It is therefore quite a wonder that most of them are so smart. Acting requires everyone to engage in a lot of reading and research in a wide variety of topics which are projects on their own even before a movie or program starts being acted. For you to land a certain role in a movie, you must have a grasp of that role of what it entails in real life. For instance, if you are to land a role of an investigative journalist, you must learn everything there is to learn about how journalists investigate in real life.
The same applies for any other role there is to act on. Therefore, you must work on how to improve your intelligence so that you are well read on all issues affecting people in the world. The type of intelligence that you are required to have may not be best acquired in a school setting. It is best acquired in real life and it is self-taught.
It involves a good understanding of human behavior and what drives people and why the act in the way they do.
As an actor, you must understand what drives a certain character that you have been assigned to act, what their needs are and what they desire for you to be able to fully immerse yourself in the role.
For this reason, to become a great actor entails a continuous desire to improve your intelligence levels. To constantly evaluate the drivers of human behavior which is the real life understanding of how human beings act the way they do. Acting is about creating images and situations that are not in the present time. Imagination is the basis of acting because it is all about mimicking real life situations and it therefore goes without saying that to become a great actor you must be highly imaginative.
It is therefore, the most important traits that a person who yearns to becoming a great actor must possess. While many components of acting may require you to take realities of your personal life into the acts of movie scenes, a large part of the others will be imaginative. It will entail you to completely immerse yourself in situations that will be different from realities that are different from your own life and this is where imagination takes over your skills set.
Many great actors have vivid and wild imaginations that stretch their abilities to perform well on the big screen because they can connect their imaginations on the screen much to the delight of those who are watching the movie or program. For this reason, it will be important for you to keep finding ways in which you can harness your imaginative abilities because they will be called upon in your quest for greatness on the acting scene.
Building up an imaginative mind requires a lot of reading and getting new information about different subjects in the world and taking yourself in some of those situations. Also, watching other actors at play by watching movie previews and directors of these programs can help in harnessing the character of imagination in you. As an actor, your content will be consumed by human beings.
It is therefore paramount understand their behavior in a good and intricate way because they will be the consumers of your content. You must understand what makes them happy, sad, empathetic, laugh, yell and all other emotions they evoke. Each acting scene or production has a target group who will comprise of the age groups, demographics, income levels and many other factors.
For instance, if you are acting a family oriented movie, you must know what type of viewers are likely to watch your production and thus ensure that you know their behavior. All great actors have a good understanding of human behavior. They understand what human beings like, need, want and they can appeal directly to their psyche through their motives that determines their behavior. They thus evoke emotions through their acts in movies and plays and that is why they become great actors.
The reason people have favorite actors is because those actors have been able to evoke certain emotions from them to the extent that they believe that every movie or production where that particular actor is present must be a great watch. It is the reason why movie stars are popular with people. To become a great actor, you must be able to read a script and make an interpretation of what emotion you are expected to bring out to those who will be watching it.
While this ability is sometimes natural to some actors, it can be learned by anyone keen on becoming a great actor. It will entail learning the theory part of human behavior and for the most part interacting a lot with people to understand how they act in the way they do. Also, it should be a continuous process of listening to feedback about your skills set and interaction with viewers who offer you both positive and negative feedback which ensures that you move your skills set to the next level from a novice to an expert.
Acting classes start with exercising the body which gives you a high level of physical and mental energy. Being in the acting scene requires extremely high levels of energy because it may call for a lot of repetition of a certain set to be able to get the best shot as required by the director. How come they seem so smart then? Firstly, their job requires them to do a ridiculous amount of reading and research on a wide-variety of topics that become school projects in their own way.
You have to be very smart to be a good actor. What are their needs? What are their desires? Why do they act this way? Highly Imaginative: This is obviously one of the biggest and most important traits that make great actors. Sometimes you have to completely plant yourself in alternate realities that encompass absolutely nothing from the world you know. This is where your imagination will take over.
Most actors have wild and vivid imaginations, and have a real fostered connection with their imaginations. We basically are trained to grow out of our imaginations as we grow up, which is why most actors are adult-children — never really leaving the psyche of that year-old boy inside of them who would dress up as superheroes and saw the world as full of infinite possibilities. From the early stages of developing your character, as well as planting yourself in an authentic reality when you have several cameras, crew, and a very artificial world surrounding you on set.
Harness the connection to your imagination and work on improving it whenever possible. The best actors have an exceptional understanding of human behaviour — what people want and need, universally, on the deepest level.
