Workshops & Masterclasses for Actors
Jonathan Demme, the Academy Award winning director of such iconic films as Silence of the Lambs, Beloved and Philadelphia has a simple philosophy when it comes to directing actors.
“I love putting the movie in the hands of the actors. I am so in awe of what they do”.
If you’d like to know more about why this fascinating director has such high regard for what actors do, (not all directors feel this way) then check out his interview at Lincoln Center from 2012.
Jonathan Demme
Some actor’s love improv and wouldn’t think of rehearsing a role without out incorporating it on at least some level into the backstory and or subtext of their character. Personally, I think playing a scene “wrong,” meaning choosing an opposite subtext to what you think the script writer has written, can work beautifully and add an unexpected element of surprise and depth to a scene. Other actor’s like Michael Richards, who played Kramer in Seinfeld says he would improvise physical business but never dialogue.
“Its my job to bring the character to the language”.
What do you think? Do you use improve in your performances and if so, how?
As Actors its important to train your imagination to be as active and creative as possible. Actors with rich imaginations are able to free associate and connect to their impulses which leads to much more interesting and unpredictable choices and it is possible to train your imagination to be even better than it already is. Here are two exercises that you can do to develop this all important tool. The first is one you can anytime and anywhere and it can be as detailed as you have time for.
Childhood Home
Free Association
The next exercise is a useful tool in training yourself to reach beyond obvious initial choices. Sit down with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your hands on your thighs facing upwards then take a few deep breaths as you close your eyes and relax.
Below is my free association starting with Rabbit Hole. I gave myself 3 minutes.
Rabbit hole, alice in wonderland, cheshire cat, mad hatter, off with her head!, queen of hearts, hat trick, slight of hand, stab in the heart with an ice pick, bleeding from the inside out, jail, heroin, dark, bathroom, alone, LSD, looking from the inside out, trapped, pimples, alone, desisto, gestalt therapy, curtain of hair, hiding, hitchhiking, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, lollipops, planets, earth girls are easy, geena davis, thelma and louis, brad pitt, abs, cowboy hat, smile, white teeth, zadie, books that won prizes, india, castration, beggars, curry, pink, color, tattoos, henna, dots, long hair, crystal gail, country music, riding in the car from the airport, the smell of the ocean, highway 60, coastal clouds, beach, my husband, books, umbrella, seagulls, stealing food, a film I made, washington square park, new york, hot sidewalks, cooking eggs on hot sidewalks, my father telling us not to play in the pile of dirt made by the construction workers then getting caught with dirt in our shoes, spanking, my father’s face, my purple schwinn bike, tassels on bike handles, liza grossman, lafayette park, making elephant puppet at friend’s school, walking across the railway tracks, pheasants flying, my mother’s brown suit with the matching cape and hat with a pheasant’s feather, custody fight, Huntington woods, the exorcist…
* Here’s a list of words you can use to get you started if your mind is drawing a blank. Feel free to add to it change it or pitch it in the garbage. The idea is to just pick one word and see where it takes you.
Sean Penn, in my opinion one of America’s leading actors, wants one thing from a director… He is an actor who is not afraid to take risks. I mean, did you see his brilliant work in the 2011 film This Must Be the Place? He was fearless on so many levels – and it worked.
“What I want from a director is courage. What I don’t want from a director is too much chatter.”
– Sean Penn
What makes you feel safe enough to take big risks?
Movement Psychology is based on the concept and teachings of Rudolf Laban, who theorized that every movement is controlled and directed by sub-conscious states which are either direct or open, obscure or obfuscated or conflicted; and conversely, that movement itself can evoke a desired motion. This concept can be extremely useful to the actor looking to find outward expression of his character’s inner state and can add subtle yet complex layers to the characterization.
The concept of movement changing emotion and attitude, or attitude and emotion changing movement is not new; but movement psychology reaches the core of the concept. I’m just covering some to of the basic concepts here though in October Sarah Perry will go much deeper into the method in her workshop Movement for Actors.
