Voice: The Cinderella of the Film Industry Overview: Voice is little regarded in the film business, either by actors or directors. Sets are dry, smoky, unhealthy places. Unlike theatre, many actors don’t see the need to warm up or cool down for screen. Directors hope to ‘fix it in post’. Yet voice is vital for […]
Category: Acting Training
Because they are talking to themselves… Because they are on learned lines which is highly unnatural… Because they are embarrassed by the script… Because the new lines came under the hotel bedroom door at 3am Because THEY came in the hotel bedroom door at 3am… Because it’s a night shoot – the night after a […]
In order to fly free, actors – probably all artists – have to let go of the controller. Shut down the monitor. Turn off the ‘decider’. Kick out the censor. If you put in the ‘ammunition’ – what you need – why you say those words – where you are – what has led to […]
It is a time of rituals. I have decorated my tree, brought in holly and sent cards. There are presents under the fairy lights and a wreath of green on my door. The larders are full and the candles are lit. The Winter Solstice has provoked rites since time began – predating any Christian beliefs. […]
(This was first published in ‘The Great Acting Blog 2011 but links were invalid..so updated.) Actors are often obsessed with sub-text and when they find it, they want to share it. But what is sub-text? Literally it is what lies beneath the words. But we deal in sub-text all the time, even when we are […]
Someone recently contacted me to see how I feel about microphones being used in theatre. Was projection dead? If so – why? Is it because we are more used to recorded voices? And what should we do? His students found conversational plays the hardest in which to reach an audience past the fifth row. I […]
Mel offers Skype coaching if it is not possible to meet face to face. It has taken me a long time to feel that this is a viable option, but with advances in technology and reports back from actors that it has been worthwhile and valuable to them, I have decided to add this […]
When you are fighting to get auditions, change your agent, fix your showreel, cope with earning enough money in a job that lets you off for castings – it’s easy for the joy to go out of the work. ‘The world is too much with us…’ as Wordsworth put it. But there is a joy! […]
‘Subtext: Any meaning or set of meanings which is implied rather than explicitly stated in a literary work…’ (Oxford Reference) I did a blog a while back called Concealing and Revealing about what lies beneath words (what doesn’t! We’d all get arrested or ostracised from society if we couldn’t hide our thoughts…) and I’ve […]
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