ROLE (PERFORMANCE)
My role in this performance was to by the character of Andy from the film “The Devil Wears Prada”.
ROLE (BEHIND THE CAMERA)
I did not have a specific role for behind the camera. My team members and I took turns filming each other for our close up shots. The other members in my team were; Grace Stanton and Molly Foster.
Roles they played in this performance were; Molly as Emily, and Grace as Miranda. Again they did not have a specific role for behind the camera. Whenever any one of us did not need to be in the scene, we took that opportunity to film the other two, with their close up shots.
NAME OF PRODUCTION
We decided to perform a scene from the film “The Devil Wears Prada”. The genre of this film is a comedy-drama film, and we tried to incorporate that into the scene we chose.
The target audience I had in mind when performing this particular scene, is people aged between 20-30. This is is because the scene is Andy going to Miranda’s office for an interview, and I feel like most people in this age group would be in similar positions. Because Miranda is a well-known person and almost everyone fears her, Andy is shown to be quite nervous and ends up rambling on in the interview – even when Miranda has asked her to stop. I believe it was a good scene to act out for our final year students, as most of us will be going on interviews with big people/companies, so it was something they could have a laugh about.
Script;
EMILY:
Oh my god. You’re still here. Go
ANDY gets up.
EMILY (cont’d):
No, stay. I don’t want you walking past her. Just sit there and I’ll pray she doesn’t notice you marring the area.
ANDY sits.
ANDY (to herself):
Wow, this is like self-esteem camp.
MIRANDA steps out of the elevator for the and we see her for first time, head- on. EMILY runs up to the hall to MIRANDA and walks her to her office.
MIRANDA:
Why didn’t you confirm?
EMILY:
I did. He must have gotten sick overnight. I’m so sorry, Miranda.
MIRANDA:
Sorry is just an excuse to make the same mistake again.
EMILY (rattling off quickly):
Here’s the bulletin so far. At 7:00, Simone called from the Paris office. She figured out the dates with Testino for the Rio shoot and confirmed with Gisele. Then at 7:15 Michael Kors called about the Model of the Year party. He’s at his house in the Caymans, I have that number. And at 8:30 Donatella Versace called about the upcoming Miami trip. She wants to know, do you need any staff besides the driver, chef, Pilates instructor, personal assistant, three maids, and a yacht captain? She said to call her back ASAP as the good yacht captains get snapped up very quickly.
MIRANDA:
Fine. I’ll be ready to roll calls in two minutes. Lets try Donatella first. Then I want Michael, Simone, and then Jay Z. And tell Nigel I need an answer about the swimwear.
MIRANDA notices ANDY
MIRANDA:
Who is that?
EMILY:
Nobody. I mean I was pre interviewing assistants for you, and she’s the last one but—
MIRANDA:
I’ll do it. You obviously can’t do anything right.
EMILY:
Oh my god. I can’t believe this is happening to me.
ANDY enters
MIRANDA:
Who are you?
ANDY:
My name is Andy Barnes. I recently graduated from—
ANDY hands MIRANDA her resume, which MIRANDA ignores. The phone buzzes. MIRANDA picks it up.
MIRANDA:
Yes, all the swimwear by 3 today..
Hangs up
What was your major?
ANDY:
English with emphasis in journalism.
MIRANDA:
Why are you here?
ANDY:
Because I think I can do a good job as your assistant and—
MIRANDA:
(Impatiently) why are you here?
ANDY is so taken back by her directness, she blurts out the truth.
ANDY:
My resume got a meeting with Human Resources and they said its this or Auto Universe
MIRANDA takes this in, pleased by her honesty.
MIRANDA:
You don’t read runway do you?
ANDY:
No.
MIRANDA:
And before today you had never heard of me, had you?
ANDY:
No.
MIRANDA:
And you have no sense of style or fashion.
ANDY:
Well that depends—
MIRANDA:
That wasn’t a question.
She finally picks up ANDYS resume. Glances
MIRANDA (cont’d):
Editor in chief of the Daily Northwestern. Impressive.
ANDY:
I also won a nationwide competition for the colleges journalists with my series on the janitors union—
MIRANDA holds up her hand.
MIRANDA:
That’s all.
ANDY startled by the abruptness, keeps talking.
ANDY:
–that uncovered the exploitation of the—
MIRANDA stares. ANDY stops talking and heads for the door. But then stops and turns.
ANDY (cont’d):
Okay, listen, I may not know a lot about fashion, but I’m smart and resourceful and will work very hard and–
And MIRANDA says… nothing
ANDY (cont’d):
And that’s it. That’s all I wanted to say. And now I’ll just.. bye-bye.
PREPARATIONS AND PROCESSES
We all chose characters we thought would suit us, and because it was a popular movie we had all seen it at least once. To prepare myself for the shoot, I typed and printed out the script for myself so that it would be easier for me to read through and remember when performing it. Before presenting it to the class and filming it, I watched The Devil Wears Prada again, so that I could better understand Andy’s character.
I have shot and filmed several footage before so I did not do much to prepare for filming our scenes. Just got used to the camera/phone we were using and.
CRITICAL REFLECTION
I think our most successful elements were that we didn’t need to know our lines word for word. We were able to make it work, by just responding to what they other person said. That definitely made it easier because that lifted a bit of pressure in having to remember heaps of line. Another successful element was that we were all able to work really well in a group. We had done a few exercises throughout the semester together, so we were already quite comfortable to be working together for our final assessment.
One thing I would improve would be to maybe practice the performance a few more times with our props. We mainly only practiced our lines together and didn’t give ourselves enough time or chances to practice everything (lines/props) together a few times. I think this would have allowed us to give a better performance.
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