Key Terms, Webliography

Today was pretty much another day of citing things on EasyBib. I have decided that I am going to cite all of sources first and then write some annotations for them so that I don't get confused. Also, I started to compile a list of key terms. I have only posted one but I do have a few more in mind. The key term I posted is blocking, because that is one of the most important words that a reader would need to know when coming across this project.

Essential and Foundation Questions

So far my essential question is solid and will more that likely hold until the project is completed. My essential question is "What is the process of directing a high school production?" I have also developed several foundation questions:
-What does a director look for when choosing a play?
-What do directors look for in an audition?
-How do directors evaluate acting skills based on an audition?
-How do directors use what they find in the auditioning process in the casting process?
-How do directors help their actors become their characters?
-How does a director develop blocking for a play based on the script?
-How does a director develop a set for a play based on the script?

Today I also, started to compile my lists of sources on EasyBib.com.

Reading

Today was another day of reading through sources I got through about three more sources that I evaluated and so far all of the sources that I have read through contain vital information that I need to complete my graduation project. Also, I believe that I have 100 percent settled on an essential questions. It will be: What is the process of directing a high school production? The research is basically the same and it fits in much better with my action plan and will be easier for me to execute.

Today...

Today we took about half of class to talk about foundation questions and topics to help people who are stuck. After we returned back to work I started to read through a few of my sources and I got through about three sources and so far they all have some pretty valuable information. And this information is going to be essential in helping me find information for my foundation questions.

Filtering

Today was a shortened day so I started to read through my sources. When reading through my sources I decided not to take notes right now. I have decided that I'm going to read through all of my sources and evaluate their potential before I actually pull out information and start taking notes. The only goal I need to complete for Tuesday is to read through at least half of my sources to evaluate their relevance and helpfulness to my project.

Questions

Yesterday, I finally got a chance to talk with Mr. Ringold about my project. He said that I would be able to direct a play next year. So as of now all systems are go. So that's pretty good. Also today I tried out some foundation questions and I have about 10 but I still need to filter them and read through my research to back the questions up. So the only thing I really need to do as of now is read through some of my sources to pick out some good information and filter through them.

More Sources

Today was a day full of sources. I found new sources, bringing my total to 12, and I started to read through a few of them to evaluate their ability to help me in my graduation project. In my quest for these 12 web sources I have also found 3 possibly relevant books as well. And I will need to check them out at the library in the near future to check their relevance. But judging from the titles and the descriptions I think they are going to be a big help. The next step I really have to take is narrowing down an essential question.

Narrowing It Down

Today I really narrowed my project down. I narrowed it down from a broad topic of theater to just directing. I am going to focus on directing method, tips, etc. I found about four more sources which brings me up to ten and I also found two books that will be of help that I can check out of the library when the time comes. I also think that i found my essential question for my project. I think that its going to be "What directing methods are best?" But I also need to explore other options as well.

Pretty Productive Today

I found a few more web sources after I started to expand my searching terms. I found about six more websites which brings me to 11. Also I finished this example project plan that I started the other day:

Project Plan
Topic: Directing, Producing and Performing in Theatre
Sub Topics:
-Introduction to Theater
-Different Types of Stages
-Stage Directions
-Key Terms in Theatre
-Famous Theaters
-Introduction to Directing
-Famous Directors
-What it means to be a director
-Directing techniques
-Introduction to Production
-The process of production
-What is production
-How to produce a play
-What the producer does
-Introduction to Performing
-Different Methods(types) of acting
-Method Acting
-Acting techniques
-Memorization techniques
-Actual Theater
-Take Photograph of Theater and label the different parts
-Classify what type of stage
-Directing put into Practice
-Videotape a practice session with me directing
-Point out my directing techniques
-Explain what the actor was working on and what he/she needed to improve and what they did well with
-Observing the Producer
-Observe Ringold as the producer
-Record some of his actions
-Explain some of his producing techniques
-Go through the production process with him, on film
-Performing
-Videotape my actual performance or the play I was directing performance on one of the show nights and explain the techniques that the performer is using
-If not me: Interview the actor afterwards on their mindset and their own acting tricks

This is just an example pretty much all of the elements are changeable and interchangeable. Also, my goal is to have a more definitive talk with Mr. Ringold and I plan to get that done by Wednesday at the latest. Wednesday because if I can't find time to talk to him during the day I can talk to him after school at drama club which is currently held on Wednesday.

More Sources

Today wasn't a very productive day. I tried to find some more sources but I didn't really. Every time I type in "directing theater" or some variation, a class on directing pops up in Google. So I didn't really find anymore sources today. And me and Mr. Ringold talked briefly about my project but on my end the conversation was really productive. So, I will talk to him again soon and see if I can finalize my topic before I get too far into the project and realize that I can't do it.

Sources

Even though I still need to talk to Mr. Ringold about my project, I decided to start looking up sources anyway. I started a list and as of now I have about five links from four different sources. That is basically all I did today. My next step is to talk to Mr. Ringold about the project. Then I need to find some more sources and really develop my idea into a project.

Topics Topics Topics... Oh My!

Today was more of a topic finding day. At the beginning of class I was sort of mulling over a few different project topics and start trying to find research for each of the topics that I was throwing around. I was really only mulling about four topics (endocrinology, internal medicine, doctor assisted suicide and theater) so I started to research each topic and soon realized that the most information revolved around the theater and there are so many topics that I can base a project on. So I decided that I am probably going to do the project on directing, producing and performing. I think that it will be a lot of fun and very interesting. I have basically decided that there are going to be two main parts of my project: researching and doing. First I am going to research the three mentioned topics and then I am going to put them into practice or tape someone else doing it and explain what is happening in the videos.

Initial Project Ideas

The graduation project is kind of infamous in the sense that everyone knows about and it is sort of feared in a way because it basically takes up two years of your life and if you start you just can't change things up halfway through. I know a few former seniors who have graduated and completed their projects but they mostly said that it wasn't that bad because it was about something they were really interested in. This fact sort of scared me because I can never think of anything that interests me, I struggle with that.I have several possible topics for a graduation project. I am sort of leaning toward the process of writing, directing and producing a play. But I have other interests as well, such as endocrinology, internal medicine, doctor assisted suicide. I could structure a project around most any of these things. The biggest concern I have about my grad project is that I'll pick the wrong topic and end up dreading the project instead of enjoying it. Another concern I have is that I won't meet the deadline.