The Classroom

We went into an elementary classroom of ours, my first image was my first grade classroom. It was a big classroom, so I was able to see a lot, especially once I turned to the back of the room and saw the expansive back half with the three big windows at the back.

Our anchors are like ballet anchors when we turn around to see the other wall. This helps with memory detail and keeps us steady. This was interesting to discover because we stay with one object to allow us to turn.
I loved the new approach to this because I was so relaxed and not stressed about seeing anything – I could just experience. I was able to bring in all my senses, especially touch and smell this time. I could feel the roughness of my chair and the cold, smooth desk. I could also sense the air in the room of the humidity penetrating the lack of air conditioning in the hot months to make that musty smell at the beginning of the school year.

Imagery is what will help us connect to the work. Imagery is also what will carry us through multiple takes and still have new experiences and renewed emotional connection. We need to come into acting in this state. I found some things in this stream that I was able to connect to and I found that I was drawn to the things in the desk that would affect me in some way, even if it was just funny. I also found that I was able to discover more even after the imaging. As I was going through objects in the harvest, I dug deeper in the desk to see what I could find. Some were even all the way at the bottom from the first day of school.
If we stop thinking about “me” and open ourselves up, we can allow ourselves to be affected by the other person. There is nothing more powerful on film than a discovered emotional experience. Trust in this process and be ready to work (in this state) and you will always be believable and interesting.

Time, place and objects are most important in streaming.
The harvest is the stream.
Staying in the present gives you a more powerful association for the objects and memories associated with them.

Next week we are moving to dreams – nothing is as clear as a concrete memory like we’ve been working with. Work on a recurring dream. Allow the dream to expand in a semi-conscious state (next week in class).
How to capture dreams properly:
Invite the dream – before falling asleep, invite yourself to remember your dreams.
Dream awareness – after waking, stay in the prone state and relive your dream. Keep your eyes closed and review the events and elements of your dream enough to feel it. Try to reconnect with your senses within your dreams, the sounds, the smells, and the tactile elements of the dream.
Write it down – quickly write down the dream with the pad of paper near my bed.

Dream Catching
Note all the parts and elements of your dream. Write what you know for sure. Don’t overthink it, let the details be what they are.
1. The place – can be more than one
2. The time – day or night is enough sometimes
3. People – detail, how do you feel about them, did they change?
4. What is your relationship to the people in your dream?
5. How old are you?
6. Trace the story of the dream with as much detail as possible. Do not fly off into fantasy. Stay with the events of the dream. Stay with the part that is most clear to you.
7. Any animals?
8. Catalogue any objects
9. Are there symbols? Did you feel strongly about any objects in the dream?

Identify the symbols – subjective (relate to you), objective (relate to others)
Identify what does not seem logical, or abstract, or what you know is symbolic elements in your dream. These act as a doorway to the subconscious. We do not analyze them, but rather accept them as powerful.