Creative Adaptations Supporting Notes

Creative Adaptations

Theatre Studies DRAM 4 ----------- 40 % of final A2 grade

Preparation	Supporting Notes	Group Understanding through performance	Individual performance	Total
15	15	10	40	80

Preparation and Development (awarded by teacher) 15 marks

You need to show:

· Clarity of the understanding of the chosen style and commitment to it, throughout the devising process, to realise clear dramatic intentions for the audience (AO1) 5 marks

· Inventiveness, creative co-operation and self-discipline in the application of suitable devising strategies to achieve shared aims; demonstration of critical judgement in relation to the production(s) seen and play(s) studied during the preparation of the piece for performance (AO4)

5 marks

· Success of the development of the nominated skill in relation to the production/performance requirements of the selected style and the devised work (AO1) 5 marks

Supporting Notes

Section 1	Section 2	Section 3	Total
5	5	5	15

Supporting Notes are your opportunity to explain to the examiner why you are doing what you are doing, how you created your piece and how successful you expect your piece to be. Your style and dramatic aims are at the core of this. You must write a word count at the end of each section.

The Creative Adaptations that we have taken you to see are –

Odyssey

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Lord of the Flies

Section 1

Assessment criteria –

·         Candidates will provide clear and concise evidence of detailed practical exploration and research into the chosen style of presentation, including purposeful reference to live theatre seen.

·         Dramatic intentions for the audience will be well-defined.

·         Specialist terminology will be used confidently

·         Candidates reflect thoughtfully and critically on their application of the chosen style to the developing piece of theatre.

·         BIBLIOGRAPHY The above should be supported by a list of play(s) read and evaluation of the production(s) seen performed in the chosen style as well as a list of sources and resources (as appropriate)  

Answering the questions below should help you to structure section 1 –

1.       What Creative adaptations have you seen and what have you learnt from them? The more the better.

2.       What theoretical research have you done into Creative Adaptations and your chosen style of performance? What did you learn?

3.       What practical exploration have you done into Creative Adaptations and your chosen style of performance? What did you learn? (you could include the work you did during transition last year)

4.       What are your dramatic intentions for your piece? What do you hope to achieve? Audience response?

5.       How have you applied/do you intend to apply your chosen style/key features of performances you have seen to your developing piece? Reflect thoughtfully and critically. 

Examiners comments for section 1

Positives

• ·         “In Section One, good notes started off with a brief explanation of the content of the devised piece and the intended audience experience of the piece of theatre that has evolved.
• ·         The notes then followed logically with a clear justification for the choice of style linked to these intentions for the audience.
• ·         Clearly, many students had seen a lot of theatre and the best students were selective in their references to key features that they were incorporating in their own work. These key features were analysed in terms of how they affect an audience and how they were being adapted by the group for their own use.
• ·         An indicator of how much research into the style had been done was revealed in detailed lists of plays seen and read in the chosen style.
•  
• ·         Good students were able to communicate their enthusiasm for, and commitment to, their selected style throughout all three sections of the Supporting Notes.
• ·         In Section 1, justification of the selected style was clearly linked to the intended audience experience, with close linking also to the intended content.
• ·         These students then went on to refer to specific moments in specific productions, analysing how key features had worked to create the intended audience impact. They further explained how they were beginning to use the same features in their own work with detailed precision.
• ·         Having read a good section, moderators were already aware that the student had actually understood the style in which they were working.

Negatives

• • Reference to plays seen live but not in the chosen style
• • Reference to films and not plays
• • No reference to plays at all
• • Reference to practitioners rather than the style
• • Confusion about styles e.g. stating that 'War Horse' is naturalistic
• • Style not justified
• • Missing lists of plays seen and read”

Section 2

Assessment criteria –

·         Candidates will offer clear details about the devising process

·         Provide useful examples of the ways in which they have refined their work, in the light of both practical and theoretical research and feedback, to fulfil precisely defined aims.

Answering the questions below should help you to structure section 2 –

1.       How did you structure your devising process?

2.       How did you start your devising process?

3.       What devising strategies did you use?

Link back to your aims throughout – how devising strategies helped keep you on track to meet your aims etc

4.       What feedback did you get and how did you alter/develop in response to more successfully achieve your aims

5.       What theoretical research did you do during the process and how did this impact/alter/develop your piece to more successfully achieve your aims?

