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Acting Skills are considered the actor's tools of the trade. A musician has a musical instrument to 'express' them self, a painter has a brush, paint and canvas; the actor has principally their body and voice.
An actor uses Acting Skills to convey a character's STATUS, MOTIVATIONS and TRAITS.
For the purpose of this study design, there are FIVE acting skills actors use to portray characters. When discussing the production role of Acting, you must describe how the actor applied Acting Skills.
VOICE
The actor's voice is an important tool used to convey a character’s emotions, mood changes and other characteristics regarding the contexts (e.g.: accent, dialect, attitude).
Here are a few key elements to think about when using (and writing about) voice:
Projection: how well your voice can be heard
Diction: how well you enunciate or pronounce the words
Tone: your ability to use your voice to convey feeling/ emotion
Timing/Tempo: the pace/speed at which you use your voice (for comic/dramatic effect)
Inflection: the emphasis you place on certain words or sounds for heightened dramatic impact
Breathing: the control over your breath as you deliver the lines
Vocal variety: how well you vary the use of your voice throughout the performance
Pitch: the highness or lowness of your voice in performance ( often used to produce tone)
Vocal quality: the overall characteristics you bring to your voice in performance.
Resonance: intensity or quality of voice caused by vibration of vocal chords
I love these vocal warm-ups. You'll probably recognise some from class!
Frantic Assembly is my favourite physical theatre company. Great inspriation for movement <3
MOVEMENT
The movement of a character should communicate something to the audience at all times and add to the intended meanings of the play.
When applying movement, experiment with:
Gait: the way you move as the character/s e.g. the way of walking, the speed at which the character walks, the rhythm of the walking
Rhythm: the pattern of movement combined with its tempo. For example, showing the rhythm at which your character moves to convey how they are thinking or feeling
Dynamics: the shape and speed of your character's movements in the space
Physical variety: the range of your movements when depicting the character ( e.g. bending, stretching, curving, reaching, lifting, lurching etc.)
Tempo variety: using different speeds of movement at different times in your performance. For example, to convey the varied emotional states of your character.
GESTURE
I love gestures! It's possibly my favourite acting skill. I love how something so small can convey so much meaning. So make sure you think carefully about the gestures your character uses and what it tells the audience about them.
Think about how you can apply the following gestures:
Vocal gestures: a scream, a deep sigh, a laugh, a whistle
Full-body gestures: a sway from side-to-side, kneeling down
Part-body gestures: a hand signal, a nod of the head, a hunch of the shoulders, a raise of the arms; holding of the head in the hands
Spatial gesture: use of your body in the space and in relation to one or more of the other characters or objects on stage
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
This acting skill requires control and practise. So be prepared to spend a a lot of time standing in front of a mirror or recording yourself to see if your face is doing what you think it's doing!
Play around with:
Variety: dexterity with using a variety of facial expressions ( e.g. a raise of the eyebrow, a smirk, a grimace, a frown)
Convey characteristics: use of facial expressions to convey characteristics of the character you are portraying
Theatre style: use of facial expressions consistent with the theatre style of the play
Meaning, mood and emotion: practice conveying how your character is feeling using nothing but your face
STILLNESS AND SILENCE
What can be said about stillness and silence.......
Stillness and silence can be used by an actor to vary their delivery for dramatic variety and more importantly to emphasise a point in the dramatic narrative. The best way to think of stillness and silence is as, 'stillness and silence' (where the two are joined together and are created by the actor on stage at the same time). When used effectively, stillness and silence can have a strong impact because in most theatre productions this technique is not used very often. Indeed, it's the rarity at which it's used in a performance that gives it, its impact. Stillness and silence can have a dramatic impact on the tension, rhythm, mood, flow and timing of the action in a play.
BODY LANGUAGE
Body language is not listed in the Study Design or Acting Smart, however it does get a mention in the 'VCAA Advice for Teachers'.
Whn describing an actors use of 'body language', talk about their posture and stance - how they hold themselves.
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