Monthly Archives April 2019

On camera, when actors give every line a different line intention to make a scene interesting, it makes the scene confusing because the scene has no cinematic cohesion. When actors move in the frame to appear naturalistic, they instead appear awkward. When actors are completely still, they appear natural. On camera, “acting is reacting” comes across as overacting. Everything actors create using the actor’s process the camera sees as wonderful raw material but the actor’s process wasn’t designed for the camera. It was designed for the stage which is why the seven words you never hear in acting class are
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What’s the difference between an actor and her character?  One thinks she is the character and the other wishes the actor would stop saying she is the character. The idea that “you are the character and the character is you” is insufficient on camera. Actors are taught to approach characters this way for the purpose of responding honestly and without prejudice as they play the scene which they see as great acting. However, all of their great acting is wasted on camera because it’s not happening to a recognizable human being. It’s happening to an actor. What’s the difference between
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Here’s one of the biggest problems most actors don’t realize they have. They use a very thorough scene analysis process to make choices that reflect the way the scene is written. The problem is those are the choices the camera finds the least interesting. They mirror what the scene is already doing leaving the scene flat and one dimensional. They are the right choices but not interesting choices. In auditions, most actors will be using the same scene analysis process to make the same right choices and at the end of the day none of them will stand out. Actors
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Creation is a physical activity not a mental one. The body can create better and faster than the mind. The actor’s process entails a lot of analysis using their minds, and it’s a big reason actors don’t pop on camera. They’re stuck in their heads so they don’t pop on screen. Next time you’re about to start working on a piece of material and before you do any analysis, try this… Everyone and so every character is a product of their environment. Imagine the environment of the story. Imagine the lighting, mood, temperature, textures and feel. Now create a human
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