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How do you prepare for a role? Please Share your experiences, tips, tricks, and obstacles here.
As actors and actresses, we all have different techniques that help us get into character, stay in character, and deliver our lines well. Please share what has worked for you and what you struggle with in your craft. Anyone who has also worked in live theater with children, animals, or other unpredicatable elements, such as live stand up comedy with an interactive audience hehe...how can this help or hinder the process?
Discussion started by Anastasia , on 23 March 09:57 AM
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To prepare for a role i would first start off by arousing the emotions with logical truthful purposeful mutual behavior of the entire character.Going over the meaning thought and intention to spark imagination!This will build life into the human spirit to condition the mind and body to experiment and discover.Exercises of imagination emotion truth improv and adaptation will allow the actor to execute action... the rest is loving the art in you.
Saturday, 14 May 2011 14:22
Between theater, and now short student films... I think on the character overnight and try to create a background, sometimes I'll go as far as make a facebook page for the character. - Then I play the character a whole day. I will walk around downtown, go shopping, listen to music and drive in character. I'll get so far into a role, I find myself doing things differently and taking on new tastes!
Friday, 04 March 2011 10:17
let me tell you.... i went to an audition one time and i purchased a shirt befitting i thought to the character and i was so excited about ..hey some one out there in movie making land wants me..got up very early in the morning and practiced the two lines for the audition from 4 am to 8am..rushed out my apartment that was a stone throw away from paramount studios..took three buses and finily landed at the steps of m.g.m gates and was let throw to walk to the office were the audition was..signed in and sat down a moment..was called in to the audition room..and did the audition with a very nice famous actress and when i was riding home on the bus..there was a mirrior there and i saw that i had the shampoo still in my hair and the fricken price tag still on the shirt i bought..and you know what..i got the fricken part!!!so what dose that tell you about the acting business????????
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 19:10
i look for the character by reading between the lines on any copy i get handed to me and by doing so i get the essence of the character and look for clues in the lines..build up the why and wants of the character and then dive into the drama and a strong belief..if you believe you are there and are confident in that belief..then your acting becomes believable and convincing..just believe!..and set action before word!
Monday, 16 August 2010 18:25
No matter what the character, nor the preparation you use to create, it will not mean a thing if you don't make the character your own. Like walking or talking, blinking or breathing, no two people do it alike. So tips and tricks from other actors or teachers, are showing you methods and techniques that have worked for them. They may work for you. They may not. Don't do anything that makes you uncomfortable in your own skin just because someone else told you that's the way it should be done. It will shine through any characterization you are trying to portray. Method or not, research or not, talent or not all a waist as you fidget and reach. Make the character your own. You got the part because you had something already. Trust that. Be truly comfortable with it, and the character will slide on like a hand made suit.
Of course, everything I've said could be wrong.... for you.
Of course, everything I've said could be wrong.... for you.
Monday, 02 August 2010 22:27
I've performed on stage, TV, and film, done stand-up and had the chance to watch and learn from a few very famous actors and actresses who all use different methods and means to prepare for a role. I too was trained mostly with a Stanislavski method, but really find that I use the rehearsal process to really get to know the character. Also many times for me it is a character trait or a prop or costume that can help in finding the character. Alan Alda said that when he put on the beat up Army Boots he was always able to find Hawkeye. When I worked on Hook it took a long time for Dustin Hoffman to truly find Hook and was on the set everyday for the first three months before even being used just to try to find the character. He said it was a little bit the make-up, fake teeth, accent and then he would eat raw onions right before performing to feel dirty and others to want to back away from him. Stand-up and improv training helps a great deal for being able to cover on stage, but also to be able to be free enough to try things and see what works and what doesn't. A great learning experience for me was on the first day of shooting Hook they were filming a shot of Robin Williams discussing with Granny Wendy who he really is. They had shot all angles all day and were now doing a turnaround shot focusing on Robin. Maggie Smith's make-up had started to fail and she was let go and so Dustin Hoffman jumped in to read Maggie's lines for Robin to react and converse with. Dustin helped Robin telling him how to be more dramatic with every line that Robin had. Both Steven Spielberg and Barry Levinson who was visiting the set from Bugsy shooting next door, were standing next to me, and we were all watching in amazement to the point where Barry Levinson said, "Aren't they just great?" So we all have our methods, but it is whatever works and works best for you that I believe is the way to go. Hope this helps.
