Mini Project: Monologue Speech 50 Points You will select a monologue from a film that you will memorize and present to the class. The monologue you choose must be school appropriate, or you will receive a zero for this assignment. The objective of this assignment is to work on the skillset of delivering a speech. I’ve posted the specific standards this assignment meets below.

Standards met for monologue speech project: 11-12.SL.6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. 11-12.SL.3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.

Specifications: Please see rubric for everything you must do to achieve full points for this assignment.

7 Easy Monologue Memorization Tips Posted on July 28, 2015 by New York Film Academy Monologue memorization is a process, and the focus should always remain on the performance, not solely on the memorization of the text. However, without knowing the words, an actor cannot do in-depth work.

With the following tips in your memorization arsenal, monologue preparation will be a painless process…

It’s a Pick ‘em Game

The first step in monologue memorization is the selection process. This is the foundation of preparation and affects all steps of the process, including memorization speed. Actors who are personally connected to the text they are memorizing are more motivated to explore the work, and will understand the monologue more easily.

Choose a monologue that speaks to you as a person and as a performer.

Choose a monologue that is in the active voice, not past tense, or repeating previously revealed information. Monologues where a character speaks to another person or a group of people, in an attempt to get something from them, provide natural objectives and stakes.

Choose a monologue that you are familiar with. Knowledge of back story enriches a performance by providing layers of feeling toward other characters, and helps to establish the internal emotions of the speaker.

Break it Up Once a personal monologue has been selected, text work is the next step. Read the monologue for story and understanding, and then break the text up into beats. Each beat should have a different action and objective associated with it.

This is also the time to edit the monologue if needed. A monologue should only be 60-90 seconds, and never more than 2 minutes long. An appropriate length will make memorization faster and allow more time to invest in the depth of performance.

Be sure to maintain the story arc when editing with a decisive start and a finish that shows change(s) in the character.

Write it Out

Now you have a short and sweet monologue that is split into beats that have transitions built in between them. Write out the text by hand the whole way through.

Studies show that handwriting boosts retention because it activates more of the brain, connecting fine motor movement with the memory cortex. Handwriting is literally muscle-memory for monologue memorization.

Get Active You’ll stand at the front of the class when presenting, so move around when you are learning your monologue as well. Adding locomotion to your memorization efforts connects the words to movement, which will make your performance more fluid and flexible in the end.

One suggestion is to take a walk with your script. As you walk around, quietly recite your monologue beat by beat. Start with the first beat, and when it is memorized add the second beat. This step by step process of memorization forces you to remember the transitions, which are where good acting takes place.

Switch it Up

After you have the monologue memorized, continue to explore possible objectives and actions. You can do this by speaking and moving differently during each performance of the monologue. Practice with different volumes, dialects, posture, speed, pauses, etc. Change anything and everything about your performance and observe how it changes the emotional outcome.

A Italiano

Don’t actually try to recite the monologue in Italian, unless you know Italian, then that would be an interesting way to switch up your tactics. What I mean is, perform the first three sentences in your monologue as fast as possible, or perform the last three sentences in your monologue as slow as possible, or recite your full monologue with a different accent, or pretend your monologue is a poem- recite it with a cadence or rhythm. All of these tactics can help you memorize your monologue.

Name: ______Monologue Rubric

Criteria Excellent Work Good Work Fair Work Poor Work (10-9 points) (8-6 points) (5-3 points) (2-1 points) point of view point of view point of view point of view and and person are and person are and person are person are integrated; an clear, focused, clear and inconsistent; an implied listener and consistent; consistent; an implied listener is is evident an implied implied listener seldom evident Elements throughout the listener is is evident monologue established

natural gestures gestures or behaviors, lacks and movement movements are gestures, or involvement; no enhance fine, but may movements do movement or Physical message; fit have omitted not fit the gestures Delivery character or role obvious character character behaviors adjusts volume, uses volume, uses volume, uses volume, tone, and pace to tone, and pace tone, and pace tone, and pace achieve a special appropriate to somewhat to inappropriately or effect or for the content and suit the content ineffectively; impact; purpose; and purpose; limited use of nonverbal nonverbal nonverbal nonverbal gestures and gestures and gestures and gestures and facial expression facial facial facial expressions enhance expression suit expressions are Speaking Techniques characterization the character occasionally distracting or inappropriate to the character

