Acting for the Camera

by Tony Barr
The Basics
1. "Stop acting, start listening, keep it simple without loss of passion"
2. "Don't do anything. Don't act. Don't act. Acting is reacting. Just listen and react."
Katharine Hepburn.
3. Acting is responding to stimuli in imaginary circumstances in an imaginative,
dynamic manner that is stylistically true to time and place, so as to communicate
ideas and emotions to an audience.
4. Develop your body, your instrument so that it becomes aware of all stimuli; without
blocks and without rejections
5. One must be free enough emotionally, sensorially, and physically to respond to the
stimuli that are present.
6. Humans respond to stimuli in a continuous action-reaction pattern.
7. Physicalization is anything, however subtle, that the audience can detect.
8. Listening IS acting.
1. The MOST important ability for and actor is listening. Listening involves all
the senses: touch, feel, sight, sound, smell, intuitive and emotional, and
experience of the past.
2. "Most of acting is reacting, and you only react if you're listening. I think that
if you have a talent for acting, it is the talent for listening." Morgan Freeman
3. Very often the most exciting moment in film is when a character is listening
and not necessarily talking.
4. Listen and engage with your ENTIRE being.
9. What's under the dialog. The behavior behind the words, not the words
themselves.
10. There is a bridge between stimulus and response. (a thought pause) crossing
that bridge may be instantaneous or it may take a while. You deal w/the stimulus
first, then the response. Be sure to take your time to deal with that stimulus,
if need be. The more difficult the stimulus, the longer it'll take to cross that bridge.
The bridge is the transition from one thought or emotion to another. Transitions
must be smooth and believable.
11. Find the character IN you. "you must bring to the role those parts of yourself
that are congruent with what is written, so that you work from yourself at all times,
not from some imagined person whose skin you struggle to squeeze into. Don't
force the character on yourself, find the character in yourself."
12. Who is the character perceived from the outside? How does the character see
himself?
13. Play Opposites. What happens if you play against the character you're trying to
play? ie. The smooth and intelligent Hannibal Lector vs his murderous, villainy, evil
self.
14. Focus and Concentration. Direct it to specific objects or points. Must practice
tuning out distractions and tensions. You must learn to relax completely. Only then
will you truly be listening. We relax through concentration, by ONLY concentrating
on the scene and NOTHING else. Concentrate on the scene, on the other person, on
listening and you will become more relaxed.
15. How much you care = Energy. Energy is the direct result of how much you care
about what is happening. You want to care as much as the scene/character allows.
If YOU care, WE care.
16. "you have to speak softly and think loud" - Montgomery Cliff.
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
17. "thought registers on camera". Thought transfers to minute changes in the body
and face that the audience will feel.
18. What is the through-line emotion of the scene?
19. Honest emotions don't end quickly, they fade out or unwind.
20. Learn how to REALLY cry. Practice on your own and be able to bring them up on
command.
21. Scenes must be track-able from each "moment to moment" stimuli in the scene. We
hit a stimuli, then coast/fade out of it until a new stimuli hits us.
22. Visual and emotional focus are generally the same. When we're angry with
someone, we look at them. If we're angry at someone else, we look away.
23. Anger vs Hate. If an actor is angry and he looks at the other actress constantly, he
will seem to hate her. Whereas if he looks away, directs his attention on specific
objects, we will assume he is angry but that he doesn't hate her.
24. Examine the implications of your words, not the words themselves.
25. What is the specific STIMULUS that's making the actor DO this at this particular
time?
26. Find the dynamic curves, the highs and lows in the script for the character. They
may NOT be obvious, you may need to search and dig for them.
27. Do you like the character you're playing? Have you find redeeming qualities
about them? If not, the character portrayal will fail. You must justify and find valid
reasons for what you're doing and who you are. Understanding is the first step
towards acceptance.
