Is it important to know several accents as an actor?

YES! 

And that is a big YES! 

One of the hardest things as an actor is getting yourself out there and getting noticed! But how can you get yourself to as many auditions as possible? 

1. Have a good agency representing you. 

2. Look clean, well presented and smart.

3. Be polite

4. Do your research into what you are auditioning for (as I have mentioned before!)

5. Be flexible in your skill!

The last one is very important if you want to get yourself out there! It's no use if you are a one trick pony that can't transform from a quiet Irish girl to a mouthy Southerner. Yes there are cases when actors and actresses have got a part as one thing but then can't exactly break out of it again yet they do pretty well for themselves but to be honest, that's pretty boring. 

The best actors in the business are those that can transform themselves into any character ever written. Take Johnny Depp for example; the range of characters he can transform himself into is extraordinary. From the timid Edward Scissorhands to the drunk ramblings of Captain Jack Sparrow, there's not a role in the world that this man hasn't done! And that's important. 

However, you don't have to be as flexible as Johnny, the most simple thing you can do to make yourself a little more malliable by learning different accents. Take this video for example. This is a good idea to get yourself noticed online. Learn a few, or even more, accents than this lady has done, record yourself, and put it online as a showreel. This way, directors, producers and agencies can see your capabilities, and you never know, you might be what they are looking for - and now they know you can change your accent to suit their needs :D Happy days! 

Obviously, this won't guarantee you getting more auditions than what you were getting before, but it sure helps!

If you have any more tips and tricks for auditions either comment below, send me an email at sophiimaria@gmail.com or tweet me at @SophiiMaria. Also you can contact me about any question you may have and I will email you personally and even maybe cover it on here :D

The future of the character

I've said before how important it is to use Stanislavsky's methods of using your emotional memory to become the character but this is in terms of being in the moment. As well as knowing your character's past and present, you must know what they want for the future. Don't get mistaken for knowing what is going to happen to your character, but more about what your character's goals are, what they want in life, who they want to see etc.

Here's a quick, fun exercise you can do to help you think about your characters future:

Make up a character; give it some given circumstances, who are you, what have you done before now, who is your family, who means the most to you, what have you done recently?

Now place yourself in a prison. You have committed a crime. What is the crime?

You have fifteen minutes of time in the exercise yard. What will you do? How physically fit are you? Do you like the time in the yard? You cannot speak to anyone.

With the last five minutes of the time, you can do what ever you want. What is the first thing you want to do? You cannot speak to anyone during this time or you will be shot by an armed guard.

You find out that some letters have arrived at the prison. Is one for you? How will you react if you have a letter? What does it say? Who is it from? Who did you want it to be from? How do you feel? What if you didn't get a letter? What is your reaction? 

You are allowed to write to your loved one. Take 3 minutes to write everything down what you want to say to this person. How are you feeling? What is on your chest? Are you sorry? 

You hear that half of the prison are going to be freed. How do you feel? What will you feel like if you are freed? How will you feel if you have to stay in the prison? Who do you want to see the most?

Doing this makes you realised how much you look into the future without realising. You need to know your goals for the character to blossom. Do this for other characters that you are playing. Find out what they want from the events or people in the play. What is there ultimate goal? Do they reach their goal?

Sorry again that this is a short one! But it is really effective! I love this which is why I've posted it! If you have any comments on the exercise or want more information, please comment below, or email me at sophiimaria@gmail.com or tweet me at @SophiiMaria

Voice of an Angel

The voice is the primary tool for the human being; it allows us to communicate to let others know how we are feeling and to give commands etc. It is essential for us in day to day life but we are able to extend the voice to beyond its natural boundaries for entertainment purposes, whether it's singing or vocal techniques in acting. The voice includes the whole body! So make sure you warm up your body as well as your voice before you try any speech!

To be able to be good at acting, or singing, or being a good public speaker, you need to have a good vocal range. This means you must be able to work through all the different scales in your voice, and try to extend them if you feel you are quite monotone. If you constantly talk on one level, it becomes boring, and it's not entertaining for anyone watching you. The voice should be fluid and interesting, so changing pitch naturally is a good way to keep people interested in what you are saying. And the chances are that if you are interesting to listen to and sound fluid in what you are saying, you are more likely to be believable and the character and the text show through rather than your process.


You also need to have good resonance in your voice. This is the volume of what you are saying. A lot of inexperienced actors fall into the trap of shouting their lines rather than projecting them. Sometimes you need to say something quietly, but loud enough so the audience can hear; using resonance exercises can help you with this. There are a lot of exercises out there to try, so have a look at a few that deal with resonance. If you have problems with being too loud, however, you may frighten or annoy people in the audience because, although they can hear what you are saying, the way you say it won't be very natural and will start to look amateurist. It's good to be loud sometimes, but if there is no change in your voice, the piece will become very boring.


You also need to be able to breathe. Sounds stupid, but there's a reason for this. If you learn to breathe between the thoughts of the text you are performing, you will be more believable because unfortunately, a lot of the time we breathe at the end of a line (especially in Shakespeare) rather than at the end of a thought. You breathe between the thoughts in real life without even thinking. Try to break down the thoughts, and keep reading through the text slowly. Eventually, piece together everything that you are saying so it is fluid, is believable and the audience is more likely to see the character, not you.


Always take care with any exercises you find on the internet to do with your voice. Only do what you are comfortable doing and make sure you drink LOTS of water when you do. If you find your voice is getting sore, drink hot honey and lemonade, it tastes gorgeous and is very helpful for sore throats! Also, it is known that pineapple juice is good for the voice (I forget why). Avoid drinks like tea and coffee when practising your voice and don't eat a lot of chocolate either (but you can as a reward afterwards ;D). 


Sorry this is a short post but I have been very busy today! :( Bad times... But I will do more on the voice at a later date! Put comments below with any sort of exercises you know or any tips and tricks you could tell us all! Thanks for reading 


:D

Phenomenology (pt.1)

Until recently, I thought phenomenology was more complicated than it actually is! Rather than being an analytical approach to find the meaning of a certain object on stage, like semiotics, or an approach that digs into the extraordinary circumstances of a play (like the themes, techniques or approaches to the making of a production), it is simply a way of analysing what is in front of you and how you experience it. 

Phenomenology looks at "the world as it is lived rather than as it is objectified, abstracted and conceptualized." (Stanton B. Garner, 1994) This means if you are looking at an object onstage, you look at the way you experience it, don't try and find a meaning to it! If the object is an apple, analyse what the apple looks like, feels like, tastes like, etc. instead of finding the hidden meaning like the forbidden fruit, for example. 

It would seem that semiotics and phenomenology would go hand in hand and yes, you're right. You can successfully analyse a performance using the analytical approaches of phenomenology and semiotics because you are analysing the object and what it means to you in the way you experience it and the meaning behind the use of this object (or lighting design/scenery/performance style etc.).

I know this is a very simple way of looking at phenomenology, but I wanted to guide you in before I go all guns blazing into this topic so have a look out for the second part of this blog next week!

Also, coming soon will be a Glossary page for all those words you don't quite understand! This will be an ongoing page that will update frequently as I discuss more and more topics! :D

Finally, if you have any ideas/theories/approaches/techniques/gossip/music releases etc. that you want me to cover, email me at sophiimaria@gmail.com, tweet me at @SophiiMaria or comment on any of my blogs. I will happily research into anything you want me to cover on the entertainment industry!

:D