Acting Flashcards
(9 cards)
What are the different types of actors on set?
Background/Extras - they don’t have any lines or do much; their purpose is to sit, stand, or walk around in the background to fill in space or liven up a scene
Featured extras - Also don’t have lines, but they are needed to perform an action in a special way (ex/ playing a taxi driver w/ no lines that has to drive the main character to airport); these type of extras get paid higher or receive special credit
Supporting or principal - all the actors (beside the leading cast) that have lines in film; they either appear in multiple scenes or just one; where their names appear in the credits (opening or closing) depends on how big their names are as actors
Star(s) or lead(s) - These are the actors that play the main characters the story is focused on (similar to the “series regulars” in TV shows)
Who was Konstantin Sergeievich Stanislavski?
He was a Russian theatre practitioner and director; His system for training actors, called ‘Stanislavski’s System’ was developed in the first half of the 20th century.
-he was the first in the West to propose that acting training should include something more than physical and vocal training
-His system helped move the actor’s conscious thought and will to activate other less controllable psychological processes: emotional experience and subconscious behavior
-He further elaborated the system w/ a more ground physical rehearsal process, called “Method of Physical Action”
Who were the 3 pioneer teachers of method acting and what did each of them bring to the table?
Lee Strasberg (psychological) - used methods like:
-Affective memory - teaches actors to draw on past experiences to bring an authentic and emotional portrayal to their characters
-Sense memory - teaches drawing on senses and feelings from a past event to add more authenticity to characters
-Substitution - Using emotions from past experiences and putting them in place of character’s emotions
-Physicalization - teaches using body to express a character’s emotions, thoughts, and action
Stella Adler (sociological) - used methods like:
-Character’s objectives - learning what the character wants in each scene and how far they will go to get it
-Character research - learning about the background of the character, including their historical, economical, social aspects of their being
-Script analysis - making sure identify subtext in scripts and the underlying subtleties of character relationships
Stanford Meisner (behavioral) - used methods like:
-Repetition - in dialogue scenarios; the practice of repeating what the other person said in order to sharpen active listening skills, and read facial expressions and tone better to improve the responses given back
- Impulsive - teaches actors to always trust their creative spontaneous instincts in what they say and do
-Instinct
-Subtext
What was Stanislavski’s first proposition for acting?
The actors needs to achieve a state that’s like a normal person in real life. To do this, they must be:
- Physically free and controlled
- Alert and attentive (relaxed readiness)
- Listening and observing (genuine eye contact w/ others)
- Believing
What was Stanislavski’s second proposition for acting?
If the actor puts themselves in place of the character, they’ll be able to achieve honest action onstage by combining:
1. Psychological action (strong motives)
2. Physical action
What was Stanislavski’s third proposition for acting?
The action onstage resulting from proposition 2’s combination (psychological & physical action) is only possible if actor has done thorough research; preparation frees the actor to experience “metamorphosis”
What are the ten system steps?
- Given circumstances: everything about character’s background; who, what, when, where, why, relationships, training, social life, financial status, age, historical period, etc
- “The magic ‘if’”: How would you respond if you had walked the same journey in their shoes
- The super objective: what does your character want most in life
- Through lines of action: Pattern of behavior; what character “tends” to do to get what they want
- Score: dividing up script as one might do w/ music; larger units become defined, then smaller beats
- Endowment: project qualities and memories (either real or imagined) unto ppl and objects
- Using own past experiences and senses to awaken emotional sensations for the character
- Having very clear images in mind when working
- Alter your own physical and vocal tendencies to the character, especially the rhythm
- Creative mood: the actor functions as 2 roles at same time; they have a state open to inspiration and the actor can think as the artist and as the character at same time
What are verbs in the context of acting?
It’s words that are used to express what you do to get what you what
-Not all verbs are actable; actable verbs are commonplace, gusty activities that you can DO (ex/ verbs like convince, encourage, tease, prove, entice, intimidate
What is action in context of acting?
An invisible bridge flowing from an external stimulus through an inner choice to an external object; the stimulus is provided by someone else’s actions toward you and ur action becomes a stimulus for someone else and that evokes a reaction from them, creating a action/reaction/action chain of energy between the characters