Fully Mostly Poorly Not memorized; memorized and memorized but memorized; needs constant Memorization does not need stumbles over a needs prompting from any prompting few thoughts or prompting from the teacher from the teacher phrases the teacher Monologue Monologue lasts Monologue is Monologue is Monologue is Length a full minute almost a minute 49 seconds or under 39 seconds long shorter

Comments: Total: _____ / 50

The Blind Side (2009) Screenwriter(s): John Lee Hancock

"To Protect His Blind Side"

In the film's opening lines, strong-minded Memphis mother Leigh Anne Touhy (Oscar-winning Sandra Bullock) narrated these words during a video replay of one shocking and unforgettable play during a football game held in Washington, D.C on November 18, 1985 (Monday night), between the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants. During a blitz, defensive linebacker Lawrence Taylor (and others) sacked Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann during a 'flea-flicker,' causing a compound fracture of Theismann's lower right leg. As a result, the highest paid football player, after the quarterback, is the left tackle, who protects the quarterback's 'blind side':

There's a moment of orderly silence before a football play begins. Players are in position, linemen are frozen, and anything is possible. Then, like a traffic accident, stuff begins to randomly collide. From the snap of the ball to the snap of the first bone is closer to four seconds than five.

One Mississippi. Joe Theismann, the Redskins' quarterback, takes the snap and hands off to his running back. Two Mississippi. It's a trick play, a flea-flicker, and the running back tosses the ball back to the quarterback. Three Mississippi. Up to now, the play's been defined by what the quarterback sees. It's about to be defined by what he doesn't. Four Mississippi. Lawrence Taylor is the best defensive player in the NFL, and has been from the time he stepped onto the field as a rookie. He will also change the game of football as we know it. Legendary quarterback Joe Theismann never played another down of football.

Now, y'all would guess that, more often than not, the highest paid player on an NFL team is a quarterback, and you'd be right. But what you probably don't know is, that more often than not, the second highest paid player is, thanks to Lawrence Taylor, a left tackle. Because, as every housewife knows, the first check you write is for the mortgage, but the second is for the insurance. And the left tackle's job is to protect the quarterback from what he can't see coming. To protect his blind side. The ideal left tackle is big, but a lot of people are big. He's wide in the butt and massive in the thighs. He has long arms, giant hands and feet as quick as a hiccup. This is a rare and expensive combination the need for which can be traced to that Monday night game and Lawrence Taylor. For on that day, he not only altered Joe Theismann's life, but mine as well.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Screenwriter(s): Aline Brosh McKenna

About Fashion "Stuff"

While deciding between two belts for an outfit, recent college grad and co-assistant Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway) mentioned that they both looked exactly the same and that she was still learning about "this stuff." Ruthless, powerful, demanding and cynical fashion magazine Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) responded to directly humiliate her:

'This... stuff'? Oh, ok. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select, I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin.

However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006) Screenwriter(s): Zach Helm

The Importance of Small Things in Life

The film's ending gave the last poignant, narrated words of Karen Eiffel's typewritten novel about the importance of the small things in life. After Harold had been struck by a bus (he pushed a little boy away to avoid getting hit) and luckily survived, he found out his continued existence was solely due to a piece of shard metal from his wristwatch which had obstructed a severed artery in his right arm and prevented him from bleeding to death.

Her voice-over was accompanied by a montage of scenes of the film's cast of characters (both major and minor):

As Harold took a bite of Bavarian sugar cookie, he finally felt as if everything was going to be okay. Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. And fortunately, when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort - not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, soft- spoken secrets and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the occasional piece of fiction.

And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives. I know the idea seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true. And so it was: a wristwatch saved Harold Crick.

