Thursday, January 31, 2013
Day 52...
Day 52: I am thankful that it is all over. And good Italian over. So, I guess I am also thankful that I live in New York, where I can get good Italian food.
Day 51...
Day 51: I am thankful that good friends can make you forget about everything for a little while.
Day 49...
Day 49: I am thankful that I am beginning to learn that it is only a test. Worrying about grades and college and all that just isn't worth it. Why does learning have to be so stressful? I have 1.5 years left of High School and I intend to enjoy it.
My Observations...
Today was the last day of the workshop, and I finally got up there and did it again. We ran through the scene a few times and I made a few observations...
1. Nerves are my friend. Whenever I get nervous I seem to perform better. Surprisingly I wasn't that nervous monday, but not having done it since then, jumping back into it today was a little nerve racking. Standing there, my stomach turned a bit and my heart began to flutter. I can't even say why I was nervous ,there was no reason to be, but who cares? It helped. Today the scene felt a million times better. I guess my nerves helped inspire me to fight harder for my "action" and raised the stakes. The key was, I didn't fight my nervousness, I embraced it, and used it as fuel in the scene.
2. I need to watch. I realized today one of my biggest problems is that I don't watch my scene partner closely, or even at all. There's a difference between watching and looking and I learned that today. I've always looked at my scene parter but I was always watching myself. Noticing what I was doing, what my voice sounded like, how my body felt, etc., but it should be the other way around. The more I focus I put on my scene parter the less I was watching myself and the better the scene became. This is going to be an extremely hard habit to break because that's what I do to myself in real life (constantly judge), but I'm going to work on it.
3. Body language is sometimes more important that spoken language. When I was doing my work on the monologue the gestures really brought it to life. My body was so much more powerful than my words or my mind. If felt more real for me with the physical gestures and the size and speed than it did with the "as-ifs". This is definitely something to keep in mind. Physicality works best for me, which makes sense considering I'm a dancer.
1. Nerves are my friend. Whenever I get nervous I seem to perform better. Surprisingly I wasn't that nervous monday, but not having done it since then, jumping back into it today was a little nerve racking. Standing there, my stomach turned a bit and my heart began to flutter. I can't even say why I was nervous ,there was no reason to be, but who cares? It helped. Today the scene felt a million times better. I guess my nerves helped inspire me to fight harder for my "action" and raised the stakes. The key was, I didn't fight my nervousness, I embraced it, and used it as fuel in the scene.
2. I need to watch. I realized today one of my biggest problems is that I don't watch my scene partner closely, or even at all. There's a difference between watching and looking and I learned that today. I've always looked at my scene parter but I was always watching myself. Noticing what I was doing, what my voice sounded like, how my body felt, etc., but it should be the other way around. The more I focus I put on my scene parter the less I was watching myself and the better the scene became. This is going to be an extremely hard habit to break because that's what I do to myself in real life (constantly judge), but I'm going to work on it.
3. Body language is sometimes more important that spoken language. When I was doing my work on the monologue the gestures really brought it to life. My body was so much more powerful than my words or my mind. If felt more real for me with the physical gestures and the size and speed than it did with the "as-ifs". This is definitely something to keep in mind. Physicality works best for me, which makes sense considering I'm a dancer.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
It's not easy...
Today I was watching and I noticed something pretty cool. First of all the "as-ifs" work like magic. After no more than a minute of doing the exercise, the actors and actresses were completely invested. They were fully committed to doing their "activity" and you could see it in their faces. There was this certain look in their eyes that I saw appear on everyone at least once. I would say it's somewhere between a bright shining light shooting through their pupils, and a starlike glimmering shine. In those moments, when I saw them so engaged and so active, I knew that's what true acting looks like. Of course the best part was they weren't acting, they were simply being. They weren't saying the lines of the script, they weren't putting on a character, they were talking, as themselves, about their lives. That's really all acting is; being yourself, but somehow convincing others you're someone else. And I think you don't even really need to worry about that because the script will take care of it. So to put it plain and simple, if someone where to ask me what acting is, I guess I would say it's nothing more than being yourself. Now when I put it like that it sounds kind of easy. Well, trust me, it's not.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Just do it...
