A nice video tutorial about how to shoot on Canon 600D / T3i.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
13 Ways to Cast A-List Actors in Microbudget Films
From: http://filmmakermagazine.com/72600-13-ways-to-cast-a-list-actors-in-microbudget-films/
13 Ways to Cast A-List Actors in Microbudget Films
My film Between Us is about to come out in theaters and one of the questions I’ve been asked at some of the 22 festivals in seven countries I’ve been to (and yes, that sound you hear is my feet splashing on the beach when I won the Grand Jury Prize in the Bahamas) is how the hell I got a cast like Julia Stiles, Taye Diggs, Melissa George and David Harbour in a movie that according to Kickstarter only cost $10,000? So let me explain…
1. Choose Castable Material. One reason I chose to adapt an Off-Broadway play in the first place is I knew I’d find good, castable material that no one else was turning into a feature. I actually turned down Beau Willimon’s play Farragut North, and George Clooney turned it into Ides of March and got a happy ending from my sloppy seconds. It was good, but I knew would be hard to adapt for a low budget, if need be. But with Between Us, I knew it was at its heart four people in two rooms — how hard could that be? More importantly, the four parts were incredibly well written, with great chew-the-scenery moments for each actor. They were also written for 30-ish-year-old actors, and the two female parts were especially rich. That’s key: There are far more working (and famous) actresses than actors, and there aren’t enough good parts for them. So if you can get a script with really great female roles, you’re golden.
2. Assemble a Team. Contrary to popular wisdom, you don’t needan A-list casting director. What you need is someone who cansound like a credible casting director on the phone. I teamed up with Alison Buck, who’d been recommended by my pal, director Matthew Harrison. Alison had recently moved to L.A. from New Zealand and been working as a casting director in her spare time while also holding down a day job as a manager. Which meant that she had an office, a phone, knew the casting lingo and had the confidence to sound like the movie was happening. Yes, she had some contacts in the agenting world, but that’s not why we got her. She also had the stamina to stay committed to the film for what wound up being over four years.
But the casting director was only part of the team. I also needed to surround myself with a credible group of producers. To that end, I rounded up New Yorker Mike Ryan, who’d had seven films at Sundance. His claim to fame was helping discover Amy Adams in Junebug. I got Hans Ritter in L.A., who’d been instrumental in discovering Ellen Page in Hard Candy. Barry Hennessey was a four-time Emmy winning producer on Amazing Race… and had been my line producer on my previous film. And to top it off, we got Dana Altman, my producing partner on my first film, and Robert Altman’s grandson… not bad casting genes in his DNA! And of course, as the co-founder of Slamdance, and with some good casting under my belt for my previous film (Open Housewith Oscar-nominee Sally Kellerman, Anthony Rapp, Kellie Martin, et al), there was proof that I knew how to work with at least somewhat fancy actors.
3. Aim High. So with that team on paper, we decided to tell people we were making the film for $2 or 3 million! This was in 2007-8, so it didn’t sound so crazy at the time. And at that budget, the prevailing wisdom was to offer something called “Schedule F” which SAG says is a $65,000 flat rate. Now of course, we didn’t have a dime. So that meant we were doing “finance contingent” casting. Which means some of the agents and managers will take you seriously (10% of $65k is still enough to support at least a small coke habit), so they’ll get someone in the office to do coverage on the script and it gets in the system.
4. Go to New York. Something I learned by casting both Open House and Between Us is to target junior agents at the big agencies — and specifically ones in their New York offices. The L.A. talent agents are all running around like crazy trying to get their actors booked into pilot season. Television is where the long-term money is for the agencies. The L.A. people have neither the time nor inclination to worry about indie films, no matter what their budget. But, the New York branches of those same agencies spend more time trying to get prestige Broadway jobs for their L.A.-based high profile actor clients. Consequently, they’re also better attuned to know which actors in their clientele are inclined to want to do (and can afford to do) meaty, “actor-y” roles — whether they be on stage or in indie films. In general, the New York agents also tend to have gone to classier Ivy League schools, think they’re smarter, and have more time on their hands to actually sit down and read a script (and not just pass it on to a bitter intern to do coverage).
