04e+Sample+SAC+Answers

=__**Answers referring to Dramatic Elements and Stagecraft Elements**__=
 * Sample Answer 1 – ‘The Drover’s Wife’**


 * Question:**
 * Evaluate how one scene or moment used at least two dramatic elements to enhance the meaning of the scene. You may refer to the influence of the use of any stagecraft elements.**

//In the scene of the Drover’s Wife, during the killing of the snake, Jane manipulated focus and timing to create tension.. She narrowed down the focus to the right of the stage by reducing the use of space and looking in the direction of where the snake was. She and Stewart (as the dog) tensely waited and watched in that corner of the stage - this helped increase tension as the audience are led to believe that the snake might come out at any minute. Jane effectively builds the tension towards a climax by increasing the speed of her narrative. She used the stick to poke and prod at the snake hole and beat it on the ground, The sound added to the tension by creating a sense of exasperation and fear, communicating her vulnerability and determination to survive as a woman in the Australian bush. She effectively created conflict between her and adversity (the implied snake) and the dangers of being a woman alone in the bush.//


 * //Sample Answer 2 – ‘Children of the Black Skirt’//**

//The opening scene began with the playful, happy **mood** of curious children exploring a bush environment. When they find an old, abandoned orphanage, they innocently try on some clothes they have found. The audience hears the metallic rasping **sound** of the zip, as one child zips up the front of a black Victorian dress. On that sound, the actors snap into the characters who inhabited the orphanage in the past. **Sound and timing** created a powerful moment of transformation at this point, immediately engaging the audience in the moment of silence and stillness that followed. The **contrast in mood** is immediate – it becomes tense, serious and stern, the cold gothic horror of the orphanange enhanced by the ‘hovering’, unspeaking, “Black Skirt” governess.//


 * //Sample Answer 3 – ‘Children of the Black Skirt’//**

//In the scene where the orphanage children write letters of thanks to the government, **contrast** is used effectively to convey black humour. As each child pops up from behind a screen, they read aloud an over-exaggerated sugar coated letter of thanks for all the wonderful things the orphanage has done for them. Mr Horrocks, as the government representative, dismisses the letters and treats them with disinterest, making a point about the attitude of the government policy at this time. A sheet **symbolised** a wall – the wall that blocks the children from seeing the reality of the outside world and to represent that the government blocked any understanding of happened to children in orphanages. The **rhythm** of this scene moved quickly, creating black humour as the children showed excitement, but Mr Horrocks didn’t care and it seemed as if he wanted to quickly get through the letters. This scene also created **comic contrast** to the previous scene and helped enhance the **tension and conflict** created by the dark sombre presence of the Black Skirt when she reappeared.//


 * //Sample Answer 4 – ‘The Collapsible Man’//**


 * //Rhythm//** //and **timing** were important elements to the success of The Collapsible Man as the performance relied on the visual humour of slapstick and mime. In one scene, The Man begins lecturing the audience (mimed) on the structure of the human spine. Visual humour is created in the set up of the overhead projector and screen, he slowly puts everything together, piece by piece, returning to his box of odds and sods to get each one, looking at the audience with a smug smirk as we wondered what was going to happen next. This created **tension,** the tension of anticipation and also frustration as he grapples with a recalcitrant screen, increasing the timing with his agitation as things do not go as smoothly as he expected. In the style of absurdist theatre, the structural images of the spine on the screen scroll past and gradually deconstruct into crazy shapes – the message being that we can’t always rely on technology and that our world is often controlled through a scientific perspective – filtered through numbers, figures and formulas. The rhythm and tension of this scene build to a **climax** with The Man appearing more and more physically out of control in a dance sequence that represents him being in a lift where the cables have snapped. We are forced to **focus** on this apparent self destruction as he remains in front of the screen images, (use of **space**) while the light and patterns add to the distortion oft his shape. The use of stylised, abstract, distorted and repetitive movements change the **mood** to one of chaos and loss of control, creating a sense of pathos for The Man, as we laugh at the bizarre nature of his actions, but are disturbed at the absurdity of it all.//


