2.3 Demonstrate the artistic and technical skills of a screen actor
Physical and Vocal Skills
Since film acting is very different from theatre acting, it requires different use of skills, both physical and vocal. Whilst theatre requires skills such as loud volume and exaggerated movements, film acting is more subtle in many ways. However, this method of acting is just as complicated to master.
Where lines must be completely memorised for a theatre production, the use of camera equipment means that you can do more than one take in film acting to get the scene right. The lines should still be memorised, however mistakes can be fixed through editing.
In addition to this, where a stage production is performed in one run-through, a film production will take longer to complete, with many scenes often being filmed out of order. This means the actor will have to be flexible and adjust to contrasting scenes quickly and efficiently.
In our lessons, we looked at how different actors used both physical and vocal skills to portray their characters.
Vocal:
Vocal skills are the use of controlling different aspects of your voice to convey different characters, personalities or emotions. This includes control of tone, pitch, rhythm, pace and volume. These can be combined and used separately in order to have specific effects on the intended audience.
In film acting specifically you typically use less exaggerated movements and vocal skills, as unlike theatre you do not need to make sure the entire room can hear you. As your "audience" is a camera rather than a physical audience, there are different rules when interacting with it. Unless breaking the fourth wall, you must be aware of the camera and remain in shot but ignore it, pretending it is not there. This differs to acting for theatre, where you are facing the audience and speaking almost to them. The acting in general is more subtle and natural.
An example of an effective use of vocal skills in cinema would be Jigsaw in the movie Saw. The actor, Tobin Bell, uses a raspy and aggressive tone of voice to convey his personality and create a sinister feeling to the character. He also speaks slowly and at a low volume, slightly contrasting to his use of tone as well as often the actions and behaviour of other characters around him, to increase the feeling of unease and create a buildup of tension.
During one of our lessons, we also watched videos of different actors who are famous for effectively using vocal skills in their career. These included:
Christopher Walken:
Arguably one of the most famous film actors of his generation, Christopher Walken has had a successful career over decades, and has grown to be an iconic face of many movies.
He created a strong reputation for himself using a unique range of vocal skills. Most notably, this included his thick Queens accent, and also the use of uncommon intonations inspired by the broken English of his immigrant parents. He also uses odd pauses in unusual places. This unique set of vocal skills creates an engaging and iconic voice, and one that an audience can easily focus on.
Whoopi Goldberg:
Goldberg began her career in Broadway and stand-up, creating a name for herself as an expressive, energetic character. Her voice is unique and commanding, through her use of volume and tone, which has made it iconic in the film industry.
These vocal skills continued into her performances onscreen, which include Sister Act, The Colour Purple and The Associate, with some alterations to make it more fitting for film. Despite her often being typecast as loud, energetic characters due to this unique set of skills, she has also shown incredible versatility by taking on more "serious" roles.
Vincent Price:
Known widely as the voice of the horror genre, Vincent Price has made use of his vocal skills to create a name for himself over decades of work. Often hired for horror and gothic movies due to his unique tone and pace, speaking slowly and with a low pitch and ominous, foreboding tone, easily creating tension for an audience, his voice has become iconic and easily recognisable.
His vocal skills are not limited to just film, however. He is also highly recognisable for his monologue in Michael Jackson's hit song Thriller, helping to build tension to the climax of the song and help to make it as iconic as it is known to be. This leaves him a legacy in multiple forms of media.
In our lesson we watched some videos of actors who effectively used physical and vocal skills to portray their characters.
Physical:
Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker
The link to this video can be found here.
Joaquin Phoenix earned an oscar for his performance
Contrasting personality traits – audience pulled in two directions
Cany contrasting images and themes used to invoke emotions in the audience.
Weighed down vs free – Arthur's unique walk, looks weighed down, arms by sides, limping, no confidence –
Arthur has an unusual run, flat-footed, battling against gravity - looks like he doesn’t know how to run
Joker is the opposite – free, in control, inspired by a tap dancer, dances more and more often (improvised), loose - massive contrast to arthur
Improvised lines giving us more of a glimpse into his character
The joker in him is slowly awakened throughout the film and Phoenix uses both physical and vocal skills to present this
Laughing vs crying – joker uses laugh as a source of pain – inspired by pseudobobar effect (innapropriate laughing/crying) - it sounds like laughing but looks like crying, invoking discomfort in the audience – internal battle shown through ticks on face/lips twitching
Joker is constantly torn between these two versions of himself
Vocal:
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood
The link to the video can be found here.
