Saturday 2/20
Television and Film acting class: 2pm-5pm (Every Saturday)
Bryce Harrison
Notes and Analysis
“Yes and…” drill:
- “Yes and” is a positive connotation, “Yes BUT…” is a negative connotation.
- Always look for the specificity of your scene partners dialogue and ideas.
- Look to create a new thread off the previous idea or sentence. Continuously making the conversation and dialogue travel to new places and ideas.
- Don’t reiterate the previous ideas and dialogue, always look for the opportunity to travel somewhere new.
- Decide the relationship and status between you and your scene partner. Then build around and within the proximity of your two characters.
- Try to avoid questions and any negative conversation hinderer. Further the conversation forward and make it travel into something new and imaginary.Scene work: catching Peter’s thoughts
- Keep the discovery, and just imagine everything.
- Think about all the things that are physically and emotionally going on, then take it all in internally. Go to these specific places in your imaginary mind and feel it out.
- Deliver the monologue to the imaginary person. You create that person in your mind’s eye and they are a real breathing entity.
- Only speak into the audition camera when directed to.
- What is the underlying point of your monologue? Drop any preconceptions of the dialogue and develop your own energy behind it. Tie your emotions into the subject matter and flow of your monologue. Use the breath and the eyes to make discovery. Don’t forget that internalizing makes it real*
- Your imagination allows you to make discovery. It is the most powerful tool of the human mind and it will be your biggest tool for acting.
- Play it natural, as if it were literally real life. Understand the human nature of your scene’s context.
- Presentational is theatrical. Natural and internal is the way of the screen.
- Feel things more.
- Keep things in a subtle construct and remember that it is essentially two human beings having a conversation.
- Go deeper into the proximity.
- Bring the audience into the moment with your naturalness. Breathe, it is your vehicle that will take you through the journey.
- Discover the space, feel the space, and play the space.
- Practice in the mirror and videotape yourself religiously.
- DON’T EVER STOP BEFORE HEARING CUT.
- The audience wants you to give them a slice of life, provide it to them through your breathing and ability to reveal the truth.
- When you cross your legs, it is a subconscious trait of human nature that implies protection.
- What is your character passionate about? What does your character live for? Understand this and then feel it completely with the imagination. Play through the proximity.
- You have to believe in everything you are doing or it will be fake and synthetically unaesthetic.
- See it, believe it, tell me about it – Peter Valentino
- Human things, just do human things – Peter Valentino
- There’s always some sort of conflict no matter the volume or scale of it, flow into this friction. Play the escalation as if it were real life.
- Breathe and respond. Everything in acting is a form of “Yes and…”
- Calm down and make it internal.
- Breathing is the primary internal reality.
- Follow deep into the layers with the breath.
- Acting is essentially noticing and responding, a sharp and playful sense of neurotic impulse.
- Human conversation always contains discovery.
- Adjust your body and physical expression. Your character has a specific class and energy to them. You must become them and in order to do that you must use your imagination. Once you tap into the imagination and begin to create and discover these traits in your mind, you must begin to breathe and take it all in internally. This process will help you in the acting space.
- ALWAYS PLAY TILL YOU HEAR CUT!!!
- Stay in it – Peter Valentino