My character and performance class was a flashback, I have previously completed a full time acting course at Film and Television International where I studied acting and all of the practitioners that we studied in this class. The main high light for me was being able to direct professional actors. That is the part of character and performance that really got to me.
I want to be a director because I know what it is like to be an actor, I know the pressures and the struggles and I also know how people work in order to get around them. When it came to this class we had a female and male actor come in, certain lines were learned and we would give them a scenario that they would build on. We basically had to direct them through the scene and make it as honest as possible.
I told the actors that this scene was about a breakup, a guy and a girl who had broken up. The guy wanted the girl back, the girl wanted the guy to get away from her. He cheated. I told this to the actors and immediately picked up on their vulnerability concerning the situation. We've all been there... And so we tried it, but they were holding back. An actor always holds back when they are vulnerable, they don't want to but they do. They are feeling it, but they hide it so that people around can't see how truly vulnerable they really are. And so I asked them to do it again, and I asked them to relate to every word they were saying. I wanted them to try substitution, because that always worked for me. They did and they let it go, let it all out, it was dynamite.
This was truly an experience that has made my belief that I could be a good director even stronger, as I saw how I affected these actors and the result I got was exactly what I wanted.
Makes me think all directors should have acting experience, it helps you connect with what you're doing and why, both in acting and in yourself.
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