 * Sample Answer 5 – ‘The Minds That War Made’**


 * Question:**
 * Evaluate the effectiveness of the use of at least one dramatic element to enhance the non-naturalism of the performance and communicate meaning.**

** Evaluate ** – make a judgement about how effective the choices were to communicate meaning

** At least one dramatic element ** – implies you talk about how others are used in conjuction with the main one you select

** Enhance the non-naturalism ** – refer to a specific example from the performance that was non-naturalistic, making sure you describe how it was n.n.

** Meaning ** – explain what message theme or idea was communicated.

//The whole play was based around **conflict.** The clowns represented a non-naturalistic way of presenting the ridiculousness of war and human conflict. Each scene explored an element of human conflict, such as “War-What is it Good For?”, “Family conflict”, “Environmental” and “Psychological” conflict. The intention, as suggested by the title, was to focus on conflict as war, but in the episodic structure, the link between the different scenes was not strong and sometimes left the audience confused.// //The gravedigger clowns were used to try and link the theme. Their scenes provided comic **contrast** through use of slapstick and mime. The **rhythm** of repetition was used when the two clowns played quickdraw. The dumb clown (Stewart) would follow the other clown (Jane) everytime she stepped away and this created humour. It was a metaphor for how history repeats itself because people are stupid – the clowns were like world leaders who couldn’t communicate properly. Repetition helped build tension and lead to a climax – this was also used effectively in The Drover’s Wife, where her story of life on the land kept returning to her conflict with the snake, building in pace and intensity towards the climax of killing the snake.//


 * Sample Answer 6 – ‘Children of the Black Skirt’**


 * Question:**
 * In the play from the Drama playlist you saw in Unit 3, analyse how two dramatic elements and two stagecraft elements were used to enhance the meaning of the play. Identify the name of the play you are responding to.**
 * (8 marks)**

//Children of the Black Skirt.//

//__Dramatic Elements:__// //TENSION// //SYMBOL//
 * //Gliding motion of the Governess (Black Skirt) contrasted with frenetic movement and babble of children. Increasing speed of children’s chant, followed by abrupt silence.//
 * //SOUND of jingling keys to break children’s stories – heralded Black Skirt’s arrival – created fear tension before she is seen.//
 * //Use of stillness and silence to enhance Black Skirt’s control and authority – created sense of fear.//
 * //PROP Keys – symbolised power and control of Black Skirt, also represented orphanage as a prison//
 * //Black Skirt COSTUME symbolised Victorian social values: “Children should be seen and not heard”. Children treated like animals.//

//__Stagecraft Elements:__// //COSTUME// //SET//
 * //Black Skirt: Full length,Black, Victorian style hooped skirt and fitted bodice – created impression of power and control – allowed actor to create surreal, gliding movement//
 * //Orphan girls dresses – flimsy, like summer nighties – showed childlike vulnerability//
 * //2 small wooden beds exactly the same. Gave impression of rows of beds the same – actors in foetal position to fit beds.//
 * //Upstage window – looking into private life of Black Skirt / the ‘dead’ baby//
 * //Set framed by clothes lines – used to define different places and space such as shower, London street, Irish home, etc.//


 * The response to this question shows:**
 * Clear indentification of two dramatic elements
 * Provides relevant examples, analysing what was done, how it was used and the effect this choice had.(1 mark for example/1mark for analysis = 4 marks)
 * Clear identification of two stagecraft elements
 * Relevant examples, describing what was used and how this helped us understand something about the characters/story/message. (1 mark for example, 1mark for analysis = 4 marks)

This reponse could also be written in paragraph form. Notice how dramatic elements also refer to stagecraft elements, so has answered the question. But the level of analysis is greater when covering the 4 elements fully to get full marks.