End of class wrap up

First of all, I feel the need to apologize for my inconsistency with posting. Balancing work with so many other changes going on has been super difficult. We’re experiencing a lack of security which is hindering my creative ability but I have a job interview this week and hopefully that will begin a good change for us (wish me luck)!

I have been typing out posts, but I get derailed with so many tasks that I haven’t been doing them all at once and my computers been in the shop and I can’t get the keyboard to work in the mobile version of the posts site. Excuses aside, here’s a bit of a dump.

When we stream, we’re looking at the physiology of the character... the core of who they are. Use the symbols as clues into the abstract of a human being. An allegory is metaphor of behavior, habits and contradictions. The core essence is the trunk of the tree.

An actors main talent is emphatically. Build empathy towards others. The ability to feel other people and undertake them as human is your super power.

Don’t start with story, start with the experience.

These past couple of classes have been really clarifying. When we did it with Molly, I was so confident with the exercise and the way to go about it. I’m really finding the joy in discovering a character, not cognitively thinking about pondering about them but letting the character reveal herself to me. It’s really powerful stuff. I felt the same when doing the exercise with Chris.
I did feel pretty frustrated while guiding him because I had trouble balancing letting him explore and prompting him. I didn’t want to interrupt him, but pretty soon Jon was taking over.

I feel that all the exercises from the class built my ability and confidence for when I did the exercise. It was pretty simple and I really allowed myself to just experience it. It didn’t feel cognitive, it felt natural and explorative.

When being guided in, first I experienced that place. How it felt. The sounds, both near and far. The smell. The tone. When experiencing the person, I start with the hair. How it feels. Smells. Looks. Then facial structure, skin, eyes, mouth. How does their breath smell? Do they take care of themselves? What are they wearing? How does it fit? What shoes do they have on? Go to the back. Is anything around or anyone around them? What objects are in their pockets?

One encouraging thing Jon said was why not be the best actor you could possible become?

I’ve been finding this process so freeing because I get in my head trying to make the right choices. But the character can come to me! I’ve been feeling more confident and more equipped.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be in this class! I feel miles ahead of where I was. I will not be taking the streaming course, as I need to be grounded for a bit. I’ve been going at these courses to hard which is great, but I’m really feeling the burnout with everything else going on. Hopefully after some rest, I’ll be ready for something new!