Status- How a character is measured against another character.
Personality- Colour might determine the mood and warmth of a character.
Practicality suitability- how it will affect the way the character moves, and taking costume changes into consideration.
Time Period- making sure the costumes are suitable to the era of when the show is set. For example, a classical theatre piece verses a contemporary theatre piece.
Original Costume- How much is useful, and how much can be discarded, how it inspires the design.
Lighting- changes the colour of a costume, links to practicality in terms on what it can reveal of an actor is wearing underneath the costume, whether it is intended or not.
Budget- Strategically using your budget to create creative costumes, there are other ways of creating the character and status without expensive fabric.
Size- Measurements of the actors size to suit both practicality and effectiveness of the costume.
Audience- For example Children's Theatre would need appropriate costumes that will intreeg the audience. For example children would be interested in colour, texture and lights, particularly visual.
What is a costume plot?
A costume plot is for a costume designer to keep a summery of the different costumes for the different scenes, and what character wears what.
I was asked to lead a vocal warm up for lesson. I decided to stick with the idea of timing and ensemble skills and taught everyone an 'in the rounds' song, I split everyone up into three groups and to start I taught everyone the three verses and suggested that we all sing them together to understand the timing of them, and then I told on group to start singing, and when they got the the second verse I told another group to start singing and then when the second group got to the second verse my group started. I feel that this warm up was effective because it made everyone focus on what everyone else was doing and this is a big ensemble skill to learn, because we always have to be aware of what others are doing so that we can learn to fit in with everyone else.
Before this lesson we were asked to familiarise ourselves with the following songs:
-Someone like you (Adele)
-Just give me a reason (Pink)
-Don't stop believing
-You're Beautiful
I learnt these songs and the lyrics prior to the lesson as instructed and this was effective because I was able to pick up the songs easily in lessons with everyone. We started by singing the song by Adele, and we sang in time with each other, however Kim then said that we had to split in two groups and one group would sing Adele, and the other would sing Don't stop believing. At first I didn't know what to expect and I didn't think it would work, but I trusted the ensemble and as the music for Don't stop believe started, my group started singing Adele, closely followed by the group singing don't stop believing. The first time we did this it was difficult to sing the two songs together and stay in time with the music, but we soon learnt that we had to sing in time with each other to make it work, and this was a very important ensemble skill.
We then did the same with the other songs, my group sing Just Give Me a Reason and the other group sang You're beautiful. Similar to the last time, my group started first closely followed by the other group. I feel as though these songs went much better than the last because we knew that we had to sing with each other and worked on our timing with each other. I feel that doing this was effective because it allowed me to improve my timing to develop my ensemble skills further.
In the second part of the lesson we worked on different ensemble songs in We Will Rock You, and we split up into different groups to do this. My group (Izzy, Jade, Sam and Megan) were given the song 'One Vision' which is a song by the GaGa Kids, and it is the opening to act two. To start we talked about what might be happening in the song and looked at the lyrics for ideas. We thought it might be set around the fact that the GaGa kids are still oblivious to the fact that they are being manipulated, and that they are telling each other and the audience that they should only be listening to Globalsoft hence the title 'one vision', because what they think, say and do is decided for them. We then started to learn the song as none of us knew it. When we grasped the tune and the basic lyrics we quickly worked on movement before we showed it to everyone else. We talked about using robotic movements and confusion in our faces to link to the fact that we were being manipulated but it was all we knew. Then I suggested when the guitar solo starts both at the start and in the middle of the song, I would do air guitar but then everyone in the group looks weirdly at me as if I stepped out of line, similar to a bohemian, but soon stepped back into being confused and robotic. This worked effectively because it added a sense of comedy, and the show is comedy, and it also represented the GaGa Kids characters. I feel as though our singing went well but to improve we could have learnt the harmonies to work on our ensemble skills more.
On 11/10/16 we began blocking We Will Rock You. We had already discussed ideas for the first few scenes to we began with the scene of 'Its a Kind Of Magic'. This scene revolves around Killer Queen and Kashaggis manipulative plans and how they can control people. We blocked the scene with Izzy's cast so I made sure to watch carefully and write the blocking for our character.
When we started working on the Yuppies in this scene, who I feel should be on stage the whole time when Killer Queen is on to represent the sense of guarding and protecting her, I volunteered to be a Yuppie so that I could work on my off cast character and look at how to develop the scene to suit an ensemble. We talked about what the yuppies would be doing in the song, so myself and Jade improvised some 'bopping' and swaying to the music when the song started to add a sense of comedy but also to make them look even more like robots, and that they have to react to whatever Killer Queen does. This way I feel that the ensemble in this number will be more together with each other and it will look like each character is the same.
When the scene finished I looked at places in scenes where I could begin planning my production role. I suggested that I film different scenes and videos to go on different screens around the stage. I was inspired by this idea by the Australian tour of We Will Rock You and the scene where Kashoggi is calling Killer Queen and she is in a bad mood. They had one big main screen and several smaller ones around it. I liked the idea of more than one screen but I thought that I could place it in different places, not just revolving around one screen.
The final scene we blocked was the song 'we are the champions'. I feel like this is an important song in We Will Rock You because it shows the characters of the bohemians having succeeded in finding real music, and therefore we need to represent the sense of 'togetherness' and this would take a lot of team work because as well as singing the lyrics we need to act with each other. We blocked it so that the two main bohemians- Gallelaio, Scaramouch were in the middle and the rest of the cast (apart from Killer Queen and Kashoggi) come on together and stand either side of the stage. We start by simply stepping and clapping in time with each other and then when the second chorus starts we start to come down the staging into the middle and start to mingle with each other. I feel as though this scene is effective because it shows the idea of love and relief, which is the theme of this song. I think that we portrayed this in our characters and this made the ensemble look much more effective because it looked more realistic towards the audience.
Continuing my work and research from last lesson, over the week between lessons I created my own Instagram page to advertise myself as an actor. I felt like this would be an effective idea because I could then gain followers and create a status online so that when I get auditions it boosts my popularity of the audience because of the followers that I have. This worked effectively because over the week of starting the page, I gained 200 followers for the account meaning that more directors and casting directors are more likely to find me. I found that when I posted my previous work experience I would get more followers, depending on the popularity of the act, for example I want to boost my career in stand up comedy and I feel that this Instagram account is a great way to advertise myself because I found that when I take screenshots of my recent performance of stand up comedy, and use hashtags to gain notice for the post, more people become interested and even casting directors like the photos.
