I sent a rough draft of my project proposal to Kym a few days ago, and she responded that I only need to keep the first sentence of the first paragraph; the rest of the paragraph I can delete. Once I change that, I can submit the assignment via Canvas. It's due on the 27th, later this week, so I've got time. But I should get it done right away. Otherwise I'll regret it later.
I've continued to skim through the books. The book Audition by Michael Shurtleff discusses what to expect at an audition, of course. But even better, he reveals the twelve guideposts of acting. They consist of relationship, conflict, the moment before, humor, opposites, discoveries, communication and competition, importance, find the events, place, game playing and role playing, and mystery and secret. That's a lot, I know, but the trick is to only look at the first step at the journey, not at the entire thing; if you do that, you'll feel overwhelmed in no time. I go over what each of the twelve guideposts are in my notes, as they are too detailed to list in this report entry. The point is, each of these guideposts can help you create your character within the scene, which I intend to do along with my scene analysis from my Intro to Characterization class.
Another technique that I find most useful to developing my character is the six step method by actress Uta Hagen. When examining this, I found that it is a very valuable asset to have in my toolkit. The six step method is as follows:
1. Who am I?
• What is my present state of being?
• How do I perceive myself?
• What am I wearing?
2. What are the circumstances?
• What time is it? (The year, the season, the day? At what time does my selected life begin?)
• Where am I? (In what city, neighborhood, building and room do I find myself? Or in what landscape?)
• What surrounds me? (The immediate landscape? The weather? The condition of the place and the nature of the objects in it
• What are the immediate circumstances? (What has just happened, is happening? What do I expect or plan to happen next and later on?)
3. What are my relationships?
• How do I stand in relationship to the circumstances, the place, the objects, and the other people related to my circumstances?
4. What do I want?
• What is my main objective? My immediate need or objective?
5. What is my obstacle?
• What is in the way of what I want? How do I overcome it?
6. What do I do to get what I want?
• How can I achieve my objective? What's my behavior? What are my actions?
This is very similar to the scene analysis that I mentioned earlier. But while the scene analysis focuses on what is happening with characters and the surrounding environment, this six step process focuses more on the character, how the character got to that point and how the character is going to move forward. Definitely something to add to my method.
YOU ARE READING
The Senior Capstone Project Journal of Aaron J. Holt
Non-FictionUpon completing his senior year at the University of Minnesota, Aaron J. Holt put his theatrical skills to the test. Tasked with creating his own character development method, Aaron drew from various methods. Then, to prove that it worked, he had to...
