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East Hills Girls Technology High School

Year 11 – Preliminary Higher School Certificate Drama

TERM 3 - Individual Projects

Unit Outline

Term Three of the Preliminary Drama course will require students to complete two projects in tandem.

One of these projects is mandatory – a Monologue Performance task.

Mandatory Project: Monologue Performance

Actors will research a range of texts to source a scripted monologue to be prepared for performance. The assessment component will involve a prepared performance of the original monologue and an additional journal. The journal keeps a record of the process followed, in diary format.

The second Individual Project task will be chosen from three options: Script Writing, A Design Portfolio, or a Portfolio of Theatre and film criticism.

Optional Project One: Script Writing.

Students will devise a short one act play, comprising dialogue and action to sustain a fifteen minute entertainment. A one act play can contain more than one scene. It will have exposition, development of plot, complication and resolution. The usual formatting expectations of a play script will be expected, including: title, character list (called Dramatis Personae), brief physical scene descriptions, dialogue and stage directions. The layout of a script will require clear character names in a margin and dialogue logically spaced. Examples of scripts will be observed to define the text formatting.

Optional Project Two: Portfolio of Criticism

Students will write three articles of theatre or film criticism. Any film critique must be rated PG or G. It is not departmental policy to require students to watch M rated films for assessment purposes. A list of suitable current films is included here: Coco Avant Chanel, The Fox and the Child, Hanna Montana – The Movie, My Life In Ruins. Additional to current major release films, students may critique any other G or PG rated film or any film adaptation of the works of William Shakespeare with the exception of Baz Lurhman’s Romeo and Juliet or Roman Polanski’s Macbeth, both of which carry a Restricted (R) rating. Animated film must not be used in the portfolio of criticism project option. A film or theatre critique comments on the following features: performances of actors, staging choices, lighting and audio design features and additional special effects, the success of the playwright’s purpose in exploring an idea or a theme. At least one critique must be of a live entertainment (play or musical) and the entertainment must have occurred in 2009. Each critique should be 1000 to 1200 words for a total portfolio length of 3000 to 3600 words. Examples of critiques will be observed in lessons.

Optional Project Three: Directors Portfolio

Students will choose from the following list of plays: The Forty Lounge Café by Tess Lyssiotis, Running Up A Dress by Suzanne Spunner, No Worries By David Holmanor Small Poppies by David Holman. These contemporary Australian texts have been previously set for HSC study and copies are readily available from the Drama text collection. In completing a Director’s Portfolio the following must be included: floor plans of the stage as it will be arranged for a professional production, relying on the stage instructions and dialogue of the plays for detail; advice to actors on performance techniques prescribed by the text, particularly with regard to transformational acting, a requirement of each of the four plays on the prescribed list; a description of possible costume choices and one A4 costume drawing or rendering; a director’s vision statement, outlining the main ideas of the play of choice and the use of symbolic objects as stage elements; a statement about Lighting, audio or special effects as suggested in the text of choice; a statement about the audience appeals of the play of choice, identifying the likely audience the play of choice is intended for. The total length of the Director’s Portfolio is 3000 to 3500 words with additional visual design items.

Monologue Preparation - Program of learning Activities

The following will be completed in class as preparation for the assessment task:

1. Reading examples of monologues as models of what students are expected to perform.
2. Brainstorming character ideas in pairs and creating a mind-map of these that will be placed into Drama journals for assessment.
3. Creating a character profile. Each student will complete a character profile for the role they are performing.
4. Hot-seating. In groups of five the actors will complete a hot-seating 20 questions task, where peers ask sensible questions that will help create a history and background to the character each actor is performing.
5. Workshopping dialogue using improvisation techniques.
6. Polishing dialogue and adding stage directions and other script-specific elements into the performance.
7. Learning dialogue and rehearsing the script.
8. Determining costumes, props and scenic elements to furnish the presentation.
9. Polishing performances and adding any technical effects including lighting and sound.
10. Presenting prepared performance pieces for assessment.
11. Completing a reflective self-evaluation and placing this in a Drama journal for assessment. 500 words.
12. Completing a diary or journal of work in process with weekly entries of 300 words each covering the five weeks of the process, for a total of 1500 words.

Marking Criteria – Monologue Task

Marking Criteria- Script Option

Marking Criteria- Director’s Portfolio

Marking Criteria - Portfolio of Theatre and Film Criticism

ATTENDANCE IS CRUCIAL AND WILL BE MONITORED CLOSELY.

EXTENDED OR FREQUENT ABSENCES WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE EXPLANATION MAY RESULT IN AN ‘N’ DETERMINATION FOR THIS UNIT, AND MAY JEOPARDIZE THE AWARD OF A PRELIMINARY HIGHER SCHOOL CERTIFICATE FOR THIS COURSE.