Overall I found this effective because it allowed me to become more familiar with my online status and has already boosted my status further in just one week. To improve for next lesson I would like to continue working on my website so that I can link it to my Instagram page and show my followers a wider perspective on me and my work, and also show more about what I have done.
For the first part of this lesson we recapped the media group piece we worked on last week. We then talked about how we could develop the piece further and add more choreography whilst keeping up the standard of it so far. We decided to look at another groups motif that they worked on in previous lessons and developed it to suit the whole class. The motif was originally choreographed for three people, and they used levels, so one person was sitting on the floor, another was kneeling and the third person was standing, and we developed this so that we worked in groups of three with the same levels and motif, but did it in unison with the other groups and positioned it so that we were all in a diagonal line from the front left of the stage to the back right, and were in line with the people next to us. I feel that this was effective because it adds confusion to the blocking of the motif which links to the theme.
In the second part of the lesson we briefly began choreography ideas for 'Seaven seas of rhye' from We Will Rock You. Myself and a few other people came into college earlier to work on some choreography for this and some ideas of what we could include in the dance. When choreographing in lesson we worked on three positions that represent pleading and looking for help whilst sitting on the floor, for example a reach. I tried to be creative with this idea of pleading and therefore I would reach to a corner and lean on a diagonal to show the desperation in my off cast character. In one of the three movements I put both my arms to the side and leaned back and put my head back to represent 'giving up' or my character knowing that they aren't going to escape.
Overall I think that this lesson was effective because I was able to contribute ideas to seven seas of Rhye and develop my off cast character for We Will Rock You. This was effective because I feel as though it is just as important to understand your character as important as it is to play the character. To improve seven seas of rhye I would like to work on facial expressions, as now I know how the character reacts to this situation I would like to portray it on my face to make it more clear to the audience.
For the media piece I would like to contribute more ideas for choreography because I feel as though although I can pick up the choreography fast which is a strength, I would like to start contributing ideas so that I can help others and make the media piece improve.
Following the research that myself and Izzy did last lesson, we started to choreograph a duet routine with the stimulus of the Katie Hopkins quote we found. We looked deeper into it and started analysing the different feelings of both Katie Hopkins, and people with black ethnicity. It is obvious from the way the tweet is written that Katie Hopkins felt angered at the fact that people believe that there aren't equal rights, and that she feels that everything is equal, but many other people don't believe this and we often see news stories revolving around gun crimes aimed towards people with black ethnicity, particularly in America. Myself and Izzy felt that this showed that Katie Hopkins was shallow, and was controlling what society should think because of her power on social media and we therefore came up with the idea of puppetry and making it look like one of us is controlling the other.
After discussing this we began choreographing our piece. We started by facing each other and sitting on the floor with our legs bent in front of us, and holding our knees. We chose this position because we felt that it looked neutral and it would leave the audience wondering who was going to be in control, which links to the theme of media in terms of the confusion. We continued choreographing and thought about how we could portray the idea of opposites and made a decision to perform some movements in the opposite direction.
After the first half of the lesson we had choreographed one minute, and we felt that we could now contribute ideas to the group piece we were to begin working on. We then joined the rest of the class and worked on a group dance with the same stimulus of media, and the theme of how it can control people, and the lies it tells. We started choreographing movement to spoken word. We all stood still facing different direction, and Izzy said the first line whilst two people moved. Everyone then stood still again, and I said the second line and the two people moved again. Then when the third line was said we all moved in unison, the same movement from last week's motif where we stepped forward, covered our mouth with our right hand and did a side lunge to the left. I felt that this was effective because it showed the manipulation of the media and that it started with two people hearing something and then everyone joined in in what they thought was true, and this shows manipulation.
To improve from this lesson I would have liked to have explored more contact movements with Izzy, by one of us physically control the other using their hands, as well as the puppetry we explored. I feel that by doing this we would achieve the idea of looking into manipulation and it would have made the theme clearer.
For this lesson we split the casts into different groups, the bohemians, the yuppies and galileo and Scaramouche. I was with the Yuppies with Izzy, Jordy and Sam because our characters Killer Queen and Kashoggi control the yuppies. We had to learn and perform a song by the yuppies ensemble, and I suggested to the group that we sing Killer Queen, because this is the song where we meet the controller of the Yuppies and they first sing as an ensemble. I feel that 'Killer Queen' is the yuppies biggest ensemble piece purely because what they are presenting.
To begin working as an ensemble for this song, we started to sing it through a few times, to understand the melody, and then we worked on developing it to make it sound different, by adding harmonies and listening for the ensemble's parts when killer Queen is singing. Near the end of the song during the line 'to absolutely drive you wild', there is a high note that I wasn't confident with so Izzy helped me achieve the confidence to reach it and I worked on using my diaphragm to achieve this. I feel that this was effective because this note is the last note of the song, and in my opinion, it leaves an impression of Killer Queen the character, to the rest of the audience for the rest of the show.
Once we had successfully learnt the song, we worked on choreography and blocking the number. I think that a successful ensemble should not only sing the song well, but perform it as well, and make it fit with the tone of the song. I suggested the idea of robotic movements because the audience learn that they have been brainwashed by Killer Queen. The group agreed and therefore we started choreographing robotic movements and walks. I feel like this is effective because it immediately gives the audience the idea of control and manipulation, which links to the theme of the musical.
We then decided to sing it through a few times again, now that we were comfortable with the movement and choreography so that we could make the performance look as effective as possible. We spoke about adding humour to the piece around Killer Queens manipulation, for example when she sings 'playful as a pussy cat', I suggested to Izzy that we play on this and manipulate the yuppies (Jordy and Sam' by walking around them and going up to them and talking into their faces to scare them and to show control towards the audience.
To add more humour to the performance myself and Izzy interpreted a prop, and thought that instead of Killer Queen walking onto the stage, she could roll and a skateboard type prop. I used the prop in this rehearsal and Izzy supported me by my side walking, because the prop was difficult to use on my own, but we thought this would be a comical way to interpret the yuppies, and see them helping Killer Queen because whilst she has power and control, I feel as though she isn't very independent.
To finish the rehearsing we felt that to make it better we could interact with the audience as Killer Queen, not the Yuppies. I think that Killer Queen could effectively interact with the audience to try and scare them and show the manipulation in her character, but have the Yuppies looking straight ahead to show the fact that they are brainwashed and robotic. To do this I suggested to Izzy that on 'I'm going to get you' we lean towards the audience and single out one person and sing it to them, to again, show the power and also add comedy.
