Acting Technique Essay

23/8/2012- Mask And Movement w/ Pedro
Focus: Animal transformation.
Panda signatures: * Slumped spine. * Mask. * Feet point inward. * Neck slightly forward. * Big bodied, wide. * Slow rhythm * Peaceful and playful intention.

Reflection
I found finding an animal and engulfing it as I am quite enjoyable, as pandas have been my favourite animal since a very young age I was confident on its movements, behaviours and signatures. I experimented with a panda ‘looking for someone to mate with’, a panda ‘in danger’ and a panda ‘acknowledging other animals in the space’. With the first experiment (panda looking for someone to mate with) I tried using a faint panda cry for communication. I sat down on my bottom, slumped my spine but kept a consistent energy in my neck which bought life to my mask. I received a humorous response from the audience. A panda in danger was a little bit difficult as pandas are slow movers I had to use a lot of sustaining but keep my energy up as I was being chased or avoiding something. So how I approached this task was another experiment. I would get on all fours, briskly walk/jog to another bit of space, stop and look around. I would keep doing this to show my masks anxiety. It didn’t quite feel right at times, I feel that I had to pause at the correct times for it to be effective, not just pause on some sort of rhythmic pattern. I had to earn the pause. The 3rd scenario (acknowledging other animals in the space), was somewhat easier. It started off like the first scenario then I would walk and tumble over to the other animals (to show them I was wanting to play) then groom myself then gently bump them with my head. I perceived these actions as playful and out going, just like all the pandas out there.

Mask and Movement

Focus: * Warm up with an intention. Use your shoulder, head, feet, knees etc to clean the room. * Animal to human transformation. 70%, 50% 25%.

Reflection
Warming up with an intention was much more funner than doing it as we normally do. Personally, I enjoyed it more because there was a game in doing it, there was a fresh motivator to stretch and warm up. Who would have known washing and cleaning was fun.
Today’s animal transformation was extremely difficult! It was hard to transition from 100% animal and down to 70% then 25 % towards human level. I either didn’t transition enough or transitioned too much. It was extremely frustrating. I experimented with my levels first but then i’d forget about my limbs. It was hard to be completely aware of your body and it’s state, trying to transition everything at the same time. What helped the most was freeze framing each percent level and then fusing them together.
This is an activity I would like to avoid as much as I can. I need more practice with being more aware of my body and how it moves, also with transitioning.

Mask and Movement

Focus: * Warm up * Neutral walk * Improvisation

Reflection
Re-visiting the neutral walk seemed basic this time around, simply because I was aware of my dominances this time. What I had to discover again was finding the energy when starting, walking and stopping. I got back to my old habit where I hesitated when starting and not stopping immediately when told too. When I did get it though, it felt right and smooth as I was walking. I felt organic and economical.
Improvising without the mask was so fun, it had been so long until today. The attitude I had when improvising this time compared to the first semester has changed dramatically. I was more courageous, willing to learn and more willing to take the risk this time. In the first semester I was more concentrated on not failing, not making a fool out of myself and not being embarrassed in front of these people I hardly know.
Today I just sat down and watched as my colleagues went up and improvised. It was interesting to see the moments where they would find the game, abandon the game or be willing to accept the game. It was obvious to see and feel when someone is trying extremely hard to look for a game when one is already right in front of them waiting for them to take it. It felt dry and I felt lost when an actor was pushing too much into the space.

Mask and Movement

Focus: * Warm up * Sustaining * Improvisation What is the reality of fiction? * Characters * The story * The situation * Time and space * Very fragile * Thin line between fiction and non-fiction * You cannot put more than one layer of fiction onto another fiction

“Theatre is a lie, but you cant lie twice.” – Pedro Illgenfritz
“If you are a liar to yourself, you are a very bad liar on stage. The best actors are the most sincere” – Pedro Illgenfritz

