A)from our own experience.
B)from observation.
C)from research.
D)from our imagination.

This is the beginning of a four week series in which we will look at all these in due time but today we focus on the first tool: our own experience.

EXPERIENCE

The human being accumulates information even before it is born. That is why living through experience it is so important for actors. It’s about accumulating energy in a body from which it must later emanate , continuously, to portray the motives and actions of the imaginary characters.

Here I would like to remind of the importance both of sense memory and emotional memory exercises. The accumulation of these experiences must always be ready for use because it is the base of creation. Its like experience is our own psychic library, if you will.

But it is dangerous to believe that inside to one’s self is all the necessary experience, because you can fall into narcissism, and removing your self or distancing your self from society. And that is something that can sterilize you in an art-form that consists above all on collaboration. Other actors around you stimulate your interior processes and vice a versa.

Also, experience may not be enough. Sometimes because of the actors’ young age, it is not rich enough, or simply due to  a lack of it.

Obviously, even in his entire life an actor could not experience ALL  human possible actions. He will probably not kill royalty such as Richard III,  or Macbeth, or prostitute themselves like Ana Christie,  or kill their kids like Medea,  or fly like Superman nor will he have died, become invisible, been blinded, a vampire or a murder.

But they can, by approximation, understand the experiences. It’s possible for them not to have lived them but to have seen them in movies, in television, have read books on it, and maybe even had to met someone in those circumstances.

There is a  misconception that must be clarified. With too much frequency we hear people say that actors must have plenty of experiences to be able to use them in order to create their characters. There is obviously a danger to this method in learning. You must not take it literally. To interpret a  heroine addict, you don’t need to take drugs. To interpret a prostitute you need not sell  your self for money.  to play a murderer, is not necessary for you to kill. Obviously. That is where we used books, movies, newspaper articles, interviews, and conversations that can help us  fictitiously create a crime. And that is where observation  comes into play, but that is the subject of next weeks post: OBSERVATION.

Feature film acting is the most difficult because of four things:
1- Feature films are long.
2- They are generally shot single camera.
3- They are shot ‘4-wall’, which means all four walls of a set can or will appear.
4- The environment in which the audience sees the final product is very controlled and unforgiving.

Allow me to elaborate.  The average film shoot for a major motion picture takes 60 days.  Each day a film crew captures enough material to equate to about 60 to 90 seconds of screen time.  You read that right; out of a 12-hour (usually longer) day they cover a minute’s worth of material.

The level of precise physical and emotional continuity required by the actor is extraordinary and it has to remain consistent.  You will do scenes over and over and over again in rehearsal, blocking rehearsal, camera rehearsal, during photography and all the associated resets and ‘coverage’ that that entails.  Not to mention the fact that most scenes are shot out of sequence and many locations will require multiple emotional and physical states that will need to blend seamlessly with footage that could be shot a month later.

It takes an actor of exceptional dedication, skill and most importantly experience under those specific filming environments to pull that job off well.  That experience takes years to accumulate, which is why nearly all of the young ‘stars’ of today have been acting since they were kids.

By comparison, television simplifies the matter greatly for actors, although it adds it’s own complications.  Things that make television less demanding are:
1- The shows are generally shorter.
2- They are generally shot multi-camera.
3- They are generally ‘3-wall’ sets.
4- The story lines generally run to completion week to week.
5- The environment in which the audience views the final product is much more forgiving.

I say ‘generally’ for most of these examples, because truth be told, television is much more sophisticated than it was even 10 years ago. There are many more shows that are shot ‘single-camera style’, usually two-cameras on Steadi-cams (a mobile camera platform attached to an operator that allows stable photography while in motion) and many are doing ‘4-wall’ style production.  As far as physical and emotional continuity are concerned, television is far more forgiving and there is almost never a need to maintain that continuity over great lengths of time and through many disparate and incongruous shooting conditions.  That is primarily the reason that most feature film actors can work easily in television, while many television actors struggle to go the other way.  Don’t get me wrong, television folk are working hard, but it’s a different kind of work.

The perfect handshake is one that is not too aggressive but firm and made with a clear intent, with our hands clean and dry, and accompanied by a polite “hello” and a smile.

One of the worst types of handshakes has to be the wet-sweaty-palm handshake. Arghh! I once met a charming young lady, but when she shook my hand I couldn’t believe it. All her composure, poise and confidence went out the window when I was left trying not to be rude and wipe my hand dry after she held it. Men too, actually, men tend to perspire more and emanate more heat from the palms of their hands, so be sure to wipe them down before shaking anyone’s hands.

Next thing would have to be a weak hand shake. The type of handshakes where you feel like you are saying hello to a zombie with a cold and limp hand. You know the kind? Make sure your hand has a purpose when you shake it: to hold firmly the other persons hand, motion up and down at unison, with your fingers wrapped around the other persons palm.  Don’t be overly eager but make sure the other person knows you are in the moment too.

A really good tip someone gave me once on handshakes: if you have both hands available, use both hands to give a handshake. It is more embracing, feels more welcoming and personal and at the same time, if accompanied by a smile much more sincere. Try and shake hands with both of your hands and see if the response you get from others changes.

P.S. No special step-by-step handshakes/fist twists..please.