Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Don't Make Your Audience Run Away





                After teaching your students about the some basic expressions, you should ask them to study about the intonation.  Imagine if the actors are on the stage with the flat dialogues, what will the audience do? They will close their eyes and have a dream or run away from you. 
         How can we do to make the audience still stay behind the seat until the end of the show? 
         Right, the actors should have various intonations to make their performance alive as if the situation were the same as the reality.
          What is an intonation?
          Based on Halliday and Greaves, they have made some specific types of meanings, and all of them can be achieved through intonation. They are textual, interpersonal, and logical. They said;
One of the most powerful dimensions of systemic functional linguistics has been its recognition of the spoken features of rhythm and intonation (prosody) as grammatical. Thus, far from being simply paralinguistic, prosody serves to systematically realize meaning in all three metafunctions of language: Ideational, where language construes experience; Interpersonal, where it enacts relationships; and Textual, where it engenders discourse. (LONDON: EQUINOX. 2008. PP. IX, 224. CD ROM)
Let’s discuss one by one meaning based on Halliday and  Greaves:             
1. Textual meaning means: related to the real meaning, the language to its ever changing context.           
2.  Interpersonal : allowing us to enact our social exchanges with others.                                               3.  Logical: construing the logic through which we represent the world we live.  
Besides, we should pay attention to pitch control. What is a pitch control? Why should we care of that stuff when we do a drama?
Based on Wikipedia, a pitch means:
Pitch is a perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.[1] Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,[2] which require sound whose frequency is clear and stable enough to distinguish from noise.[3] Pitch is a major auditory attribute of musical tones, along with duration, loudness, and timbre.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_%28music%29 )

In American English, there are four levels:              
1. Low         : this is at the end of the utterances   : this is for weak emotion.   
                                                                                                     
2.Middle      : this is for normal conversation : it can show a weak emotion if it stars from the middle to low.
                           
3. High         : this is for the end of yes-no  questions.
                         
4 . Very high : this is for normal conversation, for strong emotion or to emphasize. If it starts from very high to low, it shows an 
 enthusiasm  or  sarcasm, if it ends to low.
Besides, we have to pay attention to ‘a glide.’ In linguistics term, the definition of ‘a glide’ is:
a less prominent vowel sound produced by the passing of the vocal organs to or from the articulatory position of a speech sound.



Then we should know about ‘diphtong.’ The definition of a diphthong is:
A gliding monosyllabic speech sound (as the vowel combination at the end of toy) that starts at or near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves to or toward the position of another;  2. digraph; 3. the ligature a and e joined together (æ) or o and e joined together



The diphthong consists of two  (http://www.orbilat.com/General_References/Linguistic_Terms.html ) :
1.    The falling diphthong: a diphthong composed of a vowel followed by a  less sonorous glide. Such as: ei, ou, ai, au, ɔi (face, goat, price, mouth and choice vowels)
2.    The rising diphthong: a diphthong in which the second element is more sonorous than the first. Such as: hideous, easier, luckier, colloquial, theoretical (based on John well’s article about The Rising Diphthong)
John Well also gave an example of the script from Shakespeare’s plays. The title was Hamlet. Here is:
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous                                              And call the noblest to the audience,

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

How to Read a Script Quickly and Efficiently





Actors, directors and producers read a script before choosing to produce it.

  What is a script?


A script is the structural bones of a film, television program or stage production. A script or screenplay has dialogue, scene descriptions and directions. It does not have the same descriptive components like a novel. Similar to an outline, a script needs to be read as something that will be performed. If you are working on a production or deciding whether you want to work on it yourself read a script quickly and efficiently by first understanding its format.


    How to Format a Screenplay Without  Screenwriting Software?

  

Instructions

1. Understand the basic format of a script. A script has acts, which break it up into a beginning, middle and end. The acts are broken into scenes, where the action takes place, and the scenes contain short descriptions and dialogue from the characters. Writers may also add directions for the actors. Once you understand the format, you can read it more quickly.
       
2. Read the first ten pages and the last ten pages of the script first. By reading the beginning you understand the set up of the film. Then read the last few pages so you understand what the outcome is. It will help you read the middle section more efficiently. You will look for the plot structure that leads you towards the finale.

 3.Pinpoint turning points in the screenplay and mark them in the script with a pen. Turning points are when something happens in the plot to change its direction. For example, in the movie "Erin Brokovich," the first turning point is when she forces Ed Masry, the lawyer to give her a job. This creates an opportunity for her and it changes the direction of the story. Hollywood scripts usually have five turning points. Marking them, helps you break down the script for easier reading. 

4. Read through the scene descriptions and dialogue carefully. Visualize as you read the script. Using care to read it the first time through means you will not have to reread any sections you skimmed over. You will lose out on important details when you skim to quickly.
5Write notes in the margins of the script rather than separately. This will help find your notes more quickly rather than using a notebook or scrap paper would. Choose a pen color that stands out against the black print of the script, such as red.


    Choose a location to read where you can give the script your undivided attention.

 a. Open up the script's binding so you can read each page separately, rather than trying to crease the script open.
 
2. Read lots of scripts. The more familiar you are with script reading, the more efficient a script reader you will be. You will understand what to look for in a good script and how to see it visually in your head. 


 
  3.  If you read too quickly, you may not read it properly.


 http://www.ehow.com/how_2171578_

SCRIPT FOR PRACTICE


FADE IN:

EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD STREET - MORNING
TWIN BOYS, RUDY AND JACOB CARGES (12), ride their bikes through a suburban neighborhood.

Rudy, the more athletic of the two, rides at a breakneck pace. 

Jacob rides slowly due to a HOCKEY MASK that he wears over his face.  

It’s making it difficult for him to see. 

The boys turn down a DIRT PATH and ride deep into some WOODS.

INT. WOODS - CONTINUOUS

Rudy and Jacob ride to the edge of a CLEARING andstop.  

Across from the clearing is a large OAK TREE,      which has a TREE HOUSE perched high up in its branches.     

 The boys cautiously look around and whisper.

Jacob
You see ‘em?

RUDY
No. But that doesn’t mean they’re not here. 
 
RUDY (CONT'D) 
Jacob, come on. It’s cool.

After a beat, Rudy gets off his bike and starts walking  towards the tree house. Jacob stays behind, eyeing their safety.
    
Rudy 
(CONT'D)(cont’d)
Jacob, come on. It’s cool.
  
Suddenly, a ROCK comes careening from off screen. 

It hits Jacob in the head and knocks him to the ground. 

Rudy darts for the oak tree as a hail storm of rock and debris come flying at him.

As Jacob rises, a stream of blood pours down the front of his mask. He quickly runs for the tree.
TWO BOYS, JEFF AND KENNY (14), trailer park, punks come running out of the woods, rocks in hand.
 

INT. TREE HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
 
Jacob looks back and sees Jeff and Kenny, running over.
 
Rudy crosses to the door with a BUCKET of liquid. 
 
JACOB
What the hell is that?
 
RUDY
Piss. 
 
Rudy dumps the piss onto Jeff and Kenny.
 
EXT. TREE HOUSE - SAME TIME 
 
Now drenched with piss, Jeff and Kenny jump from the tree,screaming. They try to shake the urine off.
 
Kenny spits the taste out of his mouth and angrily calls up to the boys.