Pacing of a scene is so important, because it allows the actor to be in control of comedic or dramatic timing, emphasis on words, and actions and reactions. We talked about appropriate pacing today, and learning to be comfortable with silence as it helps move the scene forward or emphasize and emotion you are trying to play. One of the biggest mistakes that actors make - is rushing a scene - robbing it of these actions, reactions, and intricacies that a scene/monologue requires. Today we worked on that pacing, slowing Erin down to make sure that she got every ounce of acting into the scene that she could!
Beats
There are 2 main things that separate a good actress from a great one. One of them is beats. Beats are the pauses that we use as humans in regular conversations that make our words sound natural. In acting - the first pauses that we mark and put into a scene or monologue are these natural pauses (places that punctuation or direction is given that tell us "pause here to not sound like a robot"). The biggest way to sound like you're reading a script instead of acting in character, is to forget these pauses.
The next set of beats that we put in our script are our acting choice pauses - places we pause for comedic timing, added drama, to emphasize a certain part of the scene, and places where we want to add specific actions. We use each beat as an opportunity to move: both physically with at least a body shift, and to move the scene forward.
The beats that we put in our scenes also help us set the pace for our scene. One of the biggest mistakes that actors and actresses make - is rushing through their scene. When going too fast - you miss out on things like comedic timing, having a more interesting character, having the audience understand and appreciate your scene, and it makes the scene more unnatural. The pace is always slower than we think - and with theatrical acting it's extra slow. We do most of our acting in the pauses of our scenes - so if we skip over them, we act the scene a lot less.
So, we started our lesson today by adding in the beats to our scene - marking them with 2 lines like this : //
Building a more interesting character
The next thing we did was add different characteristics to our character to make it a more interesting dynamic character. Writing a small backstory for the character (characteristics, quirks, actions, things happening outside of the scene, reasons the character would act/ react certain ways) helps give us acting choices - or different natural ways to play a scene. Today we added: 1. Self important. Thinks everyone should hear her option 2. Has no friends 3. Wants everyone to know she is seeing an analyst (because she is self important and feels her analyst gives her more credibility and because she has one and they do not) 4. Has no friends 5. Frenimies with the girl she is talking to 6. She is looking in a mirror/ snooping around this girls room while she is in the shower in the next room (giving us action to do during the scene)