Tuesday, September 11, 2012

How Acting Scripts can be used to Improve Your Acting

By Adrian Lloyd Schroeder


Want to become an actor? A common format for acting auditions is the cold read.

When an actor gets a side, has a few minutes to prepare and then must deliver the read it is called a cold read. You can rehearse the skills necessary for cold reading with acting scripts. Learn what to do in a cold audition. Find out how you can perform a cold read.

Every time you audition you want to wow the director and casting agents. To do that with a cold read, you begin by examining the script. Ask yourself where is this script taking place? People tend to be reserved in public and more intimate in private.

How do the characters know each other? Have the characters just met or have they known each other? What was each role in the script doing fifteen minutes before the script starts? Breaking down a script requires that you answer these questions. Most often the script will hint at these things or outright tell you with notes.

Decide what your character wants. The characters participate in a scene because they have a need they are trying to fulfill. Someone who has no want has no reason to be in the scene. The want is what each participant is trying to resolve.

Two characters may have wants in opposition to each other. This is called the conflict of scene. It is possible for the conflict to be something other than a person. In disaster films like Armageddon the primary conflict is the cast against the asteroid. It is a team effort to save the Earth and there is no villain. There is only the impending catastrophe.

Choosing wants and conflicts is a very subjective task. Every person who reads a scene may have different interpretation. In fact, you may be able to interpret a scene several different ways. As an actor you want to make bold choices. Deciding that your character is depressed and wants to be left alone is usually not a good choice. If you do see several interpretations, which ones lead to an exciting scene, and possibly play to your strengths. The character must be involved in the scene and actively pursuing the want.

The writer may hint at certain wants or conflict. The characters speech may imply wants, emotions and mood. Your character decisions must agree with those of the author. You must fill in the missing pieces to complete the role. You must decide why a character behaves a particular way. You should stick to the general flow of the script and simultaneously make bold choices.

An actor decides what emotional states the character goes through. How does the mood of the character change throughout the scene? Does your character have a change of heart or shift his thinking? Is it possible your character feels differently at various parts of the scene? You should experiment with multiple contexts as you read the scene.




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