It's been a while, I have no excuses.
I went to a workshop last night... I walked out feeling very open.. emotional... and ready to tackle the world. Glad that's gone now. Maybe...
I'll write more about whats going on in my life later. This is for Ali, hope you're feeling better.
-What I got out of this workshop-
If you feel nervous, you're not prepared. A person who is prepared will feel excitement about what they're doing. An actor will go over a script or monologue 250 times before they feel like they might be able to do it right. Go over 2-3 lines every 30 minutes. Then you'll be prepared if you're handed a sudden script change, or a new situation.
Funny is money. Bring something that reflects you. If you're a geeky sort of person, don't read a monologue from Don Juan Demarco. Read something you can relate to, so you have that foundation of emotion to draw upon.
Think of opposites. Don't just read a war script as a serious drama, perhaps laugh a bit and have it like a comedy. Roberto Benigni won an Oscar for Life is Beautiful for finding the humour in a jewish concentration camp.
Always come from somewhere. Don't walk into a room, set yourself, take a minute, look down, then start your monologue, the audience will know you're acting. Leave, then come back in as your character. Make them believe you aren't who you really are.
Don't talk too slowly during your monologue. We aren't hearing impaired, and we aren't mentally challenged. When you sound like William Shatner seducing some 3 breasted alien woman, you could drive a truck through those pauses. Do your actions while you're speaking.
Don't lose your voice. Be clear, don't withdraw into a whisper.
When going into an audition, be quick, be busy. Create a FTC for yourself a "False Time Constraint", act like you have to be somewhere, you are doing the Casting Directors a favor by taking time out of your day and memorizing their script. You're not a desperate actor, with all the time in the world. You're not there to be friendly. When you walk into that room, go in thinking "What do you have that I want?" If you're nit-picking about your lines or script, you're not prepared enough.
When you're reading your script or monologue, talk TO somebody, make a relationship in your mind, have them BE the character you're talking to. Be a good time "be fun". People will want to be around somebody who's upbeat.
Play to win. Don't just play to not lose.
If you're tough on yourself, the world will also be tough on you. People feel your insecurity. Go in thinking that you deserve it, and it will show.
Your job is to change the molecules in the room. Do not merely be a reactor to the things around you. Generate reactions. Do not be the person going home after an audition thinking.. "If only I had done this". Do it. The only thing stopping you is your own insecurity.
Do an audition so that you make sure that the reason you're not cast for the part wasn't you. It was something else like, age, height, weight, or something you can't control. You can control how you do in an audition.
When doing a monologue, do something that you love, something you're passionate about. Never stop and ask to start again if you've made a mistake. You're wasting everybody's time.
Think of doing a script as storytelling, make it personal, make it passionate, and make it specific. Sit back, relax, take the stage, make the audience lean in and come to you. Don't lean forwards to go to them. Stay in the script.
Break habits
Be open
You're doing a DRAMA. Don't pick something you're comfortable with. Don't pick an english script and speak in a canadian or american accent. Break out of your comfort level. Reach for it, don't bring it down. If you're doing something from a well known movie. Don't just strive to be as good as the actor doing it, aim to surpass them. Be simple. Don't self-reject.
HUMOUR, MISCHIEF, VULNERABILITY, DANGER.
Do your homework, don't just do a script, know the characters, know the circumstances in their history that makes them who they are. Know the history of the area the scene is taking place in. Fill your head with knowledge.
"When you look at an actor and see the light shining through their eyes, make sure it isn't from the sun shining through the hole in the back of their head."
Imagine the career that you want, and you will get it. Actors on the screen may not be terribly talented, you may think that you could do that scene better than they did. But they got that part because they believed in themselves to get it. They are simple. They think they can do it better than anybody else can. Get an ego.
If you treat yourself well, others will too.
Love yourself enough to get what you want.
If there is tension in your voice, there is tension in my ear.
If there is tension in your body, there is tension in my eye.
RELAX.
Change yourself to stimulate your imagination. Go into an audition wearing a boxers if you normally wear briefs, or wear your girlfriend/boyfriends underwear. That change will break you out of your comfortable rut, and stir your imagination.
AWARENESS
Love takes TIME.
Raise your "Joy-Tolerance", let down your walls, nothing gets through a wall, thats why they are called walls. Let yourself feel. A baby comes into this world without walls. They cry as loud as they can, they will pee on you and then laugh. Life makes us build barriers and wall off ourselves.
Know what "turns you on".
All art stems from a Point of View.
RELAXATION, CONCENTRATION, IMAGINATION.
If you're relaxed and know your material, you can concentrate on it. When you can concentrate, you can begin to let your imagination roam free.
The head, the heart, the hips. These are the three things that make our decisions for us. Logic, Love, and Lust. If I used my head more than my hips... Ah, nevermind.
Awknowledge your shadow. With the nice voice in your head telling you that you will succeed, is the bad voice that's telling you that you're going to make a fool out of yourself and that you will fail. Awknowledge this voice. Don't ignore it. To become fearless, you must face your fear.
IMPORTANCE
I ACT TO BE EXPRESSIVE, NOT IMPRESSIVE.
You're not acting to show off your skills. Actors seem to love the sound of their own voice. Take away the desire to "act". Empathize and express yourself.
When you're faced with change, you struggle, you put up your fists to fight it. Stop. Put your hands to your sides, open your hands palms outwards.
"You have to have open palms to receive."
Hmmm.. delicious... I hope somebody understood what I wrote.
I'm going to try to have more artgasms...
