Minor Project: Stanislavsky- From Tree to Character

Having already planned out the tree exercise, the next step is to think about how I then take the work from this exercise and make it useful going forward with the actor's. This isn't set in stone as it depends upon how the actors respond to the tree exercise but assuming they take to it well and from here they have a good understanding of how to build a character and live out that character in their performance then the next step will be to  put the same practise into a character that they will eventually perform as so that when it comes to the performance they can be their character and not have to consciously think about 'acting' as their character.

The quote above illustrated quite nicely what it is I wish to achieve, I want the actors to have fabricated reality for their character and from here they will then be able to create the world their character inhabits internally and then express this in the world I have created for the film. The best way for me to get the actors in this mindset (like with the tree) is to put them on the spot, make them think quickly about their character so that it can become subconscious to them and from this they can live out their character. This is all well and good for me to say but how do I do this, how do I take a person and make them become another person momentarily. Well, what I will do in this case is a process that is a big part of the creative process usually and it involves sitting down with an actor and building the character with them, due to timing issues I will do this but I will predominately give the actor something of a free reign with the character, usually, the director will have a strong idea about the character but will work with the actor to build this character alongside what the actor may think the character should be like and together to two collaborate to form what is essentially the perfect character for both parties. As I haven't got time to do this, I have to adapt and I am doing this by sitting down with the actor and giving them a basic outline of a character but aside from that I am allowing them almost absolute freedom to create whatever character they wish. Though it must be said, if I need to I will say to the actor that I don't think this is a useful character for the scene in question. it is also of note that if the actors seeks guidance from me and asks what I think the character would say or do, I am not going to just put my hands up and say it is up to them, they are after all still under my direction.

So the action plan for building the character will be, on a one to one basis, I will sit down with the actors and once again ask them to close their eyes, this time they are their character, only this time the questions wont begin with appearance based questions as the appearance is usually covered by the costume and make up departments (that doesn't mean we wont discuss these things after building the character to express its personality, but for now we have to build the personality). so now that they are beginning to imagine being their character I will ask some questions surrounding emotions and the background of the character. To take an example I used earlier today: I told someone they were a waitress, I asked what the day was like, they said busy, I asked how they felt about it, they said claustrophobic, from here I asked why they felt this way, to which they didn't reply because It was just for example sake when I was taking them through it but we may have had an insight into the characters past from this or perhaps a trait they have which may become a key part of their character. The point of this is that they began to think as their character and feel their emotions and as such they began on the way to giving a realistic performance based upon what they felt. No doubt the person in question had felt claustrophobic before and was drawing upon this subconsciously when they gave the answer. The issue with this may be when the actor cannot draw upon a fitting emotion that will serve them well in a scenario, this is where I as a director must aid them with this and help them to draw upon experiences and emotions to add layers to the character, if needs be it would be expected of a director to create these emotions themselves. Stanley Kubrick did this famously in The Shining when he made the crew treat Shelley Duvall badly and ignore her so she could feel the trauma and isolation of her character.

while at this point I have neither time nor the resources to create such an emotion in an actor it does serve to highlight the extent you have to go to some times in order to get a performance and a real emotion out of someone. So to summarise this stage of the character development, I will, sit down with the actors on a one to one basis and work on the characters they will portray as best I can by having them imagine being their character as I question them about their life and feelings, then I will change the scenario the character is in and asks some more questions. This process will be repeated a few times until I feel that I am happy that the character is fleshed out and layered enough for the actor to give a solid, realistic performance.