Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to drama.

This unit is called exploring character.

This is lesson three out of four and it is called building character.

My name is Mr. Wood, and today we're going to build on the skills that we looked at last lesson and the lesson before that to develop our understanding of a character.

In today's lesson, you're going to need a pen, some paper and some space.

Can you make sure that you're taking part in this lesson inside, your shoes and socks are off, the floor you're using isn't slippery, and you've got comfy clothing ready to complete the activities today.

We're going to start today's lesson with a recap of last.

Then we'll move into our warm up, before we continue with exploring character traits, and then we'll finish off by adding depth to character.

Your key words for the day's lesson are: Trait and that is a distinguishing quality of a person.

Energy.

That is the strength required for physical activity.

Facial expression is what you do with your face to show emotion or thought.

And role on the wall is a visual way of gathering information about a character.

So I'll recap.

What did we do last lesson? We explored the different character traits that help us to distinguish between characters.

We began to explore some fictional characters through the body.

Can you remember the characters at the bottom of the screen? on the left we had, Nat Naughty follow by Shaina Shy In orange we have Frankie Forgetful followed by Gru Greedy.

Well done if you've got any of those correct.

Don't worry if you didn't.

Now let's move on to our warm up.

So gather the space that I asked for before and let's get going.

We'll start the warm up with some light walking on the spot.

So.

And your hands are just going to become a little bit more exaggerated.

Think about as you're walking down an aisle of a supermarket and you see things on the shelf that you would like.

Okay, so we're going to take that one! We're going to take that one! Going to take that one! And that one! And now, we're going to do it for the entire aisle.

Are you ready? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 We've got lots of things, being very greedy.

Now we're going to take everything in.

So imagine that we've got a small basket now with all of our things in.

Our shoulders have come in.

Our knee have come in slightly And although we're moving at the same pace, we're protecting our items. We're not looking elsewhere.

We're looking down, we're looking up, we're looking down, looking up, looking down.

Okay, keep walking but put your hands by your side because now you're going to turn around to face the back.

And you're going to keep on walking.

And then you are going to turn around this way.

You're going to face the front again and keep walking because you think you've forgotten something.

Oh, there it goes again, stop.

And then come back.

Now, you forgot something but you can't remember what it is Oh, is it that? Nope.

Got to keep walking then.

Now this time.

You're seeing someone walk past you.

And you're interested to know what's going on.

There's another one coming up, look again.

Hmmm.

But we need to exaggerate it.

So we're going to step out as we do it.

Okay.

So step out and look, watch them go past and come back in.

Walking.

And there's another person on the left.

We're going to be really nosy and it look what's in their basket.

Oh.

Interesting.

Okay.

And we are walking hands by our sides, nice and freely.

This time someone's taken the last item off the shelf in the supermarket that you really want.

So we're going to stop and we're going to look to them as if we're really angry and we are going to take it.

And we are back to walking.

and then the same thing's going to happen over there.

Are you ready? And its gone.

Last time over to the left.

Or your right I think.

And it's gone.

Okay and we are walking.

This time we're going to play a practical joke.

We're in the shopping market, supermarket and we're shopping and we see someone's trolley over there.

It's got all the things in that we really want.

That we don't have in our own.

So we're going to go up.

We are going to take it.

And we are going to go this way.

Okay.

We'll try that again.

I'm going to go in.

I'm going to take it.

And we are going to go.

Last time.

Are you ready? We are going to go in.

Going to take it.

And I'm going to go.

Okay.

Well done.

Now, if you feel like you are warm enough, ready to continue then we will start the lesson.

If you would like to go over those activities again just click pause and rewind.

And then we'll continue with the rest of the lesson now.

Now we are going to explore character traits.

What sort of character might this be? This is Nim Nosey.

Now Nim likes to know other people's business.

They like to watch people.

They like to listen to people.

And they like to stay on wait until it's most uncomfortable.

Okay.

They can be found often staring at people for too long.

So for example, lean in with the nose.

Listening to their conversation.

And then looking away when they realise that they've almost outstayed their welcome.

and stillness as you used to think.

So for example, if we've watched and listened.

Thinking about how interesting this gossip is that they're hearing and then noticing that I've stayed too long and off, they've got to go, okay.

Now I like you to have a play with the character of Nim Nosey.