The sweet spot is to find a junior agent in New York — someone who just finished being an assistant, just got their own desk, but doesn’t yet have their own assistant. These are the hungry young bucks, eager to make a mark for themselves by discovering great material and prove themselves to their senior agents, A-list clients and the big bosses in L.A. And without their own assistants, they’ll actually answer their own phone!
5. Be Bi-Coastally Curious. From New York, come back to L.A.. This confuses the agencies, in a good way. If they think you’re bi-coastal, they will take you more seriously (Scott Rudin has offices in L.A. and N.Y., why shouldn’t you?). If you live in L.A., get a 917 number. If you live in N.Y., get a 323. Leave messages at 6:00 AM in L.A. or 9:00 PM in N.Y. Then play them off against each other: “Oh yes, that sitcom actor’s good, but your N.Y. colleague has this other Broadway actor that seems more… how do I put this? Substantial. Do you have any feature actors who are better?”
6. Don’t Have a List! Every director has some sort of list in mind about your dream cast. Forget it! You will never get your dream cast. Not all of them, not on your budget, and not on the week you want to start shooting. And then when you do cast someone else, you will always view them as inferior to the person you had in mind when you wrote the script or made your list. This is an important concept both creatively and practically.
Agents spend most of their time soullessly getting offers and pushing them on to their clients. For this, they went to Penn? So, when you meet with that junior agent in NY, tell him or her about the roles, and then say, “Who do you think would be good in this?” All of a sudden, it empowers the agent and makes them emotionally vested in the film. They will undoubtedly come up with the exact same list of clients that you would have thought of from scouring IMDbPro, but sometimes they will surprise you and come up with a new client they just signed, or someone bigger than you thought you could get. The point is, it will be their idea, and they will work ten times harder to get that person than if you had suggested them. Now they have something to prove to you (and their colleagues), and not the other way around.
7. Develop Relationships with Agents Yourself. No matter how good or powerful your casting director is, you as the filmmaker need to develop and cultivate relationships with talent agents and managers yourself: Buy them coffee in Park City, take them out to breakfast in Venice, share sushi on St. Mark’s. Whatever it takes. This is much better time spent than cultivating relationships with actors: You could spend 20 years buddying up to the next Tom Cruise, but when you finally need to cast your famous BFF, they might happen to be in rehab that month, and you’re screwed. But agents or managers who you know will always have other clients available, and will have them for not just this film, but for all your films in the future. That junior agent in New York will be a senior manager in L.A. by the time you make your next movie.
Even if you’ve gotten an A-list casting director, you need to develop these relationships yourself. You may have gotten lucky with a casting director this time, but next year when you want to make a Dogma 95 film in your kitchen, you won’t have a casting director to fall back on. It’s also more impressive for the young agents and managers to speak with the “director” and not just the casting director. Alison and I had a great system: If she contacted an agent, she would constantly refer to “the director” following up with them, and when I knew an agent, I would refer to my “casting director” as following up with them. It gave the impression that we had a real team who cared what that agent thought. And of course we always said our “assistants” would be dropping off a script, though invariably the assistant was me.
8. Play the Agency Game. As friendly as you get with one agent, make sure you’re also friends with another. Typically you get three bites at the apple with an agency: If three actors pass on the same script, they will stop returning your calls. And if all your actors do come from the same agent, then the power shifts, and you’re beholden to that agent — for better or for worse. To keep your casting momentum going, it’s best to play the agencies off against each other. Use the nuggets of success with one agency (“Oh, you know WME’s got the script out to Jennifer…”) as leverage to get the other agencies to move (“Well, yes, I suppose you could slip it to Ben for the weekend read”). Likewise, play the managers off against the agencies. Remember, it’s a game. Have fun with it! (And to really see how much fun it is to play agencies against each other, see this.)
