Stanislavski exercises

• 'Given Circumstances' - This is what Stanislavski works around to build a character eg the setting, the date, the relationships between people, where people have come from
• Stanislavski's ideas were adapted into 'The System' or 'The Method' that are still used widely by many actors today for example famous film actors like Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman use his techniques
• Real I- us
• Dramatic I- the character
• We did the walking exercise although, when I have done this exercise previously, we have been put in pairs and one person had to copy the other and then we switched, this time we just started by all walking around. We then had to pick someone across the room and when told to do so, walk behind and copy them. For me, this caused a problem as the person I had picked to copy was already copying me!
• We also did an exercise where the whole class had to watch one person in the class's actions and follow them exactly and this included whilst speaking, whilst walking and also whilst normally standing still.
• Another exercise was where we were tricked into looking for a pen so, for the first time round, had real motivation to find the pen. We then had to re-act the scene exactly as it was. It showed that when acting, you know exactly what's going to happen so, to be a very good actor, you need to have the same motivation the character would however not over act it.
• Similarly, someone sat in the middle and pretended to read a book without actually reading the words on the page. I learnt that, to make it as natural as possible, you need to not stay too still as normal people tend to fidget and also to be careful of the expression on your face even though you are reading. How your eyes move is also very important when acting this particular action.
• I also learnt that it is useful to observe people often to build up a personal bank of characteristics for example different walking styles. This helps when getting into a character as it makes it more believable as if for instance you were playing someone who was quite bossy you probably wouldn't walk very slowly or slightly hunched.
• After the lesson, I observed the characteristics of one of my friends. I noticed how how she always sat with one leg over the other and was always moving her one foot. I also noticed she was often twiddling with her hair or fiddling with her nails. I also noticed that when she walked she led from her feet and also moved her arms slowly if they were not in her pockets. She also looked down quite a lot. From this, I learnt that I could adopt these similar characteristics when playing someone who is not overly loud but not overly quiet as that is the personality of my friend.