Great acting is honest, real and genuine. It draws-in your audience making them experience the emotions you are portraying. Like all other skills, great acting skills can be learned. What separates amateurs from the pros is their understanding of audience dynamics. You cannot make the audience have an emotional experience. They have to take that journey with you.
How do you do it? You accomplish this by mastering the art of expressing emotions. The actor’s emotions, when skillfully expressed, connect intensely with the audience. Learn how to pinpoint your areas of emotional restriction as a performer. Follow this simple acting exercise and overcome the barriers to fully summon total emotional expression and in effect create an emotional reality that can help your audience suspend disbelief.
Developing Emotional Variety
You may sometimes disregard the need for practicing this exercise diligently. But if you take time to really practice this, you will develop your foundation of personal emotional awareness. Remember to find time to be with yourself alone and practice this repeatedly. You need to be in a calm and comfortable state before doing this exercise.
Examine the list of emotions:
- Excitement
- Tenderness
- Anger
- Disbelief
- Confusion
- Loneliness
- Fear
- Joy
- Pain
- Sorrow
- Stress
- Ignorance
- Excitement
- Tenderness
Now look back to into the times in your life where you felt these emotions. Can you remember a specific situation where you felt this emotion? While in this emotional state try to listen to what your body is saying. Pay close attention to how you are reacting. How did you deal with the situation? Notice how your body is behaving with every emotion.
By observing every reaction your body makes while experiencing each emotion, you draw an emotional blueprint of your reactions. You begin to feel and understand who you are as you respond from what you learned in past circumstances. Notice if you are the type of person that behaves cautiously instead of spontaneously and in the moment.
Emotional reactions and behavior patterns you have previously learned in the past will come in handy in an acting role. Your individual peculiarity and limitations will provide excellent character development material.
On the other hand, being limited within your current restricted and unique character will only limit the roles you may successfully execute. However, if you work to break through emotional limitations, you are then free to be able to express yourself in various ways. This will help you be able to unleash and tap into the abundant variety of your emotions.
Let’s say that you notice your tendency to be doubtful of people. That would make you perfect for the role of a character in the same situation. Here you can identify with the feelings.
On the contrary, it would require more effort for you to play the role of someone who is extremely honest, open and trusting. By regularly practicing this exercise, you will be able to transcend this limitation by mastering these emotions.
Once a skill is learned, it cannot be unlearned, it is yours forever. As you continue to develop your emotional variety and master it, you can continue on to expand your acting horizon through more acting workshops and advanced trainings.
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