9. Bait and Switch. With Between Us, just as we were getting a great cast, the economy fell through in 2008 and there was no way to make a film for any budget. Luckily for me, I got a book deal on a completely unrelated project, and after it had run its course two years later, we came back to Between Us — but this time the approach was to do it on a microbudget. Yes, we raised $10,000 on Kickstarter (back when that was considered a successful campaign) but indirectly raised another $30,000 or so. That was enough money to be able to pay actors $100 a day (SAG ultra-low scale if your budget is under $200k).
The crew wouldn’t get paid, but that’s our problem, not the actors. The script was exactly the same as before; we never rewrote it for a smaller budget. So we could go back to the same agents and managers we were in touch with before and they would still take our calls and use the same coverage as before. Legally, if you have a backed offer they have to pass it on to their clients, no matter how small that offer is. And frankly, an agent will take you more seriously if you have 100% of a $40,000 budget in the bank than if you have zero percent of a $3 million budget in the bank.
10. Set a Start Date. This is a lesson I learned from Robert Altman: Set a start date, and they will come. For most actors — particularly those who’ve been on TV series, or big-budget movies — they don’t need the money. It really doesn’t matter whether it’s $65,000 or $100 a day. They’re doing it for the roles. The key thing is the start date. If they’re available, they will want to work. Actors abhor a vacuum in their schedules. And there’s nothing agents hate more than whiny clients calling them every day asking why they’re out of work. The start date is more important than the budget: No one wants to get left behind.
11. Make it Real. As soon as you start asking questions like “does your client have any peanut allergies we should be aware of?” (since all you can afford to feed them is PB&J) or “what is your client’s hat size?” (to give the impression that you’ve already hired a wardrobe department), the agents will believe that you really are making the movie.
12. Magnetic Balls of Iron. You need some serious cojones to pull all this off properly. It helps to know that you have backup actors in a pinch. For literally years, I had been meeting actors for coffee (it’s axiomatic that actors don’t eat, so you can take them to reasonably nice places and not go broke). So I knew we could always make the film with talented actors if we wanted. Remember, as you cast, most of these so-called attachments will fall through. The micro-budget indie will always get trumped by the Spielberg film or pilot shoot for Scandal. But as long as they don’t all fall through the same day, you’re fine. In our case, Taye Diggs originally thought he was signing up to be in a movie with Michael C. Hall, America Ferrera and Kerry Washington. But thankfully, as they all dropped out at different times, Taye stuck with the film and we were able to build up our cast again. And of course, his agent was now even more motivated to help us out (which he definitely did).
13. Take Advantage of Others’ Misfortune. As you get closer to that start date, your ability to cast closer to the A-list actually increases. In our case, the best example was Julia Stiles. She’d always been floating around our lists (I lied; of course we had lists), but I knew she was booked for six months in a Neil LaBute play on Broadway. But her agent called me in a panic: Despite rehearsing for a month, that play’s financing had fallen through two hours before, and they needed to fill Julia’s schedule. Was I interested? Yes, make the offer! (I knew her manager was already a fan of the script, having taken him to breakfast in Venice some three years before). Within 24 hours, Julia called me and said she was in. Two weeks later, she was in my kitchen rehearsing the movie.
Now then, was all this the work of years of careful preparation and planning? Or did we simply take advantage of an actress in her most vulnerable emotional state and swoop in to save her? It doesn’t matter. The point is we made the movie with amazing actors who delivered performances that are already winning awards and critical plaudits.
And by the way, remember that so-called $10,000 budget? Once we did get our actors and started shooting, we got a very nice financier to invest in the film. His check may have only cleared three days before the END of principal photography, but clear it did, and even most of the crew got paid. It may not be the ideal way to make a movie, but it’s definitely one way.
Monday, June 17, 2013
So, You Want to be an Actor.
