By Rachelann Muragu
Imagine having to play someone else for a certain amount of time in your life. How cool is that? Having the power to influence people with that ability or with your art is truly gratifying. This job may come with glam and glitz but there is so much work put into it. It is no joke and should be given the seriousness it deserves. Looking at all the movies that you must love, the actors in them went to great lengths to bring out their characters. If it required them to lose or gain weight, they did just that. If you want to be an actor or already are, here are a few guidelines to help boost your quest for an Oscar nomination.
1. Tap into your emotions
Once in a while I experience an emotion onstage that is so gut-wrenching, so heart-stopping, that I could weep with gratitude and joy. The feeling catches and magnifies so rapidly that it threatens to engulf me.- Julie Andrews Edwards
These words by Julie Edwards, a renowned English actress of 50 years, show us how possible it is for a performer to go a place where they shed it all. There is a difference between just doing something and doing it with passion. This is the only way to give it your all. This form of art needs to come from your gut. When you have put effort in something and take it seriously and you can only stand out.
2. Don’t think too much; just go with it.
The best acting is instinctive. It’s not intellectual, it’s not mechanical, it’s instinctive. - Craig MacDonald
Use your instincts, go deeper than common sense. This is Craig MacDonald mantra. Remember him from ‘Her Majesty’. He understands that to succeed in this profession and to influence your audiences, one needs more than methods. When performing, overthinking shows. This sometimes requires one to trust their gut and just go with the flow. When you over think, you hold back so much. Understand your character and identify with them. Don’t do it half-heartedly. Make sure you go full on with your character and the character will live in you.
3. Understand the bigger story not just your lines.
Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.- Bette Davis
Bette Davis is regarded one of the best actresses in the world of cinema. For Bette, technique is king. Every actor should know the importance of the big picture. In other words, read the entire script and not just your lines. Reading the entire script for perspective is vital to the outcome. Lines aren’t there to be said just so that the plot continues. A line in a script is placed for an actor to bring it to life and not merely recited. One benefit of knowing every line is, when one of the actors has forgotten their lines during a live recording, one can say the other character’s lines as theirs to prompt their memory about what they should say. A good actor/actress thinks on their feet.
4. Listen and hear
The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard. - William Hazlitt
A conversation is two-way and this is what the philosopher and writer William Hazitt meant in this epic quote. Acting isn’t just about talking or focusing on reciting lines. It involves a lot of listening. This goes for both on and off set. On set, try and listen to yourself when saying lines. Does it sound believable? If not then you have to ensure that you sound believable. For lines to sound real, an actor needs to hear how normal conversations sound like. If you need to go out and listen to how people talk to each other, do it. You can also watch movies that you consider classics and listen to how conversations play out. When on set as well, listen to the other character you are acting along side. When you do, it is easier to react naturally to whatever they are saying.
5. Be natural.
Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances. - Sanford Meisner
It is understandable for one to be self-conscious when in front of the glare of camera, lights and props and feel constantly under surveillance. These distractions should be totally shut out. Just because you are acting, doesn’t mean that you have to do it literally! It is called acting because it is taking another role that isn’t you and that’s it, not necessarily pretending or trying too hard to portray someone else. Acting entails ignoring your real person and taking up the character presented to you at the time. This is essential when acting for screen. Do not act; just be. Where did I learn that? One Eric Ngaira stressed this point, when he was directing a play that I was in. Acting on stage however is clearly more emotive and dramatic but I did see the value of his advice. Anyone watching a show or movie wants to identify and believe in a character. Even though it isn’t real life, with acting- depending on what kind of show it is- there has to be a well-struck balance between reality and fiction. One has to be in character, which essentially means taking up who one is playing and bringing them to life. Screen requires more realism in the way one takes up a character opposed to stage. Once we have that clean transition, then we shall have more believable shows. Every production can have a very good story, good camera work and editing but actors play a huge role too. Without good acting, the story is a flop. An actor should learn, know and be the character they are playing. A character will transform an actor’s life if you let them.