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Imagination Exercise

by Acting AdviceActing TechniquesUncategorized

As Actors its important to train your imagination to be as active and creative as possible. Actors with rich imaginations are able to free associate and connect to their impulses which leads to much more interesting and unpredictable choices and it is possible to train your imagination to be even better than it already is.  Here are two exercises that you can do to develop this all important tool.  The first is one you can anytime and anywhere and it can be as detailed as you have time for.

Childhood Home

  1. Sit down with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your hands on your thighs facing upwards then take a few deep breaths as you close your eyes and relax.
  2. Next, picture the front door to your childhood home as if you were standing in front of it.  What color is it?  What’s it made of?  What kind of handle does it have?  Where is the doorbell or knocker?  Is there a peephole?  Once you’ve got the door solidly visualized expand your view outwards to take in what’s around the door; windows, bushes, plants, doormat, etc.  Try and picture the front door in as much detail as possible.  When it starts to feel real you can enter the house.
  3. Once inside take a moment to acclimate yourself.  Do you hear anything?  Is there any particular smell in the air?  What’s under your feet and how does it feel?  Then, turn and face the wall on your left.  What do you see?  Study the wall from top to bottom taking in everything… architectural details, furniture, decorations then turn to the next wall and do it all over again.  Repeat this until you have recalled as much detail as you can then move on to the next room.
  4. Slowly move from room to room trying to recall more and more.  If you only have time for one room or even one wall as your on your way to an audition, it will be time well spent training your imagination.

Free Association

The next exercise is a useful tool in training yourself to reach beyond obvious initial choices. Sit down with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your hands on your thighs facing upwards then take a few deep breaths as you close your eyes and relax.

  1. Get yourself a timer, a pad of paper and a pen or pencil and a list of WORDS* then…
  2. Sit down with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your hands on your thighs facing upwards then take a few deep breaths as you close your eyes and relax.  Once you feel open and calm you can open your eyes and choose the first word on the list that jumps out at you.
  3. Then set your time to about 5 minutes and GO! Let your mind wander as you start writing down what you think of.  Once thought will lead to the next and with this exercise the most important thing is not to censor yourself.

Below is my free association starting with Rabbit Hole.  I gave myself 3 minutes.

Rabbit hole, alice in wonderland, cheshire cat, mad hatter, off with her head!, queen of hearts, hat trick, slight of hand, stab in the heart with an ice pick, bleeding from the inside out, jail, heroin, dark, bathroom, alone, LSD, looking from the inside out, trapped, pimples, alone, desisto, gestalt therapy, curtain of hair, hiding, hitchhiking, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, lollipops, planets, earth girls are easy, geena davis, thelma and louis, brad pitt, abs, cowboy hat, smile, white teeth, zadie, books that won prizes, india, castration, beggars, curry, pink, color, tattoos, henna, dots, long hair, crystal gail, country music, riding in the car from the airport, the smell of the ocean, highway 60, coastal clouds, beach, my husband, books, umbrella, seagulls, stealing food, a film I made, washington square park, new york, hot sidewalks, cooking eggs on hot sidewalks, my father telling us not to play in the pile of dirt made by the construction workers then getting caught with dirt in our shoes, spanking, my father’s face, my purple schwinn bike, tassels on bike handles, liza grossman, lafayette park, making elephant puppet at friend’s school, walking across the railway tracks, pheasants flying, my mother’s brown suit with the matching cape and hat with a pheasant’s feather, custody fight, Huntington woods, the exorcist…

* Here’s a list of words you can use to get you started if your mind is drawing a blank.  Feel free to add to it change it or pitch it in the garbage.  The idea is to just pick one word and see where it takes you.

  • Cannibalism
  • movie
  • lamb
  • butterflies
  • mexico
  • house
  • spider
  • jungle
  • greenhouse
  • whales
  • predators
  • star trek
  • uniform
  • women’s lib

What Sean Penn Wants

by Acting AdviceActing QuotesActing Techniques

Sean Penn, in my opinion one of America’s leading actors, wants one thing from a director…  He is an actor who is not afraid to take risks.  I mean, did you see his brilliant work in the 2011 film This Must Be the Place?  He was fearless on so many levels – and it worked.

