TV and Film Rehearsals

Over the last few weeks we have been looking at different techniques in which to use when being in front of a camera for TV acting, we have done this by watching workshops than trying them out with different scenes from different TV shows/films.

Different techniques that we have looked at that will help us on screen;

• When you tell a story as yourself you have life and warmth in your eyes, but when you're acting the light fades. You shut down your character, you give them a limit on how far to take that emotion.
• Many people think of the character as she/he not I and because of this they're looking at the characters lives on the side-lines, not actually living it.
• Picture what you're describing.
• Be specific on who you're taking to and how you feel about them.

　

We also watched a Michael Caine acting master class and some of the things we learnt there were:

• If you are having a conversation with another character focus on one of their eyes, as on the camera looking back and forth between two eyes looks weird and we don't do that in real life - only actors do.
• You need to be a lot more open with your face, really show your facial expressions, as every little tiny movement is picked up, even a glance down or to the side is picked up and can tell a story.

While you're acting you can't lose the spot that you chose to look at when on camera, as you can't look directly in the camera when performing. Although it gives you a perfect eye line, it doesn't look natural to stare at the same spot for your whole scene. I realised this when some of us in the class are afraid that they might lose the spot they picked so they don't move their eyesight for the rest of the scene, making them look very unnatural and still, as they're tense.

The first scene I picked was with Bradly and it was from Friends, I was Phoebe and Bradly was Joey. Phoebe and Joey have a very close friendship and would feel very comfortable being around each other, but when me and Bradly rehearsed our scene the warmth faded from our eyes. The words I was saying had no true meaning behind it because I wasn't thinking of what I was saying and how being with Joey makes me feel. We also found out that doing comedy is harder than drama as with drama you can have so much thoughts going through your head the audience can pick up a few to understand the character better, while most comedy scenes are just meant to make you laugh - no real meaning behind it.

The second scene I picked was with Charlotte and this was a dramatic scene. Lauren and Abi are sisters who are having an argument. I related this to a real life situation, me having an argument with one of my sisters and it brought life to my eyes and gave my character a relatable quality to her as many people argue with their siblings all the time. The one big part of acting is reacting, you must react to what ever the other person is saying to you other whys the scene means nothing. With this scene I had a problem with that, as arguments are so quick and powerful you have to say your lines with such precision, I lost the timing to react to what Charlotte was saying to me. Instead of focusing on the words she was saying and the meaning behind them, I was thinking, "Quick, what's my next line?" Completely losing the feel of the scene.

We did an exercise were our lecturer gave us a scenario, you're home alone and you hear about two or three voices outside. They're talking about breaking into your home and you live away from any other houses so you're on your own. You call the police and they said they'll be there in about twenty minutes, hide and wait. You quietly go up to your attic and wait for something to happen, whether it's the police or the people outside.

The scene starts with you already inside the attic and how you would react to a situation like that. This was probably one of the most difficult things I had to do, as putting yourself in that situation is a horrid thing to do and making it seem believable, while also keeping the audiences interest. We all went up one at a time and did our individual reaction. When it was my turn I decided to take a bold approach and instead of crying I laughed. The disbelieving laugh you give out when you can't believe something is happening, and then that laughter turns to tears, so you're crying and laughing at the same time. After I finished the scene I got a lot of positive feedback, they understood what was going through my head and felt emotional watching me, as seeing a person have a breakdown knowing what's going to happen to them but not being able to do anything to stop it is heart-breaking in itself, but watching a person accept what is going to happen is even worse, as you know they have given up hope. The only thing I would improve on that scene is to show my eyes a bit more, as I was scared to look directly in the camera.

For the fourth week we did a scene from MI5, this scene was more different to the others as I had to use an American accent. Whenever I do American I go southern, but for this scenario it didn't suit it. I spent about fifteen minutes on my own trying to get the accent down and by bringing down my tone to a more lower sound I got the accent I wanted. Now that I got the accent down I needed to put emotion in my voice, this is something I'm usually good at but when I do accents I become monotonous and that's very boring to listen to. However, instead of rehearsing like I normally would do I learnt a couple of my lines and winged it in the actual performance.

Because we had the script in our hand and I was looking down, it seemed like I was reading the script but I was actually trying to portray the characters fear of looking up. The person who was talking to me was threatening to hurt my family and he said family twice. I looked up at him when he said family the second time but I think I should have looked up both times as the effect would have been more powerful.

One of the scenes I loved doing was 'the bad news over the phone'. You're at home, sitting in your living room and waiting for a phone call from your boyfriend/girlfriend but instead of them on the phone it's their cousin telling you that they have died in a car accident, the parents of your boyfriend/girlfriend didn't want to tell you, (because they don't approve of your relationship) you're not invited to the funeral and one of the dogs you own together had died while the other one is missing - so this scene is hit after hit of bad news and the raw emotion behind that is hard to find and do.

Before we started Adam (our lecturer) told us that the acting industry does not like vain actors, and this doesn't mean the people who love themselves too much, it means that they're scared to look ugly on screen and crying makes you ugly. I've never had a problem with ugly crying on screen as I just love throwing myself into the really emotional scenes.

The problem with getting a script that has bad news in it is that you prepare yourself for it before the news is actually told. I saw this with some of my class as they seem tense in the beginning of the scene, like they're waiting for the bad news. It doesn't look natural and it tips the audience from the very beginning that something is wrong, the whole point of this scene is to shock the audience with all that the character is being told.

I didn't get a chance to watch my scene back this time but when I finished the scene I got some positive feedback, they really believed how emotionally distraught I was and they liked how upbeat I was in the beginning when I answered the phone as it made the rest of the scene more believable. I also found out that my trigger for crying is laughing. This is because whenever I cry in real life I laugh at myself for how ridiculous I am for crying. At the end of that exercise I learnt that it's better to throw your all into it as the director will tell you if they like it or not. As when I was crying Adam was saying to me things like, that's great but sob louder, so it encouraged me to take it a step further and push myself to my limits.