28. Always work from yourself, reshaped rather than trying to be someone else.
29. What kind of person are you? Volatile, arrogant, submissive, argumentative?
30. Have you ever been involved in a situation like the one in the material? How did you
feel, what did you do? Make yourself believe it.
31. COMMIT yourself to the character and your choices.
32. Starting the scene. Where are you emotionally at the beginning of the scene? Act
out a minute before the first dialog even begins - what happens?
33. What is your drive/objective throughout the scene? What do you need to
accomplish?
34. How much do you care? What is the emotion? What is your rhythm within that
emotion?
35. What or who are your obstacles? Internal - What ideas, vulnerabilities or recent
experiences are making it more difficult to accomplish your needs?
36. Build your role one moment at a time like bricks of a house.
37. Find the simple, bottom line of the scene. What do you need to accomplish
at this moment in your life? Make it a verb form. A simple statement. ie. "I
need to keep her from taking Billy from me".
38. Just play the moment (the bottom line) and let it drive you. Don't over
intellectualize and try to make it look deep and profound. (can make it interesting
though).
39. Study the other person's lines since their lines tell you a LOT about your
character and your cues and what you need to respond to.
40. Circumstances can change a scene DRAMATICALLY. Who are the characters to
each other? How well do they know each other? What happened in the past day
before the scene? Who are the characters with now vs before? Changing
circumstances can make the same dialog look like a completely different scene.
41. We do not speak in words, we speak in IDEAS. Words are not important; it's
what under the words, what's making them happen, that's important.
42. Memorizing - It's good to highlight the stimuli that make your lines happen, which is
more effective.
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
43. What does a line mean vs what is being said. ie. the phrase "i love you" has an
inherant meaning but can be said with much different meaning. It could be said with
love, or contempt, or anger, or even hate.
44. Stimulus, Absorbtion, Effect and Response
45. You do not pick up cues, you respond to stimuli. Absorbtion and response.
46. You don't learn the lines, you learn the role.
47. We must reshape ourselves into the role, so that we can then always work from
ourselves, reshaped. We are not separate from the character. We are the
character.
T o o l s
Rhythm and Changes in Rhythm
1. It is imperative that you respond to each stimulus in a rhythm that is compatible
with the logical emotional effect of the stimulus.
2. It's important that the proper peak at the very beginning of a scene.
3. One way to help achieve and emotional level is to physicalize with a rhythm that is
congruent with that emotion. You can work from the outside in.
4. The beginning rhythm sets the pace for the rest of the scene.
5. Find those magic changes in rhythm of energy and movement.
6. Everything is a movement, even the 'transitions'.
7. Energy/Rhythm start ---> impulse ---> shift/change/transition ---> New energy/
rhythm
Dynamics
1. Find the levels/layers that CHANGE the dynamics. If it's intense, don't make it ALL
intense.
2. The shifting and changing command audience attention and cause them to be
affected. They also give the material a sense of motion and thrust.
3. Search for the dynamics, the stimuli that makes those small changes in character.
4. Adds dimension, excitement, interest, drama and keeps it from sitting on a boring
plateau.
5. Always make sure your rhythm and dynamics are your own, never let a star
overpower you
6. Look for CHANGES in thought, emotion, plot, anything that alters the current state.
7. Organic and Fluid, Ebbs and Flows, Ups and Downs, Highs and Lows
Movement
1. Should be driven by what is happening in the scene. There should be a reason, even
a subtle reason. But actors should not just move arbitrary without cause.
The Need
1. Need, Intention, Objective, Goal
2. Major Needs - Ultimate, Big Need - THE main objective you are trying to get.
3. Minor Needs - Moment to moment, these are what you focus on in the scene.
4. Be aware of your need from instant to instant. It will give you purpose, it will give
every scene an emotional thrust.
5. How strongly will you play the need and how important is it that the need be
fulfilled? What's at stake?
6. You might want to break down every role and every scene into needs/objectives.
Such intellectualization should be put aside though, once performing. Analyze and
forget.