“What I want from a director is courage.  What I don’t want from a director is too much chatter.”

– Sean Penn

What makes you feel safe enough to take big risks?

 

Movement for Actors

Movement for Actors by Rudolf Laban

by Acting TechniquesUncategorized

Movement Psychology is based on the concept and teachings of Rudolf Laban,  who theorized that every movement is controlled and directed by sub-conscious states which are either direct or open, obscure or obfuscated or conflicted; and conversely, that movement itself can evoke a desired motion. This concept can be extremely useful to the actor looking to find outward expression of his character’s inner state and can add subtle yet complex layers to the characterization.

The concept of movement changing emotion and attitude, or attitude and emotion changing movement is not new; but movement psychology reaches the core of the concept. I’m just covering some to of the basic concepts here though in October Sarah Perry will go much deeper into the method in her workshop Movement for Actors.  

To apply Movement Psychology you first need to understand Laban’s eight Working Actions.

WORKING ACTIONS

  • PUNCHING
  • PRESSING
  • SLASHING
  • WRINGING
  • DABBING
  • GLIDING
  • FLICKING
  • FLOATING

Laban held these as the eight basic actions from which all conscientious movement is formed; and, the degree to which they are executed or expressed depends on the degree to which they are combined with Inner Attitudes and our Mental Factors, Motion Factors and Inner Participations. Each Working Action is a composite of the Motion Factors and is motivated by psychological concepts or Mental Factors which are expressed in movements.

MOTION FACTORS

  • WEIGHT
  • SPACE
  • TIME
  • FLOW

Motion is said to be comprised of the above four Factors which can be scrutinize or “analyzed” as expressions of the four Mental Factors SENSING, THINKING, INTUITING and FEELING. Each Motion Factor is comprised of two elements which either conform with or contend against other factors.

Weight is the impact of receiving or transmitting sensory stimuli. It has the Inner Participation, Intending, and consists of the Yielding Element, Light; the, Contending Element, Strong; and the Negative, Heavy. Weight is the forceful Motion Factor that expresses the MENTAL FACTOR, SENSING and of the INNER PARTICIPATION, INTENDING. The Inner Quest for Sensing is, “What?”LIGHT INTENDING is a light sensory physical exertion which does not involve tightening fundamental body muscles.STRONG INTENDING is a sensory physical firmness in any part of the body that emanates from tightening fundamental body muscles.

Space is a reflective thoughtful movement in one or more planes or spheres “spaces”. It is the kinetic Motion Factor that expresses the MENTAL FACTOR, THINKING and the INNER PARTICIPATION, ATTENDING. It has the Yielding Element, Flexible, the Contending Element, Direct, and the Negative, Adrift. The Inner Quest for Sensing is, Where?FLEXIBLE ATTENDING is a reflective indirect movement that is both concave and convex in two or more planes of SPACE.  DIRECT ATTENDING is an intuitive movement, that traverses either a straight line or a flat curve in a single plane of SPACE.

Time is the intuitive sensitivity of the relation between the past and future. It is the rhythmic MOTION FACTOR that expresses the MENTAL FACTOR, INTUITING and the INNER PARTICIPATION, DECIDING. It has the Yielding Element, Sustained, the Contending Element, Quick, and the Negative, Indecisive. The Inner Quest for Sensing is, When?SUSTAINED DECIDING is an intuitive clinging to the past. QUICK DECIDING is an intuitive urge into the future.

Flow is the feeling of the resistance to flow of movement. It is the recurring MOTION FACTOR that expresses the MENTAL FACTOR, FEELING and the INNER PARTICIPATION, ADAPTING. It has the Yielding Element, Free, the Contending Element, Bound, and the Negative, “Irrelating”. FREE ADAPTIVE is a feeling of freely emitting smoothness of movement.BOUND ADAPTING is a feeling of stiffness and lacking ease or grace of movement.

