What have I learnt about the world of acting and how I have improved today? 12/9/13

I have learnt that it is a lot harder to be an actor than you think it is. To portray a good, believable play or monologue there are lots of things you have to research and think about. You should never just pick up a script and start acting straight away; today I have learnt some of the processes you should follow, so that it does not look like you are pretending. Today I learnt the science of acting and how to approach my script in the right way.

The first is to work out the given circumstances, you need to know the rules your character is living under and what has happened in their lives. You need to be able to pick out parts of the text so that you can learn more about their past. By learning about their past you will know how it may affect them in present day. You also need to know the differences between a fact and an opinion. A fact is something that is completely true and no one can say it is wrong, whilst an opinion is something a different person or even the character themselves will think about but not everyone will agree with it. By knowing what these are we can suggest and figure out ways in which we can become our character.

I also learnt today you need to ask questions to make an acting situation real for yourself, to make a scene believable you need to be able to visualise the room, and where all the objects are in order to make the audience believe you really are in this environment. You need to know the date, the time, is it late?, if so you may be tired, is it winter?, it might be cold in the room, what era are you in? How should you be dressed? These factors all add up to the main performance.

Today I have learnt all these skills in order to improve the character but I have also improved a lot. I now do not overthink as much because it makes the character seem fake. Also, I have improved a lot on learning lines. I know now if lines are learnt cold then they are easier to adapt and change which would not be the case if you had learnt them in a certain rhythm or tone. Finally I have learnt in today’s style of acting, physical objectives are extremely effective.  They are needed to show what the character is trying to achieve, by writing a verb for every line that’s objective is different our instincts are able to portray the movement realistically showing our purpose clearly and effectively.

I really enjoyed today’s lesson because I learnt lots of new tips about acting in a less pretending manner. It was quite difficult at times because there was lots of information to take in, however I know that these skills will improve my acting greatly and it has already began to show.

Over and out

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5t6gh4e9y3ieq8o/Approaching%20your%20script.doc