When we performed to the class, I feel that it was successful because we listened to each other so that the timing of our singing was good, and we were able to find the timing for the harmonies as well, which is what a successful ensemble should be able to do. When it got to Killer Queens verse in the song and myself and Izzy came on from the back of the stage, I could tell that the comedy idea with the prop had worked because the audience were laughing, making the idea in my opinion, successful. When we did the line 'playful as a pussy cat' I improvised and started to jump around Sam to create humour, but also to link with my initial ideas for characterisation of the fact that my interpretation of Killer Queen is that she is playful in a manipulative way, and I think this was effective because, again it made the audience laugh.
To improve I think that we could have choreographed more robotic movements for the Yuppies, and worked on characterisation more because I felt that although I have initial thoughts on my character, I felt that my performance was a bit confusing in terms on the way my character introduces herself to the audience.
A musical ensemble is anything musical that involves more than one person. The elements include-
Band Members- I think that making sure that every band member has the same level of confidence and contribution will help make a successful ensemble. I feel that it is important to ensure that the band members get along as well, to make sure that there aren't negative vibes that could potentially effect performing and the process of rehearsals. Band members must contribute towards what they are performing which will link into everyone feeling equal and like they 'have a say'. I also think that if every band member contributes ideas for their performances whether it be the song writing, blocking, organising solos etc, it will make the piece more sentimental for everyone and will mean something to each and every band member, and will also look more enjoyable towards the audience.
Organisation- I think that this means making sure that there are key dates set for rehearsals, and making sure that everyone is fully aware with what they are doing. This could be in terms of making sure everyone is confident with lines, or picking up the songs, or just simply ensuring that everyone is aware of each other. It can also mean making sure everyone is prepared for rehearsals by learning song lyrics, and harmonies and looking for new ideas to contribute to the numbers that will make it look more effective.
Communication: I feel that this skill can be used both in rehearsals and on stage. I think that as an ensemble it is important to communicate with others, and ensure that everyone is being treated fairly to prevent arguments and/or upset. I think that this applies to making sure everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute ideas and to change things within numbers. This also comes with listening skills, and the ability to allow people to have their say, and to understand each other from different perspectives. Communication can also be the performers interaction with the audience. For example, if they are singing a pop song, it'll be more effective to make eye contact with members of the audience to make it more fun and personal. They can also make eye contact with each other to show their relationships with each other to make it more enjoyable to watch as an audience member.
Co-operation: I think that this is an important skill to have as an ensemble member because being co-opertive comes with commitment towards the ensemble. For example, if someone is taking a bit longer to learn something within the ensemble, then you must be co-operative and contribute your help towards them to ensure that everyone feels comfortable and confident when working with each other.
Rehearsal: A productive rehearsal means that everyone is more confident and will generally work better together. For example if everyone is contributing a lot of energy to the rehearsal, then not only will more get done, but everyone will feel happier which will change the mode of a rehearsal to positive, and this will affect the ensembles overall performance in a positive way as well. Attendance also contributes to a successful ensemble, which means that everyone should be at every rehearsal in a positive mood, to reassure everyone that you are committed and are ready to work.
S CLUB 7
I have chosen to look into S CLUB 7, who were a successful ensemble in 1999-2003, and I am researching them to find out what made them successful as an ensemble and reasons for their decision to disband in 2003.
The band was formed by Simon Fuller, who was a former manager of the band 'Spice Girls'. He was fired by spice girls, when the girls decided that they wanted to manage themselves. Fuller had a huge reputation of producing excellent bands at this point from his history with Spice Girls, and signing Madonna's first hit 'Holiday'.
He came up with a concept for S Club 7, and auditioned over 10,000 people in order to find the members to form this new band. He worked alongside producers from 19 Management who were to sign the band once it was formed. The 'S' in S Club 7 stands for 'Simon', as he was the creator and intended to work closely alongside the band, and of course, there were to be 7 members, hence the '7'.
S Club 7 was successful for their 5 years of their ensemble. They started their careers together in 'Miami 7', which lead them to make singles such as 'Bring it all back', and 'Reach'. Throughout the years, S Club 7 changed their styles of music based on what was popular at the times they were released and what their audiences were looking for.
S Club 7 announced in 2002, that Paul Cattermole was to leave the band, to start another career in Rock music. Therefore the band renamed 'S Club 7' to simply 'S Club'. They then had another year of success as S Club, and even made a hit movie 'Seeing Double' as well as releasing singles 'alive', and eventually their last single 'Goodbye', where the band reminisced over their time as S Club 7, and S Club and they eventually announced their disband in 2003, which was a mutual decision between the band, which means that they all agreed that it was for the best. I feel that as an ensemble, it is effective for mutual decisions because it allows everyone to have a say. It is said by Wikipedia that a lot of fans felt 'betrayed' and 'disappointed' by their single 'Goodbye' which resulted in their announcement to break up, which reflects the bands positive impact on their audience and how it upset them that they had to move on. This shows their strong communication with their audience.
Members of the band:
Tina Barrett- Tina Barrett was born in 1976, in Hammersmith, London. She attended 'Arts Educational School' in London for eight years, and soon after, she landed her first professional performance job as a dancer in a pantomime. Whilst attending a dance studio in Fulham, she became friends with Alesha Dixon, and Sabrina Washington, and they created a singing and dancing trio named 'Face2face'. When the trio started working on their debut album, Barrett left when she was accepted into S CLUB 7, after auditioning in front of Simon Fuller. I was surprised to find this information as it seems as though she didn't co-operate with her original ensemble and left them for another group, however due to her being the lead of S CLUB 7, I think that this was her reason to stay in the band.
Paul Cattermole- Paul Cattermole was born in 1977 in Hertfordshire. He was a member of National Youth Music Theatre, and attended Mountview Drama School to study a theatre and acting course. He was scouted by Simon Fuller and asked to attend the S Club 7 auditions after he appeared in a show. Paul was the first member of S Club 7 to leave the group in 2002, to pursue a career in the rock genre of music, causing the band to rename themselves S Club.
Rachel Stevens- Rachel Stevens was born in 1978 in Southgate, London. Rachel studied at London College of Fashion and got a diploma in business originally, and along side that, started a career in business for a film company, but that was when she lost interest and decided that she wanted to be a singer instead, therefore started to pursue a career in the singing industry. At age 21 she joined S Club 7 after being scouted by Simon Fuller. She was the only band member who didn't audition, and instead was scouted by producers of 19 management and asked her to submit demo tapes for Simon Fuller to listen to.