NEGATIVES

  • HEAVY
  • ADRIFT
  • INDECISIVE
  • IRRELATING“HEAVY (INTENDING)

The negatively neutral and impotent quality of WEIGHT is heavy in which the interplay of LIGHT and STRONG (INTENDING) is canceled by an inertia which negates the receiving and transmitting intentions of SENSING.

ADRIFT (ATTENDING) The negatively neutral quality of SPACE, in which the interplay of FLEXIBLE and DIRBCT (ATTENDING) is cancelled by a disorientation which negates the reflective and attending aspects of THINKING.

INDECISIVE (DECIDING) The negatively neutral dream quality of TIME, in which the interplay of SUSTAINED and QUICK (DECIDING) is cancelled by a timelessness which negates the relating of past, present and future in the decision of INTUITING.

IRRELATING (ADAPTING) The negatively neutral and frozen quality of FLOW, in which the interplay of FREE and BOUND (ADAPTING) is cancelled by an emotional fixative which negates the extroverted and introverted aspects of the ADAPTING and RELATING of FEELING.” (The above were in quotes from unpublished notes, believed to be (or attributed to) Rudolf Laban)

MENTAL FACTORS

  • SENSING
  • THINKING
  • INTUITING
  • FEELING

The Mental Factors are in turn expressed by the degree to which the four Motion Factors are utilized.

Sensing is the perception by five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste and touching. These are in turn expressed in movement as SPACE – LIGHT or STRONG.

Thinking is the process of idea creation through intellectual insightful reasoning, and is expressed in movements as SPACE – FLEXIBLE or DIRECT

Intuiting is the mental apprehension of the inner nature of things without reasoning, and is expressed in movement as TIME – SUSTAINED or QUICK

Feeling is the emotion of attraction or pleasure; or of aversion or disapproval, and is expressed in movement as FLOW – FREE or BOUND

As you can see, the psychology of movement as described by Rudolph Laban is an extremely complicated, in-depth subject that I couldn’t possibly begin to address fully here. If you’re interested in learning more about Laban’s method, try Actor Training the Laban Way by Barbara Adrian.

Giles Foreman at Acting Atelier Munich

Thoughts on Giles & Intimacy

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I realized yesterday that I needed to remove Giles Foreman’s workshops from our roster… for the time being at least.  In spite of knowing they needed to be taken down, I didn’t actually do it until this morning and it wasn’t without a pinch of  melancholy.  I don’t think we could have possibly gotten off to a better start with our workshops.  Giles was tremendous.  Using wit, warmth and knowhow he helped us to that all important point for an actor – being private in public.  In other words, showing your true self without your daily defenses.  We were also lucky to have a wonderful group of actors that were talented and generous.  I think with out that sense of wanting to give  yourself to another, you can’t really create trust which is imperative for true intimacy.

Giles also brought with him a technique that I was unfamiliar with called the Psychology of Movement based in the teachings of Yat Malmgren and Christopher Fettes from the Drama Centre in London.  With just a few small adjustments of posture or gesture, I could actually feel a new way of being bubbling up inside of me.  Giles, who is a master of this of course, demonstrated it time and time again.  It was fascinating to see him transform himself instantaneously from one new person into the next.  Giles does a four week workshop on this technique (one week every other month) that I’m literally jonesing for.  I’m hoping to get that started in early winter.

In the meantime, today I’m going to meet Lena Lessing for a coffee. She’ll be teaching her Beats & Actions workshop this September.   The sun is shining and beautiful things are on the horizon.  Here’s my challenge to you today – dare to drop your guard and let your true feelings roil under your skin.  People want to connect with you not your public persona.  Dare to be truly intimate with at least one person today.  Its not as easy as it sounds but its extremely rewarding.

