Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Rewards of Acting

 

Acting is one of the most rewarding and exciting things a person can do. A good actor can become anything he or she wants to be. Did you ever think about what it would be like being president of the United States of America or a homeless person begging for spare change? You can have the experience of being both, and still go home to your normal life. What other kind of career can offer that?

There is nothing that compares to the feeling of being on stage, or the butterflies in your stomach right before you walk out. It's an amazing feeling knowing that you are going to bring entertainment to a large group of people. For however long you are on stage, you are bringing them into a world that you helped create. A world full of wonder, excitement, heartache or despair. You can make them laugh, cry, or stand up and cheer.

You can also change people's lives. If you are performing in a play with a strong moral message the impact can be amazing. As you bring someone into a different world that you are creating on stage, a person's defenses are lowered. Their minds and hearts become open to the message that is being conveyed.

You will also learn a lot about yourself by acting. As you study a character, you also study yourself. In the process of becoming your character, you find way to relate your real life experiences. A part of you becomes the character and a part of the character becomes you. The deeper you go with a character the more believable the experience becomes for both the audience and yourself.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not the easiest profession to get into. It takes a lot of hard work, study, and determination. Even after all that, there is no guarantee that you can make a full time career out of it. Some actors study for years and years, go to the best schools, but get none of the breaks. Other people get discovered while eating lunch at a fast food joint. There is no formula for making it big. If anyone tries to offer you one, just hide your wallet and walk the other way.

Go out and get yourself a book on acting from your local bookstore or better yet the library (hey, it's free). Study all you can. Search the net, there is a ton of free info right out there. There are also loads of videos you can buy. During the summer take some time and go to an acting camp. There are also workshops all over the country all year round.

The great thing is, there are always places to go to act. Almost every community has a theatre troop of some kind. If not, just go ahead and start one for yourself. There are plenty of people who would love to get up on stage. You just have to look. So stop sitting there wishing you could be like the people you see on TV or at the movies. Get up, get out and start acting!!!

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Acting

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Acting Lesson to be an Successful Actor

Successful Actors Advice to anyone who wants a career as an actor.

Be on time. On a big film the money is going out the door at about 30 grand every 20 minutes. On a network TV show the rate is only a bit less. If you are ten minutes late for a job that pays five hundred bucks - you will be very disliked by the producer and everybody that works for him. People will scream at you. If you are late for an audition, the casting director will worry that you won't get to the job on time. If you are late for a job, that casting director will also have people screaming at her. And further more there is no such thing as an eight-hour day in show business. If you cannot work a long day, you are unsuited for success in show business.

Be an early riser. If you want to be in the movie or television business, you must be the kind of person who can get up at 5 in the morning. If you work in the theatre, your early rising will fall about 10 AM - because you work into the night. But if you plan on working in this industry you would do well to make early rising a lifelong habit. The early starts and long hours mean that you will be spending about half your life with co-workers. If you are a pain in the butt - you will be heartily disliked by other people who are also working 12 hour days. Word will get around and it will be harder to get work. Therefore be nice to people no matter what. You have to keep your 'creative juices' flowing during the entire 12 hours. If you don't love doing this kind of work, being on for 12 hours is impossible.

Well groomed and clean. You are not the part. Even the guys who play bikers and bums wear deodorant and have clean teeth. Your breath must be pleasant. A co-worker who literally stinks will get a reputation and lose opportunities because of it.

No complains Those actors on sets who do complain about the dressing rooms, the food, the director, the co-star, the costume people, the lack of work, the hours, the script and pretty much anything. They are labelled as complainers and are rarely appreciated or tolerated for very long.

Good value from you When you habitually give 100% of your energy to the work - you will get more work.

Much more information on attending an Acting Lesson on this website. See for your self. x

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Monday, November 5, 2007

Acting Teachers Offer More Than Just Instruction


Thousands of careers have been wrecked by actors who "changed horses in the middle of the stream." Those actors go from teacher to teacher without ever finding out what any of them have to offer.

They switch from agent to agent before a long-range plan for their career can be developed. They go from one publicist to another, destroying the valuable groundwork of every publicity campaign. Finally, they fight their way out of legitimate contracts -and into oblivion.