This is what every single role they tackle will require from them — the ability to dig deep into the psyche behind their character and figure out their motives, which will determine their behaviour. Every actor should have a completely engrossed interest in people and the way the act. Energy, Energy, Energy: When you take an acting class, the beginning of the class is often dedicated to exercising the body — both physically with movement and vocally through voice exercises.
These exercises are designed to center the energy in your body and for you to be fully aware of where all the energy in your body is being stored. The best actors are exceptional at dispensing and controlling their energy.
I can remember clearly my response to first seeing the final moment of The Graduate. Actually, the film was made in The camera holds on a mid shot of the two characters for over 40 seconds. Neither of them say anything, we just watch the minute changes of expression on their faces. This, in my opinion, is an example of great acting.
Looking at these characters, I feel joy and terror for them, and I wonder what it would be like to be in their shoes. With this example in mind, let me propose a simple definition for good acting: Good acting is a performance which makes the audience think and feel. Though simple, I believe this definition is true and useful for us as actors, because its primary focus is on the audience and not on ourselves.
Great actors and great performances are in service of someone or something other than the actor themselves. They are in service of the story, the audience, the character. How do we magically make an audience feel, think, or even do something through their screen or from the stage? There are several factors to consider. Practically, it breaks down into two main areas:. Both of these factors working in harmony allow for the audience to think and feel.
Together they make for great acting. A great actor and a great performance is a demonstration of master craftsmanship. They have learnt the rules, so they can now break them. The best actors in the world work hard. Our job is to transform. Our craft, our technique , allows us to shape-shift; it a llows us to physically, vocally, and intellectually emulate an existence that is different to our own.
Technique applies to all the practical elements of the work an actor does. It includes, but is not exclusive to:. Technical mastery over ones voice and body, allowing them to make detailed choices about how the character speaks and moves. Mastery of script and story analysis. Understanding punctuation in a script. When a well written story and a great actor connect, magic is made. An actor who knows how to honour the writers intention, including their punctuation in a play can be mesmerising to watch.
The best actors find freedom within the structure of a script. As actors, we need to do the work to manifest these images artificially, so they fuel and fortify our performance.
All great monologues and speeches are filled with detailed and specific imagery which the actor has identified. Just like my example from The Graduate , good acting continues even when nothing is being said aloud. Exciting inner life happens when there is something going on behind their eyes, because the actor has done the technical work of generating something.
The actor actually needs to put pen to paper and search within themselves and the scripts to identify what makes this human being tick. With the inner fire of the character ignited, what are the choices the character can make to achieve their objective? How can they play the game of life and win, with the repertoire and skill sets that they have acquired in their life?
There are always a myriad of choices an actor can make in any given moment in a scene. Great actors can make the greatest choices: choices we would never have thought possible. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed.
The wind took them all over. Hoffman has complete control over his voice. He is able to use his voice with such detail and specificity that he can speak to the large audience in the church as intimately as though he was speaking to a single person. He knows and trusts that he can whisper or speak quietly to give strength to moments, and then he can increase his volume in other moments.
Analysis of this script, its given circumstances and its subtext is crucial to its performance. This is not simply a sermon about the concept and consequences of gossip in a religious setting. Did you notice a difference? Did you notice that the first time round you skimmed over the punctuation at all?
Shanley this is essential. However, paying respect to the punctuation does not inhibit his performance; rather it enhances it. The punctuation in the script and its manifestation in performance as pauses, breaks, inflection and exclamation gives the appropriate weight and pace, necessary for the message and story to land with the other characters and the audience.
With the medium of film, we as the audience have the luxury of being shown a depiction of the image of the feathers being carried from the rooftop by the wind. I can say that with confidence, because when he speaks, I picture the scenes in my mind. If he sees it, I see it. Hoffman needs to have made a decision about what his objective is, who is he targeting with this sermon, and how does he want them to feel, what does he want them to do?
He also needs to know for himself and have made a choice about the innocence or guilt of Father Flynn, and whether or not he has committed the crime he has been accused of. That decision will drastically impact and energise his inner life; if he has been falsely accused, the rage and defensiveness which would arise would be ferocious. If he is indeed guilty, the turmoil his character would be experiencing would be paramount.
What Father Flynn has been accused of is abhorrent and damnable, but Hoffman must empathise with, not excuse the behaviour of, but empathise with the character to be able to play him.
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