Mentorship diary

I Shall be keeping a diary on this blog about a mentor for my carrier, the person i have Chosen for this is Hugh Jackman.

I intend to make updates as I go along with anything i think is relevant, but this is my initial analysis and commentary.

"Hugh Jackman mentorship diary/blog

I shall be using Hugh Jackman as my ‘mentor’ for my own carrier in so far as is applicable and within the scope of this course.

Reasons that I have chosen Hugh Jackman as my mentor.

1. He is Australian like myself.

2. He has a very similar aim in so far as carriers go as myself, meaning an equal interest in both stage and film acting as well as a musical interest. Though my own musical interest is more primary.

3. Both our primary musical expression seems to be done via voice.

4. He does not seem to be caught in the ‘stardom’ as others are.

Commentary on Hugh Jackman’s early life/ establishment of carrier.

Interestingly Jackman did not always wish to be an actor, he initially studied to become a journalist, to that end he completed a bachelor of communication at the university of technology in Sydney. It was only after he completed this degree that he realised that he did not actually want to become a journalist, and realised that he actually had a passion for acting due to the drama class he took in the last year of degree. To tryout acting, he auditioned for a role in neighbours, and in the interim between audition and response he enrolled in WAAPA (Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts), he got into both, and deciding to make a proper go of his carrier and threw himself into his course, turning down the neighbors role.

The message I get out of this is to make sure I have my goals, and not take every opportunity that comes to me, especially the ones that lead me off the path that I wish to take.

After completing his course at WAAPA, he got into a stage role, such as ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and then got a some of roles in various soap operas; Blue Heelers, Law Of The Land Correlli, minor episodes and such.

From his I get that building a name for your self is a very good idea. To make yourself known, and that it is important to make sure you build your name through the right means, not choosing any opportunity that comes your way.

Jackman the moved onto get a number of larger roles on both stage and screen. These roles included parts in two Australian films ‘Paperback Hero’ and ‘Erskineville Kings’ these films were relatively uneventful in terms of Jackman’s success, just another step on the rung. The role that did contribute to his success is his part in the musical ‘Oklahoma!’. This part contributed to his success in that an audience member would become the director of X-men, and he later suggested that Jackman take the role after another actor had to step out.

The story I take from his is that all performances are important, and all should be given ones all. As you never know who will be watching, as he could just have easily gotten a role from the movie as from the stage production. This brings up an interesting point; luck, which is, as I have observed a very real factor in the performance industry, and as with all things concerning luck, one must be persistent in the face of failure, and constantly give 110%. Because in Jackman’s case, the director could just as easily not been in the crowd for his ‘Oklahoma!’ performance, or the actor that did drop out could have not, thus causing his ‘break’ to not occur.

Jackman was hen asked if he would like to take the role of Wolverine in the movie X-men, which was his major break for fame, and from that performance he had roles written for him such as Van Helsing, as well as the other movies in the franchise. And this break also opened doors for him in other movies such as ‘Swordfish’ as well various other movies.

From this I take that that when one gets a break, one should defiantly ride it!

A point I particularly like about Hugh Jackman, and the main reason I’ve chosen him as my mentor is because even after he achieved this massive Hollywood fame, he retained the depth of his carrier, i.e. taking the lead role in ‘The boy from Oz’, and doing such a good job of it that he received a Tony award for his performance.

From this I take that one should continue doing what one loves, even if one has ‘made’ it, don’t get lazy and take the easy path, constantly work in life and do as many things that you love as you can. Success comes to those that work!

In recent times Jackman has taken more roles in various movies, adding more wood to the fire of his fame.

Being that I’m more interested in how to get ones carrier started, I don’t see much to comment on in the sustaining of his carrier, aside from that the method by which he’s going about it is worth of praise, taking mainly if not only interesting and stimulating movies, not ‘selling out’.

