#acting tip

Written By Renato Rizzuti & Photo By Maria Rizzuti

Action! Action is a word that really means something on a film set! It is a signal to the actor to “come alive!” The actor has to be mentally and physically “on point.”

Mentally, the actor has to completely free his mind of any extraneous thoughts. An actor must completely and fully concentrate on the scene that is about to be filmed. An actor must not think of any “non acting thoughts.” Such as: I have to pick up toilet paper at the store, my co-star is hot looking, I have a craving for a hot dog, I wish I was being paid much more for this gig, I wonder if UFOs are really space aliens,  and so on. You get the point!

In order to get mentally prepared for a scene any kind of meditative exercise is very valuable. Therefore, when “Action!” is called the actor will be mentally ready.

Physically the actor must also be ready to spring into physical action when “Action!” is called. Depending on the physical actions required for a scene, some sort of physical preparation must be made. It could be as simple as loosening up or as complex as performing certain physical exercises. The physical aspects of a scene will determine this.

He hectored condescendingly…

You can:

announce, babble, badger, banter, bark, bawl, beatbox, beg, bell, bellow, belly laugh, belt, beseech, bleat, blubber, blurt, bluster, boo (no!), boom, breathe, burble, burp, cackle, call, caterwaul, caw, chant, chatter, cheer, chirp, choke, chuckle, cluck, coo, cough, creak, croak, croon, crow, cry, deny, drawl, drool, echo, elocute, estimate, explode, extol, evangelize, fret, gasp,…

Don’t judge a play by its staging.

Don’t judge a director by the play he supposedly chose unless you know he was the one to make the call.

Be a hypocrite. You’re going to have to work with people you don’t like someday, but be nice to them and don’t let it show, because these people are part of your work network, which is extremely important in acting and art. They might put you in touch with your next project or with that set designer you’ve desperately been looking for for weeks!