Acting Like Animals

You are a relatively young actor, medium build, a basically happy going person who has an overwhelming desire to play the role of a man in his late sixties who has been beaten down by the challenges and responsibilities of life.  Can you do it?

"Of course I can", you say, "I'm an actor.   I'll put on some makeup to make me look older, and act beaten down. "  And you do the part.  The critics give you passable reviews, remarking what a wonderful makeup job it was, and how you acted so beaten down for such a young actor. And your friends tell you how good you were. But inside, you know something was missing.  You know that the makeup and "acting" so beaten down didn't really transform you into the "real" man is his sixties, who was "really" beaten down.

Typical training for new actors includes an "Animal Exercise".  "Huh?   What the heck does that mean?" you wonder.  And your research leads you into "method" acting, and you become fascinated.  So fascinated that you decide to quit acting for two years to study this approach to the actor's art. You learn about relaxation, sense memory, concentration, the "magic if", substitution and other concepts you hadn't known of.  Then it comes time for you to do an "Animal Exercise". The instructor tells you to study an animal.  Any animal.  It could be your pet bird.   Or you could go to the zoo and study the elephant, so that you could create the "weight of the world on his shoulders" effect.

And you are further instructed to be very specific in your observation of the animal.  What is the animal's posture?  How does he move?  When does he move?  Why does he move?  Can you imagine what he might be thinking?  Begin physically imitating his movements.  Be as specific as possible.  If it's a gorilla you are studying, and the gorilla places its hand somewhere on its body in such a way that you might not place your hand on your body, especially in public, then you must overcome your inhibitions, and imitate the animal, even if you are in the public zoo.

If the animal is inactive for a period of time, you become inactive, as if you were "mirroring" the animal. You study patiently.

Look into the animal's eyes?  Does it seem intelligent?  Tame?  Wild? Dangerous?  Try to transfer the animal's thoughts to your own thoughts.  What are you, "the elephant" thinking as you move from the spot at which you have been standing for quite some time to a tree fifty feet away to pick a few leaves to eat?  Why did you move now, and not five minutes ago?

Directions:

Launch iMovie and use the built-in iSight camera (command i).  Set the capture size to 640x480. Capture the ten segments individually, one-at-a-time, ten different animals. 

 Do not look into the camera. Also do not look at the video of yourself while it is recording.  Instead, look a bit off to the side.  Make sure you place yourself in the frame following the rule of thirds.  Make sure you do not have too much head room. 

 Record a performance that is about five-ten seconds long for each animal.  Remember to let your camera runs a few seconds before you start and after you end. This is called a head and a tail.

You should respond (without talking) to each scenario. Mentally prepare yourself for each scene by imagining that the transformation is real.  Do not over-act (and don’t act silly). If you don’t like your performance, do a second take. Edit each segment down to about 4-5 seconds. 

Place the title over each performance listing the animal portrayed.  Add a different music or sound effect to each clip that strengthens your performance. 

 Create an opening title, with a background, that reads: Animals.  Create an end credit with your name.   Edit the entire video down to sixty seconds

GRADING CRITERIA

1. Opens with title: Animals.

2. Each of the ten animal is portrayed effectively.

3. The image is properly composed using the rules of thirds.

4. The actor does not look into camera or at self on screen.

5. The background has little distracting from the performance.

6. Each animal lasts 4-5 seconds.

7. Each animal has a title. Make sure text is not over the middle of the face.

8. The Fade-to-Black transition is used between each animal.

9. The ambient sound is removed from each clip

10. Each animal contains a music or sound effect that strengthens the performance.

11. Credits at the end list your name and period.

12. The total length is 60 seconds.