) but the part that was good being alone was that I didn't have to wait for my partner to record and make this video, which means I had more time. For someone like me, who is not good with computer, this time was useful because I did not have to stress about being behind. 

Wolf's theme

The link posted below is me playing my wolf's theme. It was hard to memorize the notes. However in one lesson, I have managed to get to a point were I record myself playing. As this piece of the music was very short I felt it easy. Because of this I have managed to get the notes. However, due to the fact there were flats and sharps, I felt that this music was a little difficult. At first, I didn't know where the keys are but as I kept on practicing, I began to challenge myself by playing without looking at the paper. I have learnt that if I don't give up, I can learn and memorise something no matter how short the time given is.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpatIfWyQ0k