Everything You Need to Know About Acting for Film

By James F Simpson

Everything you need to know about Acting for Film. James Simpson has over thirty films experience, with films starring actors including Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Charlize Theron to name a few.
This book details what you need to know about film acting, including techniques, exercises, self taping, auditioning, being on set, from camera techniques to preparing and getting an agent.
Knowledge is power. This book helps you find the knowledge you need to act in films.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9780244807108

Book preview

AUTHOR

ACTING FOR FILM

The film actor is essentially acting for just one person, the camera. Even vocally the actor does not need to project as in theatre, because they will normally bean individually miked, as well as having a boom microphone recording the general acoustic dialogue and sound on the set.

Film acting is;

Intimate

Personnel

Subtle

Sensitive

Emotional

Natural

Real

Believable

Most of the shots in film are close up shots requiring performances from the actor that shows the subtlest facial expression and requires convincing characterization that comes over as real and natural as well as compelling.

The vocal delivery required must match the visual performance and the level of reality that gives emotion and individuality that is convincing and works for the characterization.

This natural approach to acting requires confidence, clarity and focus, particularly from an actor who has probably been trained and whose experience is primarily in ‘theatre’.

Film requires a new set of skills and a discipline that is difficult even for the experienced actor.

Theatre performances are linear in respect of the performance which starts at the beginning of the play and the scenes are sequential, building the story in plot and dynamics scene by scene until the finale, the climax - the end.

In film, the scenes are hardly ever sequential and may start with the end scene (the climax) and potentially finish filming with the opening scene. This creates an enormous challenge to the actor, managing the emotional and character arc of their role.

I will go through the logistics and explain the way film works throughout the book, but the techniques needed to be able to be flexible and still deliver cohesive and convincing characters requires a creative discipline that does not often come naturally for the inexperienced film actor.

The other issue that many actors have to deal with is the ‘isolation’ of the film set. Actors have to act on set, in front of a crew that can be up to a hundred people, most of whom the actor has never met before.

The actor has to perform and repeat their performance consistently many times in this stressful and demanding environment. The actor can feel lonely, isolated, pressured and detached, compared to performing in a theatre where the audience react and show their appreciation openly and instantly.

This isolation can become an actor’s ‘Achilles’ Heel’.

One of the most important techniques for the actor to be able to build confidence on the set is to understand how all the various elements and moving parts on a film set actually works.

Knowledge is everything and understanding the rational for why different elements of the film making process happens can help the actor prepare and anticipate what is actually happening and help give confidence and help to keep control and remove the potential of feeling ‘isolated’.

One of the challenges for the film actor is performing their scenes out of script sequence and delivering a performance that has the right emotional arc in line with the script and their characterization of the role.

ACTOR’S CONFIDENCE

Confidence is the key for an actor not only to succeed in the audition but also to deliver the award winning performance on the set. Confidence in yourself is essential to ensuring that all your creative energy is focused on the positive, what you do best, not on any distractions and negatives such as the fear of not delivering or the fear of failing.

From your self-taping to actually walking into the audition room, you have to own the space. Your confidence should allow you to take the risks needed to push the limits of your talent to achieve the performance needed to ‘book the part’. The casting director and director should recognize your confidence as you walk into the audition room and they will have seen it, in your self tape - which is what got you into ‘the room’.

From the second you slate your self-taping, to the way you walk in and announce yourself; your level of confidence needs be evident and compelling. Casting directors want confident actors who they know will deliver because that’s what they are hired for - to find actors who can deliver and give the director performers to choose from.

The casting director’s reputation is on the line too, so confidence and reliability are essential ingredients for the actor to be on any casting director’s radar for the future.

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You are trying to create the same confident zone that you are in when you rehearse the lines in the comfort of your own living room.

You need to transfer that same feelings and confidence into the actual audition room. If you don’t develop a process for doing this then you are reducing the potential of ‘booking any role’. 

This doesn’t mean that you are not nervous, nerves comes with the territory and in fact they are an essential part of the adrenalin that helps any actor deliver the emotion and level of performance needed to deliver the ‘killer’ role.

The issue is being in control of yourself and having the right balance between your nerves in the moment and the self-confidence of delivering.

The more auditions you do and the more experience you gain, the easier the auditions become.  They become instinctive and part of you everyday life and your acting instinct.

REFRAMING YOUR FEARS

Most actors have nerves, fear and trepidation. Firstly in auditioning for a role and then when they get it, fear of not delivering. Then the fear of bad reviews and the fear of not booking another job! Does it ever stop?

First thing to say is nearly every single actor has experienced all of these. Some really successful actors still experience them but have developed effective techniques to deal with and overcome them.