Jo O'Meara- Jo O'Meara was born in 1979 in Romford. Although Jo didn't attend a college or university, her school grades show her excellence for Singing, Dancing, and acting. O'Meara, similarly to Cattermole, was approached by producers from 19 management, and was asked to audition for S Club 7.
Hannah Spearritt- Hannah Spearritt was born in 1981 in Great Yarmouth. She, like Cattermole, was a member of National Youth Music Theatre. From the age of 12 she participated in local amateur productions and before S Club 7, she appeared in West End Musicals, and television programs as small roles. She met Cattermole at National Youth Music Theatre. I think that the history between Spearritt and Cattermole would have been useful towards the ensemble because it meant that they knew each other well enough to be confident with each other and towards the rest of the group. Spearritt saw an advert for S Club 7 in The Stage newspaper, which lists thousands of auditions for various professional job opportunities, and was accepted into S Club 7 after a series of auditions for Fuller.
Bradley McIntosh- Bradley McIntosh was known for being the 'cool' member of the band which inspired a lot of the younger boys to dress like him and want to be like him. He was born in 1981 in Lambeth, London, to Jamaican musical parents who were known for their band 'The Cool Notes'. He auditioned for the band S Club 7 and was successful after a series of auditions for Fuller. Like Hannah, he saw the advertisement in The Stage Newspaper.
Jon lee- Jon Lee was born in Devon, England in 1982 and was the youngest member of the band. He was brought up performing in shows, and achieved his first main role in West End's Oliver when he was 13. Before S Club he also appeared as small roles in TV programs such as 'Eastenders'. He auditioned for S Club 7 after seeing the advertisement in The Stage.
Audiences:
The band was originally a pop genre, rising to fame in Miami 7, which was a children's musical program, similar to the nowadays programs such as 'Glee', therefore it attracted a lot of attention from teenagers and children in the 90's and 00's. Also the pop genre had a lot of attention from teens, therefore it was likely that they would be the audience.
The program was about a British band who had moved to Miami, America, and a lot of the audience was British as it was aired on popular British television channel CBBC. The series soon after aired in America, which attracted more teen audiences from America. The show was renamed 'S Club 7 in Miami' for American audiences. This inspired a lot of their hit songs and this program is how the band got well known by audiences world wide. The opening theme 'Bring it back' and the response it had from fans inspired the band to release it in June 1999 as their debut single. The video to this single is below. It still remains a popular song, with over 4 Million views on Youtube, which is a modern networking site, and when the song first aired it sold over 650,000s copies in the UK, and reached a platinum certificate in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The four girls of the group shared the lead vocals of this song, and the boys were the backing singers and dancers for the music video.
Miami 7 saw the seven members of the band in their own exaggerated characters, based on their personalities in real life. This would mean that different members of the audience could identify and relate with different members of the band. For example, Hannah was a playful character, given the S Club 7 colour of Yellow. Rachel was the popular, pretty girl who inspired so many girls to want to look like her. She always had good fashion as well on the show, which I think may reflect her background in Fashion school.
Their TV show 'Miami 7', adapted into another TV series 'L.A 7', which was where their characters moved to Hollywood to seek a record deal, similar to how their characters moved to Miami. The theme song to this was 'Reach', which was arguably one of their most successful singles, reaching number 1 on the UK charts. This series was released after they had won 'British Breakthrough act', which shows their perseverance and their motivation to work harder and achieve more.
After the band released their debut single, and had amazing responses from all audiences, they continued to release more music. Their second single was 'S Club Party' which was on number 2 of the UK charts and number 1 in New Zealand. I think that this would have been encouraging for the band at this point, because their music and status was more recognised and they were becoming more popular within different audiences. The teenage audience grew as their music was getting more popular, and they got less attention from the child audiences, which meant that they were taken more seriously in the music industry. S Club Party video is below:
After watching this video I noticed the change between the cheesy lyrics of 'Bring it all back', and this song. I feel that the change in audience must have influenced S Club 7 to explore a wider genre of their music, and begin giving everyone in the ensemble equal opportunities. For example the girls would sing the chorus, and the boys would join in with spoken word in unison to match the theme of the song which was a 'party'.
Fans responded to this single positively, and the difference in genres between 'pop' and 'dance pop' encouraged a wider range of the teenage audience as well, and responded well to their third single as well by continuing to purchase them, and allowing them to both reach number 1 in the charts, and achieve high rankings in the charts worldwide.
Their growing popularity meant that the band had busier schedules and quotes suggest that they often felt tired and jet lagged from so much travelling to balance their music careers and Miami 7. And Wikipedia have quoted on Paul Cattermole saying 'Kind of dreamscape in your head', from the amount of excess rehearsals and their continuous busy schedules. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_Club_7#1999.E2.80.932000:_S_Club_television_series). I feel that this shows a successful ensemble because despite having these busy schedules and feeling tired a lot, S Club 7 didn't let this show in their music videos, or their interviews.
S club 7 adapted their music to suit what was in the charts. For example, they started to release R&B songs such as 'Never had a dream come true', and funk numbers such as 'Don't Stop Movin'. These would have encouraged the audiences to remain interested in the band. This would have come with communication skills. The band would have to communicate with their audiences and to focus on what is popular in the charts, to make sure that their music suited what the audiences wanted.
S Club 7 had their first tour in 2001-2002, called 'S Club Party Tour'. The tour is something that the band all wanted to do and made a group decision to make it happen. They had a lot of rehearsals from early 2001- may 2001. The first performance was in May 2001, and it captivated the audience of 13,000 people, and this showed how many people S club 7 had attracted. In the video below, we see the audience cheering and chanting for the band to enter the stage, before the concert had even started, and the audience had filled the whole of the venue. Throughout the video we see the audience cheering and singing along to S Club 7, which shows the amount of popularity the band had gained before this tour.
Throughout their live performances, the whole band continued to show high energy, and a high standard performance. This would have been from their long rehearsals, and making sure that they are all confident with what they are doing. This would have come from focus, commitment and team work to ensure that everyone in the group was positive, and maintained high energy to captivate the audience for the whole concert.
