Actor Growth

Today just felt so unproductive. I literally felt like just another number in some acting workshop/classroom as it didn’t feel like the instructors really cared too much about my personal growth at all.

Essentially, we were working on the scene that was given to us last week. I studied the script and took initiative to try and memorize the lines in hopes to see what magic the instructors could do in enlightening us. In the scene are two characters and each person in the class was assigned one. We were simply told to find anyone and partner up with them.

From there we did and we had about ten minutes to just talk with our partner to go over things like lines while quickly determining a back story and character relationship. Afterwards, people were called up and preformed the scene cold until they were told to stop. From there on the instructors gave feedback on what they wanted to see.

When we did the scene it was very quick and abrupt. In fact, we didn’t even get to do the whole scene as it seemed like they were highly focused in trying to get my partner to be more into the moment. I really did feel like I was just a non factor in their enrollment of students.

Just like that, the day came to an end and they said that we would be taping it next week which will be our last day. So literally, we didn’t even go through the whole script with the instructor to get a good feel on what they want overall. It feels like a scenario similar to just grabbing a bunch of actors on craigslist, finding a random script and then start shooting at this point I feel.

Thinking back so far though, I think it was a mistake to enroll in this class as I focused more on hopefully learning something new from a different instructor when it seems like the class is more focused on introductory techniques. I definitely want to learn more, but I am not getting that unfortunately here.

As well, it doesn’t seem like the questionnaires we handed in last week had any kind of a factor too in regards to the instructors figuring out the best way to help each student individually. I suppose since it seems like I am a non factor here that I will finish the last week and start to look elsewhere for growth and knowledge.

Alright, as mentioned I was trying out a different acting school today. It seemed like for the most part everyone was new to the school as well. So that kind of made it easier for everyone. For me, attending this particular class was to try and get a feel for the schools and instructors to see if it may be a good place for me to receive continuous training and support.

I must say, there was a lot of stuntmen in the class it seems. Most of the topics that were covered were pretty basic as it revolved around items such as trying to understand what you are fighting for when it comes to a scene. So in that sense I didn’t really learn much for myself when it comes to technical items.

At the end of the class we were given a sheet to fill out some questions on what we think acting is. As well, it seems like a self analysis so that the instructors can get a better idea at where we are in our careers and what they can do to best help us. Time to fill this out for next week.

Been awhile since I have been training at a school as there just didn’t seem to be a place that fitted my schedule. I was looking over at the old place I used to go to and it seems like the acting coach I went with before is no longer there.

I was researching a bit and found a new place to tryout. It’s on the weekends too which is perfect for the time being as there are rarely ever any audition or work calls during that time. Let’s see how this goes.

I really wanted to go back to the acting workshop I was taking before as it just feels like it is the right thing to do now that I have a lot of the tools and resources in place. The only bad thing so far is the schedule as they did away with the weekend courses when I inquired about it.

I don’t know any other places I would trust at this point too as the old acting coach I went to seemed like the only genuine person that really wanted to help me before. I suppose I will look around a bit and see what I find.

Well, that’s it for this particular workshop. The day started out in a very unorthodox fashion where we all had to stand in a circle and go through a routine as a way to open ourselves up to each other. The exercise involved things such as blurting out words without vowels to trying and channel your energy to another person.

Besides that, for the most part the day was the same as other days where we performed a scene and got feedbacks. There was one interesting comment of the day that stuck out for me personally. The acting coach was giving feedbacks to another Asian person and he specifically encouraged him to keep at it even though there aren’t many opportunities for him.

That immediately made me think because I am Asian too, of course, and have been prepared since the beginning knowing that my opportunities will be limited and to try and find ways around that as a result. Speaking of which, I was surprised to see many people doing scenes that they wrote themselves. Afterwards, he talked about his new sessions that were taking place in the future and that was the end of this experience.

Was this worth it overall? Again, I base my value on the results I get in getting auditions/roles and so I can’t judge that yet. But overall my feeling about this particular workshop is that it seems to be more beneficial if you are already out there in the industry such as casting directors being aware of you.

I say this because when it comes to the acting work in this workshop it is definitely very thorough. The coach does a lot in trying to get you to do things a certain way while challenging you to go deeper. So if your goal is to become better at your craft of acting then this would definitely be a top choice in the city I’d say.

However, I know most actors take workshops like these to try and find a way to even get that first opportunity to showcase themselves in the first place. So when you think about it, in that sense these types of workshops may not be right as you would want more focus on audition techniques as well as ways to better promote yourself.

Interesting experience overall. For my next journey into various acting workshops, I have chosen a place that seems to specifically focus on audition techniques while the instructors seem to emphasize that they want to see you get work as a result of taking its workshops. This won’t start until next month, but I will be doing an audit of sort next week.

Yesterday was the second last day of the actors workshop. This time the class focused on doing a scene that was more quirky and far fetched in a serious type of way. Since everything kind of required a British accent too it was definitely an out of place scene for me. However, I decided to do it without focusing on the accent.

For the most part I believe I did what I wanted to do. There was one moment where my character gives a subtle flick of the eyebrow to tell this girl not to do something and the whole class reacted to it which was great. Even the reader told me she was shocked by it as it was so fast but it definitely made her think in context to the scene.

The acting coach made a comment in the end how it seems like all my acting around the facial expressions is all great and fits so well. The main complaint is that it’s mainly my body motions that don’t have the same type of expressions and so he was trying to think of a way to get me to improve on that.

He also commented that all of the relaxation techniques in the world such as Yoga isn’t going to help it seems and that I need something else. I then made a comment to him during the break that a big reason for this is because I came from a theatre background where you often can over exaggerate your moves and be more free. However, once I studied film you are taught to not do that.

It then registered for him quickly about the issue as he said he understand perfectly as after film training you are always second guessing yourself about your movements and so you tend to do nothing. I then asked him if there was a scene that specifically focuses on the characters moving a lot and he mentioned he would try to find one.

In the end of the day though, I was late and he just handed everyone scripts. He gave me one that seems along the lines of an X-files type of show. Don’t think there is anything that would force me to use more movement though.

He did throw in a comment asking if it was okay to give me this as it has a lot of technical stuff and he felt that I would understand this type of thing. Hence, he was worried about the stereotype where I might object to reading for something like that. I said it didn’t matter though. So I guess I this will be my last scene though as next week is the last day in training with this coach.