CTING
My approach to acting -
Uta Hagen's 9 Questions -
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Who am I? - I am an 18 year old girl from Middlesbrough in England in the 80s who is a bass player in a punk rock band.
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What time is it? - It is the 1980s
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Where am I? - I am in Middlesbrough, England in a recording studio
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What surrounds me? - My band mates, my bass guitar, a drum set and mic, a sofa and curtains
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What are the given circumstances? - I am playing my bass guitar, preforming our song
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What are my relationships? - I'm with my boyfriend mickey and two best friends
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What do I want? - I want to preform to my best ability, making everyone proud
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What is in my way? - my overthinking as I'm anxious preforming and i don't want to let people down especially my boyfriend Mickey
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What do I do to get what I want? - I confront Mickey about my feelings
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When taking my approach to acting for this film I focused mainly on Uta Hagen's 9 questions as this helped me dig into my characters backstory and really connect with her emotions and mind set.
Born in Germany Uta Hagen was only 18 when she made her first Broadway debut in "The Seagull" by Anton Chekhov, after this she became very successful and played many famous roles within theatre. Uta then wanted to teach others her ways and techniques on having natural behaviour on stage so she started teaching in her husbands studio, gaining many awards on her way up until her death in 2004.
Lee Strasberg
Born in Ukraine, 1901 then moving to the States at the age of 7, Strasberg started building a career in acting and stage management with the theatre guild. After retiring from preforming in 1929 he then moved on to creating his own organization, becoming an artistic director of the actors studio and in 1969 he established Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film institute.
Lee Strasberg (no date) Biografias y Vidas. Available at: https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/s/strasberg.htm (Accessed: 21 May 2024).
Animal Studies
Created by Strasberg in The Actors Studio, this tequnique has become a very popular way of methord acting and was famously used by actor Marlon Brando with his role Stan Kowalski in a streetcar named desire.
To develop the character of Stan. Brando used Strasberg's 'Animal Exercise'.
choosing to study a gorilla as its a large, aggressive animal that is ferocious and savage. Brando studied how the gorilla stands, how it moves and interacts with the world.
Some of this research Brando did is reflected in his performance. In some scenes he is seen scratching his armpit/back like a gorilla.
To do this method many first choose an animal they think has similarity's to their character for example if you where to play a shy and timid character, a bunny would be your best option or opposed to this a loud, boastful and powerful character could possibly be a lion as there the king of the jungle. After this you then want to observe your animal and do some research on their qualities and personality and then look into there mannerisms for example the way they walk and then see how they interact with other animals or the environment around them. You then want to have a paly around mimicking as this animal, replicating their sounds and doing their movements, you want to step out of your comfort zone and do everything to the maximum. You want to play close attention to all the different details especially to your own body, for example do you feel lighter or heavier are your senses more stronger and do you have any impulse's if so act on them.
Animal Studies
When using this method I chose a dog to represent my character Brie, in our film 'The Exiles
To do this I observed my 2 dogs at home and picked up on there traits and how they are very curious and hyper attached they are.
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When trying to mimic them I could feel myself observing my environment more and being more affectionate towards others.
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Brie - Dog
Stanislavski
Born in Moscow Russia 1863, Constantin Stanislavski started acting in his teen years at the age of 14, following in his family members foot steps, Stanislavski then went on to become a successful actor and director within theatre, founding his own companies and developing his own method.
Formed by Constantin Stanislavski, the magic if is one of the best tools used by actors today, it allows actors to dig deep into their imagination and discover different parts of their characters. How this works is an actor must simply ask themselves what if, for example the actor would put themselves in their characters shoes and consider what they would do in the same position as their character.
Magic If