Rehearsal Process:
I haven't found any sources describing the S Club 7 rehearsal process, or videos. However I looked into their videos and interviews and I feel as though the band would have been focused during their rehearsals. I think this because their videos and performances were always full of energy and well rehearsed. Every band member brought a high level of energy to their numbers and this is important for a successful ensemble because everyone needs to be giving the same amount of energy so that no one stands out for being 'worse' than the rest or 'better' than the rest. I think that for S Club 7 particularly, who often split all of the verses between the different band members and gave equal amounts of lyrics to everyone, it was important that all of them put in a lot of energy to ensure that the videos and performances were interesting to watch. I know from my previous sources in Wikipedia (link above) that they had busy schedules and rehearsals because they were recording new singles, and rehearsing for Miami 7 at the same time which would have meant in order to make them look as effective as they did, they would have needed to bring positive energy to the rehearsals. This comes with Co-operation and communication, which are important ensemble skills (which I have stated in a list at the top of the post).
I think that giving each member a different personality worked effectively because it meant that they all looked different, whilst performing the same number. For example, particularly in 'Bring it all back' you can see the quirkiness of each individual character and this made them all stand out as 'different', and this would have meant that they could have contributed towards their own movement and what made them feel most comfortable when performing the songs and dances. I think that this changed in 'S Club Party', because they were all acting 'cool' and they all seemed the same, therefore it was less enjoyable to watch. I think that this was due to their demanding popularity and they were trying to figure out what worked and what didn't. Due to the fact that S Club 7 wasn't as successful as 'Bring it all back', it changed their next singles and music videos to do what suit their fans.
For their first tour 'S Club Party Tour' in 2001, it was said by wikipedia that S Club 7 rehearsed 'most of early 2001', and the actual concert was in May, which means that they were rehearsing for around 5 months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_Club_7#Tours
I only found one rehearsal video and it was for a live performance. It doesn't say what the date is, however I counted all 7 of them in the video, which means it was before 2002, when Paul Cattermole left the band. I think that a lot of them showed focus when running through the technical aspects of the performance, which shows professionalism. I also think that the fact that they focused meant that they would have got a lot done in a short amount of time.
Relationships:
From what I understand by watching interviews, S Club 7 were close in person, as they were in their songs. I feel that it is important as an ensemble member to get along with the rest of the band because it means that it is more efficient for everyone. A lot of modern day bands such as 'One Direction' have disbanded due to disagreements in the group, however S Club 7 maintained their relationships with each other to this day.
Hannah Spearritt and Paul Cattermole started dating in 2001. This was when the band was at it's most popular. During this time was when the band released their funk single "Don't stop movin'", and the fact that their relationship isn't obvious in the music video, meant that their relationship wasn't part of S Club 7, and therefore they remained professional which would have made rehearsals easier for the rest of the ensemble, by the fact that they weren't distracted.
I think that the different genres in music that the band released, would have had an impact on their communication skills both with each other, and the audience. They would have needed to focus on what the fans were demanding, what was popular on the charts, and what suited their band. Due to the fact that each member of the band had a different personality, I could imagine that this would have been difficult to discuss because they all suit different things, however their songs achieving so much success would have suggested that they had good communication skills and understanding for each other.
Below I have linked an interview that S Club had. It says in the video title that it was in 2000, however the woman interviewing them refers to them as 'S Club' as opposed to 'S Club 7', and there are only 6 of them, which would meant that Paul had left the group at this point. Also, their movie 'Seeing Double' came out in 2003, which would have been when this interview was. In the interview the ensemble are listening to each other, and laughing with each other which could resemble close relationships with each other. I would imagine that this would have helped them achieve more in rehearsals, and allowed rehearsals to be more positive.
Other Bands at the time:
Spice Girls- Of course Spice Girls had S Club 7's manager, but fired him, which caused S Club 7 to form. The Spice Girls had similar genre of music as S club 7, however because they were all female, they only attracted attention from mostly female audiences. The Spice Girls did however, have individual characters- Posh Spice, Baby Spice, Scary Spice, Ginger Spice, and Sporty Spice. All in which attracted a wider range of the female audiences with their quirky, individual looks and statements. The Spice Girls started to manage themselves in 1998, and broke up in 2001. The reasons for this was in 1998, they lost one member due to 'differences' between the group which suggests lack of communication, and agreement with each other. There were law suits against Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) due to the fact that the girls had signed a contract to attend a photoshoot as the 'Spice Girls'. A lot of controversy between the group was caused due to plans changing and a lot of opportunities for the Spice Girls being lost. This was due to the fact that audiences expected the 5 girls, as opposed to 4. Similarly to S Club 7, as once they became S Club, they only had a year more of success before they announced their disband, whereas Spice Girls had 2 years before they broke up unofficially.
I think that the fact that the Spice Girls didn't announce their break up to the audience shows lack of communication towards their audience and admirers, whereas S Club announced their disband on one of their live performances, which made it a more memorable moment between themselves, and their viewers.
What Makes S CLUB 7 a good ensemble?
I think that overall, I have found out that S Club 7 was a good ensemble, because they were able to form a group together from complete strangers, and find a ground in which they can communicate with each other to form a group that suits each of them, and that reaches out to a wide range of audience. I think that their mutual decision to disband shows their strength as a group, because they all wanted to move on and find new opportunities, and instead of all leaving the group, they discussed it and worked it out together to show good co operation skills and communication skills between them. I also think that their ability to change their genre of music per song (remaining mainly within pop) shows their relationship with their audience and their want to make them pleased. I feel that their success and their careers show that their band worked hard, and this would have taken focus, and professionalism in rehearsals which meant that they would have to be positive and energised as an ensemble should be.
Our Presentation:
In groups we devised a short performance of our collaboration of research into two different bands. My group researched S club 7, therefore our devised performance was based on how the group was formed, and their journey up to when they split. We split the research so that everyone had something to say and we all spoke in our characters from the band. For example I researched Hannah from S Club 7 and played her in our presentation. I spoke about the research I found such as when she was born and how she joined the band. We all spoke about similar facts based on our characters, simply when they were born, where they were born and how they joined the band.
My contribution to the project was the research into Miami 7 and bringing the knowledge of the bands first appearance together. I feel as though this was important information because this is how the band was formed and is how they were discovered by a large audience.
It doesn't matter if you are good at acting or know 'how to act', the most important thing in starting acting is knowing how to build your career and how to start out as an actor. What I have learnt from Rebecca Metz's website (http://www.workingactorwisdom.com) is that you need to know how to promote yourself when working freelance and this is what gets you auditions without an agent.
Organisation is a key part on starting and maintaining your career in acting. This is because you need to make notes on contacts, dates and times, preparation and this will allow you to feel slightly less stressed about auditions and meetings so that you can be confident and make impressions.
When waiting or delivering an audition, you need to control your panic by making sure you act confident and know what you are doing. If you don't get the part yet the directors and producers remember you then you have been successful, because you leave your details and they may contact you if anything comes up that you are suited for.