The entertainment field is the only business on earth in which a girl who might never make more than forty dollars a week running an elevator can be molded by specialists into a commodity worth thousands of dollars weekly to one of the major industries of our time.

Actors today have unprecedented prestige and social standing.

Most of them use their advantages to good purpose, as does Bob Hope, globe-circling, good-will ambassador extraordinary to the court of humanity. Royalty welcomes Danny Kaye, and so, in many lands, do the underprivileged children to whom he has brought the vitalizing nourishment of laughter.

While the successful actor acquires prestige and social standing in plying his well-paid profession, he attains other gratifying goals.

Almost without exception, every notable performer refers nostalgically to some artistically worth-while venture about which he says happily, "I didn't make much money with it, but it was a great satisfaction to do."

Where does this satisfaction come from? It comes from giving an audience something he believes in: something that to her/him represents, either inspirationally, dramatically or amusingly, the truth as he sees it.

In a discussion of acting, John Mason Brown, distinguished critic and lecturer, paid a tribute to the men and women of the profession when he said, "An actor turns pretense into truth."

Actors work considerably harder than most people think they do. I have heard more than one parent say of his own hard-working, well-established son in show business, "Yes, he's doing all right, but I wish he'd get a real job."

He has one. Acting is a very real job. As the standards of the profession grow continually higher, and the taste of the public keeps pace, the demands on the actor are more exacting.

Those who fulfill these demands will win the ultimate beachhead and earn the right to live securely on the island of success.

Lucille Ball cried her eyes out the night she was fired from RKO as a stock player. But she never stopped working to improve herself. When she was at her lowest ebb, half frightened and altogether frustrated, she put more drive than ever into her career.

She went on the road with a stage production of Elmer Rice's Dream Girl and steamed full speed ahead on the upgrade again.

She, with husband Desi Arnaz, became co-owners of the studio lot where the name DESILU STUDIOS looms high on a sign replacing the letters that used to be there-RKO.

Addicted to acting? Me too! Tap into an ever-growing source of Free articles, resources, and insider career tips. Visit NYCActing.com

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Acting Inspiring Performance


There are some inspired amateur performances in America every year.

Some of them are extraordinarily effective. But those who give them can rarely duplicate their performances-and then only by accident-because talented amateurs haven't developed either voice, body or mind as dependable technical tools.

The important thing is to give an inspiring performance. It's hardly possible that Judith Anderson could have been inspired during the entire run of Medea, in which she played a heavy emotional role.

But with her magnificent technique and dramatic art she consistently created the effects of inspiration and was therefore inspiring to her audiences.

What is dramatic art? Dramatic art is acting PLUS. It may be described, all too briefly, as acting which inspires an emotional response over and beyond the immediate and obvious word,

action or situation in any given performance.

Is there any difference between good acting for the stage and screen, or for television and radio?

Basically, no. The fundamentals are the same. The differences lie in the way an actor or personality adjusts the same tools and materials to the various mediums.

What is the difference between actors and personalities? An actor is a performer who can up to a point efface himself and, motivated by a playwright's words and a director's guidance, can, within the limits of human feasibility,

create and interpret any character.

A personality is a performer whose individuality is so distinctive and strong that it dictates the color of every role he plays.

Do you have to have talent to be an actor? No. Many actors have made a very good living by being such capable craftsmen in their use of the tools of acting that they have overcome the handicap of not having native talent.

They've made up for what they lack as inherent artists by becoming highly skilled, superior artisans-experts in the mechanics of acting.

If you have talent, and know you have it, why must you study? Even if you have talent, it may be blocked and jammed up by inhibitions and tensions, dissipated by lack of discipline, or cluttered and confused by egotism.

Intelligent training in the technicalities that support talent and compensate for its lack frees you from these drawbacks. However great your talent, you have to build a mechanical foundation in order to organize that talent and use it most effectively.

What is a "good, actor"? In the final analysis, a good actor must excite an audience, must be interesting to look at, and pleasing to listen to. He must be able to transmit these qualities with

impact. He must have polarity and balance.