From http://www.raindance.org/so-you-want-to-be-an-actor/
So, You Want to be an Actor.
Anyone who has looked into studying acting can recall hearing about an acting technique or “the method”. Sounds easy enough, right? Acting is a skill, therefore there must be some sort of method behind it- okay teach! Then, anyone who has studied acting learns that this “method” actually refers to about six different major acting techniques, and that actors are meant to figure out which works best for them. What sounded like an obvious and straight forward approach to the art of acting instantly turned into a daunting, confusing, and consuming task. However, speaking from a young actor’s point of view, it is not as bad as it may seem. The process to discovering which acting technique works best for you can be challenging; but it can also be an amazing opportunity for self-discovery which is extremely rewarding. It also helps to know a bit about each method before you begin to try them out, so here is a synopsis of each of the six major acting techniques, and a few other techniques that can be applied to any acting work!
The first thing anyone needs to know is that this “method” of which every acting teacher speaks, was originally developed by Konstantin Stanislavsky. Stanislavsky was a Russian actor, director, and mentor who lived from 1863-1938. He was the first man to propose the idea that there was a step by step, calculated process to the art of acting. When someone refers to “the method” this is what they are talking about; the process of living truthfully in an imaginary circumstance, as developed by Konstantin Stanislavsky. Through the years , however, this original method has been changed and adapted by practicing actors and teachers and from it has stemmed the six major techniques I mentioned earlier . Nonetheless, to understand any technique, you must understand where it originated, and that origin is Stanislavsky’s method.
1. The Stanislavsky System
Much of the Stanislavsky system revolved around the script itself. Stanislavsky believed that by breaking down the script you could further understand the character and the emotional qualities would evolve through this process. He said that the first thing needed to developing a character was to identify the characters super-objective. This is the over-all goal that the character wants to achieve. The next step would be to identify the obstacles, or the things that can prevent the character from achieving his/her goal. Next would be to identify the tools or methods used to overcome these obstacles. The script would then typically be broken down to units and bits. These are small objectives and methods used to reach the overall goal; bits make up the units, and the units make up the whole. Lastly, one would define actions for each line. These are identified through action verbs so there is a clear focus on what the goal is line by line. Stanislavsky believed that the best way to communicate these objectives truthfully was through emotional memory. He would ask his students to do this by recalling their own experiences in which they felt the emotion they were trying to portray in a scene and then try to recreate this emotional reaction. This was often successful, however, it also often proved to be ineffective. This was because some students would dig so deep into their emotional past that they would have mental break downs and no longer be in control of the emotion they were trying to portray. While this may have appeared to be very convincing, I don’t believe the actor must have felt too great afterwards!
2. The Chekhov Technique
Mikhail Chekhov worked very closely with Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre. He is considered to be Stanislavsky’s greatest pupil, however his approach to acting is inherently different. I have recently spent a term devoted to the study of this technique and it is both extremely rewarding and extremely hard to explain, so bare with me!
The Chekhov Technique revolves around the use of the imagination and the actor’s physical connection to his imagination, his intuition, and mind as one whole, cooperative unit. Perhaps the most important detail in this technique is the use of the imagination. The actor must be able to imagine great images and sensations within himself and his surroundings and be able to immerse himself in these imaginings to perform any of this acting method.
Chekhov believed that all movement and motivation for movement should begin in one of the three centers, these are the will center (the pelvis), the heart center (the middle of the chest), and the knowledge center (the head). He believed that use of each center would produce a different quality and an entirely different take on a character. These centers could also be used to develop the same character at different emotional states. He would teach his students to associate certain images to certain centers, to help further express different emotion. Some images one might play with is the image of a sun, growing warmer and warmer within the will center, and then expanding as far as possible; this image may help to express a feeling of growing passion, for example. Another might be an ice box in your heart center; this image may be used to express someone who is hardened and cold toward a certain person or object. These images are totally up to the actor’s discretion. The goal is to chose an image that you can associate with the quality you are trying to portray and let it resonate within you until that quality becomes innate.
