Reflective writing on the progress and development within acting behind a camera.
When I discovered that we were going to be taking camera classes I was excited as this was something that wasn’t available for us to use last year. We have focused on solo camera work, and duo camera work as well as continuity within film and other techniques to help us prepare for camera work and possible auditions that could take place in the future.
Duologue work behind the camera is interesting as it gives you a lot of different options and directions to work with. When me and Lauren were rehearsing together we discovered a variety of ways we could take our scene scaling from sinister to loving. We used this rehearsal process to create a heavy tension within our scene that was clearly noticeable within our scenes shown through our eye contact and posture. Something else that extremely helps and enables a good scene behind camera is actioning your script, in addition to that, learning your partners actions too enables your reaction to be true and a lot more clear. Actioning your script is highlighting a line of your script and putting a transitive verb behind it to give the sentence direction and purpose. For example the line 'I love you' could have 'to intimidate you' behind it, however, it could have 'to seduce you'. These two very different transitive verbs give the simple sentence such a different purpose and direction which makes it more interesting for the audience to watch. I found actioning scripts when working on a duologue to be highly beneficial as it allowed me to react properly and more true to the character than if I hadn’t actioned it at all.
Working on your own behind camera is slightly more daunting but is extremely useful especially as it is something I intend to peruse as career path one day. Actioning your script is still a highly useful tactic when working on your own as it allows each line to have a different direction and meaning behind it and it would be seen clearly by an audience which creates a stronger scene altogether. I found working on my own to be slightly more intimidating and made me increasingly more aware of my body language and posture behind camera as it was only me on screen and I couldn’t use another person to bounce off of. However, this consciousness I had of my body has become slightly more relaxed and has helped me develop further as an actor.
We also focused on continuity, to do this we filmed a scene where we emptied our bags onto the table and then we had to re-do this scene replicating what we did in the first scene. It was challenging but also made me more aware and gave me more knowledge of what to expect when working on set, taking different shots and needing the same thing to happen twice. It allowed me to really concentrate on what I was doing and how to make it look as similar as I could. It gave me some insight on how directors would expect you to behave and how to prepare for auditions.
We worked with a casting director also, she read lines to us to show us what it’s like in the audition process which helped us understand how to perform and behave when in an audition like situation. This was beneficial as it provided us with knowledge that we didn’t have prior to the workshop we had with her. I feel more confident and outgoing now I’ve had this experience as it’s made me feel like a real actor!
Lastly, one of the most beneficial things I have learnt from these camera classes is how to behave on set. Evi, our teacher has taught us thoroughly when to be quiet and what to do when someone else is performing behind camera. She also told us how a director would work with their actors on set and how you should behave around them and how you should treat them. This was highly informative and beneficial as nearly non of my class had worked with a director or had the experience to work with a director. It gave me a lot of knowledge to take away from the class and overall made me feel more positive and excited for the future within the acting world!
Duologue work behind the camera is interesting as it gives you a lot of different options and directions to work with. When me and Lauren were rehearsing together we discovered a variety of ways we could take our scene scaling from sinister to loving. We used this rehearsal process to create a heavy tension within our scene that was clearly noticeable within our scenes shown through our eye contact and posture. Something else that extremely helps and enables a good scene behind camera is actioning your script, in addition to that, learning your partners actions too enables your reaction to be true and a lot more clear. Actioning your script is highlighting a line of your script and putting a transitive verb behind it to give the sentence direction and purpose. For example the line 'I love you' could have 'to intimidate you' behind it, however, it could have 'to seduce you'. These two very different transitive verbs give the simple sentence such a different purpose and direction which makes it more interesting for the audience to watch. I found actioning scripts when working on a duologue to be highly beneficial as it allowed me to react properly and more true to the character than if I hadn’t actioned it at all.
Working on your own behind camera is slightly more daunting but is extremely useful especially as it is something I intend to peruse as career path one day. Actioning your script is still a highly useful tactic when working on your own as it allows each line to have a different direction and meaning behind it and it would be seen clearly by an audience which creates a stronger scene altogether. I found working on my own to be slightly more intimidating and made me increasingly more aware of my body language and posture behind camera as it was only me on screen and I couldn’t use another person to bounce off of. However, this consciousness I had of my body has become slightly more relaxed and has helped me develop further as an actor.
We also focused on continuity, to do this we filmed a scene where we emptied our bags onto the table and then we had to re-do this scene replicating what we did in the first scene. It was challenging but also made me more aware and gave me more knowledge of what to expect when working on set, taking different shots and needing the same thing to happen twice. It allowed me to really concentrate on what I was doing and how to make it look as similar as I could. It gave me some insight on how directors would expect you to behave and how to prepare for auditions.
We worked with a casting director also, she read lines to us to show us what it’s like in the audition process which helped us understand how to perform and behave when in an audition like situation. This was beneficial as it provided us with knowledge that we didn’t have prior to the workshop we had with her. I feel more confident and outgoing now I’ve had this experience as it’s made me feel like a real actor!
Lastly, one of the most beneficial things I have learnt from these camera classes is how to behave on set. Evi, our teacher has taught us thoroughly when to be quiet and what to do when someone else is performing behind camera. She also told us how a director would work with their actors on set and how you should behave around them and how you should treat them. This was highly informative and beneficial as nearly non of my class had worked with a director or had the experience to work with a director. It gave me a lot of knowledge to take away from the class and overall made me feel more positive and excited for the future within the acting world!
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