Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to Drama.

This is using drama conventions to explore contemporary issues.

Today's lesson is called "A Person and a Tree Part Two" and it is lesson two of six.

My name is Mr. Wood, and I'm your teacher for today's lesson and the rest of the unit.

If you're ready, let's get started.

For today's lesson, you're going to need pen, paper, and space.

So you can pause the video now to get those things and then click resume and we will move on.

Upon completing your intro quiz, we're going to start the rest of our lesson with a recap of the last, before we move on to dealing with the challenge and then we will finish with our exit quiz.

The keywords for today's lesson are character and that is a person with qualities distinctive to them.

Scenario, and that is an outline of a scene or play with its own setting.

Still image, and that is a moment which is like a painting.

It shows detail or themes in a scenario and finally thought track.

That's a drama strategy where you speak your thoughts out loud in character.

So let's recap our last lesson.

Why don't we explore.

Well, we met the character of Alex.

We met the tree, which is significant to that character and we realised the challenge Alex was faced with.

We started to develop the character of Alex using visualisation, role on the wall, improvisation and internal monologue.

So let's get straight into it with dealing with the challenge.

Let's think about developing the relationship.

And we know that Alex has a very strong connection to the tree.

So we need to think about unearthing where that connection comes from, the reasons why.

And we started developing those ideas the last lesson.

So now it's a way of continuing with your previous ideas.

When I said Alex goes and spends time at the tree, what did you imagine? What were the things that came to the forefront of your mind? Are there any ideas as to how that image might come across to an audience? Are they sitting? Are the standing? Are they sat up in the tree? And then how could we show this as a single performer? So wherever you are right now inside, how could you show that you could be Alex sat at the tree? Have a think how there are skills that you could use as a bit of a clue to communicate where you are.

I would like you to create a still image of Alex.

They are either sitting or standing at the base of the tree.

This is the happy place.

I'd like you to create a still image of this to communicate their relaxed atmosphere when they are in the company of the tree.

So as I say, it's that happy place.

Think about how you feel when you are in your happy place.

You need to consider your facial expressions, your breath and your stillness.

Stillness is key here because we don't want you moving when you're in the image.

You need to pause the video to be able to complete this task.

Be as creative as you like.

Click resume when you're ready to move on.

So you've gotten into your still image as Alex.

Now, we know you're at the tree.

Now heads we're aware of this.

Are you leaning on the tree? Have you got your back on the tree? Are you leaning up against it, sat down? Your phone rings, you answer it and you've been broken the news about how the tree is going to be turned into chippings because the land has been developed.

First of all, who is it that's calling you? Who might be the one to tell you this shocking news? What's your relationship to them? Is it a parent, a carer, an aunt, an uncle, a sibling, a neighbour, a friend from school? It could be anyone you like, but think about the importance of the relationship between Alex and this person, why they are the ones delivering the news.

What could Alex's first thoughts be upon hearing this information? Because up until now, we've got a very relaxed atmosphere.

We've got a scenario where Alex is calm, peaceful, and relaxed and this is about to get shaken up by the news.

Any ideas on the first thoughts? So now you're going to add a thought track to your image.

I'd like you to get back into the still image, and then you are free to move.

As you answer your phone, pause, hear the information, digest the information, and then quickly speak your mind out loud with exactly what you're thinking as Alex in that moment.

Consider your use of volume, tone of voice and breath.

So breath is used in this again, that's because the breath initiates everything that we do, whether it's vocal or physical skills, breath is incredibly important.

So think about your initial reaction given how much you love this tree.

Get as creative as you'd like, pause the video and click resume when you're ready to move on.

Now, scenarios can be perceived in many different ways.

There are many different scenarios and they all require different outlooks to be able to be understood.

So what other perspectives are there to the story because you may just think this is about the child and their caring relationship with an inanimate object, a piece of nature, which keeps them calm.

In theory, that could be a very short story, but not necessarily.

We're going to explore speaking objects now.