Chekhov also believed that qualities of movement must be applied to each and every movement made. The qualities of movement he worked with were molding, floating, flying, and radiating. He would teach students to apply these qualities, again, using imagery work . The quality of moldingis often performed by moving as if you are surrounded by clay, floating can be accomplished by imagining you are a piece of seaweed under the water, flying is done by picturing you are a leaf on the wind, and radiating is performed by imaging you are a growing beam of light, expanding on all sides. (It is important to note that these specific images are not a requirement- just a suggestion that Chekhov found to be effective. Any actor can choose whatever imagery works best for him.)
Chekhov would also apply the role of the atmosphere into any scene. When he referred to the atmosphere he meant the overall mood or air of the scene- which could be different for everyone involved. This would effect any and every move made by someone within a scene- just as it would in everyday life.
Another part of the Chekov technique that makes it so appealing is its use of physiological gesture. This is a technique based on the idea that within every human are archetypical gestures that expresses these six statements: I want, I need, I feel, I yield, I stand my ground, and I reject. It is believed that these basic statements can be found within any action. The way physiological gesture works is the actor chooses his/her objective and simplifies it as much as possible (it does not necessarily have to be one of these statements) an example of this might be “I want to love” or “I want you to stop”. Then the actor has to allow his body to begin to react intuitively to this objective when spoken. After finding the slightest reaction within the body the actor is expected to drop the phrase and let his body take over. When done correctly the movement should provoke a deep and real physical emotional response to the desired objective. This makes it easy to conjure up difficult emotions at the drop of a dime, simply by doing the gesture that works best for you! I can speak from personal experience when I say that this truly works! It really is an amazing experience, although it takes a lot of getting used to. The whole prospect of the Chekov work needs to be done with as little sense of ego as possible. It is somewhat eccentric work but I believe it really makes the work about the actor as a person- strengthening the performance to a new level
3. Method Acting (The Lee Strasberg Method)
What most would refer to as “Method Acting” is the method that was adapted directly from the Stanislavsky System, developed by Lee Strasberg. This method was designed to help actors conjure up real thoughts and emotions in imaginary circumstances. Before you chose if this method is for you, I believe you should highly consider what it is like to have a real emotional release. This method of acting can result in outstanding performances- mainly because any emoting done by the actor is actually occurring rather than appearing to occur.
This result is achieved, for the most part, through sense memory and emotional memory training. The idea of sense memory is fairly easy to grasp. Here’s an example of how sense memory would work: The smell of my mother’s perfume is one I would recognize anywhere. If I smell it I am immediately overwhelmed with thoughts of mom, and associate these thoughts with warmth, love, and safety. If in a scene I ever needed to reproduce how this makes me feel, I would simply remember the scent of this perfume, and theoretically this should trigger such emotions. Students use sight, sound, touch, and smell to explore experiences in their own life and apply the reactions to these experiences within a scene.
After sense memory has been strengthened through various exercises, method actors then begin to use the sense memory to remember and recreate the strong emotions associated with a given sense memory. This is referred to as emotional memory. There are many exercises use to strengthen this skill- as the overall goal is to bring on the desired emotional response at the drop of a dime; this is a huge reason why this method is so popular amongst film actors!
As most of the acting techniques, the Strasberg Method relies heavily upon relaxation. Strasberg believed that in order to create the most open and responsive actor, their bodies must lack any tension whatsoever. A great deal of this method revolves around meditation and the release of tension throughout the body. As I said before, one must highly consider themselves before choosing to work on this method, as it can bring up enormous emotional release that not every person can handle. Some of the greatest method actors of our time have used this tool to live their career to the fullest such as Daniel Day Lewis, and Robert De Niro. On the other hand, Heath Ledger, another incredible method actor, is speculated to have been driven mad by his method work on the role of The Joker in The Dark Knight. This work is highly rewarding, however it is also highly taxing on the mind of the actor.
