The Science and Art of Acting for the Camera

A Practical Approach to Film, Television, and Commercial Acting

John Howard Swain

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781315309019
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Acting & Auditioning

The Science and Art of Acting for the Camera provides a precise yet practical approach to help unlock the mysteries of acting for film and television. Written by veteran actor, producer, and director John Howard Swain, the book offers a clear-cut, no-nonsense technique that equips aspiring or working actors with the necessary skills to succeed on camera. The technique teaches you how to build multi-dimensional characters; construct truthful and exciting relationships; ignite stimulating emotions; craft a series of discoveries guaranteed to energize your work; and much, much more. The book also provides instruction for actors working in commercials—from slating, to the dreaded "tell us about yourself" interview, to nailing "the tag" and embracing the cliché—and supplies sample commercial copy for students to practice.

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Chapter 1

Things Every Actor Should Know

THE THOUGHT PROCESS

There are probably as many definitions as to what acting is as there are actors. This is mine:

acting is the result of a thought process that ignites an emotion that provokes a behavior.

Everything discussed in this book is designed to enhance that thought process. What starts out as a thought in the actor’s mind then ignites the actor’s emotional center: the heart. Once the heart is engaged, it produces a series of behaviors that help define the character.

The original thought that results as the character’s behavior comes from the actor’s personal pool of information. But because the audience sees and hears the effect that information has on the situation the character is in, they assume the information originated with the character. It’s only natural they would think that; in fact, that is exactly what we want them to think. Actors want to create fully realized, believable characters.

The camera may not know exactly what we’re thinking but it certainly knows if we’re thinking. In fact, what the actor is thinking—the material he/she uses from his/her “real” life in order to create the “reel” life of his/her character—may have little, if anything, in common with the character’s actual circumstances. But because the actor’s thought process produces the desired emotions and behaviors in the character, the audience make the leap. In their mind, what the actor is thinking and how the character is acting are one and the same.

One of the things that makes film acting so difficult is that the camera has the ability to see our thought process.

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For many of us, the most difficult journey we’ll ever embark upon is that eighteen-inch trek from our brain to our heart. Because of the nature of our work (our art) we’re often called upon to repeat what we do, whether it is take after take or performance after performance. In order to do this, we need a technique (a science) that allows us to delve into the deepest depths of our souls without causing any irrevocable harm to our psyche and without interrupting the flow of the story.

This process should be so smooth and so clean that it’s impossible for the audience to see the artist in the work. The only thing they should be aware of is the character living moment by moment. It isn’t important for the audience to know what the actor did to get the results he/she got. What’s important is that the characters are real and the emotions are genuine. Then, whatever the behavior is, it will seem as if it originated with the character.

The more we know about which thoughts produce which reactions in our emotional center, the easier it is for us to navigate our character’s journey.

THE GOAL

In spite of what our ego thinks, the shooting schedule on a film set revolves around the lighting. As an actor you could spend anywhere from an hour to eight hours in your trailer while the gaffers are setting and adjusting the lights. Then, when you’re called to the set, you have ten, fifteen, maybe twenty minutes to nail the scene. If the scene is difficult and you have to show a range of emotions, you can’t afford to get stuck anywhere along the way. You need to be able to do your work quickly so the crew can move on to their next setup. Too often in our business, art is compromised by commerce. So, the faster and better you are at doing your job, the more attractive you become to producers.

The goal is to have your craft in such good shape that you can, without sacrificing any of your character’s integrity or emotional honesty, plug yourself into whatever the situation is, do your job, then disengage and be ready the next time you’re needed.

Think of the shoot as being a well-oiled machine. You’re one part—an extremely important part—but only one part of that machine.

This may not sound glamorous, and it’s certainly not very satisfying to the ego, but time is money in the film business and if you can save directors and producers either one or both of these two most precious commodities, you will work all the time.

