This is acting lesson number 2, of the Power Connection Online Acting Class. If you have arrived here from a search engine search of link, you will need to go back to the acting class information page, read the information and complete the introduction before doing this lesson on the actor's body.
Acting Techniques - The Actor's Body
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CHARACTER GOES FROM HEAD TO TOE
The body is very literal and remembers physical reaction to external stimuli indefinitely. You can prove this easily, by recalling an experience in which strong emotions were present, whether negative or positive inn nature. Not only will your mind recall the event, but your body will reproduce the sensations that resulted from it.Method actors utilize this body/brain connection quite often, when facing tough emotional scenes. A personal experience is recalled, with as much detail as possible, so that the body reacts in a truthful manner. This will often produce an almost painful reality into the scene and can be very emotionally stimulating.
For example, let's say you had to play a scene where your child had been killed. It's one thing to imagine "a" child being killed but if you truly get into a place where you imagine what it would be like for "your" child to die, you can believe there will be some tremendous things happening to your body, voice and delivery of lines in the scene.
However, the problem which so often occurs when the actor attempts to transfer that memory into the current scene is that they either they are unable to transfer or they are unable to hold the intensity of the recalled memory after transfer.
Then, the scene either looks forced or they hang on to the memory which enabled them to produce the desired effect and work from that place of memory, rather than honoring the material in the scene.
If you can imagine it this way: You tell a dear friend that your son has died but they have him with this other little boy they used to know. See? The emotions of a son dying would still be there but it would not be totally in the moment, and related to the characters in the scene.
If the transfer is incomplete, which is what I almost always see, the scene will lose the interest of the audience and they may never know why.
On the other hand, if the transfer never happens and the actor, instead, just re-experiences the emotional reality of a personal situation while they are delivering lines that have to do with an entirely different story, the result is a very real performance that can be emotionally powerful but disconnected from the action of the play or film.
It is powerful because it is real but, in some way that the audience may not consciously understand, they don't feel touched by it in context to the story they are watching in the film. It rings false to what the audience has seen up to that point. It is powerful but only on it s own merit; Pulling memories from one's own life into another story is discordant within the context of the production.
The good news is that it is not necessary to recall a personal memory at all, in order to find, in the body, everything that is required to truthfully play any scene! Although we'll be doing some personal recall in the exercises within the class, we are doing those to open up the body's ability to feel and remember. If you have a body that is accessible, you don't need to dredge up painful memories to play a painful part truthfully.
By doing the exercises in this class, and by developing a wild, uninhibited openness with your own body, it is possible to have your body deliver exactly the truth, and to have it be in full accord with the character you are playing, in the circumstances as written. The reason this doesn t happen automatically is that few of us listen to the body, and fewer still allow it to express, independent of our analytical processes.
Because the body reacts to trauma and other life-altering experiences, most people have restriction in movement that has resulted directly from some experience of being repressed. Where there is physical restriction for an actor, there is emotional restriction. For example, shyness as a child is commonly manifested physically in the adult, by shoulders that are stooped and drawn in. By relentless observation of the ways you use, (or fail to use) your body, you can begin to identify your own creative blocks and, simply by moving a different way (simple, not always easy), you will begin to open your creativity and emotional accessibility. Until this is done, there is no way the body can function freely.
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR BODY AS AN ACTOR
a. OBSERVATION: Stand in front of a mirror, and notice your body. Look for excess tension, imbalance on one side or the other, etc.See if any particular area draws your eye and focus your attention there - what feelings come to you?
Touch any area that seems vulnerable. What happens?
Begin to move, focusing your attention on different parts of your body. Do they work well together? Does one area move more freely than another? Why?
Ask your body, mentally, what is being stored in those areas that resist free movement (When did it originate?) and listen with inner ears, for an answer. If your mind suddenly flashes on your sixth birthday party, trust the significance of that memory, with regard to the question.
If your stomach is vulnerable and tense, was there a moment when you decided to hold in those muscles, to appear thinner? Perhaps, you were in need of a good cry one day, but couldn t let go because you were at work, so you tensed up and stayed that way.
EMOTIONS NEEDING EXPRESSION AND NOT FULLY EXPRESSED, ARE HELD IN THE BODY
Getting to know your body and making sure that it is open and accessible to your impulses, is the first step toward developing the flexibility and emotional accessibility you need to be an actor.
No teacher can do this work for you. It must be done by you, and you alone, and it must be approached with integrity and a willingness to work through fear or discomfort. Try to schedule a full-body massage afterwards, or take a nice, long bath!
b. ALLOWING EMOTION: Choose a time when you are not likely to be disturbed, take a few moments to settle yourself and relax. Perhaps, listening to soothing music or doing a progressive relaxation by tensing and releasing major muscle groups.
When you feel fairly calm and quiet within, look at the following words with the intention of letting the body interpret them, totally without interference or preconception from your mind or any particular memory.
You should avoid doing anything or forcing any movement....Don t rush the process.
If nothing happens, be patient and avoid trying to make your body respond in any particular way. Just look at each word and ask your body to react to it:
To evaluate what you've learned from lesson two, journal the following:
Which words were easy to do and elicited the most spontaneous reaction from your body, and which more difficult?
What part of your body responded most - hands, breath, neck and shoulders, head, eyes?
Were there any words to which your body would not respond with some sort of change you could feel or sense?
Do this exercise often, especially as a warm-up before rehearsals or performances. It conditions the physical body for emotional fluidity, much as athletic exercise will condition one for strenuous physical exertion.
Acting Lesson Three - The Actor's Voice
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