Paint the Scene!

It’s so important to see the vibrant details of your character’s environment. Just as a painter carefully chooses each colour for his palette. An actor needs to be equally prepared when going into a scene. 

Last night I was getting ready to film a scene for my acting class. I felt like I was totally prepared and had created a well-rounded character, but it turns out there was one major ingredient that I was missing. My teacher Marc-Anthony Massiah kept asking me, “Where are you?” “is there a clock on this wall? Or, is there a person standing over here, in the corner waiting to take you to prison? Does the room smell like coffee?” It turns out that I had focussed so much creating my character, that I had neglected to paint the world around her. 

When you add details to your scene, it comes alive for you. That in turn makes it come alive for your audience. It isn’t enough to just build a strong character, if you don’t have a setting for your character to live in. You have to create the world of your character. With Marc-Anthony’s help, I re-painted the scene in my head and added details to my “world”. We filmed another take. Let me tell you, after we watched it, the scene had changed completely!

I envisioned my environment so clearly that I permitted myself to relax. This allowed fun and spontaneous moments to pop up. The more detailed your palette (homework!) is, the more freedom you have to play. Paint the scene!

Written by: Heather Leavoy

Because Nailing Auditions is Important!

I love making sure that I'm fine tuned for any audition. Marc-Anthony, a teacher I talk about a lot,  is holding a workshop on Sunday, February 4. Click that link for the information! It's gonna be a killer class.

http://www.youngscreenactorsacademy.com/myclasses/parttime.php?id=200

Dylan Padgett

Trust is Key

Going through acting classes forces one to be extremely vulnerable. You have to tear down walls that you have been building up sense you were born, and let people into a world that couldn't be more private. Trust is one of the most key elements to any scene. You have to be able to trust your scene partner or else you will drop the scene, and of course they have to be able to trust you. If your partner was going to fall you have to be there to catch them. 


Just as important as trusting your scene partner you have to trust yourself, you have to be able to trust the choices you make. I think that is one of the things i love most about acting there is no "wrong" emotion to feel, it may not be the best choice but its not wrong.


People are programmed to be able to recognize a lie from a facial tick, or a change in a vocal tone. Actors are taught how to remove those ticks and calm those tones. Through practice and constant analysis of how humans are effected we are trained to show truth, even if we don't feel that way or agree. Actors are good and showing a true feeling, because we show an emotion that is real. Acting is never fake, when done right the actor should feel sad, happy, scared, angry, etc. etc. When an actor allows themselves to trust there real emotions they become "believable" because they are able to get to a place of honest emotion, which can not be faked. Trust me.

Dylan Padgett

What I've Learned In Audition Class

I think it is beyond safe to say that when an actor auditions for a scene preparation is key. Kirsten Clarkson, my audition teacher at Young Screen Actors Academy, told me how to create a great audition. The actor needs to take a number of things in to account: The moment before, Emotional change, Nouns, and the Moment after. When you combine all these things effectively you should have an audition that is effective. The Moment Before. When auditioning for a scene having a physical action which depicts the characters objective, where they are coming from and what mind set they are in before you start. Emotional Change. It is highly effective to start the scene showing one emotion and end it showing another. If you go into the scene happy then exit it hysterical and angry, it gives a more dynamic feel for the actor and the scene. Nouns. If a person place or thing is mentioned a reaction needs to be shown. Also its important to know where things are. For example: if your line is “ he’s down by the river.” Point in the direction of where that river is. Left, Right, Down, Up, Diagonal, even point to yourself if you’re talking about yourself. Questions. When you are asked a question but no response is giving, respond physically, Nod yes, shake your head no. Moment After. Have an emotion that depicts the ending incident and that can take you to a new experience. It also should be physical.  Although these are strong audition techniques also apply them to scene work, it will really help keep the scene moving. It will also help your scene partner.

Something that I find helps me a lot when I’m nervous is proper breathing. I was taught taking deep breaths in through your nose and out through your nose slowly, will slow your heart rate and keep that “fight or flight” mind set out of your brain.

One last thing that I learned that is very important is, be polite! Having good manners, being modest, and humble will go a long way when people are talking about you. A good name goes a long way!

The Natural Flow of Things

"Don't direct the scene." That was the note Marc-Anthony gave me in class the other day. It's very important for an actor to do their character homework, building a bio, breathing life into that person you're portraying. However a very interesting thing I found out on friday is that as it is important to figure out who your character is, it is also equally important to make sure you don't try to force a scene to go a certain way (holding on to that homework), it ruins the natural flow of the emotion. 

It is vital that there is a natural flow to scenes or else the actor is just speaking at a body. Although me and my partner were connected I wanted the scene to go one way so I actually ended up dropping my partner accidentally. How do I avoid this? Let my partner truly effect me, be effected before reacting. Now something learned from another teacher at YSAA, Kirsten Clarkson, who is also the Artistic Director, is that you should always have a bias opinion on what is going to happen. That way you can have a natural reaction to things said, done, not said, or not done. 

