Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Start of the Third Week

Monday 28th and Tuesdat 29th June

Waking up after trying to do that homework was hellish! I was soooo tried but I evetunally pulled myself together and got myself to school. So we started with Improvisation which was really funny we did this game called gameshow so there was four guests and host and each was an expert in a given field. So I was given amphibians so I chose to be Hamish Macdougall who was an expert in The Loch Ness monster. It was funny because some people didnt have a clue about who Nessie was. So after the crucial Scottish lesson we headed for Film and Tv basics. I was the director of photography for one of the scenes and this was interesting because I had to decide the shots and decide what camera was being used. It was acctually quite difficult because you had to make sure that each actors face was on screen. I love this class because you really get a sense of what it would be like on a set. After lunch we had stage combat and today we learned how to kick someone and kick them in the face! it was awesome! I a killing machine! We then moved onto lunch that went quick for a change we had to go into partners and massage our shoulders legs and arms it was really relaxing. So we came home to finish the damm homework for acting! it was acctually taking soooooo long eventually I just gave up and went to bed.
If I thought that Monday was hellish well getting up on tuesday was even worse! I just couldnt get up and I was so comfortable for a change! Starting with Commerical class today was good but we ran out of time before we got to me! but It was good to watch everyone else.
We then headed onto acting which I was dreading, we got into our pairs and went over our lines doing different actions and this then proved that I didnt really know my lines! I got through the class and we ended with wearing blindfolds touching peoples favourite objects it was a bit werid but I got through it. After lunch we had movements and we carried on exploring the viewpoints which was interesting because it is a werid sensation when other peoples movement effects your own movements. We then moved onto voice which was all about tounge twisters which I just couldnt do. So after class I was hanging around the school waiting for my audition for the proffessional programme. I think my audition went ok but you just never know Im just going to have to wait and see!
well I think thats all that really happened from the last couple of days nothing too exciting!
speak to you all soon!
Love
Jen
xxx

Second Weekend in the Big Apple

Saturday 26th and Sunday the 27th June

Hello everyone sorry it has taken me ages to write my advenutres since Friday I have had loads of homework that I had to do for acting! Totally swapped!
So our plan on Saturday was to go and get student rush tickets for Promises, Promise but by the time we get to the theatre they had none left but we were told to come back tomorrow for 12pm and we will be able to get them. We were near Times square so we headed down there and came across the most amazing shop in the world, Forever 21. It is huge it has four floors and is like primark but the clothes are at H&M standards! I think we spent about an hour in half in there! I didnt buy anything because I am being sensible and seeing what my finances are like before I go mental! but there some proper nice stuff! I just wanted the whole accessory section! Once Mimi and Liza had made their purchases we headed to the Starbucks and I got a mocha frappucino which I am totally obessed with! Liza then met up with people from her class and we headed up to Central Park to meet Maria, Cassy and Evann. Once we got there we just went mental taking loads of pictures and fooling around! Once the fashion shoot was over Cassy took us to this cafe called Alice's Teacup. It was a themed alice in wonderland cafe which was amazing inside! I had the apple and cinamon tea with a chocolate and cranberry scone and a blueberry and lemon scone. It was all so yummy! and I got a whole tea pot to myself. After our yummy tea we headed to back to times square. We headed to Victoria Secrets and went along 34th street. It got to a point that our feet were so tried we couldnt take anymore and headed for the subway!
Once back in the dorms we just watched some tv and headed to bed.
On sunday me and Liza got up super early to make sure we were in the ticket cue for Promises, Promises to guarentee tickets! With our ticket purchased we met up with Liza's brother and headed for something to eat. We went into a really nice pizza place and stuffed our face! After lunch I headed off to explore while Liza took her brother on a tour. So when I exploring I came across a really cool shop which I cannot state on here because a certain someone will read this and know what I got him! by the time I had wondered around in this shop it was time to head back to the theatre to meet liza. Well the show was amazing! The opening sequence was really well done, it was the overture playing then dancers appearing in spots dancing in a 1940's style. The customers were so colourful and everyone on the stage had excellant energy. Sean Hayes a.k.a jack from will and grace was really funny and suprisley had a good voice. I think the music could have been better but the story,acting, dancing and singing were song so I could easliy forgive that. Then Kristin stepped on stage! I was like yesssssss! she was really good in this show but the role didnt stretch her but I dont think she was aiming for that. So I waitin at the stage door thinking I need to get this autograph now! and I can hear a scream so I know she is out so I just my way up to the front and was like can you sign this for me! she is tiny I think she is smaller than me! I really wanted a picture but I think that would have been pushing it!
Walking away content with my autograph I headed back to the subway to go home and start my hellish homework!
That homework took so long and I got to a point when I didnt know what I was writing and all the words were blurry, but eventually I got it done and headed for a much needed sleep!
So that was my second weekend all done and dusted! I cant believe I have been here for two weeks now it has went in so quick and I don't really want to come home well I do to see everyone! but I could live in New York forever. I dont think my mum wants to hear that!
I truly heart NY!
Love
Jen
xxx

