Sit down, Benjamin!
Today, class, we are going to look at acting as the science of spontaneity.
Just to be very clear we will NOT be having ANY bathroom breaks until class is complete. I don’t care how bad anyone has to go. I trust that is clear.
Let’s begin…
QUIET!!!
One of the results that is essential in the experimentation process is to get your mechanism ( body/soul/being) to be spontaneous and impulsive.
Why is this result essential, you ask?
I know no one asked, I’m just…!!!
Mmm hmm. Let us continue…
In order to achieve the full engagement of an audience member, the audience member must witness something that is actually unfolding before them. It must be real. It must be unfolding in the moment of creation – not a recreation – but an actual creation. In conclusion: it must be spontaneous and impulsive.
Sit down, Jerome!!
It’s worthwhile to note that the science of acting has changed over time. Please note this is an approximation: from the year 1930 through the year 1970 audiences were satisfied with a recreation. Meaning: audiences were satisfied with something that appeared to look real.
When we look back at a lot of the films produced during that period most of the acting looks presentational. Fake, if you will. It does need to be said that there are countless performances from that era that still engage an audience member in 2014. But why are those performances still engaging? Truth, spontaneity and impulse.
NO, BECKY, YOU CANNOT GET A DRINK OF WATER! SIT DOWN!!
Let us resume…
Why, you ask, does today’s audience require spontaneity?
Quite simply – we have access to the interwebs.
Yes Rachel, like on your iphone. Turn it OFF, would you please??
We have access to countless video clips of real people doing real things – and, by golly, there is a hunger for something real in this era. Isn’t there? We humans love to watch someone actually being surprised, actually getting angry, actually crying. I know I’ve watched that video of a baby laughing at a sock about a hundred times. It’s so funny. AND REAL. That’s my point.
WHAT? Yes, like someone skateboarding into a wall. Exactly. Shhh…
The requirement of spontaneity has changed the game for the actor. And therefore, the way the actor trains must change. The old ways no longer work.
No longer will the actor be garnered with wreaths of green cash for recreating a performance they did in front of the mirror yesterday.
I am sure you are asking yourselves, “How can I be spontaneous and impulsive? I want wreaths of green cash and accolades from Mario Lopez from the Entertainment Tonite show.”
I’M SURE HE HAS NICE ABS, BUT WE ARE NOT DISCUSSING BIOLOGY!!
He does have a nice workout video, however, if you want to stay fit. Here’s my copy…
OK… Let’s take a look at the dictionary’s definition of spontaneity.
I said Dictionary! No, I did not say anything was hairy.
spon-ta-ne-i-ty
1.the exhibiting of actions, impulses, or behavior that are stimulated by internal process.
BINGO!
Therein lies the key, class.
Stimulated by the internal process.
What does this mean?
NO, THAT IS NOT WHAT IT MEANS, ROBERTO!!!
It means, listening to the actual information in your body. Class, can anyone feel something in their body, right now.
Jason, take your hand off of Melinda!
Accessing body information while connecting to your immediate environment – as I’ve said a hundred times ( AND THIS WILL BE ON THE TEST) – opens the creative channel and invites spontaneity and impulse. It’s that simple.
So, for your summer school homework I want you all to turn up the volume, if you will, on receiving information that is in your immediate environment. In addition to this you must all achieve greater access to the pure information that exists in our body. The result: the creative, spontaneous channel opens up and…
OK, there’s the bell.
Everyone say “I’m Back.” And for next week’s class…
Class…?
I’m Back!
Ten years into a failed marriage I lost myself, and the real person inside was being suppressed.
I recently made myself unemployed so I can work on the creative me, and enjoy some crazy out of body experiences (could also be the Gemini in me). I recently posted a clip on YouTube of a character that came to me one morning and it wasn’t until after I recorded it, I realised I captured it in portrait mode instead of landscape (real novice mistake)
The point is I tried to recreate the skit when holding the camera the right way, but on review not one was as good as the original created in a moment of spontaneity. So I posted the original anyway.
I suspect the really good actors just ‘do it’ rather than practice doing it.