Each scene has a set of notes. The notes are downloaded with the scene and are viewed seperately from the synopsis and the scene. They are not meant to be prescriptive or definitive in any sense, but to open discussion on salient points. To offer a stimulus to the exploration of each scene. The scenes are designed to give actors every opportunity to stretch and engage with human issues in high-stakes and complex situations. Both the comic scenes and the dramatic scenes give actors plenty of time to develop multi level characters. In some cases the characters needs are complex and ask the actor to find inner tensions and contradictions while dealing with identifiable 'real life circumstances'. For example: in the scene Campfire the actors must deal with complex emotional and relationship obligations: Jamie has accidently shot Billy on a camping and shooting trip, he has to seek help from Billy's brother, Rick. How does Rick react to the news? How does Jamie deal with the reality of this accident?
Each set of notes may discuss any relevant thoughts and questions covering:
* The Time and Place - or the setting
* The Relationship of the Characters
* The Emotional obligations for the characters
* Character notes and sources of conflict
* Needs and wants of the characters
* The pre-text and moments preceding the scene
| We hope that the notes provided with each scene provoke thought and stimulate the process of exploration and discovery. The notes on each scene are not suggesting a formulaic approach or offering a definitive analysis of each scene, implying that a 'correct' version of the scene exists somewhere and must be attained. We trust that the notes written for each scene will promote the nature of exploration and discovery in the enquiry process. Unlocking the written word and discovering what is inherent and intrinsic in dramatic material is an exciting and essential part of the art of story telling. The art of story telling through the acted story is both a collaborative and interpretive art form and must be kept as such. It would be incorrect to deliver a scene breakdown that is categorised and analysed for the reader as the 'right way'.
Rather, the notes are written to promote enquiry, encouraging a question and answer cycle, or one of exploration and discovery. The collaborative process must constantly ask "what if" of the particulars of the scene. No doubt there are a set of obligations that are clear from the first reading. But human life and human interaction is rarely black and white. The actor who finds the greys, the contradictions and the opposites inherent in the character is the actor who is most likely to serve the story in all its subtleties. |