I decided to research the following:
Comedy Club
My target is to attend a comedy club or watch a stand up comedy performance to expand my knowledge on both stand up comedy, and comedy in drama. This is because I feel that comedy is one of my strengths and I would like to have a career revolving around comedy, therefore I think that it is appropriate to research this.
Watch a Director shoot a scene
I thought that it would be a good target to watch director shoot a scene because my main goal is to work on television/film and I think that having work experience revolving around this would be sensible because it gives me an idea of what to expect and how to respond to people in the working environment in a professional way. To do this I have applied for various reality TV programmes such as Big Brother, and Coach Trip, because not only will this possibly let me see this but it will also allow me to advertise myself as an actor, and gain popularity and followers for a director or producer to find me easily.
Learn a new skill
I felt that as an actor I need to continue to widen my skills for my CV so that I have more to offer when it comes to auditions and castings. One of my aims is to improve my dancing, specifically my acrobatics because I am often asked in auditions what kind of tricks I can do, and I feel that if I can do more that what I can now, this will expand my chances of either getting a part, or making the director/ producer/ casting director remember me, which I think is very difficult, yet important.
On 29/09/16 We did a read through of act one of We Will Rock You. I feel as though the read through's are always the most important rehearsal of the show because we get a feel of what it is like reading with each other, and getting to know how the rest of the cast are going to portray their character's, so that I could see whether my character ideas and thoughts would fit in with everyone else. Of course like every show, I will be developing my character throughout the rehearsal process, as will the rest of the cast, but I feel as though the read through gives me the initial thoughts on how the show is going to look, and how I can work with the cast throughout rehearsals.
I think that because there are two casts, and everyone has a double cast for different shows this made it difficult to read an equal amount but every character took it in terns with different scenes, for example Killer Queen had two scenes in our read through, so Izzy read one and I read the other. I found it really helpful listening to Izzy read Killer Queen, because despite the fact that it was the first run through and none of us were particularly sure on what our characters would be portrayed as, it was really useful to listen to how Izzy was reading some of the lines and how different they were to mine, because some of them worked better. For example when I read through the script next to her, I read one of the lines as being aggressive, but Izzy read it as quite quiet and manipulative by being calm and I feel that this worked better, because it showed more manipulation through the power of being quiet and controlling.
I feel that during this rehearsal it was important for everyone to help each other by contributing ideas, and suggesting how people could say certain lines in a supportive way, as an ensemble should work together. I feel that whilst myself and Izzy helped each other by making suggestions with the tone of our lines and character, it would be effective for myself to contribute ideas for everyones characters, not just my own so that therefore I will be developing my ensemble skills.
Overall I found the read through useful because it gave me initial ideas on my character, improvements from my previous thoughts on my character and how I could fit into the rest of the cast. I think that the read through also gave an overall tone of the show, and I think that the tone, despite the ongoing comedy throughout, is quite dark, and there is a strong message behind it which is to keep fighting for what you believe is right and don't follow something if you think it is wrong, or it doesn't work for you.
27/09/16
In this lesson we began our research into what makes a successful ensemble. We felt that we could look into S club 7 because they were a big pop music group in the 90's and became big in the music industry due to their different personalities and the way they were close with each other in real life.
When researching the different characters, I found out that the seven individuals in S club were brought together for different reasons. Some auditioned, some were scouted and one, Rachel Stevens, didn't audition for the band at all and was almost like the starting point. The band was brought together by Simon Fuller, as we learn in our group presentation. I found it particularly interesting that there were such age gaps in the group, but they still worked well together which shows ensemble skills, because it is as if everyone was 'one' in the group. The group was formed in 1999, but unfortunately split up in 2003, all for different reasons and all at different times.
Myself and the group split the research responsibilities. For example Myself and Jordy were to research 'Miami 7', and other pairs in the groups had other research responsibilities such as characters, auditions, and reasons for leaving. I found out that Miami 7 was a television series in 1999, and was a children's tv program about a band who lived in Miami. The show was a huge success and launched all of their careers as they gained popularity and their songs improved throughout the serious. I found this interesting to learn because it shows the commitment that each member of S club 7 had to the band and it shows that commitment as an ensemble skill pays of, because of the amount of success that they had.
After researching, we all talked about what characters we would like to portray when we do our presentation on S club 7, as we felt that it would be effective if we became the characters so that the story can be told from S club's perspective. These were our agreed characters-
Rachel- Talia
Jo- Amber
Hannah- Me
Tina- Holly
Paul- Sam
Jon- Jordy
Bradley- Luke
When we started blocking our presentation, we decided to tell the story from the beginning, with the individual auditions and how the characters are introduced. Because Hannah and Paul (myself and Sam) weren't auditioned for S club 7, and they were instead scouted, we decided to act as Simon Fuller (S Club manager) and his assistant, and would then join the band. We made a mutual decision to have each of our individual characters tell their own story of how they got in the band, and then we would start the rest of the performance in character telling the story through semi-improvised dialogue.
04/10/16
To start this lesson we finished blocking the whole of our presentation. My contribution to this was making sure that everyone was saying the right information and that it made sense. I suggested to the group that we use humour when delivering the information to make it more interesting to watch. This was effective because in todays society we find a lot of people and bands from late 90's/ early 00's quite awkward or strange because obviously it is not what we are used to, so we thought about taking this and putting it into our presentation to create cheesy characters.
Presentation:
In groups we devised a short performance of our collaboration of research into two different bands. My group researched S club 7, therefore our devised performance was based on how the group was formed, and their journey up to when they split. We split the research so that everyone had something to say and we all spoke in our characters from the band. For example I researched Hannah from S Club 7 and played her in our presentation. I spoke about the research I found such as when she was born and how she joined the band. We all spoke about similar facts based on our characters, simply when they were born, where they were born and how they joined the band.
I carried out some research into my character, Hannah and this is her fact file that I have gathered:
-Born in 1981 in Great Yarmouth.
-From the age of 12, she landed various roles in local amateur theatre productions.
-After a successful audition, she joined the National Youth Music Theatre.
-Scouted for S club 7 whilst studying Performing arts, Mathematics and Media studies at college.
-Starred in Miami 7 along with S club 7, which has inspired a lot of modern day Television programmes and musicals such as Glee. This was where Hannah rose to fame along side the other members of S Club 7.
-As S Club 7 changed their 90's pop song genre to more dance R&B, their audiences changed and the band slowly fell apart, as Paul Cattermole, Hannah's boyfriend at the time, left the band.
