Affirmation

Recently I read this affirmation in the Science of Mind magazine. “ I am the potential of Spirit. God lives, expressing its unlimited potential as me, through me.” It is not my intention to push any religious belief system, or new thought ideas. But rather, to examine the possibilities of a truth I can use in knowing who I am and what my creative potential may be. Whatever our beliefs about life, and its origin, seems to be just that, a belief system. It seems obvious to me that life is a gift given by some energy source outside my creation and control. We seem to live as long as this living energy exists within us. If this is the case, that we are born into this living energy and sustained by it until it leaves our body, then it is certainly possible that we are the potential of life, that life expresses its unlimited potential as me, through me. As a film actor I see that expressing the truth of how I feel and react to the premise of the script and the other actors in the moment is the best choice. The truth of how I feel, not what I think the character should be feeling, or what the director or society thinks, but to express what my truthful impulse is at that moment. Part of one of my favorite quotes comes from silent film star Louise Brooks talking about film acting said, “The actor’s sole hope is to set free his honest spontaneity.” Notice the word honest, to tell the truth. Remember the camera sees and records the truth of the moment visually, and there is a distinct difference between a planned response and a truthful impulse. My purpose in writing all this is that I see how I and my fellow actors limit our potential by not recognizing and knowing what we are. Seems to me that we are unique individual expressions of life’s energy, and serve it, ourselves, and society best when we tell the truth of how we feel about our moment to moment experience. I think of this truthful expression as my little bit of information to give to the universe’s evolution. Like it is one big computer gathering information from all of us all the time. And if that could be possible, then I want the information I express to be as truthful as I can give. How can I know and be true to myself if I don’t allow myself to express how I experience truthfully. Where I want to grow is in realizing more of this unlimited potential in my work and life experiences. We tend to think we are taking big enough risks just being an actor and hoping to get a paid job. We play it safe and do not take the bigger risk of our unlimited potential in our work and our careers. Take the risk of telling your truth with enough energy that you cannot be misunderstood or ignored. Take the risk to dream BIG. Where do you want to go in your art and career? Believe in your unlimited potential and take the actions to manifest beyond your self imposed limits.

“Don’t be so damn anxious to talk.”

The words come from the writer. They tell us the story, the given circumstances of what we the actors agree to perform. But how and when the words are spoken is up to the actor. Remember film and television are visual images, and reveal to the audience whether we are having an actual experience or pretending. Whether we are telling the truth or lying. Our eyes are programmed to give us factual information, “ seeing is believing.” Film actors are bound by the truth of the visual image.
Sanford Meisner always told us “you can’t say ouch until you are pinched.” To me that means we must have the experience, before we speak the words the writer has constructed. Most of the time actors are so concerned and in a hurry about getting the lines said, that we forget to have an experience first. We need to have the courage and patience to take the time to have an experience of the material and moment before we speak. The experience of the moment will give us the information we need, to know what we mean by the writers’ words, and how we feel like saying them.
Look the other actor and situation in the eye, make contact with them. Become one with the truth of how you feel about all of this, and lay the line out on that experience. Accept the premise of the material and your character as being the truth for yourself. Your real self, not what you think the character would do or feel, but what you honestly feel at that moment, and let that be expressed with the lines.
Discovering who, our real self is, and how that self feels is a life time project, and requires observation of our behavior, thoughts and feelings without judgment. Become aware of what you honestly think, believe, feel, want, dream, and imagine. Allow both the good and bad to be revealed to your (self). Remember, you are looking for your unique individual truth here, no one else’s. Find your truth, not your parents, or society’s, teachers’, lovers’, or friends, but only your truth. Be aware that any judgment on our part will shut us down, and keep us from looking at all the truth. It is very beneficial for the actor to discover and accept their truth, for expressing this truth is the gift we have to share. The old clichés of first know yourself, and to thine own self be true are fundamentals to the film actor.
A lot of television shows, particularly comedy shows, are very fast paced with dialog. So having an experience of the material before saying the line is a challenge, but if practiced to the point of acquiring the skill so that it is automatic, it still works best. Hell, if all the producers want are the words to be said and heard, they should use radio, and not the visual media.
In visual media, what happens in the time between the lines can be the most interesting and riveting, because the audience is interactive in discovery of what is intended by the actors and film maker. So have the strength and courage to have an experience with the material and other actors whenever you work, and you will receive the benefit of learning and growing from your own experience.

