Movement for Actors (Notes)

I'm currently reviewing a book called "Movement for Actors" edited by Nicole Potter. I'm hoping to glean lots of information from the text and will place here in the entry what I feel could be used for animators.

“Movement for Actors” as described best by the quote on the reverse side of the book,

“The most complete survey to date of the available physical components of modern actor training. Invaluable.” George Morrison, President, The New Actors Works, Emeritus Professor SUNY-Purchase.



The book has a lot of great information regarding body movement and this translates emotion. It covers drama and stage techniques by Chekhov, Laban and even has a small section on the acting styles of Keaton and Chaplin.

I wanted to review the book to see if I could find anything that would help animators convey emotion in their characters. I found many of the techniques in the book to be drama, stage and dance centered. The descriptions of which were abstract and I wasn’t sure if an animator would find this information helpful. If an animator chooses, he or she could check the text out themselves.

I did however find a few sections interesting. They are listed below as well as my notes on for each section for further study.

Michael Chekhov (18):
An early 20th century actor originated the acting principles of stoccato and legato, contraction and expansion. The actor is to relax and to familiarize himself with how his entire body is reacting to these conditions. Exercises like this connect the mind to the body. In acting, if there is a disconnect, we have overacting or stiff performances.

Still Movement:
Even though there is no movement, if an actor feels the emotion from within, the emotion should radiate. The actor thus becomes a living shape. Here, pauses become loaded with emotion as suggested by the viewer’s imagination.

Character Archetypes:
When acting, think of the character archetype and the role that this character is in. Identify the core of the character first. Play this role first and add personality traits later. Like sculpting, you want to get the general proportions first, before going to fast into the detail.

These unique personality traits should come from your imagination and from your experiences as a human being.

As the character ask, “What Do I Want”, and pay attention to what the body says. Relax and pay attention to the impulses that arise. This could lead to gestures, more specifically, when rehearsed, core gestures. These should be practiced, and if you are animator, begin recording reference after you have practiced.

If one cannot get into the gesture, there may need to be an adjustment of the gesture itself, or the body is not sufficiently prepared form lack of research or stress.



BELIEVABILITY & EMOTIONAL CONNECTION:

Kinesthetic Awareness:
Be aware and act naturally to your surroundings, be aware of impulses or signals your body gives you. Be observant of what your hands do in any situation.

Sensory Awareness:
Your five senses will pick things up from the environment, what are they doing. By observant, you can put these nuances into a performance.

Proprioceptive Awareness:
Refers to the expression by the entire body, not just the hands and face. This section also talks about habits that we as actors get into and that we must break from in order to stay away from overacting (230).


RANGE & EXTERNAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

Posture and Gesture:
The actor should change from the floor up. Create movement from the hips and leg stance thinking that the body is the decoration. “We lie with our face and hands. We are the shape of our spine and our legs”. This quote is profound the idea actually helped me in animating my last assignment, but focusing on animating the core and spine first.

Tension:
Inevitably linked to posture. The link between your posture and the scene is imperative. An actor becomes great when he uses his posture to communicate in a scene. Exercise: How many poses can one do while washing dishes, or holding a fork?

Space and Shape:
As an actor, be mindful of your shape (silhouette) and your relation to the camera.

Rhythm:
Maxheadroom is an example of overaggerated dramatic rhythm. Exercise: While listening or reciting lines, try to establish a rhythm with your hand or an inanimate object. Establishing a rhythm creates a tempo that a viewer can follow (233).

Eye Head Relationships:
Drama in oriental cultures place a great emphasis on the eyes. Eyework must be practiced. A great example of this is Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.


THEATRICAL STILLNESS:

As a society, there is an enduring fascination with stillness (27). It can express: calm, meditation, rigidity, exhaustion and or panic.

Think of stillness as pauses between the different emotions, this allows for the viewer to digest what is happening, it gives clarity and meaning to the performance to the relationships.

Adding pauses offers rest at the end of the thought and it permits the transitional moment to the next scene or line.

Too much stillness creates an uneasy effect.




TEACHING CHAPLIN HOW TO WALK:

Posture and Movement:
Difference between the two actors – Chaplin walked with is head aligned with his spine. Keaton, lead with his head. Subtle differences like this added to character. Running offered more insight and magnified the characters more.

Body Shape:
Chaplin was an ectomorph, someone characterized by seeming to be delicate or nervous. Our attention is drawn to their eyes, hands and feet.

Endomporphs: Larger, sluggish and powerful, where movement seems to come from within. Characters such as John Candy and Orson Welles are good examples of this.

Mesomorphs:
Keaton was of this body type, usually characterized by the “He – Man” archetype.

Both of these characters used their physiques to convey character. In the book it also pointed something that I believe could be important to an animator and that is that Chaplin moved in circular patterns.

In both cases, Keaton and Chaplin were masters at creating interesting silhouettes and shapes. From far away or long shots, the characters’ eyes and body forms would be readable.

Potter, Nicole. "Movement for Actors". New York. Allworth Press. 2002


FURTHER STUDY:
Rhythm in animation.