For many method actors, exploring a character often involves completely immersing themselves in the character and not coming out of it. They truly become the character in every sense. Daniel Day Lewis is notorious for this, and his fellow cast members can testify to that! Here’s a video if Joseph Gordon Levitt describing his interactions with Lewis on the set of Lincoln.
4. The Meisner Technique
Sanford Meisner, the founder of the technique, defines acting as “living (or doing) truthfully under imaginary circumstances”. A lot of people think of Meisner as ‘repetition technique’, but that is only its most basic form. What the technique really stresses is the reality of doing. Emotion, Meisner teachers believe, is brought to the surface through the action. Because acting is, essentially, performing a series of actions, the Meisner technique stresses the importance of putting your all into those actions. For instance, if you have to sew a piece of clothing perfectly, put 100% of your attention into making every detail perfect. You cannot divert your attention from this task even for a second because you’re focused on making sure you cry on cue or waiting for the next actor to enter the scene. If you don’t set up a reality where that article of clothing has to be sewn perfectly, what kind of world are you setting up for the audience? One that is not based in truth. It’s not interesting to just watch a person cry. It’s interesting to see what spontaneously comes out of the struggle of doing. Doing doesn’t always have to be a physical act (such as sewing, cleaning, cooking, etc.) Listening and responding truthfully to what your acting partner is saying fall under the category of active doing. A two year conservatory program in the Meisner Technique strips the daily niceties and airs of actors to get down to their guttural response (in the 1st year), and then gives the actor tools (i.e. point of view, impediments, fully realized objectives, etc.) to build characters from that place of truthful response.
5. The Stella Adler Technique
Stella Adler was an actress who studied under Stanislavsky. However, Adler did not believe, like Stanislavsky had, that an actor needed to relive past experiences to connect to the play. She developed her own method in which the major belief was that an actor had to rely on his/her imagination to fully believe in the circumstances of the play. Adler believed that acting is doing, and that you must constantly be performing an action and in doing so, find his conflict in this action. Every action done must have justification. She also believed that an actor must use his imagination to create the world around him, using every detail, down to the most miniscule. She believed that if the actor could truly see the world around him, the audience would see through his eyes. If you could not tell already, much of Adler’s technique pertains to thinking and analyzing. A deep analytical understanding of the script was a necessity to performing your role. She thought that you must know and understand the piece you were performing as much as humanly possible in order to perform it truthfully.
Another really important tool in Adler’s method is size. She pushed her actors to be bigger in everything they did. Their voices and bodies must be strong, and they must always be searching for the bigger meaning in the text. Far better than I can explain Stella Adler’s opinion on size in Stella Adler herself. Watch this short clip of Adler explaining the necessity of size in acting:
6. The Uta Hagan Method
Uta Hagan was a well renown German-American actress of the 1900’s. Much of Hagan’s approach revolves around specialized exercises used to hone in on the tools she felt every great actor must possess. These tools often pertained to behavior in a given circumstance. When I studied Hagan my freshman year of college, “waiting behavior” was one that we payed particular attention to, in addition to “mirror behavior”. She believed that there was a given set of behavior that pertained to circumstances such as these and it should be recreated accurately to enhance the scene.
Another thing we focused on was “the moment before,” in which we would have to identify specifically what happened before the moment the scene began and consider how this would effect us at the start of the scene. An exercise used to explore this is one known as “Three Entrances” in which a student comes through a door three separate times, each time using a different moment before. After entering through the door the student would only react to that moment before- the moment unseen- and then the exercise would end.
