(hip hop music)
-: Hello, Steve Sneed here, acting teacher
and I'm located at South Lake High School
in Seattle, Washington.
So, today, I'm gonna give you an assignment.
If you've watched the previous videos of mine
they've given you some preparation for doing your own piece,
whether it's a poem or a monologue
or something you've written.
And I like this approach
because it gives you the opportunity
to write about something that's meaningful to you.
So here's the assignment, it goes like this.
I want you to think of something, or a topic,
or something in your life
that you really, really stand for,
that you would advocate for in some form.
Something that's meaningful, that you're passionate about,
or it could be something that you really, really despise.
Something that you just don't like, a topic or an issue.
Preferably an issue,
as it gives you something to research and learn about.
And I find when it's something that you're passionate about,
whether for or against,
it's easier for you to come up with something.
So here's the assignment.
Something you really stand for
or something you don't agree with,
and you're passionate either way.
Now, the first phase of this project
is to gather information.
So you wanna do your research on the topic,
if it requires that.
You want to just interview people.
You can interview others who know something about this.
So it's just the gathering of information,
and you collect all that.
You can write notes, whatever it takes to gather.
Then you start to frame the position you're gonna take.
You start to frame.
This is the creative process.
You start to frame, who do you wanna be telling this story?
Are you yourself?
Are you someone else?
Are you a character of some kind?
Develop that, make those decisions.
And this is something that should be fun.
So imagine anything you'd like.
Don't hold back.
Don't be reserve about your ideas.
Then the second phase is to write your first
and your second draft.
Write a draft of what this is going to be.
Like I said, poem, monologue, whatever you call it.
But it's a way to advocate.
It may be a speech as well.
And do two drafts.
Do the first one, read through it.
But the first one should just be, you get those ideas down.
The second one is, you take time to really construct it well
and have someone else, look it over.
Have someone else read it.
Have someone else take a look at it
and then give you feedback.
It's always good to get others' feedback.
In the classroom we'd call that 'observation'.
The classroom would hear you read your piece
and then they'd give you feedback.
That's observation.
That's what a director does.
A director is observing and then giving feedback.
Constructing the piece, constructing the drama,
whatever it is.
Third phase, now you want to deliver the piece
and record it.
And I'm gonna imagine that you are high school students,
you must have a phone of some kind
or you know someone who has a phone.
Use your phone to record yourself.
And you wanna do two recordings.
Do the first one as a first draft recording,
observe it, look at it.
And this is how I want you to grade yourself or critique.
Let's not call it grade.
You're not gonna give yourself a grade, are you?
Critique it.
So you wanna look at voice,
score it anywhere from 5 being the lowest score
to a 10 being it was wonderful.
Voice, just voice.
Were you loud enough?
Were you clear?
Did you enunciate your words?
Those kinds of things.
Then the writing itself.
Again, the same score, anywhere from a 5 to a 10,
with 5 being the lowest, 10 being the highest.
The writing, was it well written?
Did it make sense?
Was it interesting?
Next, facial expression.
What were the facial expressions like?
Did they work?
Were are you convincing?
Were they over-done?
But you score yourself 5 to 10.
And then body language.
How did you do your body language?
What was your body language like?
Did you have what I call aimless wandering?
Movement that didn't make sense.
It didn't fit in with the piece.
A lot of times I use my hand, I'm emphasizing.
I feel like I have to punctuate the word with my hands,
that kind of thing.
How was your body language?
And then believability.
Did you believe yourself?
That's a critical question in my mind.
That's what I like to see.
I like to look in the mirror and recite,
or present, or work on my lines,
and I get it to the point
where I'm almost believable to myself.
Because I'm myself and as I look in the mirror,
it's hard to really...
It should be more difficult to convince yourself.
I find that out, that when I do it for someone else,
"Oh, that was great.
"Oh, that was beautiful.
"Oh, I totally believed you."
And I look at it and I go, "Hmm, I'm not convinced."
So, look at yourselves and convince yourselves,
but score yourself there.
And then give yourself a rating and total up your score.
Now you can also, once you record it,
of course you can share it with other people,
and give them the same score sheet.
Let them score it as well, and see what they come up with,
and then compare the scores.
And I would even do three people,
do three different individuals, have them all score you,
and then see what your scoring is.
Now that's on your second draft.
So just to sum it up real quickly,
what you stand for, what you advocate for,
what's really important to you.
Like my example, I'll give you,
is, for me, it's I stand for the truth.
I think being honest and truthful is very important.
It is so important in life in general and you can't imagine.
But I could advocate for why truth is important.
Or something you are really against.
Something you don't stand for and you're against,
and you think is wrong.
This is something you're against.
Like, I don't know, it might be parking meters.
I'm really against why they have parking meters
and why they have to charge me.
So be free with your examples of what you're for
or what you're against,
but just make sure it's something you're committed to.
Next, the three phases of development,
research, get your material.
The second, first and second draft.
Then deliver, record it, two of them, and judge yourself.
Give yourself a score of 5 to 10 on voice, writing,
facial expressions, body language, and believability.
Steve Sneed, acting instructor at South Lake High School
in Seattle, Washington.
Thank you so much.
(hip hop music)