The Method (Replaces Chapter 5 of your textbook)

METHOD ACTING

A Vocabulary

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Soon we will focus on ACTING. However, I have decided to replace our textbook's chapter on ACTING with this handout instead. Students may wish to read the chapter in the textbook anyway, but the exam will use this handout, which I think is more useful.

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    1. Adaptation. Fitting movement, action, or dialogue to inner truth. A husband asking his wife to pass the salt must express the truth of the given circumstances, such as the husband having an affair: "Pass [pause; man thinks to himself about his lover; feeling guilt, he avoids looking at his wife but instead whispers the rest of the sentence to her] me the salt."
    2. As If (Magic If or I AM). The actor asks, "What if" it happened to me?" and experiences the part.
    3. Bit part. A small role.
    4. Blocking. Movement of actors.
    5. Casting. Giving roles to actors based on star image, age, ethnic background, type, or against type.
    6. Character actor. Actor who plays special roles such as doctor, priest, etc.
    7. Characteristic Gesture (Psychological Gesture): A repeated gesture that builds a role.
    8. Concentration. The focus on inner feelings and thoughts.
    9. Emotional (Affective) memory. Using personal memories to be a character and not just play it. To cry on stage for a dead dog the actor remembers when her father died.
    10. Faith. Belief in one's role, which leads to truth in acting.
    11. Film acting. Acting for (and to) the camera, knowing scale (close-ups, long shots), duration of take, angle, and continuity. Film acting is divided into two periods: Silent and Sound. Silent film acting was  theatrical; Sound film acting (1927 on) was more realistic but at first posed problems due to a stationary microphone, which  limited camera movement.
    12. Given Circumstances. The facts of a role: a gangster in the 1920s, not a priest in the 1920s or a gangster in the 1970s.
    13. Image. An unbroken line for a character based on details made up by the actor from the given circumstances of the script, including childhood, walk, hair style, wardrobe, voice, etc.
    14. Indication. Acting an emotion instead of the moment. Such acting is mechanical.
    15. Justification. The moment-to-moment reasons while acting.
    16. Leading actor. Main actor.
    17. Method. A system of finding inner truth in a role.
    18. Moment to Moment. The actor feels truly, so each moment is real and also new.
    19. Motivation. A reason for dialogue or action based on the character's spine or goal.
    20. Preparation. Building a role from its given circumstances and lived experience.
    21. Sense memory. To use the five senses (sight, sound, taste, feel, smell) to live a part.
    22. Spine. The character's main goal or "through line."
    23. Star image. The actor's image based on publicity, promotion, and past films.
    24. Stage acting. A performance continuously presented and scaled  for (and to) a theatre audience.
    25. Star. A bankable actor; the main reason people see movies.
    26. Substitution. To replace a stage object or person with a personal memory.
    27. Subtext. The real meaning of words. "The coffee is cold" may mean, "I no longer love you." "You're okay" may mean, "I love you." The tailor in The Public Enemy is measuring Tom's suit but really flirting with him.
    28. Supporting actor. Actor with a secondary role.
    29. Truth. Real feelings aroused by personal belief in the role.
    30. Type casting. Playing similar roles.

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