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
7. *** We are driven by needs, we set out to fulfill those needs, and it is the effort to
fulfill those needs that helps give thrust and dynamics to the drama. Obstacles
cause reaction; reaction causes something to happen, giving us dynamics. So, look
for the obstacles and frustrations; play off them and you will generate exciting
moments.
8. You play against the stimulus and the struggle to overcome a discomfort or obstacle
that makes the moment real. You don't play to have a headache, you play to relieve
the pain. You don't cry, you try to keep from crying.
9. You create the real feeling or sensory problem first; then try and overcome it.
10. What is the simple immediate need, instead of the inner emotional need.
Selectivity
1. Selections, decisions, alternatives, choices.
2. Find interesting, unexpected things to do
3. Rehearsals - stretch, and try new things. Change the character, emotion, thoughts,
ideas, goals, pacing. Be fresh and free.
4. Don't rehearse the same thing over and over again - Don't 'lock down' rehearsals.
5. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse - DON'T BE LAZY!
6. Try playing AGAINST the dialog - play the opposite.
7. You bring up the past for reasons related to the present and not simply to have a
chance to spend a few moments in reverie or sentimentality.
8. Find humor in drama and drama in humor.
9. "If I can't laugh and cry in the same evening, it's not a good show"
10. You can't play the subconscious (?) You can only play moment to moment.
11. Avoid self pity. This emotional indulgence weakens the character and the audience
doesn't fall for it. Play the need to solve the problem instead of being overwhelmed
by it.
-So, it's not a drowning... "oh my god, oh no!" (victim), it's a "I'm going to fucking
get through this goddammit".
12. Communicate through props and actors.
13. What you DO tells us what your feeling much better than words.
14. We lie with words, we tell the truth with body language.
15. Dialog interruptions can be done as one person's monologue with the other actor
cutting in properly instead of preplanned cuts.
16. Physical Contact. Exercise - ask the actors personal questions while one actor
uses their finger tips and eyes on the other actor's hands, face, neck, arms and hair.
Then run your scene.
Personalization
1. Reliving personal trauma to get to an emotion can take the actor away from
listening.
2. This should be done in exercises but not in actual scenes
3. The actor's instrument needs to be free enough to respond to the stimuli presented
by the material and the other actor.
4. Transference is taking an emotion that you know that's close the the emotion that
needs to be played and using that. ie, the feeling of wanting to kill someone
transferring into actually killing someone in the scene.
5. Personalizing is a stepping stone that's a bit of a cheat to launch us into how to play
an emotion.
Animate and Inanimate Object Images
1. Using qualities of an image "she's a cow", rhythm of typewriter, cat,
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
2. Adapt essences: the rhythm, the emotional freedom, the intellectual capacity, and
the sensory and physical attitudes. The actor doesn't become a rabbit, he becomes
rabbit-like.
Comedy and Drama - from the actor's point of view
1. Comedy make it less than serious and final.
2. The consequences of a serious situation in comedy must not be given the same
reality or finality that they are given in drama.
3. The basic rhythms are faster in comedy. You move faster, think faster. You do NOT
talk faster. You must be understood.
4. Energy is higher, vocal energy is up, physical energy is up and also dynamics of the
scene.
5. Good work flow - as you run through the table read, work on rough spots as they
come up. Find a funnier word or way of saying it on the spot.
6. Surprise - one of the BEST ways to get a laugh. To do or say something that isn't
expected.
7. You must try NOT to be funny. Comedy must be played as straight as drama.
8. The audience wants to see a person having an experience, not an actor give an
impression
9. Don't take yourself so seriously on an actor's level.
Cold Reading and Auditions
1. Study and read the scene and understand it as though you're not in it.
2. Find the bottom line, the thorough-line, main objective, focus of the scene and work
to fulfill that. What do I need in the scene?
