Building A Character by Constantin Stanislavsky
page 123
- A play is not complete until GENUINE human emotions are put into the characters.
- Words should not be forced through the actors, however, should be mixed into the thoughts of the characters.
- Feelings should be incorporated into what the characters are feeling/saying
- Audience should feel an alternate feeling for the character and shouldn't be focusing on what the actor is doing in order to fit that role. (Actors should suffer, as they are the characters that they are representing and not themselves) (Eg. Don't wipe the sweat from your forehead)
- "It is only when our feelings reach down into the subtextual stream that 'through line of action' of a play or a part comes into being. It is made manifest not only by physical movements but also by speech: it is possible to act not only with the body but also with sound, with words."
Stanislavsky's Method
http://www.acting-world.com/method.html
- “The main difference between the art of the actor and all other arts is that every other artist may create whenever he is in the mood of inspiration. But the artist of the stage must be the master of his own inspiration and must know how to call it forth when it is announced on the posters of the theatre. This is the chief secret of our art.” - Stanislavsky
What is the Meisner Method of Acting? - Website
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-meisner-method-of-acting.htm
- Acting should be based on how well you know yourself, and how well you know your character.
- Stella Adler's imagination on acting - grasped his attention as well - went against this theory
- Meisner believes in repetitive warmups as practice
- Unclear motives are key in order for actors to get used to the feeling of disorientation on stage, so that they are not themselves.
Stella Adler - Imagination In Acting
http://www.acting-school-stop.com/stella-adler.html
- Acting is 'doing' - actually believe in what you are acting upon, as it is your character who is actually doing it.
- In order to get the idea and story of what the play is trying to get across to the audience, you must study the "social situations" of the play.
- You need to have a presence on stage - whether you are born with it or you act well enough to create it.
- In order to create a more imaginative mind, actors need to look for the specific details in the things that they perceive around them.
Stella Adler - Core Beliefs
http://www.stellaadler.com/about/core-beliefs/
- Adler believes in a 'script in life' and that human growth as well as the growth as an actor is cohesively tied in with each other.
- Adler believes that scripts have lives of their own, once the actor has accepted their character.
- Actor's shouldn't isolate themselves from their bodies
Movies and Method Acting - Actors
http://headtheatre.blogspot.kr/2009/07/method-acting.html
- Lee Strasberg would try to re-crete the term 'emotion' into something of his own
- Strasberg studied Stanislavski's work and applied his energy towards trying to figure out how actors could use emotion to their advantage on stage
- Since emotion seems faded sometimes due to time, he would make you remember the surroundings of the emotion (smell, taste, sound etc...)
- "I have to say that its probably its proven ability to shake up the movie industry and that classic and legendary performances in the past 50 years have 90% been performed by Method actors. "
http://uttaps.wordpress.com/actor-prepares/stanislavskis-method/
- "magic if"
- assuming mentality of character
- the actors are able to personify themselves as an alter person
- Stanislavski would want his actors to 'live' their parts
http://methodacblog.blogspot.kr/2013/10/method-fetishes.html
- People can possibly see method acting as a bad thing rather than good
- possibility that the actors will focus on themselves rather than on the scene itself
- the actors could possibly focus on themselves rather than the good of the play/scene
http://www.methodactingstrasberg.com/history
- In 1931, Lee Strasberg, along with Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, gathered together 28 actors to create what would become the single most influential theatre in the history of the United States: The Group Theatre. Members of the Group Theatre included such notable actors as Stella Adler, her brother Luther Adler, Ruth Nelson, Morris Carnovsky, Robert (Bobby) Lewis and John Garfield; as well as, the future film and theatre director, Elia Kazan and the soon to be noted acting teacher, Sanford (Sandy) Meisner (in fact, Sandy Meisner often joked that he was Lee Strasberg’s oldest professional student). The Group Theatre was based on what was once called a “true” theatre or a “real” theatre or as the Russians say “a theatre family”:
http://www.quora.com/Acting/What-are-the-key-differences-between-the-acting-techniques-of-Lee-Strasberg-Sanford-Meisner-and-Stanislavski
- Strassberg teaches you to use emotional memory and vague intentions that result in actors who get lost in their head. It's out of date.
- Stanislavski, which was the early work Strassberg and Meisner were based on, proposes the "As If"
- Meisner, the current and fun model of Stanislavski's "Method" uses excercises to build your ability to "Act truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
http://www.beginnersguidetoacting.com/acting-methods.html
- although you use your acting technique to prepare for acting roles, you have to understand what your performing in.
- Lee strasburg would encouraging actors to use their own personal memories to remember past experiences in their own life to summon emotions for a character during a scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNBRFSUXR-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YznPOPaIjIw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mh15erOkQE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNBRFSUXR-A