And with that, I mean, do you have a window when an object would say, if it could speak? What would your watch say if it could? What would your phone say if it could? What would a piece of paper or a lamp say? They would all probably have a different perspective.

All of these things that are around you when you complete daily activities.

A watch is with you for a large percentage of the day.

A phone might be with you for a large percentage of the day.

A light may be on for a couple of hours a day.

What we need to do to give this some real thought and exploration is we give an object life.

We allow them the chance to speak and we hear their perspective as if they could speak.

So let's have a go with this now.

Option one is Alex's phone.

Option two is the tree.

Option three, a lamp post nearby and option four, a bird house.

Pick one of those options now for me.

Well.

Between you and I, I'm not happy.

I would like to know some more information about this scenario.

This is my home too, you know? I mean, when do they expect me to go? When I heard about it from Alan, I was shocked.

Absolutely shocked.

I thought, no, surely not.

That tree, that tree? It's been here for years.

Years.

I mean, there were plenty of other trees to go to, but I want to live here.

When you find who's responsible for this, you send them my way.

I'll have words.

I don't want to have more around me.

I like being on this edge of the park.

This is my job.

They build more houses here.

They're going to need more of us.

My one job is to light this part of the park.

I have one job.

Now they're going to build this, they're going to build that, that.

They're going to just add loads more of me over there and over there and there'll be a line of us over there.

I like being here on my own.

People come and stand by me and I get to sleep during the day.

It's going to be loads more people sleeping around over there and over here.

I don't want that.

It's okay.

It's okay.

These things happen.

I've seen countless renovations.

I've heard many, many more.

Word on the street here and there, it gets passed down the line.

This is not the first park to see change.

And we don't forget the things that have happened.

We grow.

We grow.

Well, OMG.

Who would have thought this was going to happen, which to be honest, I could have foreseen it.

I've seen it in many other places, many different platforms. I should've seen it coming.

I just did not expect to be delivering this news today.

I normally deal with cat memes or dog videos.

This is not what I am designed to do.

Well, I am.

Of course, I'm multifunctional.

I've got many different uses, but this is not my training.

I do not enjoy this part of my job.

You can see why, right? The child is crying.

The child is crying and the tree is about to get ripped down and then disintegrated, absolutely shredded.

Yeah so I've taken two social media platforms and I have been noticing all kinds of different things that have been going on with regards to this information.

And it turns out many people are unhappy.

Many people are unhappy.

And you know, I'm with this kid most of the day.

I understand.

I understand.

I see everything.

He's a good kid.

He just wants his tree, okay.

Just give him his tree.

Just let him keep his tree.

Do not rip down his tree, okay.

I wonder if you can identify which options were first, second, third and fourth.

Could you identify the order? Have a think.

The first one was a bird house.

The second one was a lamp post.

Could you then use process of elimination to figure out the final two which order.

It was option two, the tree and then lastly, the phone, option one.

Well done if you managed to get those correct.

Don't worry if you didn't.

It was just a different way of trying to figure it out.

But yes, there are many different perspectives that we can appreciate when it comes to speaking objects.

We can identify many different ways of looking at a scenario.

Some people may be favourable of the change.

For example, the lamp post, we could look at that in a really different way.

We could suggest that the lamp post is lonely and that they're really looking forward to ripping down some trees and getting some more lights.

Yeah because they might feel alone and quite sad whereas the tree was quite wise.

The phone was a little bit shocked and then almost bordering on kind of hypersensitive or teetering on the edge of aggressive.

Okay, let's move on.

So you're going to have a go now at interpreting some of these speaking objects.

Pick that option you had before and for this part of the exercise, you must speak as if you are that object.

So believe in your character.

I think for this moment in time, I will speak as the tree, for example.

You are considering what they see, how they interpret the scenario and you're giving your opinion.

All right.

Talk about what they've seen, their perspective, their thoughts, the scenario about how the land has been developed.

You need to pause the video to complete this task and then click resume once you've had a go and you're ready to move on.