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DON’T LET THE LIMITATIONS OF OTHERS LIMIT YOU

As an actor, when you receive a film script you’ll have at best 30 percent of the information necessary to create a fully realized character. The rest is up to you, and you’ll need to fill in a lot of blanks. Even minor characters have major lives. We may not see the entirety of those lives played out on the screen, but that doesn’t mean those characters don’t have them. You must explore those lives so that, regardless of the amount of screen time your character has, we see a real, complete human being.

The better prepared you are, the better job you’ll do. The better job you do, the better you make your director look. The better you make your director look, the more that director, and subsequently other directors, will want to work with you. And so it goes.

The same is true for your fellow actors. If you set high standards for yourself they will rise to your level. If their standards are lower than yours, if they aren’t prepared, don’t get sucked into their vortex. If they aren’t up to your level, you don’t have to be a prima donna to make your point. Just do your work and the work will speak for itself.

Another benefit of this technique is, if you’ve done your prep properly, the instant you look into the other actor’s eyes it will be immediately apparent to you if that actor is ready to play at your level. If not, then you’ll know you need to stick to your game plan and execute the scene the way you prepared it.

If, on the other hand, you look into the other actor’s eyes and you see they’re ready to play at your level, that they’re as prepared as you are, that’s when magic happens. And it’s those moments of magic we all live for.

Another advantage of this technique is that, because of its thoroughness and attention to detail, it provides you with the potential to create that magic, not just once or twice during your career, but every time you work.

The amount of detail you provide determines how interesting your characters will be to watch and how much fun you’ll have playing them.

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YOU ARE YOUR OWN BEST RESOURCE

Nobody knows what makes you tick better than you. Every event you experience has an impact on you. Each incident sparks an emotion, and nobody knows better than you how that impact influences your emotions. Nobody knows what makes you truly happy or what makes you miserably sad; how you feel when you’ve been betrayed, or how jealousy eats away at you.

As an actor, one of your tasks is to categorize and store those emotional memories so you can use them in your work.

There may be some events from your life you can’t use: memories that are too painful, scars that run too deep. Don’t flog yourself by trying to make those memories work. Unlike other people who fight to repress their emotions, we as actors need to do a careful investigation of our lives so we can figure out which memories serve us and which don’t. What memories can we call up that will allow us to tap into the most basic of emotions—joy, sadness, anger, fear, jealousy, betrayal, embarrassment, and confusion—so we can do our work? Once we determine which memories are safe, which ones produce the results we want, we can use them to develop our characters’ realities.

Whenever possible you want to use the power of a real event. The goal is to extract the emotion you need from it as seamlessly as possible so you can move on to the next beat of the scene.

Knowing what the journey is and how you’re going to accomplish it step by step does not diminish your effectiveness as an actor; it enhances it. True, you need to allow for spontaneity in your work but you also need to prepare for the emotional demands of each scene so you have a foundation from which to work.

THE WHAT IFS

If you’re playing a mother who kills her children and is then racked with sadness, you don’t have to kill someone you love to evoke that emotion. It’s very possible you could duplicate the emotion by using an event from your real life, e.g., remembering how you felt when your puppy, Buster, was run over.

Emotions are our stock in trade, and your emotions, and the memories and events that sparked them, are money in the bank.

But what if Buster wasn’t run over? What if you’ve dug into your memory bank and you can’t come up with anything that approximates the emotion you want? Then take the closest experience you do have and start adding a “what if” to it. “What if the day Buster ran out into the street he had been hit by a car and injured? Or what if he ran away and never came back? Or what if he got sick and died?” And so on and so on, until you have “what if’d” yourself into the emotional level you want to achieve for your character.

The “What if” game is something that should be used sparingly. It’s like watching a tennis match instead of being in one—you’re one step removed. It serves a purpose and can help you get over a difficult hurdle, but it’s best to use “the real” stuff whenever possible.

