Transitioning To Screen

Hey Mike! How do you trust yourself with screen work? I trust myself when it comes to theatre but I can't seem to trust myself on screen - Sarah

Hey Sarah

Start again

Before we get into it, lets give up on any results, belief systems, or ideas of how screen acting “should” be that might be in the drivers seat

I had a bit of a shock when I realised how much other peoples’ ideas of performing on screen was driving my work

I wanted to bring it back to what made me light up - what energised me?

First - Purpose

I went for a walk, pulled out my phone, pressed record and spent 60 minutes recording myself trying to answer the question “why do I act?”

Whats my why for doing what I do?

Just talk, without editing, for an hour straight

An hour later (which, holy smokes, I found difficult) I discovered there were 2 ideas I kept looping back to on the recording

I wrote them down

Second - My Way

I pulled together my favourite screen scenes of all time, the ones which made me feel like life is worth living

What did I think they all had in common?

What was it about those performances which gave me clues as to how I could shift my paradigm about acting on screen

I wrote them down

I then thought about the moments when I felt like I had actually performed in a way which I was proud of

Even if there were only a few, I still had little glimpses, little wins of when I had experienced bliss in front of the lens

I wrote them down

Third - Practice

Go practice this where it actually counts

Normalise the new choices in front of the lens

Maybe include some external accountability in the form of a friend, colleague or coach

If its too uncomfortable, start smaller, lower the bar

Try find that wee bit outside of your comfort zone

Too much and it might be overwhelming 

And overwhelm = inaction (shut down)

We want little wins here, Sarah 

I know I’m not giving you direct answers

Because I’m trying to give you something which I believe to be far more important

Concepts 

For me, I realised that when I pressed record on the camera it was like a dragon entered the room

My throat would close up, I would fake a smile or a look

I would protect myself from letting the camera see me

Why?

Because I felt like I wasn’t enough

That I had to do something more, be something more in order for the lens to accept me

I realised I had to make friends with my dragon

Make my dragon smaller :)

One way forward - lean in

I had to go first

I had to accept myself as I am, and thus the lens would accept me

Actually - side note here

Will Smith talks about this 

He brings it back to the 101 of self development;

The lens represented the parent whom he had to work harder for as I child in order to achieve their love

Who did he believe he had to be in order to get their love vs who was he never allowed to be?

Some interesting questions.

For me, I realised I wanted to rebuild my foundations about what I thought screen acting was

So I started with a clean slate

Nothing

Can I do nothing?

Can I simply breathe as myself in front of the lens?

Actually be where I am as opposed to trying to show, pretend, protect, act, cover, hide

What am I really trying to get at here?

I needed to practice simply being me in front of the lens

Why?

Because I needed to let my body experience that its okay to simply be me in front of the camera

That I am enough

Even if I’m just breathing as myself

It’s enough

The more I trusted myself doing nothing, the more I began trusting myself doing something 

Hope this helps

x