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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