3. Look at the other person as much as possible unless the scene calls for you to look
away
4. Hold the script up so you can just move your eyes a little bit to look at them.
5. Listen to the other person very intently with all your senses.
6. Maintain a sense of rhythm and pace.
7. Does your physical position involve you into the scene?
8. You should take necessary physical actions as much as possible.
9. If your reading partner gave you nothing react as if they did.
10. Work from yourself and believe in you choices.
11. Dress the part, if you can.
12. Practice reading aloud for 15 minutes a day and look up without interrupting the
flow as much as you can
13. Leave your personal problems and unhappiness outside. You want people to feel like
they will enjoy working with you.
14. Let them know that the audience will enjoy look at you, even if you're going to play
the role of a downer. That role shouldn't be a downer to watch any more than the
role of a bored person should be boring to watch. The audience should feel a ray of
sunshine under all those clouds.
15. Every scene should have some changes and dynamics in it. If you can't find them,
invent them. Where is the humor and the drama?
16. Indicate all important business that propels the scene.
17. The people auditioning you are on your side, they are rooting for you, hoping that
you are the answer to their problem.
Monologues
1. Monologues lack the listening and responding to another person
2. You are talking to another person and must relate to what they are hearing from
them as they speak
3. The monologue is speech in context
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
4. What is the bottom line? Then fulfill that need.
5. Hear the obstacles and respond to them.
6. It's a moment in the life of a character so play it like that.
Working with the Director
1. When you're given a change, make sure you really understand what the director
wants, what is really meant. Look for the FULL implementation of what is meant.
2. Don't think too much, don't over-intellectualize, just do it, go for it. (tits up)
3. On 'action' you have to let all your preparation go, don't worry about hitting every
single point and just go for it.
4. The more you think the less you feel. No rationalizations, no excuses, play the
scene!
5. TV directors are the most rushed in the business.
6. Make contributions but don't fight to the death for them to be accepted.
7. If you get and honest impulse, do it.
8. Don't let a director yell and scream at you. If they do, let them get several days of
you on film. Then when it's too late for them to replace you, take him to the side
and simply say, "Sir, I cannot work when you're yelling and screaming at me. It
upsets me, and I can't function. So I'm going to my dressing room and I will be
there when you're ready to resume work on a mature, calm, creative basis." Then
turn and go to your dressing room.
Working from the outside in - or the inside out
1. Outside in - external, physical attributes, walk, talk, posture.
2. You thought of something, then did it. It's an intellectual approach.
3. How does the character feel and what does he need?
4. Working inside out has more depth. You can find things in the script that tell you
how to play the character, what they're feeling.
5. A combination of external-in and internal-out is ideal.
Summary
1. Stop acting, start listening
2. Play the bottom line for each moment or scene
3. Play one moment at a time and keep it simple, without loss of passion (less is not
more)
4. Commit yourself fully
5. Have fun! You don't have to suffer to be great!
6. What is the truth about how I would speak and behave in these circumstances?
7. All the answers are found in "the truth" (of the scene, of the character, of the
objectives)
Acting on Film - Technical terms & usage
1. Film demands simplicity and subtlety.
2. Focal lens length - zoom vs wide vs standard
3. Boom mic - Don't need to talk too loud, very sensitive
4. Key light - the main light on your face, watch for shadows, blocking the light of
other actor.
5. Practicals - existing lights, ie. lamps
6. Master shot - the main, wide view usually shot from beginning to end
7. Over the shoulder - shot in pairs
8. Close up - other actor stands next to the camera, sometimes they give weak
performance or they may not even be there leaving the other actor to act without
them. (rude but it happens). Get used to how much movement you have.
9. Bust shot - framed at the bust
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
10. Waist shot - Framed at the waist
11. Full shot - head to toe
12. Hitting the mark - Marks on the floor w/gaffer tape must be hit without looking at
them. You can practice by counting steps or using furniture or other actors as
reference points. Marks are important because focus and lighting are determined to
be best in those spots. You will look your best and accommodate the
cinematographer and director in hitting them accurately. If you don't hit your mark,
you may block another actor, be out of focus or have bad lighting.