As with all ‘fear’ the secret to dealing with it is to find ways to reframe it into positive outcomes. Actors ‘fear of failing’ is the single biggest problem in affecting the actor’s mind-set and approach to their art. It can potentially be a crippling negative on their talent, restricting their creative ability and the opportunity to get film roles.

So what is this fear in reality?

It’s the fear of failing, running a movie in your mind, gazing into the future and picturing a negative outcome. This movie can even manifest itself in dreams and create mental stress, which will produce physical tension, and stress. This will have a major affect on your creativity and performance. The paradox is that your mind is doing this to protect you from the potential of failing, but in doing this is not only setting you up to fail but nearly guaranteeing it!

There are three main situations where actor’s fear is most focused;

The Audition

The Rehearsal

Filming on set

KNOWING YOURSELF

Acting and particularly film acting is very difficult and unforgiving. In film your performance is filmed at 25 frames a second, for everyone to look at and analysis frame by frame. That means that there are twenty-five different pictures of you, every second of the filming.

Your confidence is about yourself and that includes your talent and your looks. You need to be realistic and truthful about yourself.

This sounds obvious but so many actors I have auditioned have been unrealistic in their projection of themselves, whether it is their physical appearance or the range of their perceived ‘playing age’.

You need to be aware of your body and the type of roles you are suitable to play. Actors always like to expand their ‘playing age’ range.

Take advice on what your agent, your fellow actors, even friends think! (Although friends may tell you what they think you want to hear).

Your body, be realistic … do you really think that you fit the description of the character they want. Acting requires all types of people – all types of looks. This is not the modeling world, which often requires stereotypes and very specific requirements for jobs such as catwalk modeling etc.

If you’re not realistic about your ‘playing age’ and your ‘look’ you will not only be setting yourself up for repeated rejection, but you will also run the risk of annoying casting directors.

Casting directors get very angry at any form of misrepresentation by actors. Headshots that are not current and do not reflect your current look or telling the casting director that you can do something that you really can’t.

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Don’t fool yourself and definitely don’t try and fool them, they’ve seen it all and they won’t call you in the future.

Have confidence in the talents you have. Develop your skills, hone them and believe in them and get the best out of them.

BE AWARE OF YOUR HABITS

Habits are something that we all have and they’re part of our everyday life.

In principal there’s nothing wrong with having them except when they become too repetitive and annoying. As an actor you want to make every character different and not have them over shadowed by your own personal habits.

You need to be aware of your habits. These could be;

Flaring your nostrils

Touching your face

Touching your nose

Licking your lips

Sighing

Having your hands in your pockets

Crossing your arms

Playing with your nails

Playing with your hair

Excessive blinking

Closing your eyes for seconds

Exaggerated eyebrow use

Flipping your hair

Make you own list, ask your close friend! When you tape yourself be aware of them. Are they annoying, do you use them too much?

More the point are they distracting or unsuitable for the character you are playing?

These can be adjusted as long as you are aware of them. On stage they will be a lot less noticeable, but in film with close up shots, they will be under close scrutiny for all to see!

ACCENTS

Be realistic about your accents. Don’t assume you can busk it on the day. If you know you can carry off accents such as American, Scottish etc., then state it.

If you feel that you want to be able to offer more accent range then take lessons from someone who specializes in the accent. There are also some good on line resources for copying and practicing accents. Search ‘accents for actors’.

Try accent exercises with actor friends.

Swap skill training with actor friends. If your actor friend has a good American accent then spend the afternoon chatting as if you were in the US, but get them to criticize you and correct mistakes.

KNOW HOW TO ACT FOR THE CAMERA

A film set can be a very lonely place for an actor. There is no audience to show encouragement and appreciation. Film crews tend to be neutral to actors. You will be in front of the camera, which will be run by the DOP (Director of Photography), the focus puller whose job is to ensure it is in focus and the camera crew.

The 1st AD actually runs the set and tells everyone what is happening and stops and starts the physical filming for the director who will be watching it in the video village on monitors.

You will have rehearsed your scene with the director but on set it will be different with the props and all the set dressing.

The director will rehearse the scene on set. This may be broken into segments depending on the complexity of the action and the planned camera moves. This rehearsal on set is called ‘blocking’. The director will work with you on the movement and you need to take careful mental note of these moves. You need to be able to repeat your performance multiple times and be precise where you move on every take. This is essential because the director will have decided with the DOP the position of the camera and the choice of lens, in order to achieve a certain look. This may involve the camera being stationary on a tripod, or a tracking shot where the camera is on a dolly and moves on tracks or even a steadicam where