Have you ever been completely floored by another actor's performance? For many, witnessing that is what led them to get into the industry.
They were inspired by another actor that literally changed the course of their life.
That is an incredibly powerful thing, and it makes you think, what is the unique ability those actors have that others are missing?
It’s actually quite simple...
World class actors dig beneath the surface and determine what traits and emotions are known about their characters and what traits and emotions are secondary, but still relevant.
Most actors only think of what’s going on in the scene, and don’t really build a character based on their entire story.
Making character choices with both of those in mind is what world class actors do. It can be tricky, but if you want to advance your acting career, this is a something you have to be able to do too,
Here’s how...
Let’s say that you are playing a character that is going for a morning jog. That’s a pretty simple scene and most actors wouldn’t give it much thought.
What you want to do is identify the reasons behind everything your character does. So why are they going for a morning jog?
Are they stressed about something and are using it as a form of stress relief? Is it their typical morning routine: up at 6 a.m. to jog for an hour and in the office by 8 a.m.?
Both of those situations would call for something noticeably different from the actor playing the character.
Someone who is running for stress relief would leave everything on the pavement. They would be running at a brisk pace, breathing heavily and they probably wouldn’t have the best running technique.
On the other hand, a routine runner would have proper form, controlled breathing, and they would pace themselves so they could do it all over again the next morning.
See how those scenes can be played very differently, when you dig into the reasons behind the morning jog?
For something like this, the script will likely make the reasons pretty obvious. As an actor, to build a dynamic character, you then want to dig deeper and tie everything together when playing a scene.
You can then use that information to determine whether or not your character’s actions match their deeper motivations.
Let’s go back to the running example...
Let’s say your character is running for stress relief and they see someone they want to avoid, while on their jog.
The scene calls for your character to sit on a park bench and hide their face to avoid being spotted and recognized.
Would that be the most natural and believable thing for your character to do in the scene? How would you react if you were walking through the park and saw someone panting while slumped over on a bench?
While you may not offer help, it would at least grab your attention, so ducking behind a tree would make a lot more sense in this scenario.
I know it sounds like a small shift but when you think of it over the course of 90 minutes, these things add up and take the audience out of the scene, shattering the 4th wall.
When you’re on set, don’t be afraid to speak up about things like this. An insecure director will be hesitant to deviate from what is written but they will still allow you a take or two to try it your way.
A seasoned director will give you the latitude and be more open to discussing the reasons behind your choice.
It’s things like this that make a difference between an OK performance, and one that lives on in the audience’s mind long after they’ve left the theatre or turned off the TV.
What causes most actors to lose their audience throughout the course of a performance is not being able to depict emotions in a believable way.
When the audience doesn’t feel the emotions your character is projecting, it takes them out of the scene and reminds them that they are watching a work of fiction.
That’s why it’s important to dig beyond the surface level emotions and get to what is really driving your character.
This is actually where it gets more simple...
Almost everything that drives your character will stem from only 2 emotions: fear and joy.
I can hear you screaming at your screen “there’s so much more!” I agree but stick with me for a sec...
If I were to ask you to show me fear what would you do? Scream and cry? Would you depict a more subtle fear and widen your eyes and take a deep breath?
See with every emotion, but particularly with fear there is always something more beneath the surface and that’s what determines the range at which you play the emotion.
If I were to ask you to show me joy what would you do? Laugh and shed tears of joy? Would you throw your hands in the air and jump around, laughing so hard your stomach aches?
Joy has a similar range as its polar opposite emotion, but the mannerisms can be very similar.
That’s why when someone goes too far with fear, it becomes comical because it crosses the very thin line that looks like joy.
So, when you think about what your character is feeling in a scene, trace the surface level emotion back to one of the two dominant emotions and anchor your character choices there.
Here’s what I mean...
Let’s say you are playing a character that has suffered the loss of someone close to them. What emotions would you project?
Most actors would say sadness, loneliness and maybe remorse, if there was something left unfinished between the character and the other person.
Those are good answers but they are still very surface level and they don’t give you much to go on. When you trace them back to their dominant emotion it gives you much more guidance on where to take your character.
Their sadness stems from the fear of what it will mean to be without joy for whatever length of time.
If your character is projecting loneliness after the loss, it stems from the fear of never being able to replace the relationship they had with the person they lost.
Even the remorse the character experiences would stem from what it means that they will forever be carrying the burden of their unfinished business with the other person.
Just like we talked about earlier, things add up so over the course of 90 minutes your audience will be completely bought in when you anchor your character choices in the deeper, dominant emotions.
They will feel whatever you are projecting through your character and that’s what Oscar worthy performances are made of.
That’s what makes it so that there’s not a dry eye in the audience and it’s what causes a collective sigh of relief when the hero triumphs, even though you knew it was coming all along.
Think of how easy it would have been for Kate Winslet to drop the ball at the end of Titanic. Jack wouldn’t wake up and help had finally arrived.
Before the ship went down, she made the decision to give up everything for him. Now, here she was minutes away from succumbing to hypothermia and help showed up just in time.
When she said “the boats are here” the root emotion was joy. What it meant was we’ll be saved, get out of this mess, and live the rest of our lives together.
When she realized Jack was dead she paused and laid down, too afraid of what life would be like without him, now that she’s discovered true love.
Then, she snaps out of it, says “I’ll never let go” and swims for the boats, finds a whistle and is rescued.
You can see the relief when the boats turn around and come for her. The dominant emotion there is joy, even though it’s not explicitly shown beyond the effort she put into being rescued.
The joy came from being able to keep Jack alive in her heart and in her memories.
Any of that could have easily been overplayed or underplayed but tracing back the character’s actions to the dominant ones kept the scene intact and had the audience feeling everything Kate Winslet was projecting.
There are outliers and exceptions to this of course and I could write an entire series of books on the range of emotions, but when it comes down to it, what we covered today is more than enough to impact your performances on a level that 99% of actors will never reach.
Being able to deliver on that level when you’re on set, will do wonders for your career, but something that won’t change is that all the talent in the world won't get you on set.
Here’s what I mean...
You also need to have a strategy for getting auditions, otherwise you won’t have a way to share your talent with the industry.
Once you are in the room, you can use what we talked about today to help you move through the process and book more consistently.
So what helps you get in the room?
Being visible to the industry and making sure that what they see about you shows you are a professional, rather than someone who acts as a hobby is the first step.
Everyone’s career is different. What you want to focus on are the things that truly make a difference and apply to across the board.
For example, the industry has always been built on reputation and that’s something that won’t change anytime soon. If you don’t have a reputation that precedes you, then you are already at a disadvantage before you even walk in the room to audition.
That’s why I built this, to help you make sure your industry reputation is always in tip top shape.
Think about it, if you have a stellar industry reputation, and you are highly visible to decision makers, why wouldn’t they want to have you come in to read?
From there, you can knock it out of the park using what we went over today.
I know I threw a lot at you. You might want to go over this a few times and come back to it from time to time.
Get some practice by watching a movie and tracking the dominant emotions of the characters as the story plays out. If you want to discuss a scene together, shoot me an email or leave a comment below.
I’m happy to bounce ideas and help however I can because I truly want to...
See you at the top,
Scott