13. Matching - Film is broken into pieces of different angles/shots of the same scene.
They must match up. (ie. if you pick up a coffee cup, it must be on the same line/
word and with the same hand every time.)
14. Coverage - Shooting extra camera angles of the same scene. What you do, must
be the same in all those different angles.
15. Setup - Every new camera change in position or composition is called a new setup.
16. Overlapping - When doing close-ups, do NOT overlap your dialog. Leave, at least,
a tiny pause. When you overlap/talk over each other, it's very difficult to cut
different shots together so don't talk over the other actor unless you know that it's
desirable, which it may be on some shots. Even if the script calls for interruption,
leave a pause. This may seem strange at first but it's a technical necessity.
17. Cheating - Because of the nature of the camera and perspectives, you may need to
move and change where your looking to make a better image on screen. You may
need to tip slightly to one side or crouch down or stand on something to be taller.
You may need to look up more so the camera catches your eyes. You may need to
cheat your movement too, you may need to move very slowly so the camera-man
can move with you.
18. Spacial relationships to other actors - The actors have to stand closer together
for film, which looks right on-screen, people naturally stand too far away.
19. Two Shot - two actors in a scene
20. Pickup - re-shooting a section of the scene, either because something wasn't right
or something needs to be added.
21. Action - the scene begins only when this word is said.
22. Cut - The scene stops only when this is said.
23. Interruptions - Never stop a scene, even if something happens that seems like
you should stop. Don't stop a scene no matter what until the director says cut. The
director may talk while your in the scene, he may ask you to go back to a point and
start from there, or to repeat a line all while the scene is rolling. Don't stop, just do
as he says. If you forget a line, then you may stop the scene.
24. Arrive at least 30 minutes early! This will help resolve unforeseen issues like
traffic.
25. The more complicated the actor and camera moves, the longer it will take to shoot.
Stunts
1. Learn how to fall, take a blow, give a blow, punched or shot, hit in the head, etc.
2. Practice the motions over and over
3. It's the person who takes the blow that will make it look real.
Starting your career
1. Agent - Screen Actors Guild, 5757 Wilshire Blvd in Hollywood
2. Send headshots and info to 20-30 agents and hope you get a response and
interview.
3. Headshots - standard and in many different outfits/looks for commercial work.
The Star
1. Good actor:
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
1. articulate what the material is about for the audience
2. One who can interest the audience sufficiently to make them want to stay
and watch the performance
3. One who is able to move the audience
2. Chooses strong, heroic responses/choices
3. Is never terrified by danger, they want to solve the problem and survive.
4. Wants to find a way to solve the problem.
5. We want to follow their lead because they face the problem squarely and find a way
to beat it. We get behind their bravery.
6. Have an emotional vulnerability. Emotionally vulnerable, not weakness. Under it all,
they're a pussycat. Cares about things and CAN be hurt. The audience can
empathize.
7. Acts with authority and conviction. Everything is done with certainty, with decision,
clarity and economy of motion.
8. Uncertainty is one of the deadliest of acting sins. If you go somewhere, then go
there. Don't hesitate, know your destination and commit to it fully.
9. If we feel unworthy or incomplete, we must find good, strong things within
ourselves.
10. Know your 'type', how you might be typecast.
11. Know your strengths, improv them. Know your weaknesses and work on those. But
know what you're best at.
Film Crew
1. The Camera Crew
1. The Cinematographer - You're movements and physicality is tied to what he
does.