 

BILLY CRUDUP at the Soho Grand after a screening of his new film, Thin Ice, New York. Photo Sabine Heller SABINE

Quote from Billy Crudup

by Acting AdviceActing QuotesActing Techniques

“You can learn the right questions to ask in developing a character.  You ask yourself where they’re from, what they want, what their relationships are like, what their decision making process is in life and the tools they use to get what they want.  Rather than using adjectives – he’s angry here — he’s sad here — you give the character motivation to pursue something, and as you build the character you give them the tools for going about getting what they want”.

— Billy Crudup

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Danny Boyle’s 15 Golden Rules of Filmmaking

by Acting QuotesActing Techniques

1. A DIRECTOR MUST BE A PEOPLE PERSON • Ninety-five percent of your job is handling personnel. People who’ve never done it imagine that it’s some act, like painting a Picasso from a blank canvas, but it’s not like that. Directing is mostly about handling people’s egos, vulnerabilities and moods. It’s all about trying to bring everybody to a boil at the right moment. You’ve got to make sure everyone is in the same film. It sounds stupidly simple, like ‘Of course they’re in the same film!’ But you see films all the time where people are clearly not in the same film together.

2. HIRE TALENTED PEOPLE • Your main job as a director is to hire talented people and get the space right for them to work in. I have a lot of respect for actors when they’re performing, and I expect people to behave. I don’t want to see people reading newspapers behind the camera or whispering or anything like that.

3. LEARN TO TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS • Ideally, you make a film up as you go along. I don’t mean that you’re irresponsible and you’ve literally got no idea, but the ideal is that you’ve covered everything—every angle—so that you’re free to do it any of those ways. Even on low-budget films, you have financial responsibilities. Should you fuck it up, you can still fall back on one of those ways of doing it. You’ve got Plan A to go back to, even though you should always make it with Plan B if you can. That way keeps it fresh for the actors, and for you.

4. FILM HAPPENS IN THE MOMENT • What’s extraordinary about film is that you make it on the day, and then it’s like that forever more. On that day, the actor may have broken up with his wife the night before, so he’s inevitably going to read a scene differently. He’s going to be a different person.
I come from theater, which is live and changes every night. I thought film was going to be the opposite of that, but it’s not. It changes every time you watch it: Different audiences, different places, different moods that you’re in. The thing is logically fixed, but it still changes all the time. You have to get your head around that.

5. IF YOUR LAST FILM WAS A SMASH HIT, DON’T PANIC • I had an obsession with the story of 127 Hours, which pre-dated Slumdog Millionaire. But I know—because I’m not an idiot—that the only reason [the studio] allowed us to make it was because Slumdog made buckets of money for them and they felt an obligation of sorts. Not an obligation to let me do whatever I want, but you kind of get a free go on the merry-go-round.

6. DON’T BE AFRAID TO TELL STORIES ABOUT OTHER CULTURES • You can’t just hijack a culture for your story, but you can benefit from it. If you go into it with the right attitude, you can learn a lot about yourself, as well as about the potential of film in other cultures, which is something we tried to do with Slumdog Millionaire… Most films are still made in America, about Americans, and that’s fine. But things are changing and I think Slumdog was evidence of that. There will be more evidence as we go on.

7. USE YOUR POWER FOR GOOD • You have so much power as director that if you’re any good at all, you should be able to use that to the benefit of everyone. You have so much power to shape the movie the way you want it that, if you’re on form and you’ve done your prep right and you’re ready, you should be able to make a decent job of it with the other people.

8. DON’T HAVE AN EGO • Your working process—the way you treat people, your belief in people—will ultimately be reflected in the product itself. The means of production are just as important as what you produce. Not everyone believes that, but I do. I won’t stand for anyone being treated badly by anyone. I don’t like anyone shouting or abusing people or anything like that. You see people sometimes who are waiting for you to be like that, because they’ve had an experience like that in the past, but I’m not a believer in that. The texture of a film is affected very much by the honor with which you make it.