Addicted to acting? Me too! Tap into an ever-growing source of Free articles, resources, and insider career tips. Visit NYCActing.com

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Sunday, November 4, 2007

Acting-The Three Primary Eements

 

FAITH, AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING... You act by using the three primary elements upon which acting is based: the VOICE, the BODY and the MIND.

They're the materials that go into your acting. They're

the tools of your craft They're the eloquent instruments of your art.

THE VOICE AND THE BODY MUST BE MADE SO FLEXIBLE THAT THEY WILL INSTANTLY OBEY THE COMMANDS OF THE MIND WITHOUT CONSCIOUS

EFFORT.

The more you know, the more those words will mean to you. And you will know more-much more-later.

Where do you begin an acting technique?

You begin with the physical apparatus-arms, legs, torso, tongue, eyes, facial muscles and so on-from skeleton to skin. Technique is mechanics.

Technique is scientific. Isn't a scientific technique very mechanical?

Indeed it is. But you must have at your command, ready to serve you immediately-at your director's will-a practical knowledge of the mechanics of modern acting.

The seven tones of the musical scale are mechanical too, but they can be used artistically to create a great piece of music. The three primary colors and their divisions

are mechanical, but they, also, can be used to create a work of art.

To take another example, the frame of any house in skeleton form, with its cement, two-by-fours, steel girders, and so on, is a matter of good, sound mechanics.

It has very little to inspire you emotionally. But when a Frank Lloyd Wright applies his creative talent to it, the framework becomes the foundation for a piece of architecture that is artistic and inspiring in its finished form.

If the foundation weren't mechanically sound, a

Frank Lloyd Wright's inspiration would go to waste. The structure would collapse.

Do I believe in mechanical acting? No. But I believe an actor must build a solid mechanical mold before he can flood and color the performance of a role with his own talent and personality.

Without a substantial technical framework and foundation his performance will be subject to both hidden and obvious weaknesses.

Do you have to have talent to be an actor?

No.

Many actors have made a very good living by being such capable craftsmen in their use of the tools of acting that they have overcome the handicap of not having native talent.

They've made up for what they lack as inherent artists by becoming highly skilled, superior artisans-experts in the mechanics of acting.

Brittney L Dunn
For more information on everything for the acting student
visit: NYCActing.com

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Friday, November 2, 2007

Getting Into Acting

Now that you have honed your acting skills and enhanced your natural good looks by devotedly following a rigorous aerobic regime and weight training program, you are ready to pursue a career as an actor in the film business. Yet talent, schooling, experience, and good looks, while definitely an advantage, are by no means the only things helpful to getting into the "biz" (nor is their possession a guarantee of success).

Your desire to succeed, to see your dream of cinematic achievement and financial prosperity come to fruition is even more important.

To improve the possibility of your success, quitting is not an option for you. You must be unwavering in your resolve to hang tough through the rough times, determined to endure the rocky roads that lay ahead. The reality is that the odds against making it are extremely high.

Nevertheless, if you are an enterprising individual who's capable of dealing with this high-odds reality - who can focus on that proverbial carrot tied to the end of the stick with your blinders on tightly - then don't make your journey a futile undertaking by pursuing your goal faraway from where the action is.

To be considered for the major films with the juicy roles and staggering salaries, you have to think seriously about relocating to New York City or Los Angeles. These two metropolitan areas are the hubs of the movie industry.

Yes, more and more movies are being made outside of the Big Apple and Tinsel Town, by both independent filmmakers and large studios. It is to your advantage to keep an eye out for them in your community. Along with being a way to earn money - through working either as an extra or fulfilling some other capacity on the project - they are excellent places to see how movies are put together, make connections, acquire on-the-job training, and get exposure.

But before leaving home and the support of family and friends, make sure you have a plan of action as well as a sizeable sum of greenbacks, since just trying to make the cut in the acting game carries a steep price tag. For example, you will need money for food, new clothes, renting a place to live, auto repairs, filling the gas tank to get to distant studios when they call you in for an audition, dry cleaning, insurance, social outings, and hair care, to state but a small number of expenses.