I'd like you to pause the video for now to experiment with how you think they might walk, how they might stand and how they might interact with things in the space.

Okay? Click resume when you're ready to move on.

And we'll have a look at our next character.

What sorts of character do you think this person might be Any thoughts? This is Harper Happy.

Now Harper, enjoys the time around them.

They enjoy the people.

They enjoy the food.

Everything around them is happy.

And we can see this through the large gestures that they do.

For example, the waving.

We could say the hugs, we can say the walking.

Okay.

All of the gestures, which are part of their daily life are exaggerated and large.

Okay.

And they tend to lead with a smile.

So for example, that smile will carry them through the space.

Okay? So they're always looking for some thing to be happy about and it's that positivity, which guides them.

Alright? And then lastly, the positive energy.

So from within comes this power.

For us as humans that's breath.

Because breath starts movement and speech.

Now for you, this character what starts them is not so much breath.

It's the positive energy and it's bubbling with inside.

Okay.

It's everywhere inside.

It's coming out through the body.

So I would like you to have a go at experimenting with Harper Happy in the body.

Okay.

So you'll need to pause the video to experiment with this.

Have a play with how they move, how they interact with certain people.

For example, you can imagine a friend of theirs in the street, how might they greet them? How might they then greet a stranger? Is that different? Or is it the same? Okay.

You can click resume when you're ready to move on and we'll have a look at next character.

Now, what sort of character might this be? Have a think, look at those gestures in the picture.

Look at those gestures in the drawing.

Any ideas? Let's have a look.

This is Bailey Bump.

Now Bailey struggles at being aware of the space around them.

They don't very good spatial awareness.

And they're always walking into things like doorways, chairs, tables, people.

We're kind of very clumsy.

Now they might look one way but it could be walking another way.

So you've got to think about what you might be doing as you walk into something.

If we're aware, we might be looking at the thing and then walk around it.

Not Bailey Bump.

Bailey Bump is looking the other way when they walk oh, into something.

Okay.

And they're always leading with the shoulders because the shoulders are either going to be going forward or going to be going back.

Okay.

So you need to think about where you're positioning your shoulders to be thinking about the space in which we're moving in.

So for example, my shoulders could be forwards.

I could be going forward.

My shoulders could be back because I've gone into something and I need to backtrack.

Okay.

So now I'd like you to pause the video, to have a little go at experimenting again with this character.

Okay.

So think about the space you've got, try not to walk into anything physical.

Okay.

So please, don't try to walk into a door into a table or into a chair.

Okay.

Think about what could be there.

So you've got to visualise it.

This is going to be the most difficult character to imagine because I'm expecting you to imagine what's there.

Okay.

That could be a shoe the you trip over.

It could be a banana skin.

Oh dear.

Okay.

So you need to think about what could be there.

Click resume once you've done this and you're ready to move on to the next activity.

Now we're going to be exploring these characters in a bit more depth.

So this is Bailey Bump and the activity we're going to do to explore Bailey bump a little bit more is called a role on the wall.

Now we'll role on the wall is a great activity to be able to understand more about your character.

And the best part is you get to make these decisions.

Okay? So this is one that I've created for the character of Bailey Bump.

I think they are eight years old.

They are easily confused.

They're clumsy.

They're not observant.

Which means they don't see as much going on.

It just goes right past them.

They're resilient because of course they keep on walking into things.

They don't realise that they get in the way, which is interesting.

They don't think they're clumsy.

They just think they are Bailey Bump.

Viewed by others as silly or foolish.

So other people view them in that way which is very interesting.

This is not just from the character's perspective but it's also from other people that see the character.

Okay? All of that information can go into the role on the wall.

They are normally calm.

So when things go well, they're normally calm.

Even when they walk into a door.

Very calm.

And they can cause distractions to others through their clumsiness.

So for example, if they walk through a door hit their head and then fall over that causes a distraction and other people might look.

This is the activity where you are going to need your pen and your paper.

Okay.

You are going to have a go and making your own role on the wall.

So what we'd like you to decide on the character traits of Harper Happy.

I would like you to think about adding in how other people view them.

So what other people think of Harper Happy? And also what does Harper Happy think of themselves? How would they describe themselves? Would they describe themselves as different to how other people might describe them or different to how we would describe them? Because they are three different things.

Okay.