References:

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/hugh-jackman/biography/42?page=2

http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Jackman-Hugh.html

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insight

I just got told by my (hopefully) teacher that any more than 16 voices would be too unwieldy, as everything must be sung a Capella, or unaccompanied. so this reduces my previouse estimate of forty voices quite considerably.

Problems faced by the Idea

There are a number of problems with this idea. I will try to identify and solve the ones I can think of.
(note: P= Problem S=Solution)
P: actually finding the forty odd people to donate there time to the choir.
S: using my contacts in industry I would go around to various artists and or opera organisations and present my idea, hopefully enrolling them in the positives of the idea, and getting them involved.

P: Choice of songs
S: myself and a few guiding individuals would choose the songs that we think are the most easily accessible to the general public.

P: locations/ target audience age
S: the target audience age would be around 18 to 30, and thus we/I would do research into where good places to go to get exposure is. also Filming said performances and putting them up on YouTube could generate good publicity also.

I can't really think of any other problems, as the cost of this venture is nigh non existent.

Description of my idea.

so my idea is to have a flash choir.
This means that a a group of Classical singers, (Soprano Alto Tenor Baritone/bass) numbering around fourty, would arrange to converge at a place in casual clothing and sing a song or two, and then dissipate. these places could be places like the train at peak hour, fed square on he weekend the streets of flinders outside parliament, just generally places where there are lots of people.

It is important to note that this choir would rehearse togetehr, at least on a weekly bases for a while. so that they sing well together and that their pieces sound good. clearly the singers would have to be able to sing without instrumental accompanyment. (bar mabEy the first perosn to sing, who brings a small mouth organ or somethign to tune against.)

There are two purposes to this project, the first being bringing the joy of classical choral music to all people, which will hopefully fulfill the second purpose which is to increase the interest in classical music, and thus hopefully the attendance of opera's and orchestra recitals etc.

Stats on classical music

Here's some quick stats I found about the classical music area.

(so these stats basically show that there's a whole lot of funding for classical music, but very little attendance. and so possibly the aim of my flash choir could be to bring classical music to people, and thus increase their interest in it, hopefully increasing the attendance of classical music.)





http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/arts_funding/reports_and_publications/government_funding_of_music_concerts

"About 1.5 million people aged 15 years and over attended classical music concerts in the 12 months prior to interview, according to a 2005-06 survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

These concert-goers represent 9 per cent of the population in their age group. Among them, 58 per cent attended classical music concerts more than once in 12 months.

Around 4 million people aged 15 years and over attended popular music concerts. They account for one-quarter of the population in their age group.

Among them, about 65 per cent attend popular music concerts more than once in a year.The number of people aged 18 years and over attending music concerts increased between 2002 and 2006.

For classical music concerts the rate of attendance increased from 9 per cent to 12 per cent. For popular music concerts the rate increased from 26 per cent to 32 per cent."

http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/music/reports_and_publications/attendance_at_music_concerts

In 2006-07, the Australian Government and state and territory governments provided about $166.3 million in funding to organisations for performance of vocal and instrumental music, according to the Cultural Ministers Council Statistics Working Group.

http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/arts_funding/reports_and_publications/government_funding_of_music_concerts

The type of practitioner I am

Just incase you didn't notice. music and performing is what really gets me going. and so if i were to class my self as a practiioner I would class myself as a musician/actor. though not just the singer/actor who does random plays. I love and aim to expand peoples minds bringing them new thoughts and ideas, so that they may live a happier life, and help those around them lead a happier life also. this means thast I love creating my own songs and plays, and contantly have half formed ideas bubbling away in my head. this also means that were you to ask what thype of practitioner I am, I would reply, "a passionate one!" and then go on to specify that I'm a performer.

Final decision.

So I've decided to go weith my idea for a flash choir, as it is the one that most appeals to my intersts.

