September 29, 2004

• Acting Skool - Part III of III

  
  

  Okay last stretch.  To review: The previous 5 questions helped get you into the mind set with the Bio, Given Circumstances, Objectives and justifying behaviors.  Now you may be saying, “This is just so much to be thinking about when I’m performing that it’s not going to be natural.”  But think about what makes us freeze up when talking in front of a large group of people — when we don’t know what to say and/or are unprepared.  When we tell ourselves to “relax”, what happens?  We tense up even more.  It can’t be helped.  By having something tangible to prepare, you’ll be more confident and hence, more relaxed to play.

  
  

  These last 2 questions are the most important in terms of the actual acting built upon the ”homework” the previous 5 questions have answered.  So here we go: 

  
  

  6) WHAT IS THE OBSTACLE?  What’s in the way of accomplishing my Immediate Objective?  If you’re not fighting for something, it’s nothing more than narration.

  
  

   

  
  

  Ex: If you want to “escape from your captor”, your obstacle would be that your captor won’t allow you to leave.  In the last half of “The Thomas Crown Affair“, Pierce Brosnan has an arguement with Rene Russo and then she storms out the room.  In the take which made the final cut, the director told Pierce NOT to let her go —  no matter what.  And what transpired was this great scene with Rene really having to PRY herself away from him in order to achieve her objective.  Meanwhile it was in direct conflict of Pierce’s objective – to keep her in the room.  There is no drama without conflict.  

  
  

   

  
  

  7) WHAT DO I DO TO OVERCOME THE OBSTACLE?  Acting means using action verbs.  The act of doing.   Look for the actions.  Before each line of dialogue, assign it a verb: To (verb).

  
  

   

  
  

  Ex: If the scene is called for a Boy to ask out a Girl.  And her response is always “No”.  He’s not going to ask to same way the second, third or fourth time, even if the dialogue is exactly the same.  Same with for the Girl.     

  
  

   

  
  

  BOY: Will you go out with me?  (To Joke)

  
  

  GIRL: No. (To Evade)

  
  

  BOY: Will you go out with me? (To Flirt)

  
  

  GIRL: No. (To Demand)

  
  

  BOY: Will you go out with me?  (To Plead)

  
  

  GIRL: No. (To Lash)

  
  

   

  
  

  If the action is always the same, the dialogue will be monotone.  Again, you never ever want to be “left alone” or you will disappear off the stage/screen.  Actions give you something “doable” to do.  

  
  

   

  
  

  Like I said in the previous entries there are no “wrong” choices but there are stronger ones than others.  “To interrogate” is more interesting than “To ask”.  “To Needle” is another way and “To Pierce” is yet another.  These should change with each line of dialogue or the energy will level off and your lines start sounding all the same.  You are always trying different ways to fight for your objective.  (Ex: A 4-year old will ask his mom for a toy.  When she says “no”, he’ll go to his dad.  If Dad says “no”, he’ll go to his grandparents.  I fhe still doesn’t get his toy,  he’ll whine, then pitch a fit — always fighting for his goal.) Using a thesauruses is good.  The line “I hate you” can be To Joke, To Bond, To Lash – the more visual, the more powerful. 

  
  

   

  
  

  If you really did the assignment I assigned last session, that was a perfect example.  Ken Leung’s character in “Keeping the Faith” wants to make a Karaoke Machine sale.  He tries all these actions (To Confront, To Befriend, To Plead, To Joke).  Ken’s choice of his final action to make that sale was so different from all the other actors who auditioned.  That choice not only nabbed him the role but wound up being the funniest bit in the entire movie. 

  
  

   

  
  

  The rookie mistake is to work on the intonations of a sentence.  (ie: Will you go out with me?  Will you go out with me?  Will you go out with me?)  If a piece of dialogue is not working, chances are you don’t know your action or just need to pick a stronger verb to illicit that performance from yourself that makes everyone nod their head saying, “Yes, that take felt right.”  Because no matter what you say or how you say it, as long as you’ve done your homework, answered those 7 questions honestly, anyway you say the words will be the “right” way — and the audience will get it. 

  
  

   

  
  

  An easy trick — cross out all punctuation in the script.  That way the exclamation points and question marks don’t lock you into the obvious ways of saying them.  (Ex: If the line was: “Look over there!”  As long as you have the right intentions in your head, you can drive home the same point with that line without having to yell it.  And give a more interesting spin on it than the rest.) 

  
  

   

  
  

  And then, just… listen.  And react.  If you’re really listening to the other actor, and you know where your reponses are coming from — it’s like a great back and forth game of tennis.  And then your lines become easy to memorize because it’s simply just a conversation.   

  
  

   

  
  

  After tuning up with a technique for years, like anything else, all this will eventually become second nature.  I can break down a script fairly quickly now but there are times when I need to fall back on these 7 questions. 

  
  

   

  
  

  The above technique is my foundation, specifically Stanislavsky/Uta Hagen/Lee Strasberg ie: “The Method”.  There is another method called Meisner Technique or Stella Adler’s teachings which falls under the belief that your own life experiences are not large enough to draw from, so you must use your imagination/improvisation.  In the end, you basically need to steal from both and make it into whatever works best for you.  But you need to know what the rules are first before you can break ‘em.     

  
  

   

  
  

  A technique exists to put a name to what your instinct already wants to do so you can consciously repeat your choices and it not be a crap shoot. 

  
  

   

  
  

  Technique is also for the days when you don’t feel like doing the work.  Whether you’re having a bad day or on Broadway doing the same stuff day in and day out for over a year — you can perform on auto-pilot from the “homework” you’ve done and still give a fully realized performance.  So that even on your worst day, you’re still better than most on their best day.

  
  

   

  
  

  These are the same lessons that I taught my H.S. Drama Students as well as my Master Program Students this summer.  And the great thing is that this process is the same for stage OR film – with only tiny adjustments.  After I did this lesson for a theatre student in the Master’s Program, she said, “You just summarized 4 years of undergrad into 2 days.”  I told her, “ See?  I could’ve saved you over $40,000.”     YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Putting this all into application.  Unless you do it, it won’t become muscle memory.

  
  

   

  
  

  I usually start off my students with 1) Improvisation to learn how to play and use their natural instincts and then move them onto 2) The Technique mentioned above to hone that energy and sense of play.  And then after a few years of it becoming second nature, you know what the step after is?  3) Leaning to throw it out the window.  Because at a certain point, the acting will become too polished and will look over-analytical, stilited and wooden.

  
  

   

  
  

  You want to come into an audition room prepared but still loose.  But that’s a lesson for another day.     Well, this concludes “Acting Skool“.  Hope you got a little more insight into the inner workings of this crazy world of fake walls and people standing around saying lines of dialogue while others film it.

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