So now, lesson for that.

Let's reflect on where the strengths were.

Did your object have a different viewpoint to the scenario itself? Like I said about the long post, did you offer something that was contrasting, something in favour? Excellent if you did.

It doesn't matter if you didn't, you were still offering your opinion.

What does this drama strategy show us about life-like situations? Have a think.

If there were real life situations, what does taking into consideration other viewpoints do for us? If you yourself are the decision maker, for example, and you're considering other people's viewpoints.

It makes the scenario very balanced.

So when it comes to making a decision, it allows it to be level-headed.

So when faced with a challenge, it's best to look at it from other perspectives.

If you've got a decision whether it's cake or ice cream, that is a tough decision, but you're going to have to make a choice.

So look at it from other people's perspectives.

What if there's only one slice of cake, but loads of ice cream and you know that the person to your right only likes the cake and they might be dairy intolerant, so they can't have the ice cream.

So taking that into consideration can appreciate other people's needs or strengths.

Now, round two of this.

You're going to choose another option, whether that is the phone, the tree, a lamppost, the bird's house.

One of the other three remaining ones you didn't choose before.

And you're going to have another go at trying to offer a different viewpoint.

So speak as if you are that object, what they see, speak from their perspective, establish their thoughts about the scenario, about the developing land and make it different.

Pause the video to be able to complete this and then once you're ready to go click resume, and we will move on.

Speaking objects allow us to hear multiple perspectives.

Is that true or is it false? Three, two, one.

Of course the answer is true.

So it allows us to understand the situation better from multiple perspectives or other people's viewpoints.

If you had questions for Alex, what would they be? Because I feel like, although we know a little bit about Alex and we've considered the character from different viewpoints, I think there are still areas of concern, things that we might want to know more about before we can safely say, we understand the character.

In drama, there is a name for the activity where we ask questions to a character.

If you've heard it before, what's it called? For those of you that know and for those of you that do not, the answer is hot seating.

So this is where you as an audience, it could be one person, it could be 50.

You ask a character a range of questions to find out more information about them.

And this could be history.

It could be their background.

It could be their childhood, what they think of their job.

So their own opinion on a matter.

It could be, what would you do in this scenario? How would you act in a certain way? How would you react to this moment or this stimulant? The questions that we ask that character must be open and by that, I mean, if your answer is going to be yes or no, that's closed.

You would like a question that gives you multiple answers.

For example, if you were to ask, what was it like growing up? That's quite an open question because they have to give you a few different sentences in response.

If you just said, are you tall? Yes, no, we'll kind of.

So it's a range of questions that are all open.

The aim is to find out information about them.

So using your pen and paper, I'd like you to write down 10 questions for the character of Alex.

Try to make them as broad and varied as possible because you want to find out as much information about them as possible.

You might need to ask about their history, their views towards something or their interests as a few small ideas.

In this moment, you don't need to ask questions about how they feel in response to the tree being cut down and the land being developed.

You can have all of this information prior to that moment 'cause then it builds a sense of the character and how they would react before that particular scenario.

So I'd like you to pause the video, to give this a go.

Write down your 10 questions, take your time.

There's absolutely no rush and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

So now you have your list of questions.

Which one is the most exciting? And which one's the best question? And that could be for a multitude of reasons.

Again, that's down to perspective.

So whatever you think is your best question and then also your most exciting question.

They may also be the same thing.

Now, I'd like you to find an item of clothing or something that will signify the character of Alex.

It could be a phone, it could be a shoe.

It could be a scarf.

It could be a face mask.

I'd like you to put this item of clothing on or have it with you to signify when you are in role.

When that piece of costume or prop is not on you or in your hands, then you are no longer that character.

You're no longer Alex.

In that role, I would like you to go down the list and imagine that someone has asked you those questions.

You need to respond or reply as Alex.

So you need to be imaginative and creative, to think on the spot and stay in role.

Pause the video to work yourself through those 10 questions and then click resume once you've had a go and you're ready to move on.