I particualarly enjoy the bit about bringing music to everyone. i think this will be particularly great as it will help bring people closer, in sharing a common enjoyment. something i've noticed is when something funny or new and excting happens around people, people start talking to strangers in a friendly and open manner. I feel that the simple beauty of classical choral works will do that wonderfully, especially as the music and performers themselves will just spring up. I also really enjoy that I could actually do this project, and that the greatest difficulty would be finding 40 or so singers willing to donate their services.

Just as a note, the choir would need to be pretty well fleashed out, ie baritiones, tenors, altos and sopranos.

comparation of ideas

so I'm comparing the two main idea that I like.
One: Interactive dancefloor
vs
Two: Flash Choir

benifits of the flash choir: it is an unplifitng and fun project, which brings music especially classical music direct to people. which is something I really want to do. the monetary cost is quite low to implement this, and doesn't require the development of technology. it is something i could actually do.

Benifits of the intereactive dancefloor: it is a fun and innovative peice of technology (though it utalises current technology), which could bring a whole new dimension to clubs, or just be a fun experiance as demonstrations. it has the capacity to create profite. it brings the creation of music to a public colaborative level.

Downsides of Flash Choir: it has no capacity for profit, requires a lot of skilled individuals, to give their servises for free.

Downsides of the intereactive dancefloor: it requires the tweaking of current techonology, which could be expensive. it would have quite large setup costs. it would be difficult to create an effective and easy interface.

Answering some questions

Is there a need for it?: There is no specific need for the product, but as with all entertainment technology there is no need perse, but it would entertain.

Does it have growth potential: Yes, there is a potential for growth.

Is it within my capacity to do?: not technically.

What the dancefloor could be made of.

Possibly the dancfloor could be a linked system of this technology
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx

This is a video about the reactable to give you an idea of what I mean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc

potential ideas

Idea one: 'band on the streets' fundamentally a band loaded into a truck, and it drives around to places with lots of people and plays a 'flash gig' of about two songs, then leaves. and does it somewhere else.

Idea two: 'interactive dance floor' a dance floor, which acts similarly to the reactable, in that people dance upon it, and each step makes a note, this note is determined by the size and shape of the shoes the person is wearing, and people could have shoes with shapes on the soles, to create different instruments, and as more people dance, the music gets more complicated.

*another variation a person controls what points n the dance-floor produce which sounds, in a sense conducting the music that s produced.

Idea three: a flash Choir, possibly singing massive works in big spacious places like train stations etc. ( this idea doesn't really have much scope for intricacy, but could still be fun)

decision

I've decided to drop my idea of the housing project, as i've been having some deiscussions with people, as well as doing some research, and I realise that a major problem with my idea is that it will start ghettoisation, even with the close services. what this reveals is a flaw in my thinking, i forgot that you cannot force improvement or change on anyone. This is fundamentally what my idea was trying to do.

Now to come up with another pitch idea...

foyer plan

Public transport solution.

A problem with public transport is the safty on the platforms. a solution to this is putting a rail across the platfor, with automated sliding doors for the doors of the train.

target audiance for pitch.

my audience is 50-60 year old civil servants in charge of housing and the running of cities/ societies.
Persona
name Peter sex: male
Age: 55
Job: Peter is a senior public housing official and or politician, who looks after current estates and is part of the team who plans them. What is peter thinking: peter has been in the same job, dealing with the lower class of people for quite a while, and thus is a little jaded. he would like to see improvement, but has little faith.

Peter talks about: peter talks alot about money, both how much he has, and how much his department needs to spend, his days are spent dealing with spenditure and revenue. Thus he is talking about how he can increase the effectiveness of his spenditure, thus increasing the amount of things he can spend on. On a personal level he talks about international and local politics, his leisure activities such as golf and classical music. he is concerned with the welfare of his children, possibly is either proud of what they are doing, or irritated by it, possibly they ask for too much money.

Peter's leisure activities. Peter plays golf, goes out to expensive restaurants.

Peter hears: a lot of classical music, and talk back radio. The reward that my pitch presents to

Peter is that it is an effective use of budget, thus freeing up more of the budget allotted to his department. Consequently he is seen to be doing a better job.