Reflection
This lesson was extremely beneficial in terms of acting technique and the process of discovering myself as an actor. It’s completely true that if you try put a fiction scenario on top of another then the audience gets lost. The audience cannot see into your head, they cannot see your imagination therefore you have to portray everything with your actions.
The second quote made me really think of myself as a person. I want to be more sincere to myself, to act less selfishly and too acknowledge the story and differences of other people. I am really motivated to do this in order to be the best Marwin I can be and also reach my full potential as an actor.
My improvisation with Tash today was a great learning experience. The situation was that I had to have a reason to enter the room and Tash was inside, as a complete stranger, in the room. My reason to enter the room was that I was looking for my keys (fiction). Then I saw Tash (non-fiction). I flirted with Tash and tried to get her attention, in this process I looked around the room to portray that my character was making sure no one was looking (fiction, there is no one to look for, we’re in a drama room). Pedro then stopped it there. I think because our improvisation showed a good example of the thin line between fiction and non fiction. Not entirely sure what it meant in our example but what I think its because I only used one fiction at a time, when a new one started the last one finished. E.g looking for my keys then abandoning that to see if anyone is around to see my confrontation with Tash.
Sustaining with the arms and legs today was pretty basic, we didn’t do them both at the same time but instead did them separately to get the right form of doing it which is important.

Mask and Movement

Focus: * Warm up * Sustaining * Improvisation

Reflection
Today we had to sustain using both our arms and legs. Eventually we had to hold and sustain the position for 3 five second in breaths.
Notes my partner and Pedro gave me: * My arms finish before my legs do. * The speed of my arms are different to the speed of my legs. * Lift my heels higher * Control my shaking * Keep my back straight and don’t lean forward * Keep balanced * Watch out for tensing my fingers and face. There shouldn’t be any tension anywhere but the muscles I only need to use.
To solve my arms finishing before my legs, my body leaning forward and to sort my balancing out I lifted my heels up higher. INSTANT CHANGE. My legs finished before my arms did this time but it was so much closer. My back was straight all the way down, during and up and I dint lean forward. I also had so much more balance, what I found with the form of the position relied more on balance rather than strength. I concentrated on my leg strength as I frequently go to the gym but it wasn’t like that at all.
Our improvisation consisted of each actor walking through the space without stopping and finishing the sentence of “I am going to......” with actions. The point of the exercise was too challenge the way we would tell the story without describing but yet clear enough for the audience to know exactly where “I am going to”. I walked into the space acting as If I was going to the boxing ring, I hopped my way to the ring with my head down and punching, when I got to the end of the room Pedro asked me to alter the ending of my act, to make it more clear. Therefore I slowed down towards the ending and tilted me head up as I acted as if I was looking straight up to my opponent.
In the second improvisation our scenario was “I am coming from....” with the same principles as the first one. In this one I acted as if I was a prisoner coming out of jail. Quite a difficult scenario to portray as I just looked like a psycho coming from an alley, a criminal who’s schemed a devious plan etc. Nevertheless it was not clear and the audience had different guesses.
I think the difference between describing and showing is the balance of energy you put into the space. The pushing and pulling of energy. You push too much, it’s describing, there’s nothing unpredictable or surprising about it. Pull back too far then there’s no energy and the intention is not clear, the audience will pull back from the performance.

Mask and Movement

Focus: * Warm up * Transitioning * Sustaining

Reflection
Today we re-visited the training of transitioning in a group with an activity. Compared to last semester where we had to do this exercise I was more willing and excited to get into it and learn more out of it. This time around, because I was familiar to the exercise, I focused more on transitioning smoothly but swiftly. To not take the longest road to the finish line but the easiest and smoothest road. In contrast to this plan of attack, I had to be aware of not making big changes and abandoning movements. Easier said than done, I found that in my transition I abandoned what could of been a good transition into something else completely different. Exactly what I meant about trying to take an easy smooth road to get to the finish line. Good learning experience experience though.
Our sustaining today was quite physical, legs and mental stability were tested once again. With every go at it I can feel my arms are catching up with the speed of my legs and the higher my heels are the less I shake. I have to experiment with different speeds!

END OF YEAR REFLECTION
This class has tested me emotionally, physically and mentally throughout the entire year. There have been times where I have wanted to walk out because I was internally and externally tired. But what I have realised throughout the year is that it is exactly what the class was meant to do. Show me things I didn’t want to see about myself, point out things I was scared to face and force me to fail and discard my ego. I believe this will be an on going process, throughout my whole life and career. I have learnt essential foundation acting techniques which have opened new doors and paths so I can continue to strive into my training as a performer.