To apply Movement Psychology you first need to understand Laban’s eight Working Actions.
Laban held these as the eight basic actions from which all conscientious movement is formed; and, the degree to which they are executed or expressed depends on the degree to which they are combined with Inner Attitudes and our Mental Factors, Motion Factors and Inner Participations. Each Working Action is a composite of the Motion Factors and is motivated by psychological concepts or Mental Factors which are expressed in movements.
Motion is said to be comprised of the above four Factors which can be scrutinize or “analyzed” as expressions of the four Mental Factors SENSING, THINKING, INTUITING and FEELING. Each Motion Factor is comprised of two elements which either conform with or contend against other factors.
Weight is the impact of receiving or transmitting sensory stimuli. It has the Inner Participation, Intending, and consists of the Yielding Element, Light; the, Contending Element, Strong; and the Negative, Heavy. Weight is the forceful Motion Factor that expresses the MENTAL FACTOR, SENSING and of the INNER PARTICIPATION, INTENDING. The Inner Quest for Sensing is, “What?”LIGHT INTENDING is a light sensory physical exertion which does not involve tightening fundamental body muscles.STRONG INTENDING is a sensory physical firmness in any part of the body that emanates from tightening fundamental body muscles.
Space is a reflective thoughtful movement in one or more planes or spheres “spaces”. It is the kinetic Motion Factor that expresses the MENTAL FACTOR, THINKING and the INNER PARTICIPATION, ATTENDING. It has the Yielding Element, Flexible, the Contending Element, Direct, and the Negative, Adrift. The Inner Quest for Sensing is, Where?FLEXIBLE ATTENDING is a reflective indirect movement that is both concave and convex in two or more planes of SPACE. DIRECT ATTENDING is an intuitive movement, that traverses either a straight line or a flat curve in a single plane of SPACE.
Time is the intuitive sensitivity of the relation between the past and future. It is the rhythmic MOTION FACTOR that expresses the MENTAL FACTOR, INTUITING and the INNER PARTICIPATION, DECIDING. It has the Yielding Element, Sustained, the Contending Element, Quick, and the Negative, Indecisive. The Inner Quest for Sensing is, When?SUSTAINED DECIDING is an intuitive clinging to the past. QUICK DECIDING is an intuitive urge into the future.
Flow is the feeling of the resistance to flow of movement. It is the recurring MOTION FACTOR that expresses the MENTAL FACTOR, FEELING and the INNER PARTICIPATION, ADAPTING. It has the Yielding Element, Free, the Contending Element, Bound, and the Negative, “Irrelating”. FREE ADAPTIVE is a feeling of freely emitting smoothness of movement.BOUND ADAPTING is a feeling of stiffness and lacking ease or grace of movement.
The negatively neutral and impotent quality of WEIGHT is heavy in which the interplay of LIGHT and STRONG (INTENDING) is canceled by an inertia which negates the receiving and transmitting intentions of SENSING.
ADRIFT (ATTENDING) The negatively neutral quality of SPACE, in which the interplay of FLEXIBLE and DIRBCT (ATTENDING) is cancelled by a disorientation which negates the reflective and attending aspects of THINKING.
INDECISIVE (DECIDING) The negatively neutral dream quality of TIME, in which the interplay of SUSTAINED and QUICK (DECIDING) is cancelled by a timelessness which negates the relating of past, present and future in the decision of INTUITING.
IRRELATING (ADAPTING) The negatively neutral and frozen quality of FLOW, in which the interplay of FREE and BOUND (ADAPTING) is cancelled by an emotional fixative which negates the extroverted and introverted aspects of the ADAPTING and RELATING of FEELING.” (The above were in quotes from unpublished notes, believed to be (or attributed to) Rudolf Laban)
The Mental Factors are in turn expressed by the degree to which the four Motion Factors are utilized.