9. MAKE THE TEST SCREENING PROCESS WORK FOR YOU • Test screenings are tough. It makes you nervous, exposing the film, but they’re very important and I’ve learned a great deal from using them. Not so much from the whole process of cards and the discussions afterwards, but the live experience of sitting in an auditorium with an audience that doesn’t know much about the story you’re going to tell them—I find that so valuable. I’ve learned not so much to like it, but to value how important it is. I think you have to, really.

10. COME TO THE SET WITH A LOOK BOOK • I always have a bible of photographs, images by which I illustrate a film. I don’t mean strict storyboards, I just mean for inspiration for scenes, for images, for ideas, for characters, for costumes, even for props. These images can come from anywhere. They can come from obvious places like great photographers, or they can come from magazine advertisements—anywhere, really. I compile them into a book and I always have it with me and I show it to the actors, the crew, everybody!

11. EVEN PERFECT FORMULAS DON’T ALWAYS WORK • As a director your job is to find the pulse of the film through the actors, which is partly linked to their talent and partly to their charisma. Charisma is a bit indefinable, thank God, or else it would be prescribed in the way that you chemically make a new painkiller. In the movies—and this leads to a lot of tragedy and heartache—you can sometimes have the most perfect formula and it still doesn’t work. That’s a reality that we are all victims of sometimes and benefit from at other times. But if you follow your own instincts and make a leap of faith, then you can at least be proud of the way you did it.

12. TAKE INSPIRATION WHERE YOU FIND IT • When we were promoting Slumdog Millionaire, we were kind of side-by-side with Darren Aronofsky, who was also with Fox Searchlight and was promoting The Wrestler. I watched it and it was really interesting; Darren just decided that he was going to follow this actor around, and it was wonderful. I thought, ‘I want to make a film like that. I want to see if I can make a film like that.’ It’s a film about one actor. It’s about the monolithic nature of film sometimes, you know? It’s about a dominant performance.

13. PUSH THE PRAM • I think you should always try to push things as far as you can, really. I call it “pushing the pram.” You know, like a stroller that you push a baby around in? I think you should always push the pram to the edge of the cliff—that’s what people go to the cinema for. This could apply to a romantic comedy; you push anything as far as it will stretch. I think that’s one of your duties as a director… You’ll only ever regret not doing that, not having pushed it. If you do your job well, you’ll be amazed at how far the audience will go with you. They’ll go a long, long way—they’ve already come a long way just to see your movie!

14. ALWAYS GIVE 100 PERCENT • You should be working at your absolute maximum, all the time. Whether you’re credited with stuff in the end doesn’t really matter. Focus on pushing yourself as much as you can. I tend not to write, but I love bouncing off of writing; I love having the writers write and then me bouncing off of it. I bounce off writers the same way I bounce off actors.

15. FIND YOUR OWN “ESQUE” • A lesson I learned from A Life Less Ordinary was about changing a tone—I’m not sure you can do that. We changed the tone to a kind of Capra-esque tone, and whenever you do anything more “esque,” you’re in trouble. That would be one of my rules: No “esques.” Don’t try to Coen-esque anything or Capra-esque anything or Tarkovsky-esque anything, because you’ll just get yourself in a lot of trouble. You have to find your own “esque” and then stick to it.

Judith Weston Advises Directors & Actors

by Acting QuotesActing TechniquesUncategorized

Judith Weston

Judith Weston, veteren acting coach of actors and directors has some sage advice.  Her first rule is one I try and live by:  “Acting is not pretending. To be in the moment, actors – and directors – must liberate themselves from doing it right.”  But how do you do that?  Unlike many others, Judith offers concrete tools to try and unearth the most interesting and truthful response.  “One of my favorite problem solving techniques is this.  When you can’t think of the right answer, think of three wrong answers.  I promise it will “unstick” you whenever you are stuck.”

If you like what you Judith has to say, you should read her two books, Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film  and Television and Film Director’s Intuition: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques. They’re both filled with more advice that you can absorb in one reading.  But watch this short interview with the woman herself and you’ll see what I mean.  In less than 5 minutes she unveils some real gold nuggets of wisdom geared to make you a better actor and or director.