Examiners comments for Section 2

In order to write a good Section Two,

• ·         Students need to have had a very exciting and genuine devising and rehearsal process, using a variety of specific, theatrical, devising techniques. In this way they have plenty of specific examples to write about, demonstrating their knowledge of the theatre making process.
• ·         They also need to know the difference between rehearsal techniques and devising techniques.
• ·         The best students explained exactly how they had shaped their material (related to their chosen methods of communication of the content) including the structuring and writing of the piece.
• ·         Given that virtually all pieces that were seen contained spoken dialogue, it is surprising how many students have little knowledge of script writing techniques, other than improvising around a scene and then writing it down.
• ·         Better students also wrote about how they were staging the piece and demonstrated an understanding of the importance of the integration of all theatre elements and not just about their own contribution as actors.
• ·         They also wrote about the changes they had made in response to feedback.
• ·         Having read a well-written Section Two, moderators had a very clear idea about what they were about to see on stage.
• ·         This section should explain what devising strategies have been employed. Far too few students appear to understand what is meant by ‘devising strategies’.
• ·         Students need to be able to write about the creative process so that they can explain, to someone who wasn’t there, the steps they took between the birth of an idea and a rough script. Again and again moderators encountered notes which seemed, in Section Two, to begin at the point when all creative decisions had been made and the group were ready to start the rehearsing and polishing process.
• ·         A number of students had completely forgotten the issue of style by this point in the document. It would be useful, having identified a specific style, to research the devising strategies of practitioners associated with it so that students are not devising in a vacuum.
• ·         There were instances seen of groups who claimed to be creating physical theatre, for example, but described the first five weeks of the project as ‘The Script Writing Stage’. Students need to be able to record the practical ways that they employed developing narrative and stage pictures, and to find economical means of describing these methods in their Supporting Notes.
• ·         In Section 2, there was a clear sense of process and development as better students explained how they had got from nothing to the final piece via a range of exciting strategies, including script writing techniques.
• ·          They made purposeful reference to staging and acting decisions that had been taken with purposeful reference to how they had used feedback to develop their work.
•  

Weaknesses –

Section 2

• • Thinking warm ups are devising strategies
• • No explanation of how research had been incorporated in the piece
• • No reference to devising strategies at all
• • Reference to hot seating or improvisation without how these were further developed or informed the piece
• • No reference to changes made in light of feedback

Section 3

Assessment criteria –

·         There is detailed and purposeful assessment of the piece and of its potential effectiveness for an audience as a piece of live theatre.

·         Candidates include clear evaluation of the development of the nominated skill in terms of achieving the selected style of theatre. (This should be the biggest section and be balanced in terms of strengths and weaknesses- how did you overcome them?)

·         Health and safety factors receive careful attention. (Be concise, but don’t give too many words to this)

Answering the questions below should help you to structure section 3 –

1. ·         How effective do you think your piece is at meeting its aims? (Be specific, give examples and justify your points, consider anticipated audience response – remember detailed and purposeful assessment!)
2. ·         What contribution did you make to the creation and development of your piece? (general overview)
3. ·         How much have you developed as a performer/designer of your chosen style of performance? Refer to specific skills, vocal and physical.
4. ·         How did you develop your performance in this style (vocally and physically) were there any hurdles? How were they overcome?
5. ·         Identify Health and safety risks and how they were overcome – be concise, bullet point of necessary.

Examiners comments for Section 3

Strengths

• ·         Good students addressed all the requirements of Section 3, focussing more on the
•               development of their own skills and assessment of the final piece, from the perspective of the
•               chosen style rather than over-long health and safety.
• ·         This Section gives students an opportunity to return to the issue of style and to consider the extent to which they managed to create an original piece of theatre in that style.
• ·         Good students took a step back from the finished piece, and assessed its success in terms of the aims stated in Section One.
• ·         Some did manage to assess the piece although often, the style of the piece was largely forgotten about in this section.
• ·         Many acting students' Notes lacked any evaluation of the acting style they had used or indeed any reference to vocal or physical skills. Given that they should be fully conversant with what these are, as they have to write about them in the written papers, it is a pity so many do not take this opportunity to write about HOW they have acted in their own work.
• ·         On the other hand, the majority of students were able to explain the health and safety measures they had taken with their own work.
• ·         Rather too many students were happy to restrict their assessment to aspects of the work which were addressed between the show case evening and the exam; for example, “Some people said that they couldn’t hear everything so we worked on our diction”, “It wasn’t clear that the two girls were the same person so we decided they should both wear the same scarf”.
• ·         It was possible to read many of the notes submitted for moderation without forming a clear picture of the plot of the piece, and without coming to any conclusions about the student’s role within it.
• ·         We would anticipate that in Section Three acting students will have offered some detail about their own role, and the way in which they have used their performance skills to bring it to life.
• ·         Design students will also have defined their contribution to the final piece.
• ·         A small number of students wrote extensively about Health and Safety issues to the detriment of other aspects of Section Three. They must be dissuading from doing so as in the majority of cases, Health and Safety issues form a small, albeit important, aspect of the students’ work.

Weaknesses

• Assessment of rehearsals rather than the final product

• No mention of vocal skills if acting

• Missing items for non-acting students

• Over-long health and safety at the expense of assessment of the piece and own skill.

writing about rehearsals rather than assessing the potential effectiveness of the piece

• Misunderstanding of what is meant by a student’s 'contribution'

• Limited or no reference to vocal and physical skills from acting students

• No reference to the selected style.

Each section should be between 500 and 700 words

You must include a word count for all sections

Section 1 must include a bibliography

Deadlines are non-negotiable – if you are late your work may not be marked and we will work through the college warning system. Parents will also be contacted.

Section 1	Section 2	Section 3	Full notes