actors Sprint 1

ACTORS 2/9

You’ve now analyzed two different scripts; you’re already seeing things in a different way and thinking about acting rather than approaching it mindlessly.

OBJECTIVE/WANT/INTENTION - what the character wants the OTHER character to do. It is possible in the course of the scene. It is testable.

I want world peace. This isn’t worth anything to us. We can’t get this from someone in a scene, nor do we know when we have it.

I want Chuck to leave me alone. This is better. We can get that in a scene, and we can know when we get it.

I want Chuck to leave the room... this is even better. It’s really easy to know I get my want, because Chuck leaves the room.

I want Doris to feel better. This is ok. What does better look like, though, how do I know I get it? When she stops crying? When she hugs me?

These are all better: I want Doris to stop crying. I want Doris to hug me. I want Doris to say, “It’s Ok. I feel better.”

REMEMBER - no emotional state for you. No “I want to feel better.” Nothing like that.

ACTION/TACTIC - this is what you are doing to the other person in the scene in order to get the Want. These are verbs ONLY, and the more one can see them or move them or embody them the better they are.

OBJECTIVE/WANT - I want mom to let me go to the dance.

TEST - Mom says “Ok, go to the dance.”

TACTIC/ACTION - I beg, I make a deal, I promise, I use guilt, I threaten....

There is usually one WANT across a scene, and then the character uses a bunch of TACTICS to try to get it. This is strangely just like real life.

ACTIVITY - this is some sort of physical thing you are doing in the scene that you just happen to be doing, but it can be used expressively.

While doing the dishes, I’m pleading with mom because I want to go to the dance. Which is the action? Which is the activity?


Now... you’ve heard the word BEAT. Each time a character switches to a different tactic, that is a beat.

SO... our new analysis system looks like this:

1) Read the script straight through;
Work through the script, writing down anything you figure out or that is said about the character. Find evidence of WANTS and TACTICS.
Break the script into French Scenes.
For each French Scene write the following information down in your notes;
Setting/Activities;
What happening between the characters?
What does your character WANT?
What is the TEST?
5) Draw a line in the script to indicate each beat, and write the Tactic/Action in the margin.

There really is no other way to analyze a script, and any system of analysis will always come back to the OBJECTIVES/WANTS and the TACTICS/ACTIONS.

SO... yer homework...

Boys - Re-analyze Native Dancer for MAX.
Girls - Re-analyze Native Dancer for SHIRLEY.

Choose a character you best understand. This is hard enough without getting fancy.

Write/type up your analysis and give it to me tomorrow, and then we will move on to the next thing. What I should get is a simple list of the OBJECTIVE’S and TESTS for each French Scene, and a marked up script, divided into French Scenes and then into beats, with the Tactic or the Action written in the margin.