When that day arrives where you finally find yourself on the streets of New York City or Los Angeles, keep in mind that your primary mission at this point in your career is to sell your best and sole product - you. Consequently, if you're the type who has difficulty trumpeting his or her own wares, you're going to be in trouble. Nobody is going to publicize you at this juncture but you. You're an unknown commodity. Nobody knows you or your work. For these reasons, you have to get over your inability to self-promote and learn to present yourself as the consummate professional you know you are.

Sculpt yourself in the way that corresponds with the demands of your prospective employers to strengthen your chances of gaining employment as an actor. Enroll in acting classes upon your arrival in the big city. Although you may have already taken some classes in your hometown, you're going to quickly discover that those classes don't cut much ice in New York or Hollywood. You must become knowledgeable about how things are done in your current surroundings.

Next, obtain one of the most valuable tools for breaking into the business - a headshot photograph. This photograph is important because it is your key to opening doors and bringing about one-to-one contacts with talent agents and casting directors.

To decrease the odds of your photographs winding up buried in a filing cabinet with hundreds of other photographs, or being immediately thrown out, hire the most competent photographer you can afford. In addition to the headshot photograph, you need some pictures for your "book." These pictures ought to show you in different attire and depicting a variety of moods. They should be black-and-white as well as color. The photographs must not be touched up in any way because talent agents and casting directors want to see what you really look like. (Yet both men and women can use makeup to bring out their eyes, cover up blemishes, hide pimples, and so on. If asked, the photographer will hire a makeup artist as well as a hair stylist to assist in making you look your best for the camera.) You should wear clothes that are comfortable and say something about you as well. For instance, if you're a jogger, have some pictures taken in your jogging outfit. The same holds true if your physical activity is tennis or skiing or inline skating.

Have 500 copies of your headshot photograph printed, then take about 50 of them and start making the rounds, knocking on the doors of talent agents and casting directors listed in the phone directory. Leave a black-and-white photograph, with a resume attached to the back of it, at the office of each person who sees your headshot photograph. On your resume record information about your height, weight, hair color, eye color, union membership status, previous accomplishments and contact information. If you don't own one, buy a cell phone, or an answering machine, or voice mail for your landline phone, or sign up with an answering service. Talent agents and casting directors are busy people, and they won't keep calling you back.

Don't be concerned if your resume isn't the embodiment of cosmic credentials in the acting profession. You're just launching your rocket into orbit, remember? So give yourself awhile to reach a stratospheric elevation. Then again, it probably would be wiser for you not to pilot that spaceship exclusively toward the dizzying altitude of celebrity status. A more practical aspiration is that of becoming a steadily working actor. If in the process you attain celebrity status and all the trappings that go along with it - great.

After a week or two, call each talent agent's secretary to remind her of who you are and to request an appointment. Be sure to conduct yourself in a businesslike manner. You might possibly impress her and merit favorable mention by her to her boss. In turn, he just might call you in quicker for an interview.

At any rate, when you do get an appointment, make certain that you put your best foot forward: dress appropriately, get there early, don't become impatient if you have to wait. And, when you meet the agent, smile, maintain eye contact, shake hands firmly, introduce yourself, and tell him that you want to be in movies.

During the course of the interview if the agent babbles on about charging you to sign on with his agency, or if he offers lessons of any sort, be suspicious of his ethical standards. A legitimate agent doesn't charge the actors he takes on as clients anything for his services. He operates on a commission basis, receiving his earnings after his actors have been paid. Though the majority of agents are honest and above reproach, and work hard on behalf of their clients, be careful when seeking one to manage your career. Don't be afraid to ask for references and credentials before putting your signature on an agent's contracts. Also, it is wise for you to work under a non-exclusive, short-term contract of about one to two years in duration to be sure your agent can perform his duties in an intelligent, skilled, and timely manner.

Once you've signed on with an agent, he'll eventually tell you that he's set up an audition for you for a part in a movie. Don't freak out! You should expect that you'll have to do a reading. Therefore, call the people auditioning you a day or two beforehand and get hold of a copy of the script. Then pore over it from front to back, memorizing it completely.

