Experiencing environment

This class we worked more with improv dealing with objects that aren’t physically there, but we practiced having it within our minds eye. Our work is meant to attempt to be specific, experience deeply, and forge a connection with all of the senses because as Jon says, “the best acting is un-self-conscious. It is important to take your time to really imagine the image within our minds eye to first form a complete image. What helps me is to start by zooming in on a specific detail and then slowly zoom out to another small detail that I noted and then continue to do that until I’m completely zoomed out into the whole image. The most important thing is to take the time to actually have a visceral reaction to the improvisation. When I was doing the exercise of using my Igloo ice pack and Jon instructed me to do something with it once I had the image in my head and I had “picked it up”, I thought I messed up because I had to stop and think about how I was doing to turn it around to be able to put it on my neck. Jon informed me that the moment that I took to think about to how I was going to turn it was believable. After some reflection I realized that in acting slowing down shows the viewers the actor’s thought process, so this makes it appear like it’s happening in real time and hasn’t been rehearsed.

My experience with the environment exercise was really nice and peaceful. My place was my back porch which is really nice because there is a bunch of tall trees surrounding but you can still see the sky. I started by putting down a blanket on the floor and sat down. I began by focusing on this little circle on the wood that makes up my porch, and then I allowed my vision to soften. I took 3 deep breaths, and then yawned, opening up my eardrums. On the first time, the smell was like old and wet wood, damp leaves and there was a smokiness that wafted through the air, not strong but like a bonfire was happening somewhere in the neighborhood. The wind was clam, the atmosphere was light. Its interesting to me that I got chills even though I wasn’t particularly cold but its like the more I focused on my senses the more I felt myself have goosebumps. The goosebumps started on my arms and then moved up my neck, then finally onto my head, through my hair. The following day I did the exercise first thing in the morning and it was really nice because it was right before it got hot out and it smelled like morning time. I had woken up and taken a shower and was very intention when it came to where I was putting in my energy. I then went out onto my back porch and sat on the blanket that was there from the night before. Unlike the night before, I heard birds chirping. I focused on my ears and opened up my ear drums. This was a cool experience because I usually like to sit outside on my porch and listen to the birds anyway but I have never tried to be so intentional as to how I was listening to the birds. I noticed my neighbors mowing his lawn and noticed his wife asking him if he wanted breakfast. The atmosphere was light as if the heaviness of the day hadn’t settled in just yet. There was a slight breeze that came and went as it pleased, there was no pattern in it. I found it much harder to soften my focus on this day because I found that my eyes wanted to take in every thing so I did find it a bit challenging to stay focused in comparison to my experience the night before. Today I decided to try it in the afternoon, just to see what difference that would make in comparison to my night and morning experience. I found that the afternoon was my favorite time of day to practice this exercise. It seemed that most people had finished their usual morning activities and I had the opportunity to actually focus. The smell during this time was moist, as it was raining on and off all day. It smelled like rain and fresh cut grass. The birds were less active but some birds were still chirping so I was more able to kind-of hone into one or two specific bird chirps. The atmosphere was heavy and thick, I felt myself feeling uncomfortable because of how humid it was, so my focus did shift a bit but I was able to realign my thoughts and just notice the humidity and then letting that thought go. I found it very interesting that the goosebumps only appears on the first night and I wonder if its because the visual “noise” was less so I was more able to focus on my body. I can’t wait to learn more about how this applies to acting! Thank you for reading!

I love being at your house/on your front porch-I don't think I've ever actually been on the back porch. Anyway. Your home and your cute little street is a very relaxing place, and I love this post!