Friday, 23 July 2010 14:38
When I prepare for stage acting I do a few things. I start off by doing my stretching and balance exercises. Then I usually do some voice exercises and from there I usually just practice my "soft eyes." or I meditate. Then I go pee right before I get on stage. but the main thing for me is to remain as calm and in the moment as possible. I just focus on whatever i'm doing at that particular moment. I typically have my sides and blocking memorized by showtime so it's a matter of muscle memory and not actual conscious memory.
Monday, 31 May 2010 13:10
To date I have mostly done short films most of which been solo performances so not much working with others in front of the camera sorry but as for character development I look at the extremes of both ends of the scale of situation the person is put in to and look for the point the script calls for. To be honest the parts i find most challenging are the ones with outcomes you cant predict.
Thursday, 13 May 2010 07:09
Wow. Thinking back, I have had a lot of unpredictable moments on the stage. Sometimes, it was something I had done, and others, it was someone else. Especially when someone flubs their lines, I've had to improvise for them, but that's part of stage acting, and I love it. I've done mostly comedy, one of my favorites, so it's a lot easier when you can turn a mistake into a joke. The last production I was in, I had a part that I said off stage (and to call that cramped 3-foot space mostly taken up by a piano behind the curtain where 7 of us were and one was changing "back-stage" is a joke) into a microphone. It was a skit, as we were doing 3 small skits and a 1 act. It was called "Voicemail" and I was the robotic voicemail. While one of my cast-members was hurrying to dress, and the other 6 of us were trying to help her or get out of the way, I was trying to do my part. The microphone didn't work. I basically had to yell my lines and try to sound like a robot. It actually worked and later, I was mentioned in the paper for having "perfectly executed" the piece. It was horrifying then, but it's a fond memory now. As for a live audience, there's nothing like it. I fight not to laugh along or grin when a shocked gasp/scream ripples through the audience (I was in a mystery production). They let you know when you're doing something right, however, that can also be dangerous. If you're not doing a good job, they let you know that too. I absolutely LOVE stage-acting! But as we said in my last production, expect Murphy's Law to be present.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 12:54
The last time I did any voice acting, there was very little preparation at all, maybe about 5 minutes reading over dialogue for the first time and then a couple unrecorded runs to work out what was needed in the voice. There was improvisation, but nothing over the top. Well, except for my improvised 2 minutes worth of various death noises and gurgles at the end, after my lines were all recorded. I think they still use that clip for comedic purposes unrelated to what was being recorded. But then that was all very informal and relaxed.
My only other acting experience is a Christmas play from elementary school, one based on the Flintstones. Mentally I denied that anything was going on to keep me from freaking out until I was out on stage. The only flub was me not facing the audience more while talking to other cast members on stage. Once that was all over, I think I went to throw up. That isn't just for acting, to this day I have major problems interacting with people, even though many I know say I do it so well. Even something as simple as paying for groceries sends my mind into a panic, though outwardly I'm acting completely normal. So I guess on some level I act on a daily basis, if only as myself.
Other than that, I've "acted" a whole bunch in free-form RPGs, taking on the role of characters and directing their actions on the fly. With that, I never really found it difficult to find a character's personality or motivation, even characters wildly different from myself.
The best (and I will admit very limited, considering my acting experience) advice I can give for any character acting would be to get it into your head that the character is a real character and not just some series of lines. Briefly become an outlet for that character.
As for live performances involving animals, well... Look up Red Skelton and see how he worked a cow into one of his performances.
My only other acting experience is a Christmas play from elementary school, one based on the Flintstones. Mentally I denied that anything was going on to keep me from freaking out until I was out on stage. The only flub was me not facing the audience more while talking to other cast members on stage. Once that was all over, I think I went to throw up. That isn't just for acting, to this day I have major problems interacting with people, even though many I know say I do it so well. Even something as simple as paying for groceries sends my mind into a panic, though outwardly I'm acting completely normal. So I guess on some level I act on a daily basis, if only as myself.
Other than that, I've "acted" a whole bunch in free-form RPGs, taking on the role of characters and directing their actions on the fly. With that, I never really found it difficult to find a character's personality or motivation, even characters wildly different from myself.
The best (and I will admit very limited, considering my acting experience) advice I can give for any character acting would be to get it into your head that the character is a real character and not just some series of lines. Briefly become an outlet for that character.
As for live performances involving animals, well... Look up Red Skelton and see how he worked a cow into one of his performances.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010 06:49