Reddit reviews The Art of Acting
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Stella Adler - The Art of Acting Applause Books Series Hardcover Written by Howard KisselStella Adler was one of the 20th Century's greatest figuresShe is arguably the most important teacher of acting in American historyOver her long career, both in New York and Hollywood, she offered her vast acting knowledge to generations of actors, including Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De NiroThe great voice finally ended in the early Nineties, but her decades of experience and teaching have been brilliantly caught and encapsulated by Howard Kissel in the twenty-two lessons in this book
Impossible to name one. Books only had significance for me when they addressed a particular lifecycle that the business was in.
EDIT: Lots of requests for more books as they relate to 'business lifecycle'. Also, linked all of these on Amazon. Here ya go:
Good article! I agree with his points, although I'm not super fond of the language he uses. I guess it's succinct and understandable.
For directors looking for help directing actors, I recommend Stella Adler's book, The Art of Acting. But there are a lot of directing books out there.
I'm biased, as I was trained under Stella Adler's methods and ideologies, but I believe in combining imagination with real-life experience. Most humans know what it is to feel pain, sadness, loneliness, anger, etc. I find that if you can recall what it is to feel something similar to the situation you're playing, and then truly immerse yourself in the world and situation of the script, you can just "be" and react truthfully.
I believe the best actors have years of training and experience to serve as the foundation for this craft, so they can then just let it go when on screen or stage. As a director, I find it infuriating how many indie films skimp on actors or cast themselves/their friends when there are so many talented actors out there eager to work. Take the time to really cast your film! Get a casting director if you can and hire real, trained actors. You'll be all the better for it, and so will your film.
I strongly suggest you go outside of the realm of magic to learn these skills. My first recomendation is The Art of Acting by Stella Adler. It's a fantastic book and goes so far beyond what the usual acting for magicians books go into. I find it really interesting that the insights of the greats of magic (Slydini, Vernon, Wonder, etc) have been known to actors for centuries (with regards to acting). Adler talks a lot about motivation and the duality of thought necessary to believe your character and act how your character would act in a situation instead of acting like an actor following a script. It completely changed the way I think about approaching misdirection.
The books that I get the most out of are books that focus on physical movement in theater. The book I'm currently reading is The Expressive Body which discusses non-verbal communication on the stage which is so unbelievably important for magicians, especially with regards to misdirection. I've come to realize that the majority of my struggles with misdirection is that I was subconsciously communicating to my audience through my body language the opposite of what I wanted to communicate (and I constantly try to help magicians realize they are doing the same thing - Think when you see magicians palm a card. Their body language is pointing out where the card is by awkwardly holding the hand floating in the air and perfectly still. It is so much easier to palm a card if your entire body is being used to direct attention to where you want it)
My suggestion is to go to a local library and look for the acting section. There's so much wonderful information there for free. If you're in college, your school library will have a wealth of information, or if you're near a biggish city check out the city library. I know here in the Bay the SF public library has an incredible amount of books (and some really good magic books too). These are resources that are available to you. Use them.
Someone else suggested improv, and I strongly second that suggestion. Improv has helped me so much in learning how to stand on stage, how to interact with people, how to deal with mistakes, how to build tension, how to make people laugh, how to quiet a room, how to incorporate other people, how to handle spectators. It is such a useful skill to have (and it's incredibly fun and builds confidence on stage).
I'm not sure if acting classes are the way to go (maybe they are, idk) but I feel like with an acting class you are limited by the strength of the teacher. If you can find a really good one, then by all means, but a bad teacher can do more harm than good. If you're willing to put in the effort, learn from the greats through their books.
In and near the acting section there'll also be books on mime, speech, storytelling, stage management, improv, writing, lighting, scenery, costuming, etc. These will all help you more than magic books in my opinion.
Good luck!
It's not that you shouldn't do that, but you want to replace it with an action. This doesn't necessarily mean doing something physically, but if I assume correctly that the narration in the video is your inner monologue, there needs to be some kind of response to that. You are listening to the voice, so you are engaged by it. Having your blocking be as simple as sitting and listening is fine, but there needs to be a connection between your thoughts and your blocking, which is sitting in the shower/tub.
To fix this, you need to realize that in this scene you have two characters. There is the character of your Inner Monologue and the character of Your Character (physical you). Your Inner Monologue wants one thing, and You want another (again, an assumption, but I assume this because all scenes are built on conflict - if you both wanted suicide, that would happen and there would be no scene to speak of). What do you want the voice to do? Do you want it to stop? How will you make it stop? This page has a breakdown of what objectives are and how you play them.
If you still continue to sit and listen, that's totally okay! But there shouldn't be a disconnect between the two characters in the scene. There should be a give and take, an action and a reaction, a response. Then the other character plays from this response.
I strongly suggest the acting book The Anatomy of a Choice by Maura Vaughn. This has helped me in many situations as an actor. Also, read lots of David Mamet. Read his plays, read his essays on acting. Another book I find helpful is A Practical Handbook for the Actor (written by students of Mamet) and The Art of Acting by Stella Adler. Reading is an actor's greatest tool other than just getting out there and performing.
Understanding objective is the first step toward becoming a fully invested actor. It will change the way you look at the stage and screen.
edit: added a thought