26 Nov The Choices We Make
Every day in our lives, we make choices. The choices we make shape the next steps of our day, our week, our year, our lives. Making decisions is important, but sometimes we forget the need to make choices when performing a character, making a decision to enhance our character’s backstory or our performance to create a realistic, emotional connection with our own character performance as well as with our audience.
As actors, a lot of people not in the entertainment industry (and even some that are) think our job is easy: we just show up on set, say a few lines, and then head home. What most of these people do not realize is that, from the moment we book the job to the day we are wrapped on set, we have to do a lot of work. Whether we need to improve our hygiene, eat healthier and sleep a few extra hours to avoid looking tired and being able to have the stamina to work a 13-hour day for one, two, or multiple days in a row, or even when we prepare for set by creating a backstory, memorizing lines, and everything in between, we are making choices.
The choices we make impact not only our careers, but our lives as well. The mindset of a performance should incorporate the idea that during a performance, this character takes over, and the choices made are purposeful and accurate based on who a specific character is. With each step a character takes, each breath a character makes, and each line a character says, it is a choice that we, as actors, choose to do. We choose to embody a character, to bring life to a character, and if we do not make choices, our character is forgotten, our performance feels subpar because we are not sure what we want to do, and we are not enhancing the quality and connection for the audience.
If we just make a choice, everything else falls into place. If this is true, then what else is true? Start small or start big, whatever is easier, just make a choice.
Brad Heller, in his own words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kLEVvb_Qks&t=148s