I don't really have much to say. Today I didn't do any acting, I just watched. It was interesting but I'm not really sure if I learned anything. It was pretty boring. I don't know if this is selfish but I'm really not concerned with anybody else's experience. The only thing I get out of watching other's is I begin to compare myself to them. If I got one out of today is there is nothing more valuable than experience. No amount of research or discussion can replace it. When it comes to acting, just do it.
Monday, January 28, 2013
How To...
After today's workshop all this information seems to be kind of jumbled around in my brain. I understand each aspect individually, it's the putting together of it all into one cohesive technique that kind of makes me dizzy. This is exactly what I expected of course; it's a lot to take in and although it all makes sense, it's difficult to bring it from concept, to application. I think the best thing for me to do is to simply make a list. If I map out each step for myself in my own words it will make it easier to process. So here it is:
How to Analyze a Scene
1. Read the scene thoroughly
2. Memorize your lines like a machine (so you can spit them out later with out thinking about it)
3. Find what my character wants from the other character
4. Figure out how my character is going to accomplish this
5. Make it real. Find a scenario in my own life in which I am trying to accomplish the same thing.
6. Forget about the character. Forget about the lines. Simply try to accomplish your goal.
It's really quit simple, and even after the first day I can tell that it is going to work for me. Of course, it's new and I need practice, but there is something natural about it, even though it's a bit unsettling. If that makes any sense. My biggest problem is going to be breaking old habits. Like any inexperienced actor, I have convinced myself that true acting is becoming the character and acting the lines. It's as though I am brainwashed. No matter how many times I hear otherwise, there is always a little part of me that resists. I think it's because I believe deep down that the character is simply more interesting than I am. I can understand why an audience would come to see me play a character, but why on earth would they want to come and see me be me? Why would they care? I know this isn't true, the great Stanislavski said so himself. So I guess I'll just have to tell myself that Stanislavski probablly knows a thing or too more about acting than I do. I'll just have to put my faith in him.
How to Analyze a Scene
1. Read the scene thoroughly
2. Memorize your lines like a machine (so you can spit them out later with out thinking about it)
3. Find what my character wants from the other character
4. Figure out how my character is going to accomplish this
5. Make it real. Find a scenario in my own life in which I am trying to accomplish the same thing.
6. Forget about the character. Forget about the lines. Simply try to accomplish your goal.
It's really quit simple, and even after the first day I can tell that it is going to work for me. Of course, it's new and I need practice, but there is something natural about it, even though it's a bit unsettling. If that makes any sense. My biggest problem is going to be breaking old habits. Like any inexperienced actor, I have convinced myself that true acting is becoming the character and acting the lines. It's as though I am brainwashed. No matter how many times I hear otherwise, there is always a little part of me that resists. I think it's because I believe deep down that the character is simply more interesting than I am. I can understand why an audience would come to see me play a character, but why on earth would they want to come and see me be me? Why would they care? I know this isn't true, the great Stanislavski said so himself. So I guess I'll just have to tell myself that Stanislavski probablly knows a thing or too more about acting than I do. I'll just have to put my faith in him.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
My Audition Tape...
If you asked me how I looked I'll say fine. Great in fact. My face was believable but subtle, like it should be for film. My outfit also helped to add to the believablity of my performance. It really did look like I was an elitist rich girl from the upper east side.
If you asked me what problems I had with my performance, trust me the list is a lot longer...
1. You couldn't see my eyes, becuase I was reading the whole time. The eyes are the most expressive part of the face and since you couldn't see them, this automatically made my performance seem artificial. When she told me to make eye contact with Megan, it was amazing how much I improved. It looked better and it felt better. I wasn't reading the lines anymore, I was simply talking to Megan.
2. I am naturally a very physical speaker. What I mean is, my head and my body move (a lot) whenever I am talking. In person it adds to the excitement or passion in which I talk with, but on film it is really distracting. It is the tall tell sign of an amateur.
3. I am not sure if this was a flaw in my performance or just my own insecurity, but my voice was a problem. It had this nasal quality that I would categorize as a stereotypical Long Island "JAP" voice. I don't know if it was because I was channelling my inner b***** or if that's just the way I sound. I really hope it's not the latter. Whatever the cause it didn't sound real. When she told me to project onto Megan I suddenly lost that nasal quality. Since Megan became a real person, I had to communicate to her in a real way.
As far as my professionalism goes, I am not worried. It's something that I am always very conscious of and judging from the tap I was very appropriate: friendly but respectful.
