4. Actor's Choices

Question 1

Does all have to be unpredictable stuff? or is there actually ways to say a line?

Answer 1

Yes. There is. There are techniques that actors can use.

Question 2

What techniques are there for actors?

Answer 2

Constantin Stanislavsky’s techniques. They are both quantifiable and repeatable, and best of all, also able to activate the subconscious and mysterious.

Question 3

Was there other techniques before Stanislavsky?

Answer 3

Before Stanislavsky acting consisted in preconceived gestures to denote rage, rising or falling inflection, etc. All fake, and unnatural.

Question 4

What do powerful actor do to commit their imaginations? (con)

Answer 4

Powerful actors must connect with something powerful in the script or else they can’t commit their imaginations.

Question 5

Is it possible to engage and listen the other actor when no choice has been made?

Answer 5

No. Is not. Not until he has worked out the choices that illumine the emotional center of the script.

Question 6

What if the choice is not good enough?

Answer 6

A poor choice leads to a poor performance

Question 7

Name qualities of good actor choices:

Answer 7

Choices that:

1) Connect to the deepest and freshest meaning of the script
2) Turn him on, capture his imagination. So that…
3) He can connect to them with emotional honesty and get to the places he needs to go.

Question 8

What if the audience doesn’t get the choice made by the actor?

Answer 8

Imaginative choices are secrets, gateways into the imaginative subworld. They are not something that the audience is supposed to get.

Question 9

Why does the actor has to be engaged by the choice?

Answer 9

Because the lines must come out of the choice that helps put his attention in the moment. You can’t start talking if you are not engaged by your choice.

Question 10

Sanford Meisner quote about emotion in the scene:

Answer 10

“The emotion of the scene is a river and the words are like boats that float on the river”.

Question 11

Talking about choices. What’s the actor’s job with the script?

Answer 11

To find his choice, a “what is to be acted”, a “something of his own” from which to listen and play off the other actor.

Question 12

Where does the actor make those choices?

Answer 12

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Choices must actually take place IN THE MOMENT.

Question 13

What happens if choices are planed or thought out ahead of time?

Answer 13

Performance becomes forced or mechanical.

Question 14

What’s the best route to make choices?

Answer 14

Asking questions. (the actor to the director)

Question 15

What does it mean to have an actor ask a question to which the answer seems obvious to you? Should you panic?

Answer 15

No. It means the actor is about to make a choice.

Question 16

So the actor asks you a question. How do you answer?

Answer 16

You don’t have to answer. Not all actor’s questions need to be answered, the asking of questions is part of a process. So… just return the question: “What do you think?”

Question 17

Name an example of turning a question back to the actor

Answer 17

ACTOR: Why doesn’t my character tell his wife about the letter? DIRECTOR: What do you think? ACTOR: It doesn’t make sense to me”. NEXT: Look at some possible reasons why a person might behave that way. (maybe the letter contains guilty secret)

Question 18

What if in the example of turning a question back. The actor gives an answer you don’t like. Let’s say “Because the letter had a guilty secret!” and you wanted “He forgot” so the scene is less melodramatic. What do you do?

Answer 18

Depending on your relationship with the actor, is best not to contradict him. Say: “That’s possible, what else can it be?” Or suggest: “Yes! we can try that, but also what if he just forgot? that happens to me all the time and gets me into all sorts of trouble”

Question 19

What if no one knows the answer to a question? Will the character live the scene not knowing the answer?

Answer 19

Yes. Sometimes real people don’t know why they do what they do.

Question 20

Name an example of turning a question back to the actor

Answer 20

ACTOR: Why doesn’t my character tell his wife about the letter? DIRECTOR: What do you think? ACTOR: It doesn’t make sense to me”. NEXT: Look at some possible reasons why a person might behave that way. (maybe the letter contains guilty secret)

Question 21

What if in the example of turning a question back. The actor gives an answer you don’t like. Let’s say “Because the letter had a guilty secret!” and you wanted “He forgot” so the scene is less melodramatic. What do you do?

Answer 21

Depending on your relationship with the actor, is best not to contradict him. Say: “That’s possible, what else can it be?” Or suggest: “Yes! we can try that, but also what if he just forgot? that happens to me all the time and gets me into all sorts of trouble”

Question 22

What if no one knows the answer to a question? Will the character live the scene not knowing the answer?

Answer 22

Yes. Sometimes real people don’t know why they do what they do.

Question 23

Explain. Why does answering every question neglects to look for opposites?

Answer 23

Because answering questions becomes an obligation, and your answers will be plodding with explanations, probably dead-on the surface meaning of the lines. Forcing a result, closing possibilities.

Question 24

How are opposites helpful in script analysis?

Answer 24

An opposite choice keeps the actor in the moment because it is surprising, even to him. And sometimes opposites hide the deep truth of the scene.

Question 25

Rule about opposites.

Answer 25

As soon as you come up with one idea, consider also it’s opposite.
If you are not sure what to do with a line, find an opposite.
If a scene isn’t working, do it wrong.

