A bow to Ankur and Manish, the two actors I know, and anyone who acts
or can act and can recite monologues!
I did that last Thursday and sucked. Found reciting the monologue much
tougher than improvisation; I also felt i needed more time to work on
it; i did have some but i am not good enough to focus in a short time
i guess :-(
The chief hassle was in front of camera and the small bit-role in BGG
showed me the same. In rehearsal, in front of four guys I wasn't
actually bad...I could remember it 4/6 times, but when the camera
started i took 3 takes and...it wasn't fun.
I enjoyed the activity though (including the tension in front of the
camera!) and it again made me realise how a challenge it can be - just
to step back, relax, concentrate and let one self go; i do believe
it's a great therapeutic exercise and everyone should practice it :-)
I am so lucky - got an instructor like Galina. If any one of you had
been training under her, you would realise how easy she tries to make
it - you don't have to act, just behave - use your conscious to
imagine and that's it...and of course, use some tools to create that
world, and just by changing that package, you can behave in the right
way. (was reading an interview of the acclaimed director, Sydney
Pollack today and he talks exactly the same thing - acting is
behaving...you don't have to act, just behave. It's also amazing how
many people tell budding directors to go and take an acting class,
even one is good enough and i surely can vouch for it.)
As Galina says, everyone has a soul and it's different. So if De Niro
acts in an awesome way, that's not your way, your own unique way is
awesome too; same for tom, dick, harry or amitabh. You just have to
behave within the given package....do it simply...that's it. (And remember - acting is a non-intellectual process.)
I agree with it. The problem tends to be over-acting and trying to do
too much. Incidentally this is also the funda of writing and directing
held by many guys including one of my favorite - David Mamet; the
scene should be as simple as possible; every thing should be
'uninflected'. In India, typically things work the opposite. The best
example in acting is Amitabh, who can be simply awesome (if you check
out his ol' flicks) and also be so over-the-top; yeah, one can blame
his directors too but i wonder if he knows what he is doing. Of course
all of us observe things differently - some people believe that he was
brilliant in Black, while I think otherwise. Though I do consider that
was fantastic in the role of a cop in Bunty Aur Babli. Anyway....(let
me focus on self than AB!)
I also discovered that I am a better director than actor, though of
course that doesn't mean i am a good director! Directing actors is
definitely critical, but it does involve more than that; however, if
you get a good DP, lighting and an editor (like they profess in
Hollywood), then your main job remains working with the actors, who
are your biggest tools besides a rock-solid script, after all the
objective is only one - to tell a good story effectively.
I also had a good fortune of being directed (within the class; all
monologues are 'directed' by other students) by a guy, who I thought
was quite off-the-mark; he was changing the package just for the heck
of it (this was on Tuesday; on Thursday he was in sync with my
package.) In a way, that's absolutely fine, but...i think one has to
know the chief objective of the monologue. But i agree one, can change
that too and create different experience; yet...for an exercise like
ours, it's a challenge enough to do it right in the manner you want
to!
Btw, my monologue was from Dead Poet's Society - Keating (Robin
Williams) lectures his student on the courtyard.
Ok, here's some (quick) gyan:
Acting is all about 'package'. That's it.
Know your...
BACKGROUND: Where you belong - your history, where you are coming
from, though i guess one can go easy on it
CIRCUMSTANCES: What are the current events are.
INNER (Self-Connecting) OBJECTIVE: What's you (inner) need
OUTER OBJECTIVE: What's your want: the character always wants
something (which leads to conflict as he faces obstacles)
Use ACTION VERB to behave. (This is the key. NEVER tell actor to be
angry, depressed, no emotions, no feelings....tell him/her what does
she want in the scene, through an action verb: plead, threaten...so he
becomes emotional, if required.)
Imagine a 'hafta-vasooli' scenario: where a guy threatens and gets
money; now make it to beg - a bhai begs, which will be comic, but the
scene changes completely.
(The above (Package fundas) was told to us in the 1st quarter of our
class; the next part comes below, and that's all there is to the
basics of acting (in this class):)
Be aware and play your:
STATUS: Not to be confused with class. It's simply the state of being;
the state of mind. (a servant can have a higher status than the
master.)
It's either:
High (positive frame)
"I am good. I can never be down. I shall conquer. I will go on and on.
Nothing can get me. I am good..."
Low (negative frame)
"Life sucks. Am going to fail. My life's a failure. Life is always so
harsh one me..."
Low playing High (negative playing positive)
"my life's a bitch, but i will do something. all misfortunes come to
me, but okay...i will deal with it"
(am not able to give a good example; think this one's also a
pretentious state, but i need to check on this.)
High playing Low (positive playing negative)
"oh my problems never get over. i won a million dollar lottery and i
have got so much tax to pay".
(in fact, for our 'baby class', we are not going to touch the 4th
status and may not even the 3rd one; btw, we are supposed to become
'adult actors' after this class! And this is the most basic of all
Galina's classes; i think I said before, we are likely to start a full
degree course on acting from next yr.)
The other thing is...
ENERGY:
Positive (in or out)
Negative (in or out)
'In' means soft, 'Out' means shouting.
So Brando, as Godfather as high status throughout and has Energy as
'In'; from what i recollect he practices both positive and negative.
So the principle we use to figure out the story (to start with), the
same holds true for acting: know the wants/objective of the character
and for acting, think of an 'action' verb to achieve your objective.
That's it....
We shall soon get into dialogues and later (maybe) trilogues; all of
use are supposed to act, direct and get behind camera. 2-3 guys may
have to give up 'directing' to do an extra role, and guess what? If
offered that option, I am thinking of going for it :-)
So folks, if you are game for a role in future, simply 'behave'! Be
aware of the above fundamentals, and we may get to work together, but
you also need to remember one thing, the boss is the director ;-)
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