-S club 7 renamed themselves to simply 'S club'.
-In 2003, S Club announced their disband, during a live concert.
-Hannah moved to LA, to pursue a successful acting career, landing her first role in 'agent Cody Banks: Destination, London', and found that she had got the role 3 days after S Club had split up, showing that she was eager to move on and continue her career within the arts.
-Spearritt and Cattermole ended their 5 year relationship for unexplained reasons.
-Up until 2016, Hannah Spearritt has been focusing on her acting career, landing various roles in the West End, in an eight part television series 'blessed' and on Television series such as 'Casualty'.
-It was revealed in 2015 that Spearritt was dating fellow S Club 7 member Paul Cattermole again.
My contribution to the project was the research into Miami 7 and bringing the knowledge of the bands first appearance together. I feel as though this was important information because this is how the band was formed and is how they were discovered by a large audience.
On 27/09/16 we continued our work in freelance by beginning to design our own websites. From looking at other actors websites the week before, I was very conscious of what was clear and what wasn't on all the websites. I felt like some of the websites focused mainly on how they looked and focused little on information, contact details, and even their names. I decided to choose two colours for my website, that made each other stand out. The colours I chose were orange and grey, as I felt that grey writing shows up well on orange, and orange writing shows up well on a grey background. Now that I had these two colours I decided to upload a headshot in black and white, as not only did this stand out on the page, but it also matched the colour theme and therefore looked more professional.
My targets for next lesson is to continue developing my website and making sure that I complete it before half term. I think that if I finish my website as soon as possible then I can work on advertising it, and making it attract an audience. Therefore by doing this there is more chance of a casting director or a director to find it, and therefore I can work on getting myself auditions for professional work.
-Worked on motif we did last week
-Practised developments I did with Amber last week
-Developed it further by adding a third person
-Brain storm from the board (photo)
-Katie Hopkins quote
-Expand and analyse
-Think about Choreographic ideas of how to portray emotion and how to manipulate it.
-WWW
-EBI
To begin we recapped on the motif that we did as a whole group last week. This is the original motif that we did before we went of in pairs to develop it. This was useful because I started remembering mine and Ambers developments that we made, and even inspired me to make some new developments. We then got into our pairs, so I worked with Amber, to recap what we had achieved the lesson before, so to do this we ran through our motif and the developments that we had made. We then developed it further by adding a third person, as Jade joined our group. This was interesting because it added another viewer or another reporter to do with media, and this added a different effect the motif because it makes the audience see how it effects different people. To change the partner work, we cut the contact part where amber covers my mouth and I push her away, and changed this to all three of us manipulating each other. For example we were standing in a line, I was on the left, Amber in the middle and Jade was on the right. I started by pushing my left arm towards them and did a side lunge to the left, they then did the same but instead of pushing their arm, they covered their ears as if I was telling a lie or a secret. We then used repetition and Jade did the same thing as me, but we lunged to the right. Then Amber did a plie in second position, and pushed both arms towards me and Jade, and we both did a Lunge away from her, so I went to the left and she went to the right, covering our ears. I felt like this was effective because it showed things spreading like secrets and media telling lies.
We then started researching for starting points for some choreography. Myself and Izzy did this task together as we had similar ideas of what we wanted to choreograph. We started by looking on twitter for outrageous quotes that would cause some debating and conflict. One person we felt would fuel a lot of media debates would be Katie Hopkins because she is known for being open on her opinions. We found some twitter quotes that mostly revolved around racism, and politics one of them we felt that we could work with which I have a screen shot of:
I think that this quote shows racism, and lack of equality, something that society has been working on for years, and something that anyone can ruin with a social network account. I also think that because Katie Hopkins has a wide range of followers, this tweet was more popular than someone who wasn't well known on twitter, purely because of her celebrity status, which made the quote sound more outrageous, which represents the theme of how powerful media is and how it can manipulate the public, but also how it can hurt and upset people.
Overall I think that this lesson went well because I was able to continue my choreography for mine and Amber's developments to the original motif we learnt, and I was able to develop it further by adding a third person. This was useful because it allowed me to know how to develop motifs without using action, space, dynamics or other choreographic devises, but with people instead, and this made the overall piece look more effective because it showed a wider range of people effected by the media throughout our choreography.
I think to improve, I would have liked to have started some initial choreography for the quote me and Izzy found. We had some ideas for how we could make it work in terms of partner and contact work, but I think that next lesson I will start choreography for it and work on how I could represent this one quote in a dance duet with Izzy.
To prepare for my audition I chose two songs that I felt challenged my vocal range. The songs I chose were in the performance of We Will Rock You so that I knew that the songs defiantly matched the musical genre, instead of finding a song that didn't relate to the characters I wanted to audition for as much. I chose 'We are The Champions' as my first song because I felt like this was a slower song than my next choice of 'Find Me Somebody To Love'. We are The Champions is a ballad and therefore it showed the length of my range in ensemble songs as it was more slow and I could show a warm energy to connect with the other members of the cast as they do in the performance.
I feel as though this song went well as I was able to sing it with confidence and I was strong in my vocals and controlled my voice shaking and nerves, which was one of my targets for auditions last year so I now feel as though I have overcome this target and improved my auditions. To improve this song I would have liked to have experimented with the melody and make the song sound my own, because I did it acapella, for example emphasise on some notes and hold some notes longer for emphasis on the ensemble and what this song is representing in the musical- that everyone has one and have overcome what they are trying to achieve in the first place.
I chose my second song 'Find Me Somebody To Love' because the part I was wanting to audition for was Scaramouch, as I felt that I could bring something different to the part and add a sense of seriousness to my characterisation, as I am often cast as a comedy character because it is one of my strengths and I wanted to challenge myself. I feel as though this song went well because my targets from last year was to improve my range for this year and work on 'belting' the notes, and therefore I chose this song because it is one of the most challenging songs in my opinion in terms of range and melody. I was able to belt most of the higher notes with confidence which I feel is a positive in the audition as it showed my strengths for this part, which is a strong female role and I think that if Scaramouch performs this song with confidence then it sets a mood of her character for the rest of the performance in the audience's view. I think that to improve I could now work on my range for the lower notes, because I have improved my singing in terms of 'belting' and using my chest voice to reach the tougher high notes, but I am still not confident in the lower notes as I naturally have a high pitched voice, therefore I think that if I work on reaching the lower notes then it could improve my singing performance more. There was one point in the song after the 3rd verse where the note in the song is jumping from a lower to higher note in the chest voice singing 'yeah' going straight into the 4th verse and this is where I finished the song in the audition. I feel as though this was the most challenging part of the song and didn't perform it to the best of my ability in the audition as I changed singing from my chest voice to my head voice for that one note, and this made my vocals sound weaker for that one note that ended the song, which I feel ruined the rest of my performance because usually the end note is meant to be the most impressive to leave an impression on the audience. Therefore I am going to practice my confidence in the higher notes so that I don't make this mistake again.
