focus on form Focus on body language

Focus on body language  

Body language is an important aspect of performance. An actor's body language plays a crucial part in telling the audience about the character they are playing.
Body language is the way in which our bodies municate our own or a character's attitudes. An audience or viewer can watch it to pick up on someone's age
emotions
status
or health.
For example
a student being told off by a teacher in a drama can easily tell the audience that she's not feeling sorry for what she's done by:
curling her lip
showing a bored look in her eyes
having her head slightly lowered
putting a hand on her hip
having her hip stuck out
with her weight on one leg.
An example of body language
In this still from the edy series 'Little Britain'
the schoolgirl character's body language suggests defiance - she has her hand on her hip
and is not making eye contact with the teacher. Notice the teacher character's body language too - his face is stern
and he is looking down directly onto the schoolgirl character.
When you're acting
make sure your body language is appropriate for the character you play. It's important that your gestures municate to another person in your group what you intend.

How to evaluate?
When you're considering the body language from a scene or a still image
ask yourself the following:
What is the scene or image trying to municate to the audience - ie what's it about?
How well did the actors use appropriate body language?
What could the actors improve upon (if anything)?
We were trying to show one character being teased and taunted by others. We wanted to show that what was happening was upsetting to the victim. During the sequence we chanted insults in a strong rhythm
which gradually became louder showing that the bullies were very threatening and being more so. Our proxemics
standing so close to him
further municated how intimidating the characters and their behaviour really were.
The character at the front
on a lower level to show his lower status
is the victim
and he shows this by his facial expression (he is looking downwards with a hurt expression) and his body language
which shows tension and also a sense of resignation and defeat highlighting the contrast beeen the bullies and their victim.
The bullies stand behind him so that they can be seen by the audience. They are leaning in towards him as they chant insults. Their facial expressions show cruel laughter and sneering so that the audience can be in no doubt about their intentions. Many in the audience may remember similar incidences of this happening during their own school days which may make them feel unfortable.
When we performed this one of the actors
shouted close to the victim's ear which made it all look and feel even more intimidating to the audience.
Teacher ment:
A clear sense of the candidate knowing what the scene is supposed to show
and how that has been achieved. She is aware of elements and medium and how they work in the scene and writes assuredly. Overall
clear explanations and a solid sense that the candidate knows how and why the sequence was effective.
She makes reference to Social
Cultural and Historical aspects of the sequence and how these might work for the audience. Finally
she shows that she is aware of the actions of another member of the group and the effect of that for an audience. Good idea to highlight the relevant terms!