Intent to Live

The existence of the motion picture industries has been a primary source of media information. In fact, video studio gave birth to some magazines. The is so much obsessed with celebrity and star news leaving the media personnel with no option but dig star gossips as much as they can. The movie industry has been around for quite some time. However, over time it can be appreciated that cultures have regularly changed as time goes by (Thomas 67). Values to be depicted on in a movie vary widely as well as the actors. To get a clear picture of these varying cultures and values, it is important to compare two Hollywood stars; One before the year 1980 and the other one our current time.

He left The Neighborhood Playhouse between 1958 and 1964 to become the director of The New Talent Division at Twen-tieth Century Fox in Los Angeles, CA, and also pursued a film acting career. However, he re-turned to The Neighborhood Playhouse in 1964 again as head of the Drama Department and continued through 1990. It was during these years that his “Meisner Technique” truly inspired a new age of actors to live in the moment of their characters and respond truthfully to their scene part-ners rather than simply returning memorized lines. He’d have signs posted through the school saying, “Act Before You Think” and “An Ounce of Behavior is Worth a Pound of Words.” He focused on improvisation in the classroom, teaching that truthful acting is based on instinct and intuition. He taught,’'the emotional rhythm that goes on inside the actor is the least controllable part of any performance, but it must be present in the right proportion if the scene is to work.’' His teaching inspires authenticity in the actors performance by living and reacting moment to moment in the scene.

The outstanding component of acting is that it is an aspect that calls for a wide variety of skills. A single person to form a totally different personality from that possessed by the acting person must synchronize these skills. Some of the most common skills necessary for an actor are vocal projection, physical expressiveness, speech clarity, well-developed imagination, emotional facility drama interpretive ability. Also not to forget mentioning other important capabilities that an actor must have are; utilization of accents, body languages, dialects, improvisation, mimicry, emulation, stage combat and observation (Jurkowski and Francis 44). Another fascinating fact about acting is that it combines both talent and special training programs. Due to this fact it offers opportunities to any person who has an interest in becoming a theatre performer. The training has as well availed a chance for the emergence of professional actors who never seize from learning new elements from now and then. These people are among those who undergo training in various sub-disciplines making them diverse and multifunctional. An actor can be good at singing, dancing, partner work, scene work among others. Bundling all these qualities into one single person is a fascinating element which makes them fit for any duty that might be availed to them. Therefore acting as

For my first year study in America, I was placed in the drama class and school Shakespeare play. Although my character only have few lines to present in one scene, it is very hard for a shy international student to performance well in second language. Especially for those arcane Shakespeare style words. In order to achieve a perfect performance, I fully concentrated on considering the deep meaning of my dialogues and figuring out the tone and emotion I suppose to have when I speak out the words as the character. And almost everyday after school, I would go to find my drama teacher to talk about the details and background of my character. I can still remember that she told me the best way to complete a vivid character is to fulfill the information of a character; make him or her a “real person”, which means create hobbies and habits for them. And through making efforts , my character impressed many audience. This experience told me that the passionate attitude and efforts are the inevitable keys to

One example is, during the character's monologues. This is especially true during Bennedick's monologue. During his monologue the actor speaks of his recent interaction with Beatrice, in which she criticizes him to his face thinking he was someone else. In the classic Kenneth Branagh version, the director uses paradigm3 filming techniques to create a simple importance to the emotion that the character/actor emotes. In the Branagh version, Bennedick is well directed to speak the word of Shakespeare, the director uses the close-up so the emotion is much bestowed unto the audience. So when he speaks of feeling shock and distaste towards Beatrice the audience easily connects to that. In the same instance, the BBC version uses film techniques that gloss over the raw emotion of Shakespeare. For instance, during Bennedick’s same monologue the director uses a neutral shot, at the eye-level angle. This causes distraction because the audience’s eye isn’t immediately drawn to the characters face. Instead it is drawn to the extras in costumes walking by or standing around, and to the overall aura of the character. This is much less intense, hence less effective. In like manner, the Joss Whedon uses a medium shot at a neutral angle during this monologue. Although, in the Joss Whedon version the monochromatic tint, and acting choices make the monologue seem very casual. This

