2008 -- new : t-blog & NEW:

Stages in DEVELOPING motion ideas ... all my directing pages are about blocking! MISE-EN-SCENE

...

scenes (list)

part 3. "visual dramatics" : conflict : directions/vectors

... The Bear and Blocking

4 Corners : which is "heavier" (more dramatic)? 1. DSL 2. DSR 3. USR 4. USL

Exits and Entrances

Smirnov -- Popova

3.25.09 -- scenes/segments for analysis in class

images:

theatre theory

and


Theatre LUL
Aristotle's 3 structural principles: (Plot/Action, Character/Hero, Idea/Thought) in 200x Files (dict). see mise-en-scene and metrics pages !

also, vectors in old biomechanics for actors files

"Power Fight" (space): Carol takes John's space. Keep pushing him to the door (CR), as he did in act I.

Carol's light (color?) dominates in 3... The final physical fight (his attack) = ending. She won.


Blocking (stage)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blocking is a theatre term which refers to the precise movement and positioning of actors on a stage in order to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, or opera.

The director usually determines blocking during rehearsal, telling actors where they should move for the proper dramatic effect and to ensure sight lines for the audience.

Each scene in a play is usually 'blocked' as a unit, after which the director will move onto the next scene. The positioning of actors on stage in one scene will usually affect the possibilities for subsequent positioning unless the stage is cleared between scenes. Once all the blocking is completed a play is said to be 'fully blocked' and then the process of 'polishing' or refinement begins. During the blocking rehearsal usually the assistant director or the stage manager (or both) take notes about where actors are positioned and their movement patterns on stage.

It is especially important for the stage manager to note the actors' positions, as a director is not usually present for each performance of a play and it becomes the stage manager's job to ensure that actors follow the assigned blocking from night to night.

By extension, the term is sometimes used in the context of cinema to speak of the arrangement of actors in the frame. In this context, there is also a need to consider the movement of the camera as part of the blocking process (see Cinematography).


Stage blocking is one of the most basic and technical elements of play direction, but should never be taken lightly by the director. Indeed there are a few other elements of a play that are more exciting and glamorous, but blocking provides the backbone and structure needed to make those other elements a reality. Basically, blocking is the choreography of actors' movements throughout the entire play. If a character needs to exit the scene, for example, the actor must be able to move naturally towards the exit. The director's goal is to come up with a plausible means of getting that actor across the stage and through the door, window, transporter beam or whatever. The same holds true for a character delivering a monologue- should they break away from the other actors or deliver the speech in the middle of a crowd? Other considerations when block may include entrances of a character, or places for actors to go when their character has no function in the scene. [ ... ]

see ACTOR' SCRIPT" and "director's text"

[ forms ]

[Oleanna] scenes: exposition? finale?

ACTING AREAS (how many?) :

sofa

desk

door

blackboard

slide projector (self as podium) -- not fully developed

book shelf --

Coat tree --

Two chairs -- dynamics?

Changes from 1 to 2 to 3 -- more visible! "Boxes story"? Is it acting area too?


"blocking camera" (spectator) -- film class

second character as spectator (POV)

in class:

1. What is Blocking(Staging)
2. The Four(?) Parts to Blocking a Scene
3. Director Questions for Blocking
4. A Blocking Demonstration

First direction -- SCRIPT

Second -- Set (designers)

Third -- actor (casting)

Forth -- prop (page): phone, chair ...

[ make copies of YOUR ground plan for each unit ]

"E-Motion" (lecture): positive - negative vectors

UP and DOWN, RIGHT and LEFT ( + and - )

Diagonal directions

[ ... ]

* film -- script breakdown in shots blocking (camera)

Director, stage directions are your TEXT (in bold).


* Use of film production techniques in stage directing (storyboarding) * Film Directing class

"Invisible Choreography" -- Dances Characters dance...

Blocking for Comedy

Staging conflict (mise-en-scene)

Shrew -- P-Kate

Hamlet (list of scenes)

Earnest -- suggested scenes.

...

scenes and scene study pages [acting I, II, III]

...