Saturday, June 26, 2010

So here has was happened since wednesday!

Wednesday 23rd, Thursday 24th and Friday 25th.

Hello everyone, sorry I havent updated this for this for 3 days I have been super busy with lots of homework I had to do for acting class. Right well lets start with Wednesday. So we had commerical class first today we were doing a telephone network commerical. What we had to do was using MOS(minus opticial sound) we had to come from a hard first day at a new job and your appartment still wasnt unpacked, so you were tried looked around thinking oh no look at this and then the phone would ring, you were to say hello? oh hello mum. I think mine was ok but there was definitley some better than mine!
We then moved onto acting. In class today me and Matt had to get up and perform our improvisation using the relationship we had explored in our homework and pick an activity we could do at our setting of the Brooklyn promenade. So I was kinda dreading this a little bit because I didnt want it to turn out cringe! so we did our scene and our activity was eating apples and drinking some juice. Carol I think liked it because she said that my intention was clear and that she really liked the activity so that made me feel a little better about it. We then went and had lunch.
After lunch we had movement and this time we were exploring floor pattern, duration and spacial relationships from the 9 viewpoints. So what we did was in small groups we went up and walked around the room as if we were on a grid, we had to explore our speed but walking at our fastest and then walking at our slowest. This was an interesting class I enjoyed it.
We then went onto voice. This class on wednesday was hard for me because we exercising our tounges and using the middle of tounge to stretch it all the way down to the root. We had to place the tip of our tounge against our bottom teeth then using the middle of our tounge stretch it out! After a will this exercise made me feel really sick and sarah, our teacher, said that this is because with my accent I use the back of my tounge a lot and stretching it like that makes me think I am going to be sick, so it was fair to say that this class was pleasent for me today!
After class we went around to the drama bookshop because we had to read two plays for acting class by wednesday. We them email to us so I just printed out one of them to read and then borrowed mimi's. This shop was amazing! I think they had nearly every play in the world in that shop! Ill be definitly going back there!
Ok now onto to thursday, Our first class today was improvisation we started with our usual warm up of playing word ball and wooossssh! We then went up in pairs and we had to desribe and use the where. My scene was we were in a car show room and mimi was my partner. I think we did ok but tom, our teacher, said we didnt use our where enough which I do think was true.
We then had film and tv basics and it was mine and autumns turn to do our scene. So we had rehearsed our scene but we then had a director who would decided what he felt was right. The process did feel a little long but it was only because the director of photography has to work out the camera shots, what camera is being used and when do the cameras change. It was interesting watching it back and to see if all come together.
We then had our lunch.
After lunch we had stage combat. This is by far my favourite class. Today we learned how to do a proper cartwheel, but before that we did some intensive stretches. These were extermely painful but they were safe and there no way that we could hurt ourselves. One stretch was we were sitting on the floor with the bottom of our feet touching then when you breath out your partner would push your knees to the ground. When you got the point you couldnt go any more you would slowly count to 10 then release. It was agony! but I did learn how to cartwheel properly!
Our last class was voice and it was more work with the tounge but this time I didnt feel sick!
That night I was reading like a madman because I had to get both plays finished by friday! I also had to write a biography on each playwright and a paragraph on what I learned in class. So it was fair to say all my brain wanted was sleep when I was done.
Friday came and our first class was commerical. This time our task was quaker oats, oatmeal. We had to go up in a couple boy and girl and act out a breakfast scene in your new home. It was going to have no sound but you were to speak to make it look real. Well me and victor went up and I think we were pretty rubbish! I just wanted to laugh the whole time! but it was fun watching everyones tape back!
It was acting straight after commerical class and we had a test to sit about one of the plays. I thought I knew the play turns out no! I didnt no the answer to the first question! but as it went along I did know some of the answers. So after that we were giving a piece of text and carol was going to teach us how to memorise it properly without us planning how were going to see say it and with no intention! I was feeling really tried and since we were just sitting listening I could feel myself drifting off so throughout the whole class I batteling to stay awake. But thankfully we got on our feet and I woken up! We then got blind folded but carol wants us to explore our senses with was werid but it was amazing how you knew where you were going in the room because of your memory.
After lunch we movement. This time we were exploring gesture and shape. This was a good class because we got to make up different shapes with our bodies and then put them all together in one big shape which looked amazing!
It was then onto voice class and this sarah was showing us another way how to memorise. Her method was to use your spine but going into a cat position then rounding your spine. It was interesting to try out both methods and to see which one worked better.
Last night me, cassy, mimi and autumn went shopping along 34th street. We went into H&M, forever 21 and victoria secrets and finished with a very nice starbucks. I had a moch frappicino which is a cold one and it was amazing! I think I might be addictived!
Well today Im hoping to get a ticket to see promises promises. Ill write about it tonight if I am successful!