Question 26

How does opposites add complexity to the character?

Answer 26

If a character says one thing and means another, that makes him complex.

Question 27

EXAMPLE of OPPOSITE: Threaten with “I’m am going to kill you”. What’s the opposite?

Answer 27

Instead of threaten, invite him to have a good time. Say it as if you were inviting him to have dinner at you house.

Question 28

Encourage to work together - “I’m very open to your proposal”. What’s the opposite.

Answer 28

Say it with you arms crossed. Chin up and from the side of your eyes. Warn him that he has to be very careful about messing with you.

Question 29

Name an actor who is a master of opposites.

Answer 29

Gene Hackman

Question 30

Why are judgements not usefull? (like when the actor decides he is “a perpetual looser”, “weak”, “vicious”, “stupid”)

Answer 30

They are not playable. They cause the actor to stand outside the character and describe it to the audience, rather that inviting the audience into the imagined world of someone with needs and given circumstances that produce impulses.

Question 31

What type of actors don’t like to judge characters?

Answer 31

The really good ones.

Question 32

What if the actor says: “But I would never do such-and-such”?

Answer 32

Okay. I believe you. What I don’t believe is that you HAVE NEVER HAD THE IMPULSE TO DO SUCH-AND-SUCH. Every person has impulses.

Question 33

What does the actor has to do if she finds and impulse.

Answer 33

Surrender to it honestly in the created reality.

Question 34

Need. How vital is it for all humans and all creatures and living things.

Answer 34

All living things move toward what they need.

Question 35

What are the 4 expressions of what a character (person) needs?

Answer 35

Spine / Objective / Intention or Verb

Question 36

What’s the Spine.

Answer 36

The super-objective. What the character wants during the whole script. The one thing he needs more than any other. What he fights for.

Question 37

What if the spine changes? He needs something, and after “X” happens, he needs something else.

Answer 37

Then it only means, it was not the spine. It’s just an attempt to describe the transformation, THE SPINE IS THE ONE THING THAT DOESN’T CHANGE DURING THE ENTIRE MOVIE.

Question 38

Why is the spine so important?

Answer 38

Because every decision, every choices made about the character relates to the spine, including the objectives of each individual scene.

Question 39

Must actor and director agree on the spine?

Answer 39

Yes and No. The SPINE must be supported by the script, but it is a secret choice.

Question 40

What if you are not happy with the performance? should you talk about the spine?

Answer 40

Yes. It can be a useful way to begin a discussion about shaping or changing a performance.

Question 41

What is OBJECTIVE?

Answer 41

What you want the character to do. “I wan him to leave the room”, “I want her to kiss me”. “I want him to laugh”.

Question 42

What are the two components that an objective has to have in order to be playable?

Answer 42

They must have both, a physical and an emotional component

Question 43

What’s the physical component of an objective?

Answer 43

If you achieve your objective, you will know because of a physical event. The other actor would cry or not, would kiss you or not, would leave the room or not.

Question 44

What’s the emotional component of an objective?

Answer 44

ONE PART Is the emotion that getting this objective, or not, will constitute. A win or a loss. If he leaves, I win. If he stays, I lose.
ANOTHER PART is what the character needs, and what happens to him if he gets it or not. Does it destroy him? or make him invincible?

Question 45

How are objectives important?

Answer 45

Because is what raises the stakes of the relationship. It gives them a need to interact, to get something from the interaction and have them focused in the moment.

Question 46

With objectives. Do character do something to the LINES?

Answer 46

No. They do something to each other (rather than something to the DAMN LINES)

Question 47

What is INTENTION

Answer 47

Is what you do to get the other actor do what you want him to do.

Question 48

Name example of intentions when you want him to leave the room.

Answer 48

I could INVITE you to leave the room. If that doesn’t work, I might DEMAND that you leave the room. Or BEG. or THREAT. Or PUNISH for not leaving.

Question 49

What’s an UNCONSCIOUS OBJECTIVE?

Answer 49

Is the thing that you as a director, have to read when the actor doesn’t know what she’s doing. She might do a very good performance without knowing her UNCONSCIOUS OBJECTIVE. Read it, and mirror it back to her.

Question 50

Name an example of a director mirroring back an UNCONSCIOUS OBJECTIVE.

Answer 50

“The thing I liked about the last rehearsal was that you seemed to be putting him at ease. This time it seemed as if you wanted his approval.”

Question 51

What are usually the UNCONSCIOUS OBJECTIVE of actors hurting their performances?

Answer 51

"To say my lines effectively"
"To make the director/producer think I'm a good actor"
"To remember my lines"
Or ironically...
"To have an objective"

Question 52

What if the scene ends in “I forgive you”, and, consequently the actor has the objective “To make her forgive me”?

Answer 52

That’s a SOFT objective. A STRONG one would be: “To make her really understand my situation and honestly forgive me” He could monitor his win or loss by reading her body language, her eyes, the way she says it. What if she’s lying?