Learn to Act like it's 1889

[robcat2075]

At animation school they talked about avoiding acting cliches like the W pose and the finger point.

 

Here's a guide to some others!

 

11 Tragic Emotions and How to Properly Act Them on Stage (According to an 1889 Guide)

 

Mental Pain:

 

 

The whole book can be seen on Google books

[robcat2075]

"Good-bye" also works for "Removing a Denture"

 

[Rodney]

Fun!

 

We should add that one for reference in TaoA:M exercise on posing.

 

I note that there are some interesting matters in that book.

I'd be very surprised if someone hasn't tried to narrate the book in film form.

 

It's also interesting to note that (regarding the poses which should be avoided) they do grant a nice starting point from which to find a desirable pose.

An example might be where dialogue is stated with the dreaded finger pointing to place emphasis on the moment.

Rather than use the pointing finger the one delivering the dialogue might reach out and grab the other character which then invites a response from the receiver who then reacts not to the words but to the very idea that personal space has been violated. Of course the scenario and characters will dicate.

 

Ah, fun stuff!

 

If only we had infinite time to devote to such things we could pose the TaoA:M characters in these 'Do Not Use' poses just to get it out of our systems.

 

Gestures to avoid notwithstanding, there is some good stuff in this book.

Some of these acting 'rules' would be fun to incorporate into animation (and were probably a lot harder to accomplish for real actors):

[Rodney]

Some of this reminds me of the language of rigging.

The rigging isn't meant to force anyone into a specific pose but rather to allow for variation within a specified range.

 

There is another aspect that calls to mind the desire of many to script action by dialing a specific number/word (ala dope sheet).

 

I suppose as with most things there are extremes and the best approach lies somewhere in between.

One must start somewhere and yet we don't want our performances to be inappropriate, trite or irrelevant.

 

In the following I've merged the notation contents of two pages from the book (36 and 37 I think):

[robcat2075]

One thing that occurred to me as I was hearing lectures on acting is that bad actors, like you see on soap operas, do quite a bit of hand gesturing much like the examples in this book.

 

Good actors, like you see in better films, don't do much hand gesturing. Their hands may be doing something but they're not acting out the emotions with them.

[Rodney]

(From page 90)

 

3rd Dramatic Experience

Go to some building at a late hour of night. Be sure that no one is in the building. It should be very dark. Kneel in the gloom of some upper room, where no light can shine, or in the cellar. Bow the head and place both hands upon the heart. Do not turn around, but imagine that directly behind you is an individual with bloody eyes and ferocious face, who stands with uplifted arms holding an axe over your head ready to strike. If you can do this and feel the flesh crawling, and the roots of your hair trying to stand on end, you may rest assured that you have dramatic talent. People who are predisposed to insanity should not undertake this.

 

Hehe. Had to laugh at this one.

Added: But come to think of it... this follows the general plot of the majority of independent filmmakers efforts in the modern age.

As a matter of fact this is almost the exact plot a fellow student came up with for his final project in a recent class. (although he had a slightly better setup)

[robcat2075]

The only thing missing from that situation is that you have to spend the whole night there to inherit your million dollars.