To Build A Portfolio 2.0

Welcome back for part 2 of How To Build A Portfolio where I take you on my journey through our showreel module and hopefully these blog help you discover what might be helpful for your portfolio too. If you have not read part 1, you can find it here, which details more of the voice aspect of the showreels. This one entails more of the movement aspects such as acting and dancing which are more ensemble/partner-heavy.

To start this off, let’s begin with the acting segment!

Acting was relatively simple. All we had to do was a duologue. Before the Christmas break, we were assigned a random partner who we would be stuck to at the hip until filming week! It was our task over the break to find a duologue that spanned between 2 to 4 minutes, Lucky for my partner and I, we were the sort to read scripts over our free time like the bookworms we are, so searching for a script proved to be an easy task. However, settling on one proved to be difficult as our list kept growing throughout the season. Despite the many options in front of us, it did not take us long to settle. One called out to us very specifically because of how much it resonated with our natural dynamic and monstrous flair.

We settled on a play called Athena by Gracie Gardner, a story about two girls training for the Junior Olympics in fencing. They practice together, and they compete against one another fiercely.

And for the rest of the semester leading up to filming week, we rehearsed weekly during our self-practice sessions on Thursdays and our acting lesson on Friday. The one problem that we faced were the many interpretations every time we did the scene. Knowing we had only had two takes, we had more even options to narrow down. The abundance of creative liberty that we had posed as a challenge we never expected that we do not know what to do with ourselves. Settling was always the issue, and with our acting teacher being so encouraging of constantly exploring something new, our explorations would become whole expeditions.

Even on the day itself, we struggled to pick between our two takes as they were both so different. With consultation, we went for our first take.

The acting reel was not as complicated as the others as it was very straightforward and very student-led. It was the one I was least worried about, and having a scene partner who was so incredibly dedicated made the process very smooth sailing.

Moving on, we move into the ensemble segment. For this reel, our cohort was divided into two separate groups. The dancers who sing and the singers who move. Each group prioritized one skill set over the other that best showcased the groups, and both had their own challenges. I was part of the ‘singers who move’ where we did the title song, ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’ in groups of five, while the ‘dancers who sing’ did ‘Money Money Money’ from Mamma Mia.

This one combined all three disciplines of singing, dancing/movement and acting, but our group had a heavier emphasis on acting through song. In our groups of five, we each had our own independent character. The most intimidating part was that, for the most part of the song, we each had to carry our own harmony line. It is quite silly that as singers, holding our own harmonies can be terrifying, but it’s one against four completely different parts. One mistake can be glaringly obvious or it may make the sound incomplete if we jump onto someone else’s harmony, so we had to spend most of our rehearsal drilling our parts into our heads.

We had vocal doubles and physical doubles. Vocal doubles were easier to work with since singing is relatively uniform but for our physical doubles, we would have to guide one another down to every specific movement. Acting choices were the only allowance to be unique but the movement throughout the number, down to every pose, had to be uniform. It was the job of whichever double goes up to workshop the piece to relay detailed information to the observing doubles, which sounds simple until the whole group has to try to manoeuvre around one another as a whole ensemble. Our piece had a lot of weaving through one another and paying attention to precision as we would have to be spatially aware so that others could travel around us. I’ve never been more grateful for spike marks. They became our best friends quick.

We had 3 groups, two of which had a performer who had to be in both groups as we were one performer short on having complete groups, but she was such a soldier!

For this, I had the thrill of being a ‘camera liaison’ alongside my close friend, Amber, who is also the performer alternating between the two groups! As camera liaison, we had to guide the camera movements according to how our dance teacher instructed. It was scary, to say the least, as we had less than a day to get the movement right but we managed to pull through! We even got the opportunity to work as crew as we had to get everyone miked up, make sure everything was orderly and fix any mics where needed.

The ensemble segment was the most complicated one out of the other ones because of the need for precision. But the challenges made for great lessons. As much as I had wanted the showreels to pass us quickly, because of how close we were to Pippin rehearsals, I do miss the process. I never thought I’d leave university with so much under my belt; we are so pampered here, and I’m just very grateful for what we’ve had.

This concludes the end of my showreel journey!

Coming soon, I’ll take you on my latest endeavors which entail a concert called Music & Lyrics happening on April 28 and the long-awaited Pippin!!