I hunger to do this scene again on Wednesday so I can go into it with no intention of making a fight start between the two characters. Who knows maybe ill break down, or maybe ill get hysterical. I can't rob myself, or the audience, of that "buzzing" one gets when you see, or feel a real and entertaining scene.'

I love class because it breaks down walls I put up, and I feel like friday really broke down a wall, and I hope next week breaks down another. 

Acting has changed my life, it has made me somebody who I hoped to be and I have just started.

Written by: Dylan Padgett

Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out

Acting is such an interesting thing to me, and even more interesting to people who aren't actors, it is a concept that a lot of people don't fully understand. When i meet people for the first time and they ask me what i do, and i respond with "I'm an actor." there is a couple of ways they go about responding. The first and my personal favourite, " Nice, what have I seen you in?" oh geeze. Well tell me everything you've seen on t.v. or in a theatre and ill let you know if i was in it. Another one of my personal favourites,"Oh nice but what do you want to do for a career." By this point i usually just turn around and try to find a pillow to scream in. A common response, and one the ticks me off is, "so like, you study lines and stuff?"…good lord. The thing that many people don't understand about acting is that it is hard, extremely fun (especially when you nail a scene), but hard.

My teacher, Marc-Anthony Massiah, told me and the rest of my classmates at YSAA, that Acting is like opening a door only to find another door, and through that door is another door, and another, and another, and so on, and so on. Until finally you open this one door and everything you've been learning "clicks", and there you are, in a room with maybe one chair or a lamp. You can stay in there for a while but soon enough you need to leave through, yes you guessed it, another door, and so the cycle continues. The next time you find that room, it may have a table, or even another chair, but like before you're going to have to leave.

As actors we are constantly tested, constantly on trial, everything we do is watched and processed, either received or rejected. So why do we do it? It is simply that we are starving artists, not only because we don't have money for food but also actors are always hungry for a fresh role or a different mind set. We love to sink our teeth into a good scene, as soon as we get a script we disect it, mould and create something i can only call life. So i guess what i'm trying to say is, no actors don't just memorize lines…we open doors too.

Dylan Padgett

Talented Vancouver Artists

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCtPeJFriY&feature=channel_video_title

We are SOOOO proud of the YSAA students who booked on The Haunting Hour! You Go Guys!

Casting Director Workshop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaDKK7-s5n4&feature=channel_video_title

A workshop of epic proportion  is coming to town!
Casting directors JANET HIRSHENSON (HARRY POTTER, JURASSIC PARK, TRANSFORMERS, ANGELS AND DEMONS, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, and TROY.) and COREEN MAYRS (SMALLVILLE, SUPERNATURAL, X-MEN, JUNO) are here to blow your minds at a casting director level!
and I won't mention that it's only $35 ;)

If you're interessted call Shoreline: 604.874.9979 or :  312.834.7853

Building Blocks

As children we see life simply. We experience life with jovial exuberance. We do because we don’t know anything else. Everything is a game, everything can be fun or interesting or exciting. There’s no fear because at that stage we don’t know what there is to be afraid of.

In my opinion that’s why children make such amazing actors. They are not stopped by the same skeptical and critical mind that starts to develop as each year passes. You tell a child to be sad they are sad, you tell a child to pout they pout, you tell a child to act like a monkey and dance around the room? Guess what!  

By High school most of this fearless behavior is already gone. We learn how to be aware of what people think of us and how we should feel about that. If someone asks a young adult or an adult to cry? They push away. You ask them to be angry? They can’t find their voice. You ask them to be a monkey and dance around the room? Forget about it.  

We have blocked ourselves off from the mess of emotion that lives in all of us. We are blocked.

In acting this is a common term. What are your blocks? Each person has their own special way of blocking out where they need to go in a scene.  Some hide in their bodies, some let their voice get really high, some get quiet and others dig their hands into their pockets or nervously shift around. It’s an emotional Pinball machine inside each person, “I can’t feel this or be this way” so instead we let it bounce around inside of us and it manifests into blocks.

Actor or Dentist everyone has emotional blocks. The Actor, however, is forced to face them. A dentist has the option to get counseling or self evaluate why they act the way they act. But an Actor has it built right into their title. An ACTor must evaluate why they ACT the way they ACT and furthermore why the Dentist ACTS the way they act and everyone else.  It is terrifying, breathtaking and amazing.

We build up blocks and then tear them down. It takes a long time and even longer if we resist it.  But it’s liberating the moment you find it and destroy it. The moment you say; I will have a voice, I will breathe deeply and take my time because I can. I will be that monkey with enthusiasm and pride.

Trying to be younger doesn’t necessarily mean Botox.  It means discarding what we have built as defense mechanisms and survival techniques and embracing the child we once were. Embracing the fearlessness we must be to tell the story.

Understanding that we must knock down our own blocks to build the blocks of the character; why the character does what they do.

I know it sounds tiring! Build it up, knock it down, Build it up, and knock it down, But if we stay curious, and hungry and childlike, we will experience life with jovial exuberance.  Just like the child inside. And what child doesn’t like playing with blocks? 

written by: Madison Padgett