... mise-en-scene pages [ list ] part II or III ?


mise-en-scene (doc files) -- GM : Jim-Laura in class exerc. (T. Williams, scene 7) 2007 directing group *
The living and mobile body of the actor represents movement in space; it therefore plays a critical role. Without a text (which may be with or without music), dramatic art cannot exist; and the actor is the bearer of this text. Without movement, the other arts cannot take part in the dramatic action. In one hand, so to speak, the actor bears the text; in the other, as in a sheaf, he holds the arts of space. Irresistibly he brings his two hands together, and by movement creates the complete work of art. The living body is thus the real creator of the supreme art, holding as it does the secret of the hierarchical relations between the conflicting elements, because it stands at their head. When we seek, therefore, the place of the other arts in dramatic art, we must maintain the living and plastic body as our point of departure.
[ The Work of Living Art: A Theory of the Theatre * H. D. Albright, Adolphe Appia, Barnard Hewitt; University of Miami Press, 1960 ]
... more in THR THEORY and Total Directing

blocking

.... "nine squares plus" (floor/ground plan).
Oleanna (Mamet) 2006:

set: John's office (two chairs + desk -- enough to indicate the "locale")

now -- WHO is John? (character analysis and expressing it in HIS office)

THEMES: power, love, studying, truth... (manifestation thorugh the set)

Conflict(s) = list (between John and Carol and inner conflicts within each of them)

....


JOHN: (Picks up phone. Into phone:) Hello? I … Hello…? I … Yes, he just called. No … I. I can’t talk to you now, Baby. (To CAROL:) Get out.

CAROL: …your wife…?

JOHN: …who it is is no concern of yours. Get out. (To phone:) No, no, it’s going to be all right. I. I can’t talk now, Baby. (To CAROL:) Get out of here.

CAROL: I’m going.

JOHN: Good.

CAROL (exiting): …and don’t call your wife “baby.”

JOHN: What?

CAROL: Don’t call your wife baby. You heard what I said.

(CAROL starts to leave the room. JOHN grabs her and begins to beat her.)

JOHN: You vicious little bitch. You think you can come in here with your political correctness and destroy my life?

(He knocks her to the floor.)

After how I treated you…? You should be … Rape you …? Are you kidding me…?

(He picks up a chair, raises it above his head, and advances on her.)

I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole. You little cunt…

(She cowers on the floor below him. Pause. He looks down at her. He lowers the chair. He moves to his desk, and arranges the papers on it. Pause. He looks over at her.)

…well…

(Pause. She looks at him.)

CAROL: Yes. That’s right.

(She looks away from him, and lowers her head. To herself:) …yes. That’s right.

END

[ final image ]


Mamet "Oleanna" Theatre UAF 2006

III. (upstage)---------- sofa --------------- bookshelf --------------

II. (center) ---door ------------ desk ---------------------- blackbord

I. (down) ------------------------------------------slide projector-----

___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

public

The Three Levels dynamics (I - II - III) (plus, Left - Center - Right)

changes 1-2-3 (acts) [boxes]

m (John) - f (Carol) (characters)

axis of action:

1. horizontal (left-right):

---> ... <---

and

--->

<------

or even

------>

.............................................................................

<---

Could be UpRight vs. DownLeft (not diagonal)

2. upstage-downstage:

3. vertical (levels):

distance (between characters/objects)

distance from the spectator (closer at the climax?)

[ spectator = camera, director = camera, actor = camera ]

[ comments ]

From theatre

The acting area or playing area (pale blue) is the area in which performance can take place. This is typically divided into nine sections as labeled. Stage left and stage right are defined by the actor facing the audience. Thus stage left is the actor's left, but the audience's right.

Sometimes it is necessary to give direction from the perspective of the audience facing the stage. Then left and right are defined as house left and house right. So stage right and house left are the same direction. Stage left and house right are the same direction.

The term upstage comes from an actor standing upstage of another actor, forcing the second actor to turn her back to the audience to talk with the first actor. The actor whose back is turned is then ignored or unheard by the audience. The actor who is upstage is the center of ...

...

Stage directions (see glossary)

The stage itself has been given named areas to facilitate blocking:

The rear of the stage is considered up-stage This derives from the raked stage of the Greek Theater (see below).
The front of the stage is down-stage.
Stage Left and right, at least in British and North American Theater, refer to the actor's left and right facing the audience. Because this is sometimes misunderstood the terms prompt (left) and opposite prompt (right) are also used.
House left and house right refer to how the audience perceives the stage. The audience’s left is referred to as house left, and the audience’s right is referred to as house right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_(theatre)

comics-style : story boarding [ http://www.toondoo.com ] page in BIOMechanics (acting2)

Oedipus05
Oedipus UAF (groups blocking, paper-directing) [ scenes in class ]

mise-en-scene

mise-en-scene pages

directing slideshow [photobucket.com/anatolant]

2009 : The Bear :

Open publication - Free publishing - More play