Speak to you all soon!
Love
Jenxx

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Tuesday 22nd June

When I woke up this morning I felt really strange because I thought I was in my room at home so it took me a few moments for me to remember where I was. As usual our water was cold and I couldnt have a proper shower! very annoying!
Once I had my made my amazing lunch for the day which was jam and peanut butter sandwhichs we set off. It was really overcast today but it was still very hot!
Improvisation was our first class this mornign and we played some interesting games, we played the dubbed movie game. This is when two people are in the middle and two at the side, the ones at the side do the speaking and the other two have to mime what they are saying. It was acctually really difficult to me the mime because you didnt know what was coming next and you had to make do with what the person gave you.
After improvisation we headed towards film and tv basics. Todd, our teacher, was away filming so we had rebecca which is our movement teacher. In this class just now we are all doing individual scenes and getting them filmed by a crew made up of the other class members. My scene isnt till thursday so my jobs were assistant camera so I had to put marks down at the cameras and anything else needed. I then had to be second team which is like stand ins for the main actors. This class felt a little long only because it wasnt my scene.
When then headed to lunch and chilled out for a little while.
It was then on to stage combat which contiued our fighting skills. I first of all learned how to backword roll which was an achievement in itself! then we went on to the slapping! I love it! what you do is you hit in a diagonal line above the person head going from low to high. We praticed this for a while then we moved onto strangels! which was soooo cool! then onto killing someone through stranling! which was a really werid feeling! but it looked soooo good!
It was then onto voice which was interesting because it was like everthing that we had been doing worked! and then we went onto opening our mouths by opening the top half our jaw instead of the bottom, it was hard and felt strange!
After class we headed for the subway. I came home did washing and cleaned the bathroom because it was bothering me a little! then had dinner.
I had to go to the pharamacy because I have bug bits that are really itchy but its all sorted I got some cream!
ok I need to go do some work before bed

Speak to you all soon!