Love Actually (2003, UK) Screenwriter(s): Richard Curtis

"Love Actually is All Around"

The British Prime Minister (Hugh Grant), in a voice-over credits prologue, spoke about how "love is everywhere," with views of the arrivals terminal at London's Heathrow Airport where people were greeting each other, hugging and kissing:

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinions starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.

V for Vendetta (2006) Screenwriter(s): Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

V's Introduction to Evey

Mysterious "man in a mask" vigilante and anarchistic freedom fighter V (Hugo Weaving) gave a verbose introduction of himself to rescued Evey ("E-V") Hammond (Natalie Portman) after a rape attempt by police agents.

His speech included about 50 words starting with the letter V:

But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona. Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. [He giggled] Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

V for Vendetta (2006) Screenwriter(s): Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

"Words Offer...The Enunciation of Truth"

Bold, anarchistic freedom fighter V (Hugo Weaving) took over the state television broadcast a day after destroying the Old Bailey. He offered the people of London in the UK reasons to ignite a revolution against oppressive, totalitarian (fascist) government. He urged the people of Britain to rise up and meet him on November 5th one year later outside the gates of Parliament, which he promised would also be destroyed:

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine - the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) Screenwriter(s): Douglas Adams, Karey Kirkpatrick

Sperm Whale and Bowl of Petunias Ruminations

The humorous speech by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - known as the Book, the Narrator or The Guide (voice of Stephen Fry) regarding how the orbiting spaceshipHeart of Gold, powered by the Infinite Probability Drive, suddenly transformed two nuclear missiles into a giant sperm whale and a bowl of petunias.

As the sperm whale fell out of orbit through the Magrathean atmosphere toward the alien planet, its thought processes were described:

It is important to note that suddenly, and against all probability, a sperm whale had been called into existence, several miles above the surface of an alien planet. But since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity. This is what it thought as it fell: 'Ahhh! Whoa! What's happening? Who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose in life? What do I mean by 'who am I'? Okay, okay, calm down, calm down, get a grip now. Ooh, this is an interesting sensation. What is it? It's a sort of a tingling in my... well, I suppose I better start finding names for things. Let's call it a... tail! Yeah! Tail! And hey, what's this roaring sound, whooshing past what I'm suddenly gonna call my head? Wind! Is that a good name? It'll do. Yeah, this is really exciting! I'm dizzy with anticipation! Or is it the wind? There's an awful lot of that now, isn't it? And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me? Hello Ground!'

The Notebook (2004) Screenwriter(s): Jeremy Leven

"Don't You Take The Easy Way Out!" - "What Do You Want?!"

Facing a big life decision about their future together in the 1940s, Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) claimed that his sweetheart Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) was bored with her life, and shouldn't marry her fiancee Lon Hammond (James Marsden) only for his money and for security. He believed that there was "something missing" in her life with Lon. He also asserted that fighting between them was very real, because having a long-term relationship was "gonna be really hard":

Well, that's what we do. We fight. You tell me when I am being an arrogant son of a bitch and I tell you when you are being a pain in the ass - which you are, 99% of the time. I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings. You have like a two second rebound rate, and you're back doing the next pain-in-the-ass thing...So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now? What's it look like? If it's with that guy, go. Go! I lost you once, I think I could do it again, if I thought it's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out.

Spider-Man 2 (2004) Screenwriter(s): Alvin Sargent

"Everybody Loves a Hero"

After Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) had suffered a series of personal setbacks, including the loss of his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) to another man, estrangement from best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco), and the sudden loss of his own superhero powers, he decided to live his own life and give up being crime-fighting Spider-Man.

His Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) encouraged him to reconsider, reminding him about the importance of heroes in life, especially since young neighbor boy Henry Jackson (Jason Fiore-Ortiz) had become sad about Spider-Man's disappearance:

He knows a hero when he sees one. Too few characters out there, flying around like that, saving old girls like me. And Lord knows, kids like Henry need a hero. Courageous, self-sacrificing people setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero. People line up for 'em. Cheer them. Scream their names. And years later, they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them to hold on a second longer.

