Key Student Notes: Actor Training 6/23/2016

Peter Valentino Key Student Notes: Actor Training

Bryce Harrison PETER VALENTINO ACTING STUDIO Key Student Notes: Observations and Analysis 6/23/2016

– Actors often read their lines like turtles. Speed up your dialogue or face the deadly reality of seeming like you’re acting. The core of this craft is to make it look like you’re LIVING.

– The Actor is working towards the speed of life. This means taking less time for discovery and “doing the mental math” moments.

– The Actor must hit their marks organically through the proximity.

– Stop moving your body excessively. Instead, relax and rely on the breath to bring you into the scenes reality.

– Don’t use the script as an object or look like an amateur.

– The Actor must keep their eyes concentrated and locked deep within the proximity. Avoid excessive blinking and deepen your level of focus.

– The Actor must speed up their responses and respond instinctually.

– There are no excuses. Practice more. – Get off book with the script as fast as possible.

– Don’t hold the script with two hands.

– Don’t read into the script. Read to your scene partner. This requires you to direct your energy, your body, and your eyes towards the character(s).

– Acting’s two main elements are concentration and imagination. These are skills that must be developed and attentively cultivated. Practice.

– Your feet and the way they are connected to the earth determine the character. Start with the feet first and work from the ground up.

– Everything in the proximity is real. If the Actor doesn’t portray this, the audience will observe this. The audience is extremely intelligent and skeptic. Think through the audience’s eyes.

– A lot of acting is through the eyes. Engage them.

– The script tells the actor how to act through punctuation. Pay close attention to detail. Develop a deeper analysis for the script and where the breath lies in it. If you discover the breathing pattern of the character, you discover the character.

– Take the emotion deeper, as deep as it can go. Get to the truth of it and don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. It takes true bravery to reveal the authenticity of the soul in acting and in life. Experience these sensations deeply.

– The Actor must develop a love for practice and rehearsal.

– Practice as if it is the real thing x 2: imagine you are at an audition every time you are cold reading. Up the stakes and breathe into it with no fear.

– There is no point in fear, for we are all going to die and it is pretty much out of our control. Dive into the present moment with everything inside of you.

– The Actor is a professional learner.

– “Proximity… You must discover it organically.” – Peter Valentino.