Submission.

So I have submitted my work! Just a word of warning it took 4 hours for my Artefact to upload... I started it at 9.45pm and it uploaded at 1.30am. So don't leave your submission until an hour before deadline guys, give yourself plenty of time!  Apart from that it was an easy process to get it all in and submitted! I am very nervous now for the results... I still feel stressed having submitted it, possibly even more so than I was before I submitted. Now to get started on the presentation! Good Licl to everybody!

Stress

I felt very prepared with my work up until the last couple of weeks, I am suddenly filled with stress and anxiety and keep changing parts of my essay due to my apprehension in submitting.  I want this piece to be of the best possible standard and its driving me crazy!! I have realised that by picking a subject that is so important and relevant to myself I have the tendency to go on a bit!  I cant believe that we are so  close to the end of this journey, and want to make sure all my hard work pays off in the best possible way!

Good luck to everyone!!

Artefact

I am currently creating my Artefact and am finding it very invigorating.  I feel as though I am able to put my creativity into it, and create something that shows my inquiry through a fun product.  I am creating a video, which is a challenge for myself as before now, I was not familiar with the video editing process!  I will hopefully post it once everything is submitted!  Back to work!!

Campus Session

Had a great session today with Paula.  Sometimes you just need someone to break obvious things down for you to realise how much you are complicating them.  So now I am working with the action points in my mind, so I have clear focused objectives and aims with my work and my planning.  I hope everyone is getting on good and isnt getting to stressed!

Literature review

Literature Review 2

‘Westbrook.M, http://actingcoachscotland.co.uk/2012/05/should-actors-work-for-free/’

The piece I am reviewing is an article written by an acting coach on his company’s website, ‘http://actingcoachscotland.co.uk/’.  The content of the piece is all based around the tile, ‘Should Actors work for free?’, I feel that Westbrook writes from a personal point of view, and is very much advising the reader, whom I feel are actors or performers.

Westbrook states that, ‘Clearly professional actors should be paid for their work like lawyers, doctors and everyone else’, he is stating to the reader his opinion and making a comparison to strong professions so that everybody reading the article can clearly understand his opinion.  We all know that Lawyers and Doctors are well paid.  He does however go on to say that, ‘I occasionally give my time away for free, watching rehearsals or coaching someone I think is a good investment for me.’  This shows his audience, that he is not against free work, and by using the words, ‘good investment’, he is indicating that he believes it will pay off in the future.

An interesting point that Westbrook raises in his article is how, ‘The real problem is when big organisations exploit unpaid actors. If the BBC or a big funded film company expects people to work for free, then the problem should be dealt with by Equity or SAG’.  He is telling the reader that he believes the big companies and organisations who ask performers to work for free are the ones who exploit them and this is not ok.  He believes that working for free or for experience should be happening on both sides of the spectrum, ‘But should interesting projects just get killed because the director isn’t rich? How would the neophyte director ever get to put something on?’  He is informing his reader that this isn’t exploitation, when everybody involved is doing it to try to reach a goal together it is ok to work for free.

In conclusion I feel that Westbrook raises some very interesting points and this article will help me in my inquiry.  I also feel that his closing statement of his article is very true, ‘I think we need to calm down about biting people’s heads off for suggesting that people could work for experience but also those offering the work should work hard to keep things above board and not suggest that ‘doing it for the experience’ is why the actors should do it.’  He believes it is each individual’s choice, and if they believe there is a good reason for working for free then they should do it.

Literature Review

Literature Review.

‘Trueman.M, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/dec/13/half-equity-actors-pay-under-5k-survey’.

The piece I am reviewing is a journalistic piece written by a theatre critic Matt Trueman, in December 2013, for The Guardian.  The content of the piece is about the rise in unpaid/ low paid work for actors.  I feel that this piece really reflects and establishes the need for the research I am carrying out in my professional inquiry.  I believe that the intended audience for the piece are those who have an interest in the theatre and Arts.

The first thing that caught my attention in this article was its title, ‘Half of Equity performers earn less than £5,000 a year’.  Knowing that national minimum wage sits at around £15,000, I automatically found this figure appalling and wanted to go on to read the rest of the article.  I don’t feel that Trueman takes a very biased approach to the subject he is addressing, as he doesn’t ever express his opinion throughout the article.  Trueman uses a lot of statistics and I feel that this gives the reader more trust in his findings, ‘Since November 2012, almost half said they had worked for no pay, while a further 51.9% were not reimbursed for expenses.’ This is something I wish to reflect in my own inquiry.

Although I feel that Trueman doesn’t express any personal opinion, I do feel that he wants the audience of the article to realise how poor pay conditions are for performers.  Trueman doesn’t write anything about any good paying jobs for performers and his approach to the subject is very much aimed at the negative side of no pay for performers.  Although I want to gather statistical data through my research, I want to be able to compare benefits and drawbacks of no paid/ low paid jobs for performers.

Trueman also touches lightly on how, ‘Low-paid work has been a significant point of conflict this year, with a number of campaigns targeting the practice of unpaid acting jobs.’  He goes on to state that rulings from Courts supporting actors under Employment Law will begin to affect the Fringe theatre and how it works on profit share and artist collaboration.  This is something I would like to explore further, as I believe there is a difference between artists coming together to create artistic development and directors employing performers for free and making a profit on ticket sales etc.

In conclusion, I feel that the statistics in this piece will really help me to compare my own data to data that already exists.  I believe that the context of the piece is very similar to what I wish to explore and will be a great stepping stone for me to start from.

Full Force Ahead

So Module 3 is here.  I feel like i blinked and landed at this place, how did the time go so quick?  So I feel like there is soooooo much to do on this module and just not enough time.  I doing so many things at once, just trying to get a great start on my inquiry.

Please click the link below to take my short survey on Performers working for free...

Here's the link https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BJPYKWB