Sensing is the perception by five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste and touching. These are in turn expressed in movement as SPACE – LIGHT or STRONG.
Thinking is the process of idea creation through intellectual insightful reasoning, and is expressed in movements as SPACE – FLEXIBLE or DIRECT
Intuiting is the mental apprehension of the inner nature of things without reasoning, and is expressed in movement as TIME – SUSTAINED or QUICK
Feeling is the emotion of attraction or pleasure; or of aversion or disapproval, and is expressed in movement as FLOW – FREE or BOUND
As you can see, the psychology of movement as described by Rudolph Laban is an extremely complicated, in-depth subject that I couldn’t possibly begin to address fully here. If you’re interested in learning more about Laban’s method, try Actor Training the Laban Way by Barbara Adrian.
“I like to rehearse, to sniff around, get comfortable. Also get an idea of what each scene is supposed to accomplish. But I’m a money actor, I can’t do it in my living room, can’t do it till it’s time to do it. But it’s important to make sure each scene accomplishes something, otherwise it should come out.”
I first learned about this book when I read Truth by Susan Batson. She makes studying this slim little journey in auto-psychoanalysis a pre-requisite to her working with any actor. It was brought up again as a valuable tool for actors by Giles Foreman in his Instinct & Intimacy Masterclass. The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self by Alice Miller is only 136 pages long but its truly profound in its revelations about what drives us as individuals. Since we as actors have to first imagine how we would feel as another human being, we have to begin with an understanding of what our own motivations are and that’s what this book gives you. It is invaluable when it comes to understanding yourself and the person you are trying to create. It also helps with creating a backstory, understanding objectives and super objectives and even shadow movements, those little ticks and gestures we all make that reveal our inner life. Its a very readable little book that I highly recommend available in English or German.
I realized yesterday that I needed to remove Giles Foreman’s workshops from our roster… for the time being at least. In spite of knowing they needed to be taken down, I didn’t actually do it until this morning and it wasn’t without a pinch of melancholy. I don’t think we could have possibly gotten off to a better start with our workshops. Giles was tremendous. Using wit, warmth and knowhow he helped us to that all important point for an actor – being private in public. In other words, showing your true self without your daily defenses. We were also lucky to have a wonderful group of actors that were talented and generous. I think with out that sense of wanting to give yourself to another, you can’t really create trust which is imperative for true intimacy.
Giles also brought with him a technique that I was unfamiliar with called the Psychology of Movement based in the teachings of Yat Malmgren and Christopher Fettes from the Drama Centre in London. With just a few small adjustments of posture or gesture, I could actually feel a new way of being bubbling up inside of me. Giles, who is a master of this of course, demonstrated it time and time again. It was fascinating to see him transform himself instantaneously from one new person into the next. Giles does a four week workshop on this technique (one week every other month) that I’m literally jonesing for. I’m hoping to get that started in early winter.
In the meantime, today I’m going to meet Lena Lessing for a coffee. She’ll be teaching her Beats & Actions workshop this September. The sun is shining and beautiful things are on the horizon. Here’s my challenge to you today – dare to drop your guard and let your true feelings roil under your skin. People want to connect with you not your public persona. Dare to be truly intimate with at least one person today. Its not as easy as it sounds but its extremely rewarding.
“You can learn the right questions to ask in developing a character. You ask yourself where they’re from, what they want, what their relationships are like, what their decision making process is in life and the tools they use to get what they want. Rather than using adjectives – he’s angry here — he’s sad here — you give the character motivation to pursue something, and as you build the character you give them the tools for going about getting what they want”.
— Billy Crudup
Martin Villeneuve is a man that has dared to dream and for him, that paid off. Big time. On a mini budget he was able to create and produce a mega sci-fi thriller set in the future of Montreal. What he had working for him? He didn’t know that his film was impossible to make. He viewed his financial constraints as creative challenges and was able to inspire others to believe in his dream as well.