Nervousness oftentimes overcomes actors in a situation like this. Sweaty palms, tightness in the pit of the stomach and an accelerated heartbeat are not uncommon. But you should be aware that those evaluating you are not your enemies; they don't have you in front of them to make you suffer. As a rule, these folks are courteous and friendly, and they want to see you do well as much as you want to do well. More than likely, they have auditioned dozens of actors before you that they're uncertain about and genuinely hope you're the right one for the part.

Take heed, though, that in an effort to quiet your nerves you don't resort to getting sloshed with alcohol or high on drugs. Doing either of these things will hinder you from being the best actor you can be during the audition. Furthermore, nobody is going to risk millions of dollars, his reputation, and his future in the business on an alcoholic or drug addict.

Still, rejection is a certainty. And it is one of the most difficult things for a large number of individuals to handle. However, you are going to have to deal with your ego undergoing this kind of drubbing if you want to remain sane and survive in the biz. There is no simple way to control your hurt feelings over being rejected. They are real. But you have to get over it as quickly as possible and go back to knocking on doors.

Pay attention to a rejection, but don't let it deter you from going to auditions. A rejection usually represents the opinion of one person and means for some reason that person didn't think you were right for the part. If you ask, that person might tell you why you were turned down and give you constructive feedback you can use to correct your mistakes and revamp your strategy, as well as aid you in gaining a more in-depth understanding of your particular facet of the industry.

Lastly, you should be aware that even a proven, established actor is not exempt from rejection. No matter how handsome or talented he may be, he will be rejected more often than he'll be accepted. Alas, this is merely one of many dues you have to pay in your climb to the summit of the acting mountain in the business of filmmaking. Visit web site http://hometown.aol.com/buffalofox/joggingandrunning.html

As a nationally certified fitness instructor, La Rue conducted exercise and bodybuilding classes for the YMCA and other organizations. La Rue also was an instructor/trainer for the Michigan Heart Association, a board member of the Metropolitan Detroit Health Education Council, and a member of the YMCA Physical Education Committee. La Rue is a Detroit native with a BA in English from Wayne State University.

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Secret 3 For Your Acting Audition Success

 It?s time to nail that acting audition!


Boy can it be scary in that audition room.


Well let me tell you there is hope and it?s not about relying on
luck, or a miracle but on something that is within YOU. A power
that is so strong that it is never wrong. Once you know how to
use this power acting becomes easy.


All great actors have it and use it.


All successful business people bank on it.


I?m talking about your GUT INSTINCT.


And we all have it.


It?s that ?Aha? feeling you get like a light bulb going off, or
it may come in the form of a vision, a buzz, or a sudden sour
stomach.


As any skill improves with training and practice so too does
your intuition.


A large degree of intuition comes from experience and knowledge.
Your intuition is like a computer in your brain, your
subconscious, that sifts through the endless amounts of
information to make a hit.


Therefore to help your intuition along you need to put the
information, knowledge and experiences into your system before
walking into that audition room.


One thing you can be sure of when you walk into an audition room
is the work that you have put into the script and the character.
If you have done your homework, including research and script
breakdown, then that will give you an edge because you have put
the information and knowledge in so that your Gut Instinct can
work its magic.


One of the most important keys to your acting audition success
is your GUT INSTINCT.


Your gut instinct comes from a place of KNOWING.


I recall this one time I had an acting audition and I had done
all my homework on the character and the script and the casting
agent wasn?t happy with my choice and wanted me to change what I
was doing. Her suggestion went against everything I knew in my
gut, I spoke up about how I felt and then did it again in the
way I knew it to be in line with the character, against her
advice. You know what, I got the job and the director had said
to me I was the only one that gave him what he was looking for
in the audition. Casting agents are there to guide you but they
may not have a full understanding of the character because after
all that is the actors job. As long as you?re coming from a
place of KNOWING then I?d say its ok to question the casting
agent.


I just knew it in my body the feeling came as a sick kind of
feeling in my stomach like what I was hearing was wrong and
wasn?t going to work.


If you know you?ve done the work follow your GUT INSTINCT!


Risky? YES!


Does it pay? YES!


Don?t be afraid to follow what you believe to be true.


Stand your ground take a risk.


To Your Acting Success

Leanne Mauro



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