The use of energy in film acting

The degree of intensity a film actor can generate in his art is due largely to the level of energy he is able and willing to work with. Master teacher Charles Conrad said “The importance of energy is paramount. Most vital and of chief concern is this question of energy. When you are acting, you are on a very high level of energy. Energy is necessary to release the creative unconscious so it may work for you. You must be like the racer at the starting gate; poised and ready to spring. Seek out the experience with great energy and yet, even with this vitality you will have to run your ass off every game.”
This energy is self generated. It comes from inside the actor, from the source of all life, whatever that is. And as such it can be turned up or down. Up is more interesting and unpredictable, as the impulses are followed and given expression more freely. Free your instrument with high energy and complete commitment to responding truthfully to the given circumstances. When you can be in control of being out of control, totally free to allow impulse to determine your responses and behavior, you have a magnificent skill. When the only rule or restriction is that nobody gets hurt, including yourself, and nothing gets broken unintentionally you have great freedom. You can learn how to generate great energy with practice at using a little more each time you work. It is important to have a safe environment like an acting class, workshop, or group where you are encouraged to experiment with higher energy levels, and have a trusted supervisor or teacher who can stop the work if it becomes dangerous. You need not be alarmed, in 41yrs. of working with this high energy, I have never seen any negative results. Creative energy tends to be constructive, and not destructive.
This level of energy is often called Fight, or Flee energy. The energy created when we believe we are in situations where we are going to have to fight or run to protect ourselves. The energy created by fear and anger is very strong, and can be valuable in generating high energy. Remember this is all a game, playing with imaginary given circumstances, no one gets hurt, nothing gets broken.
Practice and experimentation can be used to reach this high excitation. Once you are able to generate high energy you then can learn to let it flow through a relaxed body, your instrument, and let the music play you. This can be achieved using the basics of good art; Focus and Attention away from self; accept and commit fully to the premise; remove all judgment; respond truthfully in the moment; and play! Play is always more creative than work! Film Acting and a career in it can be extremely challenging. You are best served to love it all, the art, the craft, and certainly the business. Remember it is show business, and like it or not necessary if you want to make any money in this industry. We can learn to love selling, after all you’ve got the finest product there is, Yourself. So take a good honest look at yourself and fall in love with what you see.
Peter Looney
Professional union (SAG;AFTRA;AEA) actor for 40yrs. Professional film acting teacher in Los Angeles for 28yrs.

Detective Work

One of the things I enjoy the most about acting now is being the detective, or investigator discovering the facts that affect the character I am going to play. When I get the audition sides, or the script if available, the fun begins. My task is to gather as much information as I can figure out from the written material about my character, the rest of the cast’s relationships to me, the story line, and how my character fits into that. In other words, a whole lot of questions to find personal answers for.

Since good acting is responding truthfully to imaginary circumstances, it is necessary to know what those circumstances are, what the premise of the story and the individual scenes are about. Those wonderful words that question the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY of the written material for your character’s behavior if answered with the facts as given will give you a wealth of information to start building your character on a solid factual foundation. Once I discover as many facts as I can, then the questions become how can those facts effect and influence my character’s behavior? Now my juices can be stimulated by making all the information I’ve discovered personal and important to me. I now get to imagine a relationship to every person, place, and thing my character comes in contact with.

Sanford Meisner always asked us “What makes your heart beat a little faster?” What excites you? What turns you on? This is some of the best part of your motivation work, the finding out of just what does make your heart beat a little faster. We’re not talking about the character, and what you think would motivate them. We are talking about you, yourself, and nobody else. You see motivation only works if it has the power to stimulate and affect your behavior, both your emotions and actions.  And you can not get away by faking it or lying, you are either affected or not, and the camera can see the difference. And why would you want anything less than the most truthful, powerful experience possible? Remember, if is it is not important, and meaningful to you as the character, how can you expect it to matter to your audience?

Do yourself and everyone else involved a favor, and invest in yourself by doing your homework. Ask yourself the questions. Search out the facts. Choose relationships. Give yourself strong personal motivation for all your character says and does. Make it matter to you personally, and you will get to experience the material in a way that teaches you as surely as reality, for you have made it real for yourself and for your audience. Do your detective  work each and every time you work on material, and it will become an automatic and very beneficial tool for all your preparation to audition and work.

Peter Looney

Professional film acting teacher and coach in Los Angels for 28yrs.

Professional SAG;AFTRA;AEA actor for 40yrs.

Creating

I like to think of film acting as an art form because it lets me examine creating. That’s my understanding of what art is: creation. We have the opportunity each time we work to express our experience of the moment through our individual unique self, by allowing the truth of how we feel about it to be seen. You may have seen how important this is in other things I’ve written about, and in creation it is paramount to me. The camera does not let us get away with pretending, it can see and show us whether we are having an experience or just pretending. Charles Conrad said “There is a visible difference in a “breakdown” which is planned and one which surfaces when you are not planning .”

Since this is our fate as film and television actors. We have the opportunity, and I think the responsibility to create from the truth of our experience of the moment; at the exact same time this experience is captured on film. Silent Film Star Louise says it precisely, “The actor’s sole hope is to set free his honest spontaneity.”

We are certainly blessed by the necessity of looking at, and studying creation. For me, it takes me to witness from a source of beauty and awe for how nature and life do this naturally. And yet all life, plants and animals, change upon becoming aware of being observed. It alters our behavior. We have the challenge of knowing we are being watched, and still, we have to express the truth of our experience. For a lie is never as good.

Looking at the source of creation reveals to me a master artist that can not be described. The brilliance and perfection of each and every moment, and thing, is undeniable. This same creative mind is within us all. Realizing this sets me free to use my imagination to discover, and create my character in the role I am playing. I get to find my personal motivation for how I get to respond to every person, place, and thing my character comes in contact with in the storyline. We call this preparation. We prepare by stretching our imagination all the possible and impossible ways we feel the script, the director, the DP, and all the other co-operative artists in the production could take you. Then we must drop all that and be totally truthful in the moment of shooting. It’s one of life’s greatest games. In preparation the imagination will educate us in some possibilities of the experience to come when shooting. However, we must be able to let go of any set results or else we become stuck in past ideas, and miss the truth of the moment.