Utah Hagan also used Stanislavsky’s approach to breaking down the script, and applied the “as if” technique as well. This meant that she would ask actors to perform a scene “as if” they were acting a circumstance they could relate to. My acting teacher at the time always found this particularly effective as opposed to imagination, and she would use an example from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible to explain why she felt this way. She said, “A line in The Crucible is ‘I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine,’… how the hell are you supposed to imagine how you would feel if that happened!? You can’t possibly relate to seeing that because you never have-its bullshit,” she so eloquently put, “But you have experienced circumstances in which you felt scared and alone, use those!” What my teacher was saying was that someone playing this particular role should be acting “as if” they were in the circumstance that they have actually experienced when they felt scared and alone- and not the circumstance they are actually trying to portray at all, because they do not have that experience to draw on as an emotional trigger.
Alternative Acting Techniques:
Okay, so now you know a little bit about the major acting techniques and you may have somewhat of an inclining of an idea as to which is best for you! Congratulations! (I told you this was going to be rough!) So now that you know these methods, I have some more for you to consider. The following methods consist of voice and movement methods that actors often study in-coordinance with one of the aforementioned techniques. I’v studied the Alexander Technique and The Linklater Technique and I found it to be some of the most rewarding work I have ever done. Techniques such as these often help actors to be more grounded while performing, and to find freedom in their bodies and relieve tension that has been built up over years. This work can help an actor to become really in-tune with his/her inner self and become more responsive to instinctual impulses.
8. The Suzuki Method
Suzuki is a Japanese movement technique designed to help actors ground themselves within their bodies and characters. Most people tell stories with words and facial expressions, but in Suzuki both of those outlets are taken away from you. The face is in a constant state of relaxation “cool face”. Some teachers will allow expression through the eyes (crying, ‘smeyesing’, etc.) and others discourage it, this depends on the class. The form is rigid, and the actor’s knees are constantly slightly bent, rooting his body to the floor. The actor is forced to express himself fully within the constraints of the form. Suzuki is also endurance and strength training since most of the exercises are extremely taxing on the lower body.
9. The Alexander Technique
I had the privilege of studying the Alexander Technique with one of its nationally renowned trainers, Meade Andrews. Besides the fact that Meade is one of my favorite people on the planet, I have so many reasons to say that this class was my favorite and most beneficial class I have ever/ will ever take. I recommend the Alexander Technique to EVERYONE- actor, singer, dancer, teacher, banker, farmer, mother, you name it. This is because the Alexander Technique is focused on regaining our innate movement patterns that have been lost to years of tension built up within the body.
The body is built to be completely agile, flexible, and responsive to impulse. So why is it that so many people deal with musculature pain and limited mobility everyday of their lives? It is because over the years we lose this natural grace with which we are born. We lose this due to tension. Tension can be caused by numerous factors; stress, injury, a poor nights sleep, and so much more. This tension can often lead to mobility habits, such as walking with a certain limp or swagger or having a slouch. The truth is that these habits only retain tension and it gets progressively worse. This tension stops us from responding truthfully to our minds intentions regarding movement. The Alexander Technique helps to relieve these tensions and break these habits, allowing us to return to our natural and healthy movement patterns. One example that was completely eye opening to me was this: Picture a baby, sitting upright on his bottom, for hours. Before a baby can walk all they do it sit up, and they have no problem doing so! An adult generally cannot sit upright without back support for more than a few minutes. I know I can’t! This is because this baby is free from habitual tension, and is able to float around his natural center of gravity- without effort. The truth is, it should take very little effort to move your body- it’s made for it! The Alexander Technique helps us to find the natural center of gravity and use it to motivate all movement. It is like learning to walk again. I experienced so many benefits from taking this class. I lost back pain and shoulder tension that had been with me for years. Most importantly, from an actor’s standpoint, it really helped me to be organically responsive to impulses. Once some excess tension was striped away my body was significantly more in-tune with my mind and its innate intentions of movement. This technique can and should be paired with any other acting technique or any life-style.