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ACTORS ARE AN ODD LOT

It’s true; we are. We collect emotional memories the way other people collect coins or stamps. Charles Durning, a wonderful character actor and the recipient of a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, once told a story about being at his mother’s wake. He was from a big Irish family and it was an emotional day for everyone in attendance. In the midst of the tears and sadness he was experiencing, he had the thought: “This is good. I’ll be able to use this one day.”

Whether the story is true or not, the sentiment is. We interpret stories other people create and our goal is to live inside those stories while we’re telling them. To tell them honestly, to tell them truthfully, we need to make sure we’re using the best resource we have: ourselves.

Like professional athletes, you have to know when it’s time to practice and when it’s time to play the game. If you’ve done your prep properly, investigated everything you need to know about your character, his/her history, his/her objectives, the facts surrounding his/her relationships and how he/she feels about the other characters, etc.—all that will be stored in your subconscious, ready to use. And like a baseball player who’s done his prep, you won’t have to think about how to catch the ball or what to do with it after you’ve caught it; you’ll know.

Every time you work, your character is going to be called upon to take certain actions and experience certain emotions. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a class or it’s your first paid job or your hundredth; this technique will help you be a better actor.

Being a professional actor is like being a professional athlete. You have to constantly practice to stay at the top of your form.

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The more you prepare, the more you hone your craft, the better your instincts will be. And the better your instincts are, the better you’ll be at doing your job. And the better you are at doing your job, the more opportunities you’ll have to work. And the more opportunities you have to work, the better your instincts become. That’s the wonderful cycle that comes with preparation, and the good news is it all starts with you.

My sincere hope is that you will use this technique as a springboard that will catapult you into a long and fruitful career, filled with rich and rewarding experiences. Break legs. Break lots of legs!

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Chapter 2

The Basics

Since most actors start out on stage—in high school, community theatre, college—before they ever get a chance to work in a film or a TV show, one of the most important things they will have to adapt to is getting up to performance level with little or no rehearsal. Yes, you read that right, little or no rehearsal. In a play, it’s during rehearsal we develop our characters and come to understand the nuance of the piece; heck, it’s where a lot of us learn our lines. When you’re working on camera you won’t have that luxury. Why? Time and money. There is rarely, if ever, the budget for rehearsal. What does that mean to you? You have to learn to prep in a different way.

Several years ago I was a co-star in the mini-series A Family of Spies. Long story short, I played the love interest of Leslie Ann Warren (Academy and Emmy Award nominee, Golden Globe winner). We had several scenes together, but she was reluctant to engage with me, even to say hello. I didn’t blame her; she didn’t know me; we had never met before. Some actors are like that and it’s important we honor each other’s process. During the wide shot of our big scene, which was basically our rehearsal, she saw how prepared I was and was able to relax, and very quickly we developed the chemistry necessary for the scene. But that’s the reality of working on a film or TV project. You won’t have much, if any, time to rehearse!!

Okay, let’s get some basic “film”...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• The Science and Art of Acting for the Camera
• Praise
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Shout Outs
• Dedication
• Introduction
• 1 Things Every Actor Should Know
• 2 The Basics
• 3 The Bones
• 4 Ten Positive Attributes
• 5 Relationships
• 6 Main Objective
• 7 Opposites
• 8 Moment Before
• 9 Discoveries/Emotions
• 10 Beats, Tactics, and Actions
• 11 Humor
• 12 Place, Transitions, and Sense Memory
• 13 Status, Power, and Secrets
• 14 The Summary
• 15 The Technique—Condensed
• 16 Self-Taping
• . . . And Now a Few Words about Commercials
• 17 The Slate
• 18 From Slate to Copy
• 19 Relationships
• 20 Line-to-Line Objectives
• 21 The Moment Before and the Tag
• 22 Banter
• 23 Environment
• 24 Embracing the Cliché
• 25 Double Copy
• 26 The Dreaded Interview
• 27 A Few Last Things
• 28 Your Greatest Asset—You: Acknowledging Your Power
• 29 Commercial Practice Copy
• Notes
• Appendix: Recommended Reading
• Index