This post is in response to request from a subscriber, who was finding the Grade 4 Knowledge questions confusing. I hope it’s helpful to many of you. And remember, if you are a subscriber, you can always reach out to me and I can do a post that you will find particularly helpful!
I’ve recently found out some brand new information about the third question (AC 4.3) and the way in which students can demonstrate stage areas and how they can prepare for the second part of the question (which has been introduced in the new syllabus) so do read through to the end to see that as I know it has caused some confusion.
But let’s start with the first question
AC 4.1) Describe how the characters feel in the scenes and what they are trying to achieve.
This is really two questions:
How does your character feel?
What is your character trying to achieve? (ie their objective)
I recommend that my students start with the objective question and then move onto the feelings as it seems more logical to give an overview of the objective in the scene, and then break it down into sections to look at the feelings that arise and dissipate throughout the scene. I always ask my students to repeat the language of the question so they (and the examiner) know that they are on track. So they should use the phrase “trying to achieve” in their answer and the word “feels” every time they mention a feeling. This is important as they will sometimes say things like “she is being really mean” which might be true, but “being mean” isn’t a feeling. In fact if you are being mean you probably don’t feel mean! Instead, they could say she feels “ruthless” or “powerful” or “excited”. I recommend they select about five clear feelings and give a brief justification for each one. They should not be repeating the content of the scene.
So a model answer might be something like this:
“My character’s overall objective is to get permission to use her parent’s car, so that is what she is trying to achieve. She uses lots of strategies to try and achieve this, like giving rational arguments, pleading, getting angry. At the start of the scene she feels hopeful that she will get what she wants, but her father starts putting obstacles in her path, so then she feels annoyed. She feels desperate when she realises what she’s going to miss out on, and then she feels wistful when she talks about how things could have been different. She feels angry when she thinks about letting down her new cool friends. She feels determined at the end when she tries one last time to get what she wants.”
If you are familiar with the volume four acting anthology you probably recognise which piece this answer relates to! But of course every student performing this scene will do it in a different way, and show different feelings. This is just one possible answer - encourage your students to find their own!
Now for the second question:
AC 4.2) Explain how your physical characterisation helped to reflect the character, their feelings, moods and thoughts
Notice that they have changed the wording since the last syllabus to make it clearer. However (in my opinion) it would have been better to say “feelings and thoughts”, rather than “feelings, moods and thoughts” because in this sentence “feelings” and “moods” are synonymous. But it’s minor niggle compared to some of the issues that have appeared in the new syllabus!
In this question your students don’t necessarily need to go through the movements sequentially through the script, but rather think about their overall choice of movement and body language in the scene. This will depend on three things:
the character, for example physical characterisation might depend on:
their age
their gender
their species (!)
the era in which they live
the way they feel/their mood (happy people move differently to sad people)
what they are thinking
their situation (not part of the question, but still relevant - a school girl sitting outside the headteacher’s office will move differently to a school girl sitting comfortably in her own bedroom)
This is NOT a question about staging, so they don’t need to mention things like the position of any furniture, or about whereabouts on the stage you move or mention where you enter or exit the stage. That isn’t relevant to this question.
Again, encourage your students to repeat the language of the question. All the sections in the model answer below that are in bold use the words that are in the question.
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