tips to act

  Well. If you are here, then it means all of you already know what acting is and are looking for ways to improve your skills. I am not a professional when it comes to this but I do have some tips and some core of acting that I was taught.  

Lets start simple, the first thing that you need to be is forget what and who you are for the time being. My teacher used to say that "you are not you when you are acting but the character". This is what it means to be one with the character as he used to say. Although I do admit that his method was mainly based on method acting, it is pretty useful. In theory, this is somewhat like a meditation as it is basically emptying your mind and telling yourself that you are the person you play. 

For example, your core is that of a happy-go-lucky guy but your character is that of an emo and edgy guy. These two don't really mix together so for the time being, you just have to ignore that you are happy at all and embrace all the sadness that your character feels

Now connected to this is the theory that "one who fools oneself can fool anyone else". This basically means in order to make up a convincing act, you have to fool yourself as well. When you are able to  fool yourself into thinking that you are no longer the usual self and are the character that you have read in the script, you will truly be able to act well. 

Of course this is no easy feat because in order to fool yourself, you would have to think how the character would react in a multitude of situations outside the script. This can also be called the base of acting as well for you will understand the character once you do this. Now while this may not be too important in on screen acting as there is a liberty of camera cuts, in theatre acting, this is the core. 

One of the main reasons why understanding the character is so important in theatres is because of the large amount of dialogues that an actor has to remember. We are all humans and no one can remember all the dialogues and timings to the letter  and what happens when an actor forgets the dialogue in the middle of a live show? they still deliver the dialogue anyway, just not the one which was in the script yet the act will somehow go smoothly. 

This would only be possible because the actor understands and knows what the character would do in this situation and how s/he would react in that situation. 

As for the importance of understanding the character for on screen acting, it is to accurately imitate the emotions that s/he feels. Since most of the camera angles are focused on the main few characters in one screen, each and every one of the body movement and facial expression are captured. Although scenes can be retaken, each retake wastes a huge amount of resources so nailing the scene in one go is for the best. Like in the theater, this cannot be done unless the actor understands the character

The next and the final step that I am going to be mentioning in this article is body movement and getting comfortable with the role you are playing. 

You cannot play the role of someone if you don't like the character and understand where her/his intentions come from, be it good or evil.  For instance if you are a logical person and you have to play the role of a dunce, you may not be comfortable with that role which will inevitably lead to lots of mistakes. To reduce this, go into depths of the character and try to see the world through the lens of the character. By doing this, not only will your body movement and expression be smoother but also more natural and in sync with the role you are playing. 

I'm gonna stop here for now. If needed I will post again. 

-Yakaa: Jujaan