[MIDTERM] Acting Techniques Flashcards
It is the technique of using words and gestures to evoke a reaction from an audience, usually within the context of a fictional story.
Acting
What are the 4 acting techniques?
- Classical
- Chekhov
- Method
- Meisner
- This type of acting came into effect and prominence in the late 1800s.
- It uses an actor’s own feeling and experiences to connect with the characters they are portraying.
- The actor puts himself in the mindset of the characters finding things in common in order to give a more accurate portrayal of the character.
- Well known actors trained this way are Angela, Bassett, Alan Bates, and Cate Blanchett.
Classical Acting
Who created Classical Acting?
Konstantin Stanislavski
He believed that an actor needed to carefully analyze the script and explore the character personally to find the truth of the personage.
Konstantin Stanislavski
What is the other term for Classical acting? By definition, it refers to a type of acting in which actors deliver their performance by sticking as closely as possible to the script, with very little deviation.
Shakespearean style
He developed the Chekhov Acting and the student of Stanislavski.
Michael Chekhov
- In this type of acting, the actor focuses on the internal problem that the character is facing and then expressing the issue in form of movements.
- Use by actors such as Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, and Yul Brynner.
Chekhov Acting
What are the important things to consider on the Chekhov acting technique?
- Characterization (imaginary body and center)
- Psychological gesture
- Feeling for truth
- Radiating and receiving
- Atmosphere
Chekhov’s - Characterization
To create characters with physical features different from his own, the actor must first visualize an ____. It belongs to his or his character but the actor can learn to inhabit it; physically transform himself into the character.
Imaginary body
An imaginary area outside the body where the character’s impulses for all movements, originate. It initiates all gestures and lead the body (ex. a proud character leads with her chin).
Center
(Chekhov’s Characterization)
- This is a movement that embodies the psychology and objective of a character.
- Uses the entire body; gives basic structure of character; can put actors in various moods required by the scrip.
Psychological gesture
Everything on the stage is unreal. Work with ____ to capture the special nature of a play, rather than strive for superficial reality. Each requires a separate and precise experience.
feeling of style
Chekhov’s - Feeling for truth
- ____ ____; develop your sensitivity to truthful behavior while acting.
- ____ or ____ truth: movements and speech are true to self and own psychology.
- Be true to given circumstances of the script.
- ____ truth: sense of style and age of characters and nation.
- ____ truth: experience the style of the play and author.
- Be true to the ____.
- Be true to the ____ between characters; look for subleties.
- Open yourself; develop your sensitivity to truthful behavior while acting.
- Individual or psychological truth: movements and speech are true to self and own psychology.
- Be true to given circumstances of the script.
- Historical truth: sense of style and age of characters and nation.
- Stylistic truth: experience the style of the play and author.
- Be true to the character.
- Be true to the relationship between characters; look for subleties.
- It is the ability to send out the invisible essence of whatever quality, emotion, or thought you wish; sent with great strength.
- It is an activity of your will; charisma is invisible radiation; some need to develop it.
Radiating
It is “pulling in” from other charcacters, atmosphere, audience with great strength.
Receiving
Director and actor work together to maintain this.
Atmosphere
He and the members of his theater are credited for the Method Acting.
Less Strasberg
- This teaching method emphasized the practice of connecting to a character by drawing on personal emotions and memories, aided by a set of exercises and practices, including sense memory and affective memory.
- Described as a form of acting where the actor mystically becomes the character or tries to live the role in life somehow literally.
- Used by actors like Jared Leto, Jake Gyllenhal, and Angelina Jolie.
Method Acting
This type of acting is closely related to Method Acting. What is the type of acting and who invented it?
Meisner; Sanford Meisner
- It requires actor to focus not only on himself but entirely the other actor as though he or she is real and exist only at the moment.
- Essential exercise that the creator invented to train actor’s responses is called repetition exercise.
- Instead of simply relying on memory, this helps the actor in training to focus on their scene partner, building a truthful performance.
- Well-known actors are James Franco, Alec Baldwin, and Naomi Watts.
Meisner Acting
What are the 3 components of Meisner Acting?
- Emotional preparation
- Repetition
- Improvisational methods