The book is referred to as intent to live because most of the great actors who perform the acting seem not to be acting but living. This is depicted on how they portray their act; very real from the eyes of the audience. Larry moss has described these instances in this book on how the actors can achieve this level of acting by sharing out the techniques he has developed for over thirty years. As per Larry Moss description, the techniques highlighted can help actors in setting their imagination, emotions and behaviors on fire. These shows how hard work of preparation is helpful in performances that will yield good fruits. This

The means through which I showed my character was through the tone of voice and the body language directed towards the other person. One the first night of performance my acting was much more skewered to the side of realism, with a stern and authority voice directed towards the characters at the apex club, with body language which was at times antagonising with arms directed to the person or person’s I was speaking to. While I was talking to characters such as Veronica or Jack, a stern yet

But, Hoffman has more in common with male stars in earlier generations who did not look like gods, but like real human beings. Hoffman, who was an actor first, star second, went to great lengths to assure that his roles had a tinge of realism tied to them. He once said, "One of the things that constantly hits me is that when I go outside on the street, what I see is not what I see on the screen. I turn on the television, and what I see on the screen is not what I see in real life. It bothers me. I want to get closer to what I see in life. I love to see hair out of place. I love to see people without makeup, or at least with their own blush showing, their own pimples, and their own specific

The actor must always remember the conveying of emotion is more than just words and tone. Posture and gestures add to the effect and make it realistic. Studying is an important part of acting. An actor must study any aspect of his character in great detail and anything he does not understand in the story. What register do they have?

Expression is universal. The majority of all people can interpret exasperated sighs, wide eyes, loud voices, clapping, etc. Even when characters are not physically speaking, movies emit numerous messages through actor portrayal. Audiences visually experience characters’ physical reactions which are not included in books. The actors’ individual portrayals of characters in Michael Hoffman’s 1999 film, William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, enhance the extreme personalities of characters already established in William Shakespeare’s play.

Stephanie Arnold explains how all actors in a performance have their own presence. But it is up the actor what to make of that presence that they already have inside of them. Depending on how they act and the audience receives them will determine their presence for the performance. Emotions and attitude can have a big impact on whether an actor is seen as good or a bad character. It is important that each actor plays their role well so that the audience understands and sees the show as the director meant it to be. I know from my own personal experience of seeing theatre the actor’s presence on stage makes a big difference. It can make you hate or love a particular character just based on how they act and sound. When attending theatre people

to life the actor must be able to create , living experience. To create such an experience, students

With practical aesthetics the actor breaks the scene down into four parts, the literal, the want, the essential, and the as if. With each part there is something the actor can do to make the character better for them to act as.

The strengths and weaknesses of a committed actor can be paradoxical. For this area I chose to consult with an acting colleague of 17 years. I thought it was necessary to have an objective perspective to honestly describe what has been observed from someone that knows me, personally. The following paragraph from a close friend and veteran actor explains this quandary in her description of me.

In the acting world, there is also an “idea that great actors must transform themselves physically,” truly making them “a ‘real’ actor,” ((James Marsden Is One of the…). This is used to show why he is not often considered as being “the best actor” citing that he is not a method actor, which is accurate, as an actor becomes great through acting, not changing their physical appearance. This misconception of method acting being superior to the normal acting in the traditional sense is toxic to the entire field. There are many great, non-method, actors who are sometimes better at acting compared to those who transform themselves for a role. In the article How Do You Differentiate Good Acting From Bad Acting? The actors Tommy Lee Jones and Anthony Hopkins being some of the greatest actors due to their multiplicity of their roles or just their brilliant portrayals within certain movies. The basis for Tommy Lee Jones possibly being one of the best comes, once again, from his range as an actor, from his roles in the Men In Black films to No Country For Old Men, no matter the role type, he is able to nail whatever role is given to him. Anthony Hopkins is put alongside him by the director due to his work in Remains of the Day, which has him performing beautifully throughout the whole movie, also putting him in as a contender for the best actor.