6/27/2018: AWS Advanced Class Recap: On Character Choices

Greetings!

Wonderful class last night. Lots of new faces, as well as a few returning favorites. Had to say goodbye to 2 of you last night - Bryce and Nico. I hope your travels are safe and productive, and that you return to us when you can! I look forward to continuing to work with you both.

We covered a lot of ground last night in class. We rolled through the Coach's Notes, and talked a bit with those in class who are currently working on projects. I discussed the screening event I went to, for the 48 Hour Film I created this year (with my team), called Riptide. I said I would embed the film in this blog post, for those that wanted to watch it, so here it is.

My experience making the film, as a whole, was wonderful, and I look forward to participating again next year - perhaps with some of you on the cast!

Character Creation

We then began our discussion on Character Creation. There are times when it makes sense to be yourself in a part, and there are times when it makes sense to craft a character for you to inhabit. Learning to recognize when one route is preferable to the other is a skill you should all give thought to honing and developing. If YOU will work for a role, then why reinvent the wheel? In fact, if YOU are perfect for the part, trying to layer unnecessary additional choices over the top of YOU could be counter-productive.

In other cases, crafting a character to inhabit is preferable - even necessary. If you land a part in a Coen Brothers movie, for example, you'll be cranking parts of your own personality up to 11, and also adding entirely new physical and personality traits into the mix as well. The Coen's like their characters to be quirky. In this case, techniques from Chekhov and Adler should be in your toolbox.

Here is a clip from No Country For Old Men (Coen Brothers 2007) that we watched, with the peerless Javier Bardem and character actor Gene Jones, showcasing their stellar character work.



"What's the most you've ever lost on a coin toss?"

In a way, there's no purpose to this coin toss scene, story-wise. It does nothing to move the plot forward. This scene is pure character development - which is an exercise in futility, if you don't have actors bringing characters to the table that are worth developing. But a great script in the hands of great actors? Get the Oscar Noms ready... This film received 8 nominations, and won four Oscars, for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Best Actor for Bardem.

I showed a second clip, from the TV show Gotham, season one, in which Cameron Monaghan reveals his true identity, accompanied by a brilliant supporting performance by character actor Mark Morgolis as the blind fortuneteller. Watch their choices throughout the scene, moment by moment.



This is one of my favorite examples of character-work, in either film or TV.

Support Group Exercise

I then had you each come up to the front of the class, and introduce yourselves, as though we were an Actor's Anonymous Support Group. I had you tell us a story of your first acting experience - as YOURSELF (the way you normally speak), and then had you follow that up with a story about your favorite acting experience, but I asked you to add a character choice to your delivery - modify your voice (tone or accent), modify something about how you stood, or gestured, etc, or add a emotion or mood. It was fun to watch - not just to see your choices, but to learn a little bit more about each of you.

I hope you all saw the point of the exercise. I want you each to be comfortable being yourself in a role, as well as being a version of yourself. Some of you lost your "choice" part-way through, while others lost themselves in the the choice, and YOU disappeared completely. Hopefully, as we practice this, YOU will always be alive beneath your character(s), regardless of how many layers you need/choose to add.

We watched a quick clip of Daniel Day Lewis talking about character work (in a 2005 interview), and dealing with self-doubt on set. We watched the first 2 minutes only, but the whole clip is worth watching...



My concern during class was that, by this time, we had covered so much that DDL's point got past many of you. I hope you take a moment and watch the clip again. What he's saying is very valuable.

Pro Wrestling

Before launching into our scene-work for the evening, I touched briefly on the world of sports entertainment (aka Professional Wrestling). We discussed how there is no other form of entertainment like it. In the realm of Physical Acting, as well as the realm of Character Creation, in no other type of performance - live or taped - can one be given a role to play, night after night, city after city, where you daily develop, rehearse and perform that role, often for years at a time. A new script every night. Often, storylines can take months - or even years - to complete. Plus, you have to tell your stories physically, with very little chance to say anything.

Plus, the physical risks these guys and gals put themselves through in order to entertain the vast sea of fans worldwide is enough to make you question their sanity. I have huge respect for these performers.

I mentioned the Golden Lovers Storyline in New Japan Wrestling, which took a full decade to complete (see the linked video), and also the infamous Hell in a Cell match from the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1998, which featured Mick Foley (wrestling as Mankind), and Mark Calloway (as The Undertaker). Please follow THIS LINK to watch the match in it's entirety and THIS LINK to read about the real-life behind-the-scenes story behind why Foley decided to approach the match like he did, with his doubts and fears.

It's worth pondering, if for no other reason than to show that these are fellow actors, making the same choices we all are making in our craft, only at much higher levels, and to far less respect. They're real people like us, trying to entertain.

Scenework: Boardwalk Empire

We paired up and received scenes from the TV show Boardwalk Empire, along with a one-page sheet to help you break the scenes down and get the basics of your character work going. I had you work individually at first, and then together, as I floated around, talking to each pair about the choices you were making, and the details surrounding your work. We were able to walk through each scene together, and you all received your marching orders for next class. When we meet again, I'll have my film gear, and we'll film each scene, likely finding appropriate locations in and around the building to film each scene (as opposed to limiting the filming to the class space, as usual.)

I also passed out new monologues to those of you who wanted them. We should always have a monologue or two under development - they are great training tools. Once the text is memorized, there's no end to the character choices you can layer in and out, experimenting, trying new emotions, actions, affectations, etc.

I turned everyone loose without mentioning one VERY IMPORTANT thing! Next Wednesday is Fourth of July! We all agreed to come to class to film, but I'm not sure everyone realized that the holiday will fall on class night. I have a feeling many of you will prefer to be out with friends and family that night, enjoying fireworks and food, rather than being in class. We will be contacting each of you individually this weekend, to see who still wants class  - if enough of you want to postpone filming a week, we can certainly reconvene on the 11th.

All in all, I loved class, and have new ideas on things to do next.

Until we meet again!

David Wagner
AWS Staff