2. The Camera Operator - operates that camera
3. The focus operator
4. The dolly pusher
5. The film loader or camera assistant - slate operator
2. The Sound Crew
1. The mixer - the chief
2. The Boom Operator
3. Cablemen
3. The Lighting Crew
4. The Gaffer - Crew chief. Aids the cinematographer.
5. The "best boy" - assistant to the crew chief
6. Operators
7. General operator - runs the generator on location
8. The Grips
1. Head grip - crew chief. Responsible for sets, carpentry, reflectors & camera
dollies
2. Grips
9. The Prop Dept
1. Property master
2. property assistants
10. The Wardrobe Dept
11. The Makeup Dept
12. Drivers, photographers, animal handlers, etc.
13. The first assistant director - keeps order on the set and keeps production moving.
14. The second assistant director - sets up actors' calls, find actors, take care of small
details
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
E x e r c i s e s
Listening Exercise - sentence completion exercise
1. 2 People are sitting on the floor, facing each other. One is the listener and the other
is the speaker. The speaker is given and incomplete sentence which they finish in
their own words. The listener then responds naturally (without talking). Example
"The good thing about being an actor is... you can make a lot of money. The good
thing about being and actor... is it gives me fame and recognition. (next) When I
was a little boy... "
2. I can't believe the cat...
3. You're not going to believe this but I...
Emotional Exercise
1. One person stands in front of a group of people and says:
1. "I have a right to cry"
2. "I have a right to get angry"
3. "I have a right to be happy"
4. "I have a right to stand here"
5. "I take full responsibility for everything I say"
6. "I take full responsibility for everything I do"
2. We often have difficulty expressing emotion since our culture has taught us that it is
bad. This also exhibits our expression of authority. The actor must fully believe in
the words and say them with conviction.
Learn a Role, not the Lines
Take 15 or 20 lines from a scene and put each line on a separate card, including stage
directions. Give each actor all their lines. Actors may have read the material once or twice,
it doesn't matter. The actors are briefed with their relationship, who they are and what their
needs are. The actor tells us what 'stimuli' he hears or thinks and says it. Then looks down
at the card to see if the answer was correct. **Stimulus, Absorption, Effect and Response.
The words are not important, it's what CAUSES the words to be spoken.
The Nonsense Exercise - Unorthodoxy
1. Actors run through their scenes by doing EVERYTHING unorthodox, unusual. Enter
strange, walk unusual, sit on the floor instead of a chair, use an eye cover to block
out other actor, anything you can think of that is different. This is a method of
exploration.
2. Pulls actors out of ruts and forces them to be inventive and use their imagination.
Long Shot and Close Up
1. Run a scene in a wide, master shot, two shot. You must earn the audience's
attention. Louder and bigger attracts more attention.
2. Run the same scene in tight close-ups and notice the differences. All the audience's
attention is on you. Intensity is often the quiet moments. The camera and mic are
doing the work for you.
Vocal Levels
Watch the shift in power. Generally on film, quieter is more powerful.
1. Shoot a short scene and try the following
2. As rehearsed (default)
3. with both actor's shouting
4. with one actor speaking loudly, the other softly
5. with one actor speaking softly, the other loudly
6. both actors talking across "read distance"
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
Exploring your quality
What you have to sell on screen is your uniqueness, not necessarily that character you can
play. Be the best that you already are. Everyone is already a character and has very strong
qualities.
Tape record a conversation you have with a friend in a relaxed atmosphere, like home or at
a bar. Then transcribe it into a scene and act it out. See how strong of a character you are.
Character and Quality
To get over the idea of thinking, "I'm nowhere near as interesting as my character."
1. Take a short scene and shoot it playing your needs as the 'character'.
2. Shoot yourselves talking about the same subject as the scene - not using the
dialogue from the scene and without any particular needs, just as yourselves.
Which take is more interesting? Why? Take the things that work well in the second... lower
volume, more relaxed diction, slower or faster rhythm, less indicated emotion.
1. Take the adjustments and try the written scene again.
"It's impossible for an actor to try to be interesting on-screen. Either he is interesting, or he
looks like he's trying and then he's dead"
Listening/Sensing: Presence
On screen is played at normal, or less than normal distances. So, intimacy is increased.
Take a very intimate scene and try:
1. As you've rehearsed it, but standing very far apart, at least 6-10 feet.
2. Standing as close as you can without touching and move very slowly, so the other
person's physical presence begins to dominate your attention. Makes sensing each
other much more sensitive.
