10/21/13-10/27/13

I was sick for the majority of this week, so it was a little difficult for me to get much done. However, I did accomplish a little bit, and I have a lot to reflect on in terms of the beginning of my directing career


I was faced with a few issues this week. Ont op of being really sick, my team for Estrogenius failed to meet this weeks requirements that I set for them.

After last Sunday's great rehearsal, I sent all of the girls this message:

My personal goal for the week was to get an official script for all of the girls. Even though they know their own pieces, I thought it would be helpful to see the entire performance out on paper. Unfortunately, the only response I got was from Ayanda:

To add to my continuing luck, nobody but Ayanda and Tiffany Amber showed up to rehearsal today. Tiffany Amber was not at last week's rehearsal, which I figured would not be too much of an issue if all of the girls showed up today. We could have just changed a few lines around and added her accordingly. It was a little difficult to get anything done at today's rehearsal with only two girls, so we had Tiffany Amber write her piece.

My other goal for the week was to do blocking. It isn't complicated at all, but it is necessary before Saturday's performance. I worked out a plan with the Stage Manager to have a rehearsal before the company call time on Saturday. I sent a message to all of the girls today: 

I haven't gotten an answer from anyone yet. This directing thing is a little harder then I expected. 

This has been a good learning experience thus far. This the first time I have led a group completely, and me being a very take charge person, it is hard when people aren't putting in the effort that you are. If we can get into the space earlier that day, I have no worries that the performance will go smoothly since it is workshop style and not completely off book. However, if the blocking isn't where it needs to be, we may have a problem.

10/14/13-10/18/13

This week, I made a lot of progress with my Girl Be Heard piece.

I started out with a completely different idea then what I have now. Actually, I bounced from a million different ideas. But today, sitting down with all of the girls on my team helped a lot. Our ideas bounced off one another and we have a complete idea of what we are doing. We are beginning and ending with 4 lines of a song. We finished composing the beginning of it:

After this, each girl will recite their monologue. What I did to make each of them tie together is assigning them the first line and last line of their monologue. The last line of the monologue will be the first line of another girls', and so on (if that makes sense.) 

We have a 10 minute time slot, so here is my layout of how the performance will go

Start: 4 lines of song (30 seconds)

Shaquilla's Piece (2-3 minutes)

Halle's Piece (2-3 minutes)

Hazel's Piece (2-3 minutes)

Ayonda's Piece (2-3 minutes)

End: 4 lines of song (30 seconds)

I will have a precise plan of the time once I get the finalized drafts of each girl's piece (which I am waiting on now) 

Today, we performed a rough run-through of our piece and I have to say, I am very happy with it and know for a fact we will be prepared by November 2nd. 

10/7/13- 10/11/13

This week was mostly focused on my Girl Be Heard work. I spent wens and thurs writing my piece for Saturday's International Day of Girl performance. 

I also ushered for Cake Production's The Learned Ladies Saturdy night.

I am going to have to spend my blogs working on my Girl Be Heard work. I just got word today that my first piece that i will be directing will be at Estrogenius (a festivel for Women's theatre) on November 2nd. I will also be co-writing it with a few other girls in the program. My next piece will be shown at my Girl Be Heard open mic on December 15th

9/30/13-10/4/13

This week, I continued working on my shot sheet as well as new storyboards.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GHkuHXedsFe9IbhXd3u9RUuMpUHPPDHwiaitj8nT-SQ/pub

After looking back at the storyboards I attempted last week, I realized, well, I am the worst sketcher on the planet. They looked worse than cartoons, and I can't believe my hands produced something that horrifying. I started with basics this time, which I probably should have done in the first place by using basic circles and adding on from there. I will never be able to produce masterpieces, but the storyboards are for myself and I at least need to know what it will look like in live action. Doing the shot sheets first is helping a lot. I am no longer aimlessly scribbling until something seems kind of right.

Everything seems to be on track as of now, but the more I think about it, I don't have much time. I want to film exactly a month from now, and my schedule is only getting more and more packed. My to do list is as followed

-Pick a clear shooting day, get conflicts
-Get permission for using school (or change last scene all together)
-Confirm with Brett about borrowing his camera/editing software
-Confirm with costume designer

These all seem simple on paper, but depending on how busy I get with Girl Be Heard, I may have to put this project on hold.