Neophix out

Pitch Idea: Houseing aparetements for the city, for those that need it. (note that this is a work in progress, thus has faults, and needs to be perfected)

The idea is to have apartement buildings desinged as community houseing.
The inspiration for this idea is that there is great public complaint about the care taken of convicts, when there is not enough care takken of the aged citizens and poor of the nation.
These apartement buildings will be cituated near the CBD, within 20 minuets public transport travel. They will be strictly regulated apartements, designed in such a way that encourages those that are living in them to set up a system that supports themselves.
Saftey buttons.

Problem’s faced by this idea: Pitch Idea: Houseing aparetements for the city, for those that need it.

The idea is to have apartement buildings desinged as community houseing.
The inspiration for this idea is that there is great public complaint about the care taken of convicts, when there is not enough care takken of the aged citizens and poor of the nation.
These apartement buildings will be cituated near the CBD, within 20 minuets public transport travel. They will be strictly regulated apartements, designed in such a way that encourages those that are living in them to set up a system that supports themselves.

Problem’s faced by this idea: ghettoisation, ie the building would turn into a slum, and become a problem area.

the way this problem could be addressed is that the boittom floor of the building could be a complex in which there is employment agencies and counceling facilities etc, so that the people could be advised and dicouraged from stagnating.

any suggestions?

Class on the 30th of march

So, today in my class of Creativity and innovation we had to do come up with a project combining to different ideas, the two different concepts my group had to combine were music and deaf people, and ignoring the immediate thoughts of Beethoven, I suggested the idea of creating a chair with many separate variational nodes, so that pieces of music could be translated into a different sense, the idea was then proposed by one of my group mates to present this in a hall or performance situation, combining light shows, with the variational chairs, to create a complete experience to convey the music to people who cannot hear.
I also presented “a cool device” of a magnetic power generator, which creates ‘free energy’ I think it’s clear why this is cool

Be well guys.

mood bored attempt

so this is a little attempt at mood boreding, to demonstrate the idea behind the band I'm thinking of starting.

Filming; Parkour

hey guy's! I'm not sure if i mentioned, but I love parkour, and am interested in both doing it and filming it. and I've found these awesome camera's; check them out!

"Panasonic Super Lightweight Video CamerasPanasonic has brought two super lightweight video cameras in the market in the United States. Both the cameras - SD10 & TM10 are light, weighing about 250 grams each. They are capable of recording High Definition video at 1080i resolution in AVCHD (H.264) format.
Besides being easier to hold, each one has a relatively long zoom range (16X) and an advanced optical image stabilizer that specifically eliminates the blur effect when the user is moving.
The video camera supports autofocus of subjects and has touch screen interface for many of its "

An insperation

So, I thought i'd just give you guys a link to a piece of music that inspired me to become an opera singer. The piece is called O fortuna, from Carmina Burana. When I first heard this piece, I fell in love with it, and decided that I needed to sing in the choir of this piece, and thus started on my journey to becoming an opera singer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t4ei1khHPI&feature=fvw
I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.

The Alpha

So, my first post, and thus my first part of uni homework! Joy.

so, to give 'you' the anonymous reader, and introduction to myself;

I am Jay, I am nineteen, male and an arts student, which should give you a very general idea of my disposition. That and my authorial voice.

should 'you' be interested in further research regarding my personage, you may look me up on facebook, which is my full name, Jay Forest Phoenix Hannon, and don't worry, there's only one of me.

to give you a brief over view of what I do with myself when voluntarily filling my time,

I love music, I am aiming to be an opera singer, among other things, other things being that I wish to also compose music, and act, as well as write plays/movies etc.

I also have a love of the martial arts, specifically the more soft form styles, and I practice Goju Kai karate.

I also fire-twirl, both with Poi and Staff, and I fire-breath. (photo's of which are available on my facebook)

So now you have a vague idea of Jay, do you feel enlightened?