Watch the playback and see what happens. Take 1 usually derives from the words, take 2
usually derives more from what is NOT being said.
The Talk-Back Exercise I: Listening (p.302)
The importance of listening and staying connected to your partner. Often actors "check-in"
and "check-out" based on whether they're talking or not. They tend to disengage - "lights
are on but there's no one home". On stage the actor can get away with this, but on screen
the actor is caught "acting".
Take a monologue from a scene in which both characters have strong needs.
1. Do the scene once your way, with your partner talking and you listening silently.
2. Do the scene again, this time turning the monologue into a dialogue by improvising
your responses to the other actor's lines. Don't intellectualize, don't edit, don't make
up character-based lines, just go on impulse from your gut. Don't be grammatical.
You don't have to wait for a pause, or the end of a sentence to speak, just jump in
whenever you feel the urge.
3. Have the other actor stop when you interrupt, let your responses affect him, and
then go on with his lines. Under no circumstances should he begin to improvise. It is
very important that he stay with his lines.
4. Do the scene again, with your partner talking and you listening silently. Just let your
responses happen, Don't attempt to act them out for the audience.
The listening actor's involvement should be far greater now. A far more effective reaction
shot.
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
The Talk-Back Exercise II: Speaker
It's tempting to tune out, rush through or to feel like the other person's isn't listening. Try
the monologue within a scene 2 ways:
1. Your way, with your partner listening silently
2. With your partner talking back his responses. Make sure you don't override him,
because that is a choice not to listen. Stop each time he interrupts, listen, let it
affect you, then go on.
3. Your way again, with your partner listening silently.
Take 2 should be hotter emotionally because you are now hearing the resistance implicit in
your partner's silences. You're always in a dialogue, even though this time you have all the
lines. You're never getting "nothing" from your partner. Even his silence can be a stimulus;
you can 'hear' it as resistance, or you can 'hear ' it as agreement.
Listening/Sensing: Phone Acting
Take a short phone conversation, one sided. Shoot each of these in a tight close-up to see
the results.
1. As you rehearsed it, alone.
2. With another person on the other end of the line, who will turn it into a dialogue by
improvising responses to all your lines.
3. Try it again alone and see if there are any improvements.
Listening: The Reaction Shot
1. Have someone read your monologue, or their monologue to you and film just you
reacting. (discuss the facts and circumstances surrounding the monologue)
2. Film a close-up while you watch 2 other actors do a completion exercise.
Chances are the first time will be flat, because you will be listening as the character. Are
you working from yourself? Are you responding honestly, moment-to-moment as stimuli
hits you? Look at the difference between the two.
Cold Reading: By the Numbers
Film reading this aloud.
1. "Listen, you know I love you. I've loved you for a long, long time. This thing that's
come between us, we can't afford to let that destroy what we had. It's your
decision. I know that now. What do you think?"
So, think about this differently. It's actually five separate attempts to get your lover to stay,
followed by 5 rejections.
1. "Listen, you know I love you.
2. I've loved you for a long, long time.
3. This thing that's come between us, we can't afford to let that destroy what we had.
4. It's your decision. I know that now.
5. What do you think?"
Working your lines backwards, with a highlighter
Instead of highlighting YOUR lines, work backwards and figure out which line is the trigger
for your line and highlight THAT. That way, you're listening for the trigger or stimuli that
sets you off. Often these lines are an echo, a repetition or a logical extension of the
stimulus.
Physicalization: Advance, Retreat
The first few times you're on camera, you will probably freeze up. You want to feel the
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
impulses down to your toes. Take a scene where a man is trying to get close to a
woman.
1. Your way
2. Physicalize your needs. Every time you're pursuing your needs take a step forward.
Every time she pursues her needs, take a step back. And vice versa.