I believe there's a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride. Even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams. Spider-Man did that for Henry and he wonders where he's gone. He needs him.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 episode 16 Mayor Wilkins

Wilkins: If you're watching this I'm dead And our noble campaign to bring order to the town of Sunnydale has failed . . . Utterly and completely. (standing) But on the other hand, heck! Maybe we won. (laughs as he rounds the desk to stand in front of it) And right now I'm on some jumbo monitor in the Richard Wilkins Museum surrounded by a bunch of kids sitting indian-style and looking up at my face, filled with fear and wonder. (chuckles and leans forward) Hi, kids! (laughs): But the realist in me tends to doubt it. Now, Faith, as I record this message you're, uh (expression shows signs of pain) . . .sleeping. And the doctors tell me that you might never wake up. I don't believe that. Sooner or later, you will wake up and when you do, you'll find the world has gone and changed on you. I wish I could make the world a better place for you to wake up in, but . . . tough as it is to accept we both have to understand that even my power to protect and watch over you has its limits. See the hard pill to swallow here is that . . . once I'm gone . . your days are just plain numbered. Now I know, I know you're a--you're a smart and capable young woman in charge of her own life. But the problem, Faith, is that, uh, there won't be a place in the world for you anymore. Right now I bet you're feeling very much alone. But you're never alone. You'll always have me. And . . . . you'll always have this. (chuckles) Go ahead. Open the box. Don't worry. It's not gonna bite. That's my job. Go ahead! Open it! Surprise! See, you don't get these in any gumball machine. When you've been around as long as I have you make friends. And some of them forge neat little gizmos like the one you're holding right now. And here's the good news-- just because it's over for my Faith, doesn't mean she can't go out with a bang.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Screenwriter(s): , , Stephen Sinclair,

"There's Some Good in This World...And It's Worth Fighting For"

On a quest to destroy the One Ring at Mordor with hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) who was ready to give up, his loyal companion Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) reflected on how their story might have a happy ending, even though they had already faced so much adversity. He insisted that they must continue and hold onto what they were fighting for:

I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. And I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turnin' back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holdin' on to something. Tthere's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) Screenwriter(s): Steve Kloves

"I Can Tell You How to Bottle Fame, Brew Glory, and Even Put a Stopper in Death"

Devious Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), during his first Potions class, ominously instructed his Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry students. He picked on 'the boy who lived' Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), calling him "our new celebrity," and then provokingly questioned him to embarrass and belittle him:

There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death. Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention! Mr. Potter. Our new celebrity.

Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? You don't know? Well, let's try again. Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?...And what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?...Pity. Clearly, fame isn't everything, is it, Mr. Potter?

Remember the Titans (2000) Screenwriter(s): Gregory Allen Howard

Take a Lesson From the Dead - "Maybe We'll Learn to Play This Game Like Men"

In the early 1970s, newly-hired African-American Coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) for the Titans football team at desegregated T.C. Williams High School spoke to his racially-integrated team. They had just completed an uphill training run to the Gettysburg battlefield of the Civil War and its cemetery. He advocated racial harmony as a means to triumph on the field:

Anybody know what this place is? This is Gettysburg. This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fightin' the same fight that we're still fightin' amongst ourselves today. This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pourin' right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. You listen, you take a lesson from the dead.

If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other right now, but you will respect each other. And maybe - I don't know, maybe we'll learn to play this game like men.

The Matrix (1999) Screenwriter(s): Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

The Matrix - "You Have To See it For Yourself"

Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), underground hacker and captain of the hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar, began to teach computer programmer Thomas Anderson/Neo (Keanu Reeves) about the truth of reality:

I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Hmm? ...I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life: that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Do you want to know what The Matrix is? It is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.

The Matrix (1999) Screenwriter(s): Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Human Beings Are A Virus - "You Are a Plague and We Are the Cure"

Sinister and sentient Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), having imprisoned Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), and with his captive audience declared that human beings were a virus:

I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. And the only way you can survive is to spread to another area.

There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease. A cancer of this planet. You are a plague. And we are the cure.