Love
Jen
xxxx

Monday, June 21, 2010

Monday 21st June



After a nice and long sleep I woke up to start the second week of classes! I was rather excited because we were starting commerical class and I really enjoy this class because it is really fun and you learn so much at the same time! Todays task was to do a commerical where a voice over is present so you dont have any dialouge. This is called MOS- Minus Optical Sound. I found this exercise really funny! because what you had to do was =walk along the street and it was a terrfic day and you felt terrific! and then all of a sudden you didnt feel terrific and you wondered what it was then you realised it was a headache a bad headache! this was the script were given and they our teacher said was hilarous!!!!!!!! and so I am doing mine and at the end he said I did an amazing job and I didnt have to do another take! I was sooo pleased with myself!
When then all headed to acting class which I was dreading a little because I really didnt want to do our improvised scene that we had worked on the night before. We were lucky and we didnt get round to doing it so I pleased and slightly relieved!
After lunch we had movement, and we explored the 9 viewpoints a little more. Then in groups of 6 we went up and walked as if we were on a grid! This was funny! because I kept forgetting where the grid was!
We then had voice class which I have nothing interesting to report about! lol
After classes when then had a talk with officals from the school about the 2 and 3 year programmes, they just spoke about auditioning for the programmes and what we have to do for it. I am really undecided about whether im going to do it our not because I do really miss musical theatre and I am totally undiecded about and I can always audition in london next year but Ill see how I feel tomorrow to see if my decision has been made!
I then went further into brooklyn to a shop called bath and body works, its like the american body shop! I love it! I got 3 body sprays and they all smell yummy! so that is my treat for this week!
Just heading to bed now so Ill wrap this up!

Speak to you all soon!
Love
Jen
xxxx
Sunday 20th June

Hi everyone!, I know im writing this on monday but I came in last night and totally passed out! I was sooo tried from all the walking I did!

Well I woke up at about 10am so that was a long lie for me, so I thought I better do some washing because my dirty washing was piling up! so I went and did that and it turns out it is very quick but very expensive! so I am restricting washing to once and week and I will be pushing it in!

When my washing was done I thought I would head into Manahattan to see if I could find the New Museum! Paul instructed me that I should go and I should have a look at the young designers market. So I started my walk down from 7th avenue and I had to get to 3rd. It was soooo hot yesterday and I was soooo sweaty by the time I reached 3rd avenue! (you all probably didnt wan to know that hehehe) I then walked along to Bowery where the museum was. It looked amazing from the outside! It looks like 4 silver boxes on top of each other but sticking out at the sides! It just looks unreal! Two floors were closed so it was only $4 to get in which was a good result. You go up the floors by this huge lift so I headed up to the 2nd floor. I usually dont like contemporary art but there was some really nice and clever work inside. My favourite was this piece called the giant I cant remember who the artist was, it was huge! it was like the size of the room and it had holes in it made of mirrors! it was so cool! The piece I found a little disturbing was called all and yet again I cant remember the name of the artist, it was like white body bags with bodies inside! but you couldnt see the bodies just the outline against the bag! it was really strange but effective!
After I wondered around that level I headed up the observation deck which looked out onto the whole of manhattan it looked really stunning, you could see all the way over to brooklyn!
Once I was finished in the gallery I headed off to find the market! it was acctually really easy to find and had some amazing stuff inside! I bought myself a karp necklace in a japanese style! it is super nice!!
After having a look around and wanting buy pretty much everything I headed back to the subway. By this point it was soooo hot and I kept walking back thinking I would get back to 7th Avenue but I didnt I just came across more streets! but eventually I made it back!
Since I had walked about for a while I felt so tried and relieved I had made it back to the dorms!
A small group of us decided to go over our voice warm up in a small park that is near the dorms which was nice and relaxing, afterward me and matt started our acting homework! arghhhhh it was such a headache and took too long! but we got it down in the end!
So after a long day of advenuture I headed to bed!

Speak to you all soon!

Love
Jen
xxx

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Coney Island!

Saturday 19th June

Hi everyone!
Sorry I didnt write an entry yesterday I was totally exhausted when I got home from class and all I want to do was sleep!

Well after a long and much needed rest I woke up feeling fresh and ready to go exploring! originally I was going to go to the new musuem today under a certain comic book fans instruction but I found out that some guys were going to coney island so I thought I would go explore!