For the second part of the audition I had to read a duologue for the character I wanted to play. I wanted to audition for Scaramouch so therefore I read a duologue with Luke for Scaramouch and Galaleo. I think that this went well as I had worked on characterisation before the audition and therefore set a stubborn tone to Scaramouch's character, and I think this was effective because it added humour to the scene, which worked because the show is comedic throughout. I think that another thing that went well was mine and Luke's relationship in our characters throughout the scene. Me and Luke have known each other for a long time, and we had to make it seem like we had never met before this scene, and I think we did this well because I was acting 'rude' towards him through my voice and body language and he was using his voice to come across as interested. To improve I would have liked to have learnt my lines prior to the audition so I could act out the scene better and interacted with Luke. This is what I am going to improve on for my next audition because I also think it is professional to be more prepared to what I was in this audition.
I was given the part of 'Killer Queen' in We Will Rock You, which I was happy about because I said in the interview section of the audition that this is another part I would like to play for the humour as it is one of my strengths. I researched this character after I found out it was the part I would be playing and had already thought of some initial ideas for choreography, costumes and some of the songs. I thought that with the videos I have watched (linked below) of Killer Queen, she is a very subtle powerful person, and uses her power to control and manipulate people without them realising, however I though it would be humorous to play this part as a playful and energetic character, and raise my voice randomly to show the fact that she is crazy, and actually make her seem power-crazy, and that if something doesn't go her way, she will react dramatically as oppose to manipulatively. I thought about redirecting the manipulation side of my character into the playfulness as oppose to being more subtle about it, because therefore it will show that Killer Queen is 'crazy' and has so much power that she uses it more obviously.
To begin the lesson we started with improvisation games. This was so that we could become energised for the lesson, but most importantly so that we can create different characters and work on our devising skills. We started with 'park bench' where our characters aim is to scare the other person of the bench from being 'weird' or 'annoying'. I started on the bench so I didn't get anyone of it however it helped me to improvise a character quickly and it helped me develop my devising skills from the pressure of the improvisation part of the game.
We then stood in a circle and were given a piece of paper each with a random line on it. We then had to walk to a random person in the circle and say the line, to which they improvise an answer or reaction and we improvise another line to finish and then swap. I found this challenging because it meant that we had to think quickly and it helped me to develop my improvisation skills as well as devising.
After the improvisation warm up, we discussed and contributed single words on what we thought makes a good ensemble. For example I felt that understanding is an important aspect of a good ensemble because if the cast understand each other and strengths and weaknesses, then we can help and support each other. Below is a picture of all the words we thought of:
I found it interesting that some words contributed are aspects to the ensembles performance, for example punctuation and diction, which would mean a good ensemble would pronounce the words in songs to make them clear towards the audience, which I think could make a good ensemble in a performance sense, however I feel as though an ensemble should be more about the effort and the focus and team work that goes into both rehearsals, and shows so that we can work together.
After having this discussion we realised as a group that all the words on the board link to team work, and that an ensemble couldn't be classed as 'good' if there wasn't any teamwork. I agree with this because the definition of an ensemble is a group performance or a group song, therefore the word 'group' immediately means having to work and communicate well with each other to make the performance effective.
I think that if I eliminated support, tolerance, and commitment then this would completely change what the ensemble looks like both in rehearsals and in a performance. This is because having no support in a group would mean that no one would want to help one another and this could effect the overall performance because some people might not understand something, or there may be personal problems and issues between different people in the ensemble which could effect the performance. I think that support also links with tolerance, and if people in the ensemble are not being tolerant with each other then this could lead to issues such as negativity which puts a negative effect on the overall group performance. Finally, I think that commitment is a very important aspect to an ensemble because everyone needs to put in the same amount of effort and work hard to make the ensemble sound the best that it can. I feel that if you took commitment out of a ensemble then you would be left with a bad group performance because no one would be trying hard enough or working together, and I think that commitment holds everything together, similar to team work, and team work is the main part of an ensemble as I have previously mentioned.
Overall I found this lesson useful because firstly it allowed me to work on one of my weaknesses which is improvisation, and I feel as though my improv went well because I was able to think of characters and what they were going to say and react to different things happening around them quickly. I do think however that I could improve my improvisation skills by trying to work on more serious characters, for example I feel as though I always steer towards comedy because its a strength of mine, however I think that if I work on improvising around more serious or toned down characters, this can help me improve my acting characterisation in general, because it could widen my knowledge and skills on how to play different characters instead of just comedy.
I also found the discussion about team work useful because our upcoming musical We Will Rock You revolves a lot around ensemble numbers, and there aren't many songs that don't involve ensemble, even if they are just in the background and therefore it has prepared me to work in a large group and use these team work skills to help others and work as a team with them to make an effective and successful performance.
I couldn't find Eleanor Tomlinson's official website despite looking at several google responses, and typing different wording into the URL. This is the most popular result that came up after typing in all of the different wording and her name, however it is a 'source' to recent photos of Eleanor Tomlinson which appears to have been made by a fan, however it still shows employers what she looks like on camera and they can then contact her agent. I think that the fact that Eleanor doesn't have her own website, or a website that is easily accessible it lowers the risk of employers being able to contact her or her management, however because she has a higher status in the acting industry the employers might already know her.
The fact that the website is made by a fan indicates that Eleanor Tomlinson has a wide fan base and that she is a popular actress, therefore an employer will be more likely to contact her management for a casting opportunity.
Similar to Eleanor's website, this is the only clear website I found of Daisy Ridley, and it states under her name that it is a source website, indicating that this website has been made by a fan, or someone else other than Ridley herself. I do feel however that this website is clear on who Daisy Ridley is, and what she does so that an employer can immediately start searching for her agent or manager, therefore giving her a boost in her casting opportunities. I feel as though you wouldn't tell that Daisy Ridley was an actor from the first look at her website, until you look at her CV, therefore I think that it would be good to state clearly that she is an actor under her name or in the title of the website homepage, so that she has a better chance of being picked up by an employer.