JimJarmusch

Jim Jarmusch’s 5 Golden Rules for Filmmakers

by Acting Techniques

Rule #1: There are no rules. There are as many ways to make a film as there are potential filmmakers. It’s an open form. Anyway, I would personally never presume to tell anyone else what to do or how to do anything. To me that’s like telling someone else what their religious beliefs should be. Fuck that. That’s against my personal philosophy—more of a code than a set of “rules.” Therefore, disregard the “rules” you are presently reading, and instead consider them to be merely notes to myself. One should make one’s own “notes” because there is no one way to do anything. If anyone tells you there is only one way, their way, get as far away from them as possible, both physically and philosophically.

Rule #2: Don’t let the fuckers get ya. They can either help you, or not help you, but they can’t stop you. People who finance films, distribute films, promote films and exhibit films are not filmmakers. They are not interested in letting filmmakers define and dictate the way they do their business, so filmmakers should have no interest in allowing them to dictate the way a film is made. Carry a gun if necessary.

Also, avoid sycophants at all costs. There are always people around who only want to be involved in filmmaking to get rich, get famous, or get laid. Generally, they know as much about filmmaking as George W. Bush knows about hand-to-hand combat.

Rule #3: The production is there to serve the film. The film is not there to serve the production. Unfortunately, in the world of filmmaking this is almost universally backwards. The film is not being made to serve the budget, the schedule, or the resumes of those involved. Filmmakers who don’t understand this should be hung from their ankles and asked why the sky appears to be upside down.

Rule #4: Filmmaking is a collaborative process. You get the chance to work with others whose minds and ideas may be stronger than your own. Make sure they remain focused on their own function and not someone else’s job, or you’ll have a big mess. But treat all collaborators as equals and with respect. A production assistant who is holding back traffic so the crew can get a shot is no less important than the actors in the scene, the director of photography, the production designer or the director. Hierarchy is for those whose egos are inflated or out of control, or for people in the military. Those with whom you choose to collaborate, if you make good choices, can elevate the quality and content of your film to a much higher plane than any one mind could imagine on its own. If you don’t want to work with other people, go paint a painting or write a book. (And if you want to be a fucking dictator, I guess these days you just have to go into politics…).

Rule #5: Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”

Article thanks to Moviemaker.com

hamlet_1

To Breakdown or Not to Breakdown… is that the question?

by Acting Techniques

In a word, no.  Think of the script like a treasure map.  You’ve got to study it, tear it apart and put it back together to find all the hidden meanings, clues, subtext and motivations that drive your character from one end of the story arc to the other.  Books have been written on this.  It can be a very complex process but it can also be as simple as reading the script over and over and over again until it becomes a part of you.  My own process is somewhere in between.

I read the script at least five times and try not to judge the character I’m playing.  When you go through a script for the first time a lot of things will jump out at you.  You’ll get impulses and feelings that may or may not be based on who the character is but rather on who you are.  That’s why its so important to read the script all the way through, several times.  The first time is just to get to know the story.  The second time you read it, you should begin to make notes about your feelings.  The third time, you’ll want to write down anything your character says about themselves.  The fourth read should be about taking notes on anything another character says about your character.  And the fifth read through, should be about understanding why your character is saying and doing what’s written.  This is a line by line analysis that will help you discover how that particular thing that you’re saying affects you as the character, the other person or people you’re talking to, and the story.

If you skip any of these steps before you begin to work on your subtext and motivations, you won’t really have a full understanding of who your character is which can lead to some very bland and predictable choices.

I found a great article and video explaining how to analysis a script from well respected acting coach in L. A., Kimberly Jentzen.   The article will take you about 10 minutes to read and the video is about 20 minutes long.  If you don’t already know about breaking down a script and you’d like to learn about some ideas for where to start, this is a great place.  If you already do this, I’d love to know what methods work best for you.  Who knows, they might be just what someone else is looking for, too.