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Under The Gun Theater

March 2020

Theater Writing

by Catharine Bowmanupdated on March 31, 2020March 23, 2020

Write what you know, write what you believe and remember you’re composing for the theatre. These are the basic hints I’d pass to some first-time playwright. However, playwriting is not pretty much intuition, ethics, and soul — it’s also about pragmatism.

I browse for any range of theaters and playwriting contests and I am surprised how often authors neglect the technical aspect of playwriting: the demonstration of this drama, both the layout, platform directions, as well as the cast list — each of these facets matter significantly.

Some authors are so vibrant they could dismiss these issues, or give the impression of doing this. Beckett might have clarified his characters since vegetables and composed his plays comic strip form along with their trendy power could have blasted off the webpage. But if you are just beginning, it is well worth paying attention to the tiny details — they are a bigger deal than you may think.

Synopsis
Unless this was directly asked, I’d strongly advise against such a synopsis. They’re seldom useful and frequently a hindrance. Most deflecting is every time a playwright explains or justifies her or his performance at the synopsis — no good could come of that.

These hints are always restricting and, curiously enough, frequently out of sync with all the drama itself. Playwrights frequently do not have the foggiest what they are writing about or even. This doesn’t matter — provided that the playwright remains schtum.

Title page quotes tend to be a lot more useful. By way of instance, Philip Ridley simplifies his brutally moving drama Vincent River using Margaret Atwood’s phrases “Grief will be to need more” Jez Butterworth utilizes TS Eliot to present his spooky play The River: “Except to the purpose, the still point/There will not be a dance, and there’s just the dance.” And Simon Stephens starts The Morning for this: “What it was… still largely in my head… is unconnected flashes of terror.” These quotations are excellent; they provide us a whiff of this drama without ramming it down our throats.

Character list
I have read a massive number of plays that are preceded by pages and pages of personality descriptions. Such extensive personality lists will not ruin a fantastic play, however, they surely will not help a fair one.

Look in any printed play along with the character list will probably be exactly that, a listing of those figures’ names and nothing else. From time to time, when your playwright is feeling especially verbose, nature’s era may be contained or a lean physical description. But that is all about as broad as it receives.

As a protracted synopsis risks undermining a drama, so also does an in-depth character outline. They have a tendency to reduce instead of enhancing the general learning experience; to close down the creativity instead of exciting it. The ideal thing about studying a brand new play is these infrequent moments of shock. This isn’t likely to take place if we are told all of the characters’ secrets beforehand.

Stage directions
These are usually missed or underwritten, however, they’re an essential element of any play with. Stage instructions do not only help picture a drama, but they also show a great deal about the playwright. Fantastic stage instructions differentiate a fantastic dramatist from just a fantastic author.

The fashion of stage instructions says a fantastic deal about the author and the period where he or she’s writing. Lyrical stage instructions were in fashion —  see the start of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman: “A feeling of fantasy clings to the location, a fantasy rising from reality.”

Ever since that time, stage directions are now increasingly thin. Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a prime case: “A state road. A tree. Evening,” or Sarah Kane’s infamous point leadership in Blasted: “He occupies the infant ” More lately, Payne’s instructions in Constellations are restrained as they are extravagant: “An indented principle suggests an alteration in the world.”

In certain ways, the point instructions will need to be honest and lucid compared to the drama itself. They’re the reader direct line into the playwright and the manager’s connection to the visual universe of this point.

Presentation
I have read illustrated with images, photographs, and masses of all symbols — several scripts have included links to clips online. Aside from some inspirational examples, these improvements do not help. Rather they come across as amateurish: a hurried afterthought as opposed to a vital part of the drama proper.

These visual touches — that are usually poorly implemented — indicate a lack of religion from the composing. Evidently, there aren’t any set rules along with a run of brilliant sketches that can, theoretically, superbly complement a drama. However, such developments should not be shoe-horned to the job; they will need to be carefully considered as the remaining part of the drama, or else they will only remove from your writing.

Compose your own play
Many playwriting contests and (fringe) theaters aren’t searching to get adaptations; they all are searching for work. Regardless of this stipulation, I’ve lost count of the number of fake plays I’ve read, faintly disguised as a fresh job. Even if the drama is put in a bus stop and the characters are known as Victoria and Esteban, then it’s still Waiting for Godot.

There is nothing worse than a playwright attempting to pass another author’s thought — or perhaps their diction, rhythm, and application of pauses — because their own. Such iterative composing feels fragile, thin and ugly. However, an honest author, who’s true for themselves, their substance and their moderate? Magic.

 

How To Create A Pro Video All Through Your Smartphone

by Catharine Bowmanupdated on September 14, 2020March 12, 2020

The best camera is known to be the one you always have with you. Rotate, cut, edit – all of this can be done directly on the smartphone. With these features, you can actually create your own first film for whatever reason or purpose it maybe. And the perks of learning and getting good at it is that you can create and sell udemy courses on filming videos through your smartphone.