10. The Linklater Technique: “Freeing the Natural Voice”
The Linklater Technique, developed by Kristin Linklater, is similar to the Alexander Technique in the sense that it also focuses on the release of tension. However, this technique works with building your vocal abilities through this release and specifically releasing tension in areas that would effect the voice. This technique is also one that can be utilized by anyone, however it is particularly useful to actors, singers, public speakers, and anyone who uses their voice as a vital part of their job. Linklater’s book, “Freeing the Natural Voice” explains and teaches the progression which she uses to release these tensions and discover the voice which you are meant to use.
Linklater believed that everyone possess a clear, resonant, and expressive voice which can often be stifled by social pressures and tension. This is because when we have tensions in our vocal channel sound and meaning are often blocked by this tension and we lose conviction and expression in what we are trying to communicate. When I took this course I was shocked to find how many people (in my class alone) had been speaking with a somewhat “put on voice”, this was especially prominent when performing a scene or monologue. It was a reoccurring habit that the actors in my class would make their voices higher pitched just because they were performing. The Linklater method is intended to help a person find their natural voice and in doing so be more expressive, motivated, and natural when speaking. This process is practiced through what she refers to as , “the progression”. This progression consists of various exercises (some physical and some meditative) used to release tension in the diaphragm, face, jaw, throat, tongue, and throughout the whole body. Throughout the progression you can feel your voice becoming more “dropped in”, resonant, and expressive.
This work when applied to acting can be extremely effective. Just as I explained the benefits of the Alexander Technique with the body, a tension free voice allows you to speak from a more organic place as your mind intends. In addition to this, freeing tensions in the vocal channel can often lead to an enormous release of emotion, since many emotional tensions are stored in areas targeted by this progression, such as the jaw. It has helped myself and many others speak more freely in our work as s actors and in everyday life.
This video shows a class held by Kristen Linklater doing one of the earlier steps in her progression:
Now that you have read this article I sincerely hope you are excited to begin your work as an actor. While the process may be a long one, the entire journey is rewarding and beautiful if this is something you truly love. While acting is often taught using these already formulated techniques, remember that someone created these because they felt they had a better approach to an art and they wanted to share it with the world. Do not think that you have to choose one of these methods to find your way as an actor! No matter what you study it is imperative to understand that this art is developed within the artist, and your technique may be entirely different than any before. Being a good actor relies heavily on knowing yourself. Use these techniques as a guide line to find the actoryou are, as no two are exactly the same.
About Lianne Silano
My name is Lianne Silano. I'm from a city in New Jersey called Manalapan. I was pursuing a degree in musical theatre, however I soon realized that what I really wanted to do was learn how to act with an extremely high level of skill. So, I am now a Theatre Performance Major at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ and I really love everything I am doing. It is my program at school that lead me to study abroad this semester in London through an international program called CAPA. Through CAPA I found this internship at Raindance. I chose Raindance because although I am studying theatre in school, I really hope to break into the film industry and take on some really interesting and challenging roles. I do not need or desire fame , I only want a challenge to succeed in, and the rewards come in that alone.
Good news!
My little documentary The Knowledge is one of eight short films from over a hundred entries that has been selected for the MyStreet 2013 competition shortlist!
The Jury is made up of quite an impressive bunch too!
Chair of the Grand Jury 2013:
JEREMY IRONS (Actor & Producer 'Trashed')
Other jurors include:
ANNE APPLEBAUM (Pulitzer Prize winning Author of 'Gulag' & 'Iron Curtain')
MOLLY DINEEN (BAFTA and RTS Award-winning Director and Producer)
MALCOLM GRANT (President and Provost UCL)
BRIONY HANSON (Director of Film, The British Council)
HANKA KASTELICOVA (Executive Producer of Documentaries, HBO Europe)
ELIZABETH WOOD (Founder and Director of Dochouse)
KIM LONGINOTTO (Sundance Award-winning director of 'Divorce Iranian Style' and 'Pink Saris')
You can see the film online here:
It will also be shown as part of the Open City Docs Fest on Saturday 22 June @midday,
more info here:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)