I will always ask an actor how they prepare for a role. I want to know their process of breaking down a scene and creating a character. Most will tell me they read through the material a few times and “got a feel for what was going on.” They try to put themselves in the role and act how they would act if this were happening to them. That is the extent of their scene breakdown and character development, making for a very generic, one note, and uninteresting performance. If you are relying on how you would react if you were in the characters shoes then you are not even creating a character. Most roles that come around are not going to be even close to who we are as individuals. This means we must create a character that supports their dialogue and actions.

Technique gives an actor the ability to “live in the moment.”

A scene is made up of many different “moments,” some of which are scripted. (Example: Elizabeth and John’s eyes lock, there is an instant connection.) The actor must take this text and turn it into a moment on screen. Most moments in a scene are not scripted and are left for the actor to find and create. This is where you get to create freely as an artist and give a unique performance that will vary from other actors. If you just now found out what a “moment” is then you probably were not finding and creating them in your work.

Technique takes the acting out of your performance.

Instead of creating something that looks like sadness we use technique so we actually feel the sadness. You don’t want to be “acting sad” you want to be feeling sad. It takes the acting work out of acting. There is no substitute for actually feeling as your character during your performance.

You can watch two different actors in two different movies doing very similar scenes. Both actors have an emotional scene and produce tears. One performance doesn’t have any affect on you sitting in the theater and the other performance has you choked up and crying in your seat with your popcorn. Why? We are human and connect with each other through emotions and feelings. We can also spot something fake from a mile away. One actor faked their performance and the other actually felt those real emotions in their performance and you couldn’t help but connect to them.

To give your best performance you need to understand and incorporate technique behind your acting. It is designed to set you free not turn you into a robotic actor. When used properly it can transform an actor’s talent into movie making magic.