3. Now just play what feels right to you.
Interrupted Dialog
Look for lines of dialog that are not stimuli-response driven. They are broken up paragraphs
of a single thought/reaction. Therefore they are probably said differently. First, try this
normally, with pauses. Then, try it again as interrupted dialog.
Example
Janine - I want out of this marriage
Robert - You want out of the marriage?
Janine - Don't act so surprised.
Robert - You want out of our marriage?
Janine - You must've known it was coming.
Robert - This is incredible.
Janine - You're being so dramatic.
Robert - I can't believe this.
Janine - Look, we can work this out.
Robert - I hate you for doing this.
Robert - You want out of the marriage? You want out of our marriage? This is incredible. I
can't believe this. I hate you for doing this.
Dealing with the Past: Reverie
In a monologue where you think about past events, attach, with your active imagination, a
face to every name, a picture to every place. Attach details to every facet of your words so
they have deep, embedded meaning.
The Subconscious
You can't technically play the subconscious. Try playing a scene twice. Once as it is. And the
second, attribute deep psychological meanings/memories to the people in your scene. Make
them extreme. Is there a difference? Which does the audience prefer?
Unorthodoxy
Run through the scene doing crazy, completely nonsensical things. Be wild and free.
Contact - Try touching the other actor whenever you have a big line. Touch them
someplace different every time. This engages listening and also makes the 1st actor not
'play' to the camera. Makes the physical movements more real.
Props - Run the scene again but with a good amount of props. Interact with all the props,
the entire time to get used to using them. Then run your scene normal again.
Comedy
1. Thinking Funny - Consequences are social, not physical. The other person is
annoyed, never seriously hurt. Drama is the opposite. Immaturity of responses.
2. Funny - Deception - A guy playing a woman, or dressed as a FBI agent to fool
someone.
3. Consequences of comedy are never final, like they are in drama. Always on the
superficial side.
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)
4. Miscommunication - Either someone not listening, someone listening but confused
or complete misinterpretation of what was said.
Alternatives/Adjustments:
1. Try changing the beginning of the scene to contrast more with what happens at the
end of the scene.
2. Try acting out what happened just before the scene starts to launch you into the
scene.
3. Change or increase the intensity of the objective.
4. Change the rhythm of your movements and of your speech.
5. Find a dynamic change/shift and increase the contrast between before and after.
6. Have one character affect the other more, be the stimuli. (antagonize, laugh,
ignore)
7. What was the range of emotion during the scene?
8. Is the scene layered with interesting emotion, doings, surprises and changes.
9. Are you playing AGAINST your instinctual emotion? Typically we try to suppress our
emotions. They bubble up and grow, we struggle to keep them under control.
10. Do you personally identify with the needs/objectives and character?
11. When playing the 'bad guy'
1. play needs/qualities that are positive, that you can fully believe in.
2. judge other people as being ignorant and that they don't know what they're
doing. They are in the dark and you're saving them.
12. Ask about your partner, in what way to they make the achievement of my need
difficult? This will get your attention off yourself and onto your partner.
Bridges that connect Gaps
Internalizing the connections so the audience sees in you
Simple, connected bridge:
John - Where did you go last night?
Marry - I went to the movies.
Complex, unconnected bridge:
John - I got a job.
Mary - I'll never get married.
The two don't really connect on the surface. It takes internal thought to get from one
to the other. So, internally, you have to make the following connections:
(Mary is thinking after john's stimulus...)
1. You got a job.
2. Now you'll be working all the time.
3. You won't have time for me.
4. So we'll gradually drift apart
5. and eventually we'll break up
6. and so we'll never get married
7. and so I guess,
8. I'll never get married.
The Emotions: The Combat Exercise
1. Run through a scene, that has good potential for anger, as is.
2. Run through it again having the actors physically rough each other up. Without
really hurting each other, hit each others shoulders, push, shove, grab a wrist.
3. Then, while their blood is still hot, have them run through it again, without the
physicality. This one should be the most true to life.
Acting for the Camera by Tony Barr (Notes by Peter Walters)