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