- Establishes his character immediately through the use of vocal skills - we hear him before we see him
- Power dynamics are a strong theme throughout There Will Be Blood - in every scene Daniel creates a presence of power through his voice
- He is challenged through the character of Eli, and this is presented through how they speak to each other - a fight for control
- They use subtle orders and imperatives to begin with, to first
- He is competitive in it - not letting others speak - he wants to keep his power
- Daniel begins with a strong position in power but as the plot progresses the roles are reversed - this is shown through the use of vocal skills as Daniel begins with a lot of vocal control but as the scenes grow to a climax, he loses it - for example his line "I've abandoned my child"
- At the very end of the film he regains control when interacting with Eli, but not through his vocal skills, which he is still losing control of - begins the film speaking firmly and with people listening, but ends it almost alone and unpredictable in his vocal patterns, yelling and slurring
- Daniel commonly asserts vocal control through cruel means, such as with his adopted son who has gone deaf - he refuses tolisten to him or his interpreter, instead forcing him to speak
"Family" Performance - Character Analysis
In my performance I am playing two characters, Nigel (Scene 7) and Lisa (Scene 19).
I annotated my script of these scenes with notes on how I would act on certain lines, using physical and vocal skills, to make sure my performance was consistent.
I also made sure to ask myself questions about my character to get a better understanding of them, and work out their motivations and emotions in the scene.
Nigel:
Who am I?
I am Bethan's husband and a father to Lisa and Becky - and a drunk. I serve as the closest thing to an antagonist the story has.
How old am I?
I am 57 years old.
Where am I?
I am in Y Capel, at my mother-in-law, Eileen's 80th birthday party.
What am I feeling?
I am irritated at the DJ for not understanding me, and growing impatient.
What surrounds me?
I am surrounded by my wife's family members, including my children. There is also a DJ who I am speaking to in the scene, and a bartender offscreen.
What time is it?
It is 6:10pm at the time of my scene.
What is my relationship to the other characters?
My relationship between most of my family members is tense in the scene, as they do not want me to make a fool of myself.
What are the given circumstances?
My relationship with my wife, Bethan, has been growing more and more strained recently, and I am suspicious that she may be having an affair.
It is her mother's 80th birthday party.
I am drunk at a party and talking to the DJ
What do I want?
I want the DJ to play my wife and I's song
What stands in my way?
I don't actually know what our song is and am too drunk to think straight, and am becoming increasingly frustrated with the DJ.
I am also very suspicious of my wife and her work friend.
Annotated Script
Backstory:
I also decided to create a backstory for my character to help create more of a connection with them and improve my performance.
I imagined that Nigel must have had some trust issues with his wife, possibly due to his own self esteem which would also explain why he was relying on drink so much. I also thought he would likely be quite distant from Bethan's and his own family, because of how standoffish he was acting in the scene. I imagined that he was an alcoholic as when we see him he is acting irrationally because of it, and that things between him and Bethan have been tense for a while.
Lisa:
Who am I?
I am the daughter of Bethan and Nigel, and the granddaughter of Eileen.
What are the given circumstances?
I have just caught my mum outside with another man.
What do I want?
I want to make sure everyone has a nice night and stays a happy family, and make sure my mum does not leave my dad.
How old am I?
I am 32 years old.
Where am I?
I am in Y Capel, at my grandmother's 80th birthday party.
What am I feeling?
I am angry and upset at my mother, and confused at why she would betray my dad.
What surrounds me?
I am surrounded by my family members, and feel as though I am caught between my father and mother.
What time is it?
8:20pm.
What is my relationship to the other characters?
My relationship with my mother is tense because of the circumstances, and I am not very close to my father because I know that he can be difficult, but I still care about him.
Annotated Script
Backstory:
I also decided to create a backstory for my character to help create more of a connection with them and improve my performance.
From inferring from the scene, I could tell that Lisa was very shocked at her mother's behaviour, which tells me that she had a lot of trust in her and suggests they were close. The way she talks about her father suggests that things have always been tense between them, but she still cares about him, as she does defend him in part to her mother.
I decided to imagine that her backstory was that she came from a fairly loving family, however there had always been problems with her dad and so she grew closer to her mum. She then moved away when she grew up and did not go back to see her parents for a long time, which would explain some of the tension in the scene.
REHEARSAL DIARY
25/11/24
Today I focused on learning my lines for my performance. I decided the best way for me to do this was to use the first letter writing technique, as this had worked well for me in past rehearsals.
26/11/24
Today I continued to practice my lines for my performance. First I used a line learning technique where I wrote down the first letter of each word, and then rehearsed the scene with my partner, Rean. We ran through our scene together and I tried to recall the lines from memory, without the use of my scipt where I could, to help remember them.
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