TakingITGlobal

Lesson 5: Actor's Kit (Jimmy Blais) CREATE TO LEARN kinds of balls that is an error. If no one indicates they have one of the colours/kind of balls that is also an error. Miming: RULES: Students stand in a circle. One student turns to person on their left, makes eye contact, and offers a large action and short statement, loudly and with high energy: eg: puts hands on head and says, "My hair's on fire!". That statement & gesture gets passed around the whole circle, with everyone matching the original energy and tone as closely as possible. The student who started it says it in the way it is passed back to them again by the last person in the circle to their right. Then the following student offers a new gesture and short phrase, and so on. As the rhythm is established, the action should move faster and faster without compromising the original energy and tone offered. Character Walks: RULES: Have students line up at one corner of the room and move diagonally across the space, one at a time, adopting the characteristic prompts the teacher calls out to them. Depending on time, you can have each student try many different characters. There are end- less ways to offer characteristics -- from realistic to abstract. Below are some examples. • You are being followed by someone • You're an angry librarian • You're walking on high heels for the first time • You're rushing to catch a plane with too much luggage • Your whole left leg is made of wood • You're in a bubble • You're part giraffe • You're late for the bus. It leaves without you. • You're slowly turning into a lizard • You have a tall invisible friend walking beside you • You're playing soccer with someone. • You are disguised as a robot • You are being following by a tornado • You're an avatar in a video game • You are on a rickety pedestrian bridge. It's windy. Games adapted from "Canadian Improv Games" at https://improv.ca/lesson-plans/ ACQUIRE: "ACTOR'S KIT" BY JIMMY BLAIS Have students read "Actor's Kit" by Jimmy Blais, found on pages 18- 27 of the Create to Learn textbook. Alternatively, students can watch his lessons here: https://www.createtolearn.ca/ tutorial/actors-kit To debrief the reading, ask the class the following questions: 1. What tips does Jimmy give about preparing for an audition? 2. What is a self-tape? How can you make the most of your self-tape? 3. What is the purpose of a demo-reel? How can you create one? 4. What is a voice demo reel? How can you create one? APPLY: MAKING A SELF-TAPE, DEMO-REEL AND VOICE DEMO-REEL Allow students time to follow the steps Jimmy outlines to create a self-tape, demo-reel and voice demo-reel. This may take several hours. Students can use the video editing skills they learned in lesson three to edit their final cuts! ASSESS: PEER ASSESSMENT Once students finish editing their self-tapes and demo-reels, have them pair up and assess each other's work using the "Self-Tape and Demo Reel Peer Assessment" Rubric.

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