If I was the creator of the role on the wall I might think Harper Happy is happy.

They might not.

They might just think their as happy as everybody else is whereas somebody else might say that Harper Happy is extremely happy.

Okay? So there are different levels to how you can view a role on the wall.

And that is what's really interesting When we build a character.

It adds layers.

So to do this, you need to pause the video.

You need your pen and paper.

You can do a drawing of Harper Happy in the middle of your page or you could just write the name and then click resume.

Once you've completed the activity and you're ready to move on.

How does your character react in a scene? Imagine that your character is now Shaina Shy It is July and you are in a queue for an ice cream.

Lucky.

How does Shaina Shy react when someone jumps the queue right in front of them? What do you think? Would they let it happen? Would they say, Um, excuse me, you're you've taken my spot.

Can you, can you, move behind? Would they start an argument? Would they walk away? Would they, would they walk away in tears? This is up to you to decide.

So imagine it's July and you're in the queue for the ice cream.

I would like you to improvise how you think Shaina Shy reacts when someone jumps in the queue right in front of them.

Make sure that your character traits as Shaina Shy are clear through your body.

Okay? So this is stemming from the idea or the ideas you had in our last lesson.

Okay? So we're returning to those and you're deploying those skills in improvisation.

To do this, you need to pause the video and then click resume once you've completed it, And you're ready to move on.

How does your character react in a scene? You can hear people arguing next door.

How does Nim Nosey react? I wonder what might Nim Nosey do? Could they put their ear up to the door? Might they try to, but their nose is getting in the way? They keep on hitting their nose so they have to keep moving.

Would they put a glass up to the window, to the wall to try and hear more? Or would they go round and knock on the door and ask what's going on? I'd like you to improvise a scenario where this is happening.

Okay.

You need to improvise how you think Nim Nosey reacts when hearing the argument.

I'd like you to make the character traits clear through your body.

Okay? Just like the task before.

And this builds on the information that we have learned today about Nim Nosey.

You need to pause the video to complete this task and click resume when you're ready to move on to the next.

How does your character react in a scene? It's raining outside.

How could Harper Happy react in this scenario? What might they do? Can you imagine what Harper Happy might potentially do if it was raining? Would they put a coat on and go outside for a walk? Would they stay inside? Would they close the blinds? Would they go out and feel the rain as it falls on their face? Or would they go out and start dancing in the rain? Well, it's your turn to put this into a scene.

So imagine it is raining outside.

I'd like you to improvise how you think Harper Happy could react.

Make their character traits clear through your body.

Okay.

So with what we've learned today, about Harper Happy I would like you to turn this into a scene from your own imagination.

To do this you need to pause this video.

You need to take your time, don't rush it, and then click resume once you're ready to move on.

Now that we've explored all of our characters.

I would like you to pick one.

It doesn't matter who it is.

It could be your favourite.

It could be one that you can perform the best.

It could be one that you don't know very well.

Okay.

Any option is fine.

Have you got one? You saw nothing, alright? I mean it, you saw nothing! Now we're going to move on to an improvisation task.

So you have just witnessed Gru Greedy taking other people's snacks from their bag.

You witnessed this.

In role of your chosen character, tell us what really happened.

I would like you to use your imagination and your character traits to explain this part of the story.

For example, think about how differently or think about the two different stories we would get if we heard one from Nat Naughty and one from Shaina Shy.

I think they're going to be very different.

Okay.

So think about how your character changes what you might say, okay.

To do this you need to pause the video and then click resume once you're ready to continue.

Characters can be interesting if we believe in them.

Do you think that's true or do you think that's false? Three, two, one, the answer is true.

Well done if you got that right.

We need to believe in a character to make them convincing.

It's that time now where we've reached the end of the lesson.

And you've worked brilliantly today to explore some new characters and add them to your repertoire.

But you've also added depth to certain characters.

And you've done that through role on the wall, you've done that through eyewitness, and improvisation.

So well done.

I hope you've enjoyed the activities as much as I have enjoyed teaching them.

I look forward to seeing you in the last lesson of this series next time.

As always, if you would like to share any of your amazing work with us we'd love to hear about it and we'd love to see it.

So please make sure that you ask your parent or carer for permission first.

They can then tag us on Twitter using @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Until next time, I look forward to seeing you in the last lesson.

Take care and goodbye.