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Dear Aloha Community,
Interested in finding a way to engage in some dramatics over Zoom with camp friends this summer? Watch the video below! I include tips for creating your own scene and John Purcell and I doing DMV Tyrant by Christopher Durang – enjoy:
If you want to do the DMV Tyrant scene, a link to the script is here.
Otherwise, feel free to find any scene (or monologue) you want, and just hop on zoom and work on it with a friend! If you want to record it & send that along to campconnections@alohafoundation.org, go for it, and we’ll try to post a few! ☺
Here are some tips for recording drama on zoom:
- Pull the script up on your computer, so you can read the lines while looking kinda close to the camera. (One option is even to treat the script as your scene partner, and keep your eyeline there, and it’ll look like you’re keeping your eyes on the person you’re talking to – instead of even ever looking at the video of the other actor. That’s what John & I did, though the disadvantage there is that you don’t get to react to their facial expressions – either way, up to you! However you want to navigate the camera & your script is just fine 🙂
- If you want to record it, don’t forget to have the host hit “record” (in the bottom center) before you start the scene. And then when you’re done and the meeting is ended, zoom will save the file in a folder that I believe pops open when the saving of the video is done. Just rename the file &/or drag it to your desktop, and there you have it.
- Then, if you have the technological know-how for this, try to put the video file into an editing program and chop off any non-scene chatter from the beginning and end, so you can save a new video file that is just the content of the scene.
- Specifically for the DMV Tyrant scene, if you can find a way to have a Department of Motor Vehicles sign under or in the window of the DMV Clerk actor, that’d be great for adding clarity/context to the scene to anyone watching it – you can do this in editing like I did, or even just make a little paper sign that that actor puts in frame somewhere in front of & below them, or behind them somewhere.
That’s all! The only other piece is: to have some FUN!
Wishing everyone well,
Tommy Dickie