If you asked me what problems I had with my performance, trust me the list is a lot longer...
1. You couldn't see my eyes, becuase I was reading the whole time. The eyes are the most expressive part of the face and since you couldn't see them, this automatically made my performance seem artificial. When she told me to make eye contact with Megan, it was amazing how much I improved. It looked better and it felt better. I wasn't reading the lines anymore, I was simply talking to Megan.
2. I am naturally a very physical speaker. What I mean is, my head and my body move (a lot) whenever I am talking. In person it adds to the excitement or passion in which I talk with, but on film it is really distracting. It is the tall tell sign of an amateur.
3. I am not sure if this was a flaw in my performance or just my own insecurity, but my voice was a problem. It had this nasal quality that I would categorize as a stereotypical Long Island "JAP" voice. I don't know if it was because I was channelling my inner b***** or if that's just the way I sound. I really hope it's not the latter. Whatever the cause it didn't sound real. When she told me to project onto Megan I suddenly lost that nasal quality. Since Megan became a real person, I had to communicate to her in a real way.
As far as my professionalism goes, I am not worried. It's something that I am always very conscious of and judging from the tap I was very appropriate: friendly but respectful.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Lets be honest...
My preparation: It was minimal but sufficient. I read it through several times the night before. I intended to begin earlier so I could confidently have it memorized, but of course I forgot and so being on book would have to do. I tried to apply some of the techniques I learned from previous classes. I do not pretend to be an expert (I am barely an amateur) but I think if I put in more time I could have done more. I worked with objectives and subtext but I didn't analyze the whole script in its entirety. I sort of just felt my way through and winged it. I am happy to say that I did some research. Since I have never watched a single episode of Gossip Girl and I was "auditioning" for Blair Waldorf, I needed some information. I looked at her wardrobe, found character descriptions, and looked at some youtube clips. I think the most valuable thing I did was the research, which is a lesson well learned. Of all the parts I've played, I don't think I've ever done any research other then watching the musical numbers on youtube and watching a movie version if there happens to be one. It's kind of embarrassing. You would think of all the time and effort I put into my parts (or at least I think I put in), I would have time to open up my lab top and do a google search. It wasn't even that I was ignorant and believed that I knew everything, It was really simple, unadulterated laziness. So I will vow to no longer be lazy. For the show I am currently working on I will do some research. I promise myself.
The Audition: It did go well I think. I felt confident, which was the best part. The fact that I wasn't really nervous felt like a breakthrough. Even though It wasn't a real audition, I expected myself to be nervous. Whenever I have to get up in front of people and perform I always experience some nerves. I am not saying I didn't experience a little turn in my stomach as I walked through the door, but it was trivial. I don't really know how the actual performance went, I guess I'll have to wait and see the tape. The one very valuable piece of advice she gave me was to project someone onto the person I was reading with. Of course I've learned this in class but I never thought of it in the context of an audition, but it works so well! Even though you are reading with a casting director or assistant or whoever, it doesn't matter that they aren't an actor you are playing opposite. You can project someone onto them and then it doesn't matter who they are. They can be any one you want them to be.
The Audition: It did go well I think. I felt confident, which was the best part. The fact that I wasn't really nervous felt like a breakthrough. Even though It wasn't a real audition, I expected myself to be nervous. Whenever I have to get up in front of people and perform I always experience some nerves. I am not saying I didn't experience a little turn in my stomach as I walked through the door, but it was trivial. I don't really know how the actual performance went, I guess I'll have to wait and see the tape. The one very valuable piece of advice she gave me was to project someone onto the person I was reading with. Of course I've learned this in class but I never thought of it in the context of an audition, but it works so well! Even though you are reading with a casting director or assistant or whoever, it doesn't matter that they aren't an actor you are playing opposite. You can project someone onto them and then it doesn't matter who they are. They can be any one you want them to be.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Day 35...
Day 35: I am thankful I get to edit. It's actually one of the hardest, most tedious, headache inducing thing in the whole world, but it's really cool.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Day 29...
Day 29: I am thankful that I never can have too much on my plate because there are always people there to support me.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Day 27...
Day 27: I am thankful that I survived 2012. It was long. It was hard. But it made me a better person.
Day 25...
Day 25: I am thankful I have people in my life that I am truley comfortable with. I can just be myself. It's pretty cool.
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