Well done.

Now that you've had a go at exploring the character and building them up from your own perspective, we're now going to tackle a new scenario because someone Alex respects and trusts has suggested that they could write to the council.

And if you were Alex with your piece of costume or prop and stated all of the reasons why this land should not be developed and the tree cut down, you could in theory, stop it from happening.

So you need to be very careful about what it is you say and what you allude to in your letter.

So think about what you might say.

What certain aspects about your relationship with the tree and memories are really important? Is it that the tree is not just important for you, but important for many people? What do you think? Is there one key idea that's at the front of your mind? So now we prepare your letter to the council.

I'd like you to make a list of all the points that you think should go in the letter to the council.

If you were to save the tree, it would have to come from the letter.

So make sure that it's got some really strong points, not just, I like sitting there.

I like sitting there because this is what it does for my own mental health.

This is what it does for let's say my outward positivity towards other people.

So there are a range of different ideas that don't just have to be, it's nice.

List as many different points as you can.

We can select the best ones later.

We can pick and choose.

So for now, a full list going down, have as many different ideas that you can think of.

Pause the video, complete the task, and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

Now that you have your list, we're going to start constructing the letter to the council.

Your ideas are there, put them in a rank order from one to however far you got with the most important in number one.

Think about the level of importance and think about the connection to emotion.

Is there a particular item on your list which is more emotive than the rest? Well, shift that towards the top.

You would like to end on a strong point.

So say that most powerful and emotive statement, number one to go at the end.

We're going to put the number one, the most important thing at the end of your letter.

Pause the video to do this and rank order them and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

Now we're going to start writing our letter to the council.

Begin writing with those points that you made previously, but we're going to work our way up the rank order.

So we're going to start small and we're going to say the reasons why is important to you and we're going to start building the level of importance and creating a sense of atmosphere around our letter.

Or grow in its urgency the further along the letter we go.

Be clear.

Use as much emotive language as you can and don't forget, you're writing from Alex's perspective, just like we did with the hot seating but it's in the form of a letter.

So pause the video to be able to complete this and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

How do we know when someone is angry? Can we see it in their face? Do we hear it in their voice? Yeah, both.

So let's think about those skills I used there in the voice and in the body to be able to communicate things like emotion.

Now, can you imagine certain parts of your letter being emotive? If so, what emotions would be in there? How do you know? Is it a particular word or is it a feeling? Now you may be thinking, well, I know what you mean, but I don't know how to explain it.

That's because in this scenario, when we're talking about things like emotion, it may be easier to show than it is to explain.

You're going to have a role playing this scenario now.

A council official has opened your letter for the very first time.

They're going to read it with all of the emotion that you jam packed in though when you wrote it.

So think about how it will be delivered if you spoke it.

Practise delivering the letter out loud as if you were in the room with that council official.

Consider the emotion in both your tone of voice and your volume.

And then also think about the clarity and the emphasis.

So there are two clear stages there for voice and volume, sorry, tone of voice and volume, clarity and emphasis.

So pause the video, play around with those four ideas and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

Well done.

I hope you've enjoyed the activities today as now, we've come to the end of the lesson.

So it's goodbye until our next one.

But today we've explored still images and thought tracks successfully as we've developed the character and the scenario.

We've looked at speaking objects and how they offer different perspectives, which is also incredibly helpful in the real world.

We've looked at hot seating, the character, again, to build the character and develop them further and then look at emotion carried through a letter.

And that letter is quite important to us when we think about who the character is and what their intentions are.

It's up to you to decide what happens from Alex's letter, from this point on and I hope you can find a positive ending to the story.

Our next lesson, we'll have a new focus, looking at a person and a place.

So I will see you in lesson three, but until then, if you would like to share work with us, this is what you can do.

Ask your parent or carer for permission to tag your work on Twitter, using @OakNational and #LearnwitkOak.

I look forward to seeing you in lesson three, but until then, take care.

Goodbye.