It turned out only Matt, Autumn, Cassey and Me were heading out to Coney so we jumped on the subway to Atlantic Avenue and then got the N train all the way tyo Coney. It only took about 40 mintues all in all. It just so happened that today was the Mermaid Parade! I was soooooo excited when I saw this and if I had known I would have pulled out my Ariel suit!
It was really sunny on the island and I appiled some much need sun cream because I could feel the burn just standing in the sun for five minutes! We watched the parade for a wee while then we walked along the beack to Nathans Hot Dogs! which is the oldest place on Coney to get one and the most famous!
The costumes in the parade were amazing some people had went full out! and I saw a lot of shells that didnt quite cover the lady part area!
The hot dog was amazing and really cheap which made me feel a bit better about eating it! Once we had eaten we went and bought some beach towels. I bought a coney island one that had a mermaid on it! so that was my souniveir from coney!
We then headed to the beach, I once again applied the sun cream and as the others fell asleep I read my magizines that I had bought at the airport which I hadnt read yet!
It was about 6pm when we headed back to Brooklyn. The subway back was really busy but we managed to get a seat.
Coney Island was amazing, it was busy and full of people up for a party! it even had its own fair ground with a big wheel and the cyclone. It was very expensive to ride on them so we took a raincheck!

When we got back to the dorms we decided that we would go see toy story 3 with the others but when we got there it was sold out. So we went for dinner and got an good deal of a salad, pizza and glass of wine for $10.
Feeling very full we took a trip down to the promenade. It was amazing to look over and see the manhattan skyline all lit up!

It is now very late and I am going to head to bed, but tomorrow I am going to go my trip to the New museum and have a look around manhattan properly!

Speak to you all soon!

love
Jen
xxx

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Thursday 17th June

Well today marks my fifth day into my New York experience. If I thought that yesterday was a struggle to get up today was even worse! but I managed it! but room is sooooo hot even though the air conditioner is on!
So we set off for the subway at the same time and make it to school with ten mintues to spare. My first class today was commerical basics. I never thought that this class would be a hard core emotional experience but it certainly was today. We were asked to think of a moment in our lives when something has changed us for the good or bad. Then we were to say the nursey rhyme hickey dickery dock with that moment in our in head like we were reliving it. I picked the moment that we reached the top of Mt Meru after all the struggles we went through. My telling of the rhyme was optimistic and relieved but others had really hard core stories to tell. Others were getting so upset and I felt awful for them and I could tell that the stories were awful sad. It was amazing to see after four days how open and trusting we all were in sharing our true emotions. This class was really tough, even though I personally didn't get up set I felt upset because of the other people in my class.

After our tough first class we went onto acting. I was really dreading this class because I still had to do my monolouge and I was scared what she was going to say about it. After I had done it I was standing there waiting in silence to what she was going to say. She said that she understood my intention, the person I was talking to, my wants. She also said that she noticed I used pitch, beat changes and speed in my speech. The only thing she struggled with was she didnt understand what I was saying because of my accent but she said that was her problem but all I had to do was pronounce my constants more and that should be easily sloved. I was really shocked at her reaction but I was pleased she had recongised the hard work I had put into it and also noticed that I had thought about my decisions. She also said that I was the only one who had made discoveries on my journey throught my monolouge and that she was really excited to work with my instrument. I felt so relieved at that point that she didn't tell me I was awful!! I am really looking forward to this class now and looking forward to seeing what new boundaries I can push my talents to.

After lunch we had movement. I look forward to this class because it is really fun and a chance to explore your own body. We had our warm up then we took part in a team game. The game was called 6,4,2. You were running round in a circle and without talking had to stop 6 times, change direction 4 times and jump in the air 2 times It was really difficult to make it look seemless and to not have one person leading. It was also really tiring because my group were running for ages!
This was demonstrate that team work is essential and that the eaisest things as individuals are harder as a group. We also learned nine viewpoints of movement, I'll go into details on them when I know them.

It was then onto voice class which involved more spinal roles relaxing our bodies and regulating our breathing. We also discussed what our diaphrams should look like when we are breathing in a relaxed state. I always feel so sleepy in this class and find it a real struggle to get through, not because I dont like it because we shut our eyes a lot to imagination situations and it makes me feel like I am going to fall asleep!

So after class was over I decided to go on a wonder by myself. I went over to bed bath and beyond to grab some cheap shampoo and stuff then I just wondered along 7th avenue. I met Liza so we just wondered together. We came across and dvd store that was selling them cheap so we bought two benjamin button and the invasion. Looking forward to watching them.

