Why Action/ReAction can save a performance

Many actors wonder why they need to go to the trouble of orchestrating their performances as the Action/ReAction technique demands. They have been taught to be 'in the moment' and feel that what they are feeling, if authentic, should be sufficient.

Unfortunately, film imposes certain technological problems with this. Note that Wendy is in one moment in the two-shot and yet another moment in her close-up. The two takes don't match when you try to edit them together. I can't tell you how many actors have complained that their scene was cut from a movie on which they had worked. I just assume it has to do with their takes not matching thus making the scene difficult or impossible to edit.

With a well choreographed performance that is consistent from take to take, the actor becomes an editor's dream--just one of the benefits of Action/ReAction.

Incorporating resolution into Action/ReAction

The best way to describe the Action/ReAction technique that I created is 'orchestrated'. In doing the work on a scene, an actor must chart the phrasing of the dialogue, designate the interstitial reactions that can have a duration of a split second or several beats and author the unspoken thoughts that come as reactions to what another character says or does. In all the ways, it is like a composer orchestrating a symphony.

The technique calls for an exacting precision for two reasons; it is designed to produce performances that are the same and equally compelling on each of the takes (master, medium, 2-shot, close-up, etc.) that will be used to cut together a scene so as to match and, secondly, to achieve the most important goal of any performance--to put the audience in the moment.

In speaking with a fellow writer, I mentioned that a story must have a universal truth at its core without which it becomes a story of plot. In the same manner, I think it is important for a character to have his or her own universal truth that is discovered during the course of a play or film. Usually this would occur at the resolution of the story (assuming that the character is resolved, which is not always the case--witness Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia). As Peter O'Toole's character in The Stuntman said, "It's not what he's eating, but what's eating him that makes it... sort of interesting."

In the accompanying clip, I asked Wendy to find a moment in a monologue I had written for her at which point her epiphany would occur. After she decided on the place, I asked what interstitial was being performed there. Low volume anger was the answer. I then asked her to choose an emotion contradictory to the anger (or irritation) she had chosen and perform it after the interstitial anger and prolong it--four whole notes rather than a sixteenth, for example--in order to underscore the moment of realization the character was experiencing.

This was the first time Wendy has performed this exercise and I think she did a very good job of it.

Rachael monologue segment

This clip is from an Action/ReAction lesson I did with Rachael on Skype. It amazes me how we can use this technology to interact between Australia and America as effortlessly as though we were in the same room. For this exercise, I had asked Rachael to apply what she has learned to date about Action/ReAction to a monologue she had previously performed and taped in order to see how the performance had changed.

Here, we are working on interstitial reactions. Interstitial simply means something placed between two other things--in this case, a reaction placed between her dialogue phrases.

Rachael is combining two interstitial reactions back-to-back to reveal something of the internal conflict of the character and her complex make-up. Her sudden and involuntary laugh shows us who she used to be before she was stricken with her illness. Just as suddenly, she is stopped by the realization that she will never again be that carefree person and that her future will only worsen as time goes by. It is a moment of raw truth for the character.

While interstitial reactions are meant to look as though they are related to the inner workings of the character's emotions and inner thoughts, their primary function is something completely different and has more to do with building an audience among the constituent groups in the audience. In other words, building the market--growing the audience--for her brand.

Rachael's monologue

This is a monologue that I wrote for Rachael to incorporate her brand facets. She uses interstitials and the reveal of a universal truth for the character from the Action/ReAction technique to orchestrate the performance. This video was recorded from a computer screen during a Skype lesson.

An Action/ReAction lesson on Skype

This is a Skype lesson with Rachael in progress. In this clip, Rachael is composing a sequence of two emotional responses to dialogue spoken to her by me. She decides how much time and importance to give to the two emotions. This is part of a Skype lesson as we are in opposite hemispheres.

Wendy performing her 'audition set'

Wendy is performing the 'audition set' portion of my Action/ReAction technique.

Personal Branding

When one assesses the need for an application of brand management strategies, it requires the existence of a brand and a contemplation of its characteristics. What does the brand stand for? What are its signature 'deliverables'? Most importantly, what can it offer to the marketplace or an audience that cannot be acquired elsewhere and which imbues the brand with exclusivity?

It is incumbent upon a brand to author and issue its own definition.

Every one of us has been branded to some degree by friends, associates and even people with only a passing acquaintance of us. It is incumbent upon a brand to author and issue its own definition. Otherwise, it may suffer from a seventieth percentile perception of it. At the seventieth percentile one sees a canvas and spilled paint; at the ninetieth one sees a Jackson Pollack rendering of a seasonal upstate New York. Both perceptions are accurate as far as they go. Through which filter do you want your brand perceived?

The strategic management of a personal brand can accomplish many things. The most notable is that it places control of its future in the hands of the brand. Since the goal of personal branding is to maximize the yield from an individual's signature skills it is important that one not leave too much of the branding process to chance.

Yesterday, I conducted a seminar/workshop in which actors had to present their brand in the context of a cold reading in which they had only one line of dialogue. It was fascinating because every actor had the same line to read but each performance was unique and each actor presented the 'sharp end of the stick' of their brand making for an forgettable reading.

An exercise in Action/ReAction

Wendy doing well with an exercise I gave her.

Branding & The Question-Asker Chronicles

I have been involved with branding since the early eighties when I founded my film and TV repertory company. Patterning it after the old Hollywood studio system as I did, the process was to brand the talent and then produce material--movies and television shows--to monetize the brand by selling the products we produced in addition to marketing the talent to others in the industry who would to want to use them as well.

Recently, I've been working with my friend Tom Gurnee with his brand and promotion, which has been easy for me to do inasmuch as his brand is easily defined; he is best at playing characters who are quietly menacing, driven and determined. The articulation of his brand is as easy to understand as is the brand slogan "The ultimate driving machine". What is more, when you have Tom in front of you, that definition is what is looking you in the face.

As part of our work, I wrote a monologue for Tom to play with and use whenever he would be asked to do something that could show his skills. I dictated it to him in about three minutes and thought no more of it until Tom suggested we tape it. I had forgotten what I had written, so he kindly sent me a copy of it. Reading it anew, it occurred to me that we should do more than tape it. I felt we should promote the character and idea as the starting concept for a series--whether a series of short, interstitial programs or longer more conventional half-hour or hour long programs didn't matter. I saw the character and the dynamic of his involvement with the unseen recipient of his "question" to be both enigmatic and foreboding. Thoughts of the old Twilight Zone and Dexter came to mind.

We'll see where this goes.