Friday, March 20, 2020

Explain how group work contributed to the final performance Essays

Explain how group work contributed to the final performance Essays Explain how group work contributed to the final performance Essay Explain how group work contributed to the final performance Essay When we first began working as a collective none of us were very sure about how to proceed; we knew that for this to work, everyone would need to take their role within the group, but the problem was in finding what those roles should be. As we were in a very small group, everyones full input was needed throughout the process as we realised early on that if this did not happen then there would be a large proportion of the group not taking part. In larger groups, having someone not taking part would not necessarily be that important, however, with ours, we would be at a serious disadvantage. Luckily every one of group was very committed to producing the best piece that we could, and this involved not letting each other down. This work ethic allowed us to have many in-depth discussions into the possible interpretations and meanings of our work, and so we developed a very complex understanding of what we were actually trying to communicate, and, to us, gave the work much greater meaning. In the beginning stages, we all took on very similar working roles. This was not very productive as often the same task was performed three times over. For example, all doing research on the same subject meant that a lot of information was being regurgitated, and so time was being wasted on unnecessary work. Although it seems like an obvious course of action, we began giving people dedicated tasks at the end of each rehearsal. This allowed us to know exactly what other members of the group would be bringing to the next meet, and so we were able to structure our own work around this knowledge. One of the most difficult parts of coming to the devising process was learning how to constructively working in a group over a long period of time. While we were used to being part of a cast, we had always had the influence of a director to keep things fresh and to solve conflicts. This time we would have to figure it all out for ourselves.  Before we tried to begin doing any work we first sat down and discussed and agreed upon a number of ground rules that we would be working to during our devising. These rules were not there to keep members of the group constrained, but were there so that we knew what was expected of us during this process. Much of what was decided came from common sense, but it was very useful to have everyones contribution as this created an open atmosphere where we could voice hopes and concerns about working in the group. These rules were written down, but they were never referred to afterwards as we all respected them throughout the process. In this early stage we had not had the chance to develop the group skills that would be so important to the completion of the project. In order to gain these skills we began working on simple tasks such as constructing short scenes and improvising around the stimulus material. These exercises did not contribute to the final performance, however, the processes of constructing them allowed us to work in the same group situations that we would be working in throughout the devising process, and gave us an idea of the kinds of concessions and cooperation needed for the success of group work. This way of working, was very intense, and although it did produce results, the group was not its without conflicts. Because of the open nature of the group we never had disagreements over the actual work; if there was a problem with what was being produced, we sat down and tried to work out alternatives, and it was this way of working that probably stopped a number of arguments. However, this was a very stressful atmosphere, especially as we came closer to the night of performance. On one occasion we found ourselves arguing over petty problems, and this began interfering with the work. At the time we decided to abandon the rehearsal and spend the evening relaxing, not thinking about the play! Thankfully this was the only occasion that we actually argued over the work and so the only time that our work was interrupted in this way. Although I have said that the amount of time spent together was the cause of disputes, this also created a very tight bond between the members of the group, and it was this bond that was crucial to the success of the final performance. This closeness that we had developed worked to our advantage on a number of levels. When developing ideas we were able to understand the thought track of other members very quickly, and so very little explaining was needed when presenting new concepts. But also, when we came to the final performance, we knew that we were able to rely on the abilities of other group members. In the performance, not only did we know what we were meant to be doing, we also knew exactly what other members of the cast were supposed to be doing. This allowed us to precisely plan our reactions and meant that (epically with the more physical elements) we were able to rely on other cast members to doing exactly what they supposed to be doing. This level of trust that had been developing for a number of weeks meant that we did not have to worry about the performance of other members of the group. Without the development of group work in the early stages we would not have been able to work effectively within the group, and possibly the very simple devising tasks would not have been achieved.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

How to Style Titles of Print and Online Publications

How to Style Titles of Print and Online Publications How to Style Titles of Print and Online Publications How to Style Titles of Print and Online Publications By Mark Nichol The rules for formatting titles of compositions and their constituent parts may seem complicated, but they follow a fairly straightforward set of guidelines, outlined below. Capitalization Titles of compositions are generally formatted in headline, or title style. In this system, the first letters of the following words are capitalized: The first and last word of the title, regardless of part of speech Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (such as although, because, and than) In titles, the following words are lowercased: Prepositions (except when they are used adjectivally or adverbially (in such phrases as â€Å"off day† and â€Å"come down†) To when it is part of an infinitive (for example, â€Å"to exercise†) All articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions (such as and, but, and or) Emphasis Italics are used for titles of books, periodicals, films, television specials and series, and both series titles and episode titles for anthology programs like Masterpiece Theatre, though episodes of regular series, as well as titles of book chapters and magazine, newspaper, and online articles, are enclosed in quotation marks. Some publications, including most newspapers and some magazines, use quotation marks for titles of all compositions as well as parts of compositions, but italics are almost always employed for this purpose in books, and I highly recommend maintaining this distinction in periodicals and online. Titles of many nonfiction books include a subtitle following a colon, and except in informal usage, the full title should be used on first reference; the title alone the part preceding the colon can be used thereafter. Note that magazine and similar descriptive words should be capitalized and italicized only if they are part of a publication title: refer to â€Å"the New York Times Magazine,† for example, but â€Å"Time magazine†; in the former case, magazine is officially part of the publication’s name. (In a context in which it is obvious that Time, for example, refers to the publication with that title, the word magazine can be omitted.) Also, as shown in this example, do not capitalize or italicize the before a publication name, whether or not it is part of the title. Various publications differ in self-identification, even when their titles share a word for example, the New York Times bills itself as â€Å"The New York Times,† while the Los Angeles Times omits the article and this rule is designed to save writers the trouble of having to check individual publications for specific usage. Titles of plays and of poems long enough to be published in book form are italicized; titles of poems short enough to be included in a collection in a book are formatted, like chapter titles, in quotation marks. To determine how to treat titles of websites and their components, compare them to print equivalents: A website that sells products and/or services, even if it features content related to those offerings, is an online store, and the site name should not be formatted as a composition title. But titles of sites that emulate books and periodicals, and their articles and essays, should be treated like them; the same standard applies to blogs and blog posts. What about titles of videos posted online? Many such videos, especially those posted to video-sharing sites such as YouTube, don’t have titles or lack well-thought-out titles so they can just be referred to generically (â€Å"See Smith’s video about wombats†), with a link. For those with traditionally composed titles, however, use either italics or, especially for short videos, quotation marks. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Using "a" and "an" Before WordsTaser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?Comment, Suggestion, and Feedback