Right now I am sooo tried that I am going to head to bed! and then start all over tomorrow!
I also have a bus tour tomorrow with the school so that should be exciting! looking forward to that!

I hope you are all doing good!
Speak to you all soon!

Love
Jen
xx

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Wednesday 16th June

This morning was a real struggle to get up! I am sooooo exhausted but I think that its a good thing because it shows that the course is working me hard.
We left later this morning to get the subway because we arrive at school way to early yesterday.
The first class today was improvisation. This is class is so much fun because your imagination can go wild! We started with the sound ball which is an invisble ball that we throw towards each other creating different sounds. We then change it to word ball and movie ball. I love this because it makes you think really of your feet and be creative with your sounds. When then went up in pairs to create different scenes, my setting was a camp fire and I went up with Emel. It was funny because Emel created that she was afraid of fire. It was hard to create something from nothing. When then did tag out, this is two people start a scene then at the righ point you tag someone out using their last line to create a new scene.

Next class was film and tv basics, This class was really good because we got given the task of picking a scene that we would then go onto film. I picked a scene from boys on the side and Autumn is my partner. After we chose our pieces Todd, our teacher, then went onto teach us a system of how to create a character quickly using the personaitly map system. It was really interesting to see how effective this was.

For lunch we went to a little cafe and I had a huge slice of pizza! it was amazing!
We then went onto stage combat which was so fun! we learnt a sequence which was like struggling with my hands behind my back then elbowing my partner in the stomach then running in a circle with them then throwing them on their back! it was sooo much fun! I felt like a proper action hero! I am totally the next Lara Croft!

The last class of the day was voice and this time we concerntrated on our breathing, breathing from down in our stomachs. We had to be relaxed for this to happen and to feel a release. We then lay on the floor and felt our stomachs properly expanding with our breath. I was so relaxed I felt like I was coming in and out of sleep.

After class we head straight for the subway which was very busy! but I got on the right side which was a result!
Got in and made some dinner, baked potatoe and cheese was nice filled a hole!
Right I am just about to complete my acting homework with my partner matt. We have to come up with three intentions but dont tell each other and see what one works best then we need to show class our most successful one! kinda not looking forward to it but oh well it has to be done!

Well that concludes my entry for today!

Speak to you all soon!
Missing everyone!

Love
Jen
xxx

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

First Couple of Days!

Hi Everyone!

So for you guys that don't know me my name is Jennifer Watt, I am 22 from Glasgow Scotland. This blog is like a journal of my time in New York studying at The New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. I am on their summer in the city programme studying acting for tv and film.

It is all very exciting.

Ok where will I start......Well I will start with arriving in Brooklyn. I get a taxi from the airport which was far too expensive! It is totally roasting outside and I am sweating like a beast! I looked a mess. I get my room key and a lovely young man helps me to my room which is 953. Oh I should probably tell you all where I am staying, The St Geogres Residience. It used to be a hotel. It is really very nice! So when I first came in it looked a littler grim. I saw two beds, two desks, two beside cabinets and a large fridge freezer we also have a bathroom. It is acctually nice it just looked really bear but when I unpacked it looked better.
We all then headed over to manhattan on the subway which was a little daunting. I mean its not like the underground in london which I thought it would be because they have a list of the stops on the wall just the desination so you dont know which direction you are travelling in. This is really off putting and I have got on the wrong train about 4 times already!
We reached the school and it looked amazing! all the studions were very modern and had all the up to date equipment which was very exciting to me. We then split up into to groups to do our monolouges to decide what group we would be in. The other students were excellant and it made me feel proud that they considered me at the same level. It was also excellant to meet the other students they are an awesome buch of people and are mostly americans but there is english, irish, german and argentine students too.
So the next day class began. We have 7 classes= movement, voice, film and tv basics, comerical basics, improvisations, acting and stage combat. They are all very different and some of it I have never done before. Stage combat is my favourite so far, we learned how to roll properly the other day and I felt like the new james bond!
I really like my other classmates they are very supportive and I cant wait to get to know them more!
Well it is now very late and I better get some much needed sleep,
I will fill in more detail tomorrow about what happens in class.
Hope your all well

Love
Jen
xx