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Order
Form for Challenge of the Actor
& How to Get Started in Acting
By Eric Stone
"Whatever you can do or
dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Goethe
Thank you for having chosen
Hollywood Actors Studio. This manual is designed to
facilitate your understanding, study and pursuit of
acting as a craft.
In this manual, you will find
distinctions about the craft of acting which aim at
giving acting a context as an art form that can be
learned and practiced, not a vague talent that some
people are born with and others not.
You will also find in it definitions
and insights about the basic language and terminology of
the craft of acting. These aim at clarifying concepts and
ideas about what acting is which can sometimes confuse us
rather than help us.
By developing a clear understanding
of the craft, and by creating a healthy context for the
study of acting, it is much easier to train to become
skilled and competent. It also helps develop respect for
acting as an art form, something that can touch and
affect people.
The worst enemies of actors are not
the job market, Hollywood, corrupt and incompetent agents
or producers. Competition is not the problem either. Lack
of competence and the willingness to become competent and
effective as an actor is what stops the majority of
would-be actors.
Other traps are:
We hope you enjoy and benefit from
this manual.
Warm regards,
Eric Stone
Tarzana, California
Order Form for Challenge
of the Actor & How to Get Started in Acting
Hollywood Actors Studio is dedicated
to training and developing first-rate actors and
actresses who are genuinely committed to making acting
their chosen professional path. While there is no
fundamental difference as to where the actor is sourced
emotionally when working on film as opposed to television
or stage, there is a definite difference in delivery
between staged and filmed work. The technical demands are
obviously distinct. Even though stage acting, through the
influence of the great Russian director Stanislavsky, has
taken on a realistic and naturalistic approach since the
1920's, stage work still demands slightly bigger than
life performing, and therefore requires more effort on
the part of the actor. The actor on stage, in order to
communicate, has to be seen and heard by everyone
present. Therefore mannerisms, character traits, physical
conditions, voice, body gestures,...etc...have to be
magnified, exaggerated, without losing realism and
believability. Even though theater acting can be very
real and spontaneous, it undoubtedly creates a style of
acting. A good actor can adapt to the demands of the
different media without changing his or her approach.
The film actor has to adapt to
different demands: Shooting out of sequence, long waiting
periods on set, the seemingly chaotic aspect of the set,
special effects, three-camera soap opera work, location
work, working on close-ups, doing the same take over and
over again from all different camera set-ups, editing,
working with difficult directors, lack of rehearsal,
etc...
On stage the curtain goes up and
there you go. No chance to stop in the middle and
"cut", you're on for the whole length of the
play. You have rehearsed the whole play in sequence and
you're doing it straight through. The audience is out
there watching. Some actors have their preferences as to
which they prefer; stage, film, soaps, sitcoms. I have my
own opinion. What is relevant for our purpose is that you
distinguish the different technical demands and work
within them. If you train well and dedicate yourself, you
can do well in all any of these media.
It goes without saying that all the
tools and techniques delivered and practiced at the
Studio apply to film and television acting. You do not
need to change your approach, but simply adapt to
different environments and technical difficulties. Only
the focus and intensity of your technique changes.
SIMPLICITY - THINKING
LISTENING WITH ALL SENSET - SUBTEXT
CIRCUMSTANCE - IMAGINATION
TECHNICAL VOCABULARY- ECONOMY OF MOVEMENT
BEING SPECIFIC - SHOT TERMINOLOGY
Order
Form for Challenge of the Actor & How to Get Started in Acting
Acting is a game. It is rooted in
make believe. The practice of a game is not serious but
like any other game, it has rules. The paradox is that
one plays a game "for real", but the game isn't
real in essence.
The desire to act belongs to the
context of game which is a form of communication. It is
also a kind of celebration of the fun and joy of being
alive. Acting, viewed from this perspective, acts as a
pretext to explore, learn, entertain and communicate.
This understanding gives meaning to our practice and it
elevates and illuminates the spirit.
The premise that acting is a game
rooted in make believe allows us the freedom to explore
its creative possibilities. The ability to make a fool of
oneself becomes a valuable talent, ally and a source of
creative freedom. Pride and self-importance dooms the
creative activity and ruins the fun as well as the game.
The instrument of the actor, the body, mind, imagination,
and so on, need to be relaxed and free of tension and
self-importance to function properly.
Tension and self-consciousness
breeds attachments to positional points of view on life,
people and especially oneself. A tense actor is
self-conscious, righteous, worried, insecure, cerebral,
uptight, often depressed or sad and unimaginative, to
name only a few.
Relaxation or rather the need to
work in a relaxed manner is the most important
responsibility of the actor. Relaxation of the body, mind
and emotions opens new dimensions and offers considerable
creative advantages. Genuine creativity resides in higher
planes of consciousness. Tension can be related to and
thought of as a state of mind, a holding onto of old
patterns of thought and behavior and a clinging to
certain painful emotions for lack of better
understanding. Tension resides and expresses itself in
the body on a physical plane. The actor is a physical
organism first. It breathes, moves, sees, touches,
smells, etc. Tension paralyzes spontaneous physical
activity and robs energy. The aim of practice is to learn
how to let go of the grip that the mind has on the body.