Prepare your mobile phone video optimally

Before editing, of course, you first need video material and this can be easily recorded with the smartphone. Before you get started, there are a few things to consider:

  • The cell phone should be powerful enough to record and play films smoothly.
  • If possible, you should choose the highest possible resolution in the video recording settings.
  • Many devices have an image stabilizer. This should always be activated.
  • There are also apps that make advanced camera settings possible. For example ProCam 4 for the iPhone or Open Camera for Android smartphones.
  • Videos also require a lot of storage space. This should be cleared on the cell phone, an additional (fast) memory card is not a must, but certainly recommended.

How to Film Professional Videos with an Android Smartphone

Mobile phone videos are even better

To improve the quality there are gadgets and accessories that can be very useful. The characteristics of the mobile phone microphone are mostly designed for speech and can be expanded with an external (clip-on) microphone. If the light is insufficient, an additional mini LED light can help. For special perspectives, there are click-on lenses with fisheye, macro or wide-angle effects. A selfie stick or tripod is a useful tool for a calmer picture. This is also more wobble-free if you attach a cord to the cell phone, put your foot on the other end and keep the cell phone “on the move”. You should not use the digital zoom when filming, it will pixelate the image. To avoid annoying calls or messages while filming, it’s best to activate the flight mode and then – very important – hold the smartphone across and start filming. Turning the television 90 degrees later is rather cumbersome.

This is the best way to film with the camera

Spontaneously filming everything that comes in front of your lens is one possibility. However, it is better to think in advance what, how and where should be filmed. So you can also think about whether and what text you want, whether you need interview questions, what the video should show and how it is implemented.

Your story should be as short as possible and depict all the essentials. You probably don’t like to watch long videos in which nothing happens afterward. And: The more precise and error-free you are filming the clips, the less effort you will have when editing them …

Post-processing: cut, tone and done

Once your scenes are in the box, it’s time to produce the film. On Android, this is easily possible with the included Google Photo app: select Assistant in the menu, then click film, select photos and/or videos, create video, done. You can also edit and save your videos rudimentary on the iPhone with the preinstalled photo app. If you want it to be a little nicer and more professional, you have to use apps that are now available everywhere in stores.

The range of functions ranges from simply cutting the clips to transitions with text, graphic and special effects and elaborate scoring. Many programs are available free of charge or as limited trial versions, others also as subscriptions. The following applies here: first try and test extensively and only then buy.

Apps for smart directors

Popular Apps for the iPhone are iMovie or for the more professional area Pinnacle Studio Pro.

For Android smartphones, for example, Androvid Pro is recommended for the more or less inexperienced video editor, for professionals the rather expensive variant KineMaster or the somewhat cheaper program Power Director is suitable.

Magisto takes a slightly different approach: once you’ve uploaded your clips and music to the Magisto server, the service takes care of the rest and cuts a video with transitions to match the music.

Speaking of background music: If you underlay your film with your current favorite song and publish the whole thing on YouTube, for example, the video will disappear very quickly because you must have the rights to use the music. There are also special websites that offer music for licensing, such as the YouTube audio library, Jamendo or Hartwigmedia.

What’s the Edge of Theaters Towards Modern Technology?

by Mckenna Finneganupdated on February 26, 2020March 9, 2020

Currently searching for a new activity to be engaged in or perhaps, just a new hobby to past the time? Has it become pale and dull to watch your favorite Sunday show or you are somehow getting bored of drama, dancing and music? If yes is your answer, then it might be a high time to attend live theater performance. As a matter of fact, there are many reasons why would you want to do so.

What it can Provide?

Say that you are new to this idea, then it may be almost the same with using Twitch viewer bot in growing your fan base and earnings. It may feel as if there’s a void that you are trying to figure out but can’t. Attending a stage play of your favorite promotes instant connection as well as understanding of humanity in totally new perspective.

In addition to that, watching theater plays let the audience to feel different emotions that they do not typically feel. Whether you see a musical or tragedy, there is this element of storyline extending pass our personal life. This very concept has been proven for good when a study conducted by University of Arkansas Department of Education study the impact of live performances among students.

As per the study, it has been discovered that there’s an increased ability of empathizing and comprehending with reactions and feelings of other people. The results were not visible with a control group that is reading the play or watching movie adaption. This alone is a clear indication that stage plays bring a unique element among its viewers.

Human Touch

A notable key attribute separating theaters from books and movies is its “liveliness”. Have you ever seen a play that was adapted for a movie? Oftentimes, movies are showing the same level of performance but watching it is not par to the experience. There is this distinctive bond between the audience and the performers. Not to mention, the connection it creates among members of the audience. These are basically brief, magical moments that happen only when the performers and the viewers are sharing the same physical space, just as what is happening in theaters.

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