The Science Of On-Camera Acting

I ordered this book based on the reviews as well as the title. There was an intriguing review by someone who talks about how the book "broke through walls" with it. I don’t need anyone to wax poetic about the art form, but I’m always looking for ways to improve my craft.The book offers a technical foundation and says actors need to learn these techniques before we can step into our flow. Musicians practice scales and dancers and painters practice the basics before getting on stage at The Met or painting the Mona Lisa.But musicians have musical instruments, painters have paintbrushes and paint, and dancers have their bodies to condition. Actors have emotions, so it can be a trap when actors think: feels right = good performance. Subjectivity is the actor’s canvas but not the right tool for judging the quality of your work. The camera is that tool. The book claims to offer techniques to satisfy the camera and prepare actors for "any role in any genre.”This method also seems different because once the technical is learned, there is no more work done in your head. Unlike approaches that put you back in your head for every role, writing down objectives and obstacles and inner monologues and beats and on and on. The author explains the psychology of why getting back in your head every time can pull you out of your flow and why it's pointless anyway because the analytic work probably doesn’t read on-screen.The way the book comes at tackling every problem an actor can run into auditioning day-to-day is a breath of fresh air, and so far I’m loving the techniques for developing truthful characters that are physically and vocally very different from myself and/or awakening parts of me that need awakening. It's more than just a brilliant, survival tool and a way to expand ones awareness as a performer, it's a complete intersection between science and art and I'm not only learning exponentially more about my craft, but about myself as well.If you want to experience the joy of stepping into the flow of a character that becomes completely your own and one that delights audiences, try this out. It works.

If the science part of this book is scaring you off, don't let it. It isn't taking a beautiful and magical experience and drying it out. Studies are used to point to confusion about how the brain and creativity works and why some acting training gets actors stuck in their heads. I think Morris and Ekman make the interesting point that emotion is a language and doesn't need to be learned. Humans are born knowing how to feel, show, and recognize each others emotions. By over thinking emotions and other reflexes, we step out of our flow and get stuck in an analytic place. This is something that hit home for me. I enjoyed reading Morris' personal experience working as an actor in TV and films and when the wheels fell off, taking a break to go to school and study science and philosophy. She says the single major problem for professional actors is how to be really good on camera at playing every kind of role in comedy, drama, and every other genre, under loads of pressure, and with not a lot of time to prepare. The rest of the book aims to solve this problem. As an instructor at a school for the arts, this book is practical and easy to use and it takes only minutes to see that the exercises in this book work. The focus is screen acting but I find it can be used effectively for theater. This one I highly recommend.

Study acting

Andréa Morris's "The science of on camera acting" is, hands down, the best book on acting that I've ever read. It's even better than any acting class I've ever taken or walked out on for that matter.She spilled the beans! She gave away the secret!This book is for those talented souls who are confused by so many different approaches; methods designed mostly by out of work actors who became acting teachers in order to survive by teaching students what obviously didn't work for them and won't really work for anyone.She's paved the way, putting every creative brick in perfect order. You don't need an acting class or an acting teacher. You only need you and this book!

The Science of On-Camera Acting is created like an exquisitely jeweled necklace. Though there is a crown jewel for the actor at its pinnacle, the book is designed with valuable gems throughout. It's loaded with great tips for on-camera actors. Any one of the many ideas in this book could inspire an actor to a revelatory understanding of their craft. Morris’ ideas are based in proven, scientific theories and then field tested on-camera. She clearly lays out the age-old dominant challenge for actors in her exploration of "working memory" and "process memory." Her explanation is simple and powerful, and if you are an actor who wants to bring a sense of truth and inspiration to your performance, you will profit madly by this single idea. But the crown jewel of the book is Morris’ discovery and application of a technique she names Emotional Throughlines. This is her greatest contribution to acting theory to date, and if you are serious about acting on camera, you need to do as she says and experiment with it. Period. End of discussion.

Don't let the overly analytical name and description scare you away, this book is one of the most inspiring and eye-opening meditations on the art of acting for the camera that is available to actors. It gives you an incredibly easy and fun framework to move into on-camera work from, and Andréa Morris is generous and free-flowing with her very specific knowledge of the art form. Rather than focusing purely on acting "camera tricks" that other books in the genre laboriously detail, Morris puts forth an on-camera philosophy that is both practical AND artistically viable. This is tour-de-force is a crash course in camera technique, and should not be missed by any actor looking to pursue the craft.

Read the whole thing in two days and will be coming back to it many more times. This book made me laugh out loud with how accurate it was at times and was very inspiring. I don’t think it’s a complete approach to acting you may need more than this but as the author says herself get in front of the camera and see for yourself.

Unable to understand . Language of book was tough.It would bebbetter to watch acting lesson videos on YouTube than purchasing it.

I have already written a review, dear Amazon, but once again, this is an excellent instructional book for beginning film actors, and there is one chapter about organizing a script,which is a boon if you are lucky enough to be cast in a role that appears throughout the script!

Bogus

Great read full of interesting material for all actors.