We view relaxation as a gradual surrender to that higher
plane of consciousness and creativity. The aim of
training is also the giving up of self-importance for
richer, freer and broader horizons.
Working in a relaxed way is eighty
per cent of good acting because the direct impact of a
relaxed instrument is a natural return to our ability to
child-like make believe. Authenticity of emotion and
reactions in a given or imaginary circumstance is rooted
in relaxation.
It is much harder to teach a tense
actor to relax than it is to communicate to him or her
the technical demands of a particular scene. Oftentimes,
lesser skilled actors are easier to work with than
skilled performers who carry a lot of tension,
self-importance and ego and who are unwilling to let go
and trust the director and the process.
Working in a relaxed way will give
you a sense of ease and will help make your acting
seamless, effortless and a delight to watch.
We offer twenty different techniques
of relaxation which represent a body of tools to be used
daily. Some require little time and others are deeper and
more time consuming. We are in the process of compiling a
manual strictly focused on relaxation techniques.
Order
Form for Challenge of the Actor & How to Get Started in Acting
1-Acting is not serious. Acting is a
game of make believe. It isn't serious by nature or in
essence. The actor needs to empower the fun aspect of his
or her work through the training, practice and rehearsal
of tools and exercises which aim at freeing the
playfulness, joy, artistry and genius of the actor to its
full & unique self-expression. The actor is his/her
own instrument. S/he has to be convinced that whatever
the situation and whatever the demands or characteristics
of the role, the doing of acting isn't serious. That is
the most significant understanding fundamental principle
an actor can assimilate, and this principle represents
the gateway to how much joy in acting and depth of
feeling an actor can achieve.
2-Acting happens inside the arena of
scenes. The scene is the common denominator of the craft
for the actor. Without a scene nothing gets revealed (an
improvisation is a scene if it possesses the required
elements). A scene for the actor is one or more
characters in a place, at a time(season, day,...etc...),
wanting something from something or someone for a reason.
There needs to be a conflict of interests expressed in
opposing wants in order for a scene to be an actable
scene. Opposing wants are also referred to as the clash
of wills. Another word for want is desire, objective,
intention, goal, pursuit. The tension and the
relationship between the opposing wants is what makes a
scene interesting. The way the characters pursue their
want is what also keeps us interested. In life we are
always involved or witnessing scenes, but they are not
always (1) Dramatic, (2) Interesting or revealing, (3)
They do not belong to a whole or structure (the play or
script). The conflict comes from (1) The character
him/herself, (2) The other character(s), (3) An external
force or source. Every scene is a negotiation of some
sort because when we desire something we have to
negotiate it step by step. We do not walk into an office
to be interviewed for a position and speak our real
intention (I need this job-give it to me and take my word
for it-and if you don't I'll start screaming-I don't care
to answer your stupid questions-I'm here to sign the
contract). Instead we negotiate with 1) our desire to get
the job, and 2) whatever obstacles are in our way (weak
resume, headache, sexual harassment from
interviewer,...etc...). What we call at-stakeness is
simply the degree to which we desire something coupled
with how bad it would be for us if we do not get what we
desire.
3-The actor's only mode of
expression is the action. An action always aims at
serving our wishes in a given scene. Actions can be
gestures, uses of objects, facial expressions, touching,
smelling, speaking, any physical, psychological or
emotional doing that can be performed physically and it
includes thinking (as in visualizing, picturing,
counting, even though thinking alone couldn't constitute
the bulk of one's technique or style. Emotions and
attitudes are always the result of an action(s), not a
means of expression. The actor(s) does something, and
then and only then does s/he feel. Emotions are the
logical consequence of our actions or of what is being
done to us.
4-Character is revealed through
actions. Characters, like people, act in the pursuit of
goals they are intending to reach. Who they really are
gets revealed through the kind of actions they perform in
the pursuit of their intended objectives. The more
interesting the choice of actions the more involved the
audience becomes. Talent has a lot to do with the choice
of those actions. Choice is conditioned by (1) Character
(social class, background, profession, fears,
aspirations, etc) (2) the objective or goal the character
has (3) the nature of the relationship (who he or she is
negotiating with (4) the place within which the character
is dealing (5) The conditioning forces which together
make up the circumstances of the given scene: any detail
and fact relevant to the scene which leads, influences or
colors behavior. The way to access circumstances (place,
character, conflict, situation, relationship, intention,
etc.) is by reading the script and asking a multitude of
questions relevant to those categories.
5-Relationship. Relationship is the
quality and condition which determines (1) The quality of
the behavior (antagonistic, friendly, etc.) (2) The kind
of actions you perform within that relationship, (3) The
tone of voice you use (4) The degree of self-expression
allowed within that relationship (5) The qualities you
choose or do not choose to reveal about yourself within
that relationship.
This
Manual is yours when you register
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