You’ve heard his voice so often in move trailers, now here’s the face of Don LaFontaine. I came across this little movie this morning. Apart from being a nice intro to the guy behind the microphone, the movie has something to say about how pervasive a great voice can be. He has set the style for the voice of a generation of movie trailers … and most of those voices are male. In fact, I can’t think of a movie trailer I’ve seen which has been voiced by a female. Can you?
Overused acting notes #3: I Can’t Hear You
If there were $$s for every time this note were given in rehearsal, there’d be a pot o’ cash worth fighting for. Not being heard can relate to so many problems: insecurity over lines and their meaning, a lack of self-confidence, through to poor technique … breath support and sloppy articulation being two of the biggest culprits, because not hearing can also mean not understanding the words being spoken.
A voice coach is probably better placed to deal with the implications of this note than the director, though some good directors understand the problem very well. Too often, and born of frustration the note can become ‘louder’ or ‘louder and slow down!’ Whilst this can often cut right to the heart of the problem, the downside is lack of subtlety, and specificity of meaning; a shout-fest can result. The problem for the actor compounds into a possible new note: ‘I don’t understand what you mean …’ And so it goes.
To be heard, an actor needs good technique, a sense of the space in which s/he is working and the amount and kind of physical and vocal energy adjustment required to ‘fill the space’ (but no more), confidence in the meaning of every line, and a commitment to the complicité of performance … with scene partners and the audience.
Creativity, imagination … musings
I was asked by some students recently how, or whether I exercised my own imagination. We had been talking about the ‘most important muscle’, and about keeping it limber. This conversation must have stuck with at least one of the class members, who emailed me a week back wanting to know how to keep working at his acting skills over the long summer break. I wrote back urging him to keep reading, going to movies, talking … real conversation. Then I came across this series of podcasts from NYC public radio. It’s called Radio Lab on WNYC. I listened to one while commuting.
The particular ‘big idea’ that the podcast centered around was on what kind of capsules would you send into space for aliens to gather up, decode and learn something about the human condition. A writer, musician, stand-up comic, and chef put their imaginations to work and came up with wonderful sensory triggers: food, laughter, music, words … assuming aliens can use our technology and read English! Yes it was US-and Euro-centric to a certain extent, but it resonated with me. The whole series is a brain-feeder and imagination sparker.
So I’m going to add another to the ‘to do’ imagination-exercise list: share meals with friends, and savour the experience. Oh, and subscribe to Radio Lab.
Overused acting notes #2: Centre Yourself!
In this jargon-ridden acting business, the notion of ‘centre-ing’ is one that gets a daily work over in most classes and on the rehearsal room floor. I wonder what most actors make of this instruction by well-meaning directors, teachers, coaches? I’ve found it means different things to different people, so it’s worth checking through the list to ensure I’m on the same page as my actors when they or I use the term. This is how I understand it.
Centre yourself … get balanced, on alignment … probably the most basic of all. As a voice teacher I harp on the alignment, balance thing. It’s also the easiest to check and adjust. And speaking of voice, ‘breathe from your centre’ is another direction, again not too hard to check and correct. It’s about ensuring full rib-swing, and intercostal diaphragmatic breathing … in this use of the term, the centre is the solar-plexus.
‘Find your character’s centre.’ Now we are getting into esoteric territory. First up, ‘centre’ here means something like ‘where your character finds his or her energy’ and ‘where his or her centre of gravity is’ … the latter referring to work on alignment and general body-masking. The former reference ‘where your character finds his or her energy’ is the use of the term that eludes many. It is probably the least accessible or understood in practical terms, but does have some currency in talking about character; it’s a metaphor, not unlike the ancient theory of humours, in which people’s temperament was supposed to be determined by a part of their physical makeup. In that sense, it is somewhat useful but it’s not the be-all. It doesn’t necessarily translate in practical, physical terms; as with most metaphors, it works to inspire the imagination.
And then, there is the notion of the actor’s centre, another metaphor. Here, the term relates to finding the inner calm to perform in public (Stanislavski’s ‘public solitude’) whilst under stress in performance. ‘Finding’ this centre is not a grail quest, but part of the process of acting, and related to relaxation.
Centre yourself is not a bad instruction or self-check, but be clear about what it is you’re doing.
Overused acting notes #1: Being in the Moment
If there’s one phrase that an actor can get tired of, it’s that old favourite ‘being in the moment.’ I count myself as one who finds it tedious. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t pay attention to it, or that it isn’t relevant … a lot of the notes I’ve given and received have been about this lack of ‘being in …. .’ But as an acting principle, it can be misunderstood. Bear with me.
There are a couple of states of being at any moment when acting … you the actor, and you the actor as if character. To deny these states of being is a misunderstanding of the basics of acting as well as the human capacity to engage imaginatively (or otherwise) with more than one thing at a time. I’ve had students who got the whole idea of characterisation mixed up with who they were supposed to ‘be’ at any given time on stage. You can’t be ‘you’ and the ‘character’ at one and the same time? Well, hello … who is it up there? We’re talking art here people.
Being in the moment for me means being fully present as actor and actor as character; I am available as needed moment by moment, beat by beat as I engage with stage action. I retain aesthetic awareness … control over the performance, and remain open to the small and large variations in the playing ‘as if’ I were Hamlet’s mother, for example. But it’s a balancing act.
If I slip too far one way or another, I am likely to find my actor’s sensibility jumping to the next page and disengaging from the character’s understanding of what’s going on. ‘Don’t play what’s on the next page’ is a note I find myself giving, and a check I need to keep giving myself as I perform. If I’m too immersed in actor as character, I run the risk of self-indulging and losing touch with the audience and the tempo-rhythms of the scene. Balancing act indeed, and part of the art of acting, being fully ‘in the moment’ as the artist. No wonder Stanislavski paid so much attention to relaxation and concentration.
‘Being in the moment’ is one of those principles of good timing and good acting hygiene that we need to keep learning again and again. Perhaps that’s why I find it tedious!
Image: Artistry
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