16.03.15

In today's acting for film lesson, we explored and re capped on Naturalism and the steps needed to create a naturalistic scene for camera. We as a group brain stormed together, the main methods for creating a naturalistic scene is to research the characters and apply given circumstances,and what would I do if I were this character? (The what if technique)
In order to create a Naturalistic scene and character, it is crucial to apply these methods as this allows an actor to feel closer to the character and begin to understand them at a deeper level. As an actor you also have to consider the character objectives, and the super objective of a scene. The characters objectives HAVE to link with the super objective of the scene/play.So if the super objective of the scene is a character being revealed as a psychopath, but the actor feels the character has deep rooted issues, which in real life this would definitely be the case, but if this does not go with the themes of the play, the actor may be asked to revise their interpretation of the character. So before making any character decisions I always READ the play and find out the super objectives and also the relationships between the characters. For example, if other characters hated my character for numerous reasons, I would think twice about making my character a really lovely genuine person, because realistically she probably is not! So the super objective ALWAYS comes before character objectives.
 I feel these are the main steps needed in order to create a naturalistic scene, as the blocking, costume ect all come AFTER you have researched your character, made decisions, applied given circumstances and decided on objectives.
And learning lines, are NOT a form of rehearsals....this should be done in spare time and not in rehearsals, obviously you need to know your lines in order to rehearse, but line learning should be seen as something you do before you go to bed, or when you wake up or after your rehearsal classes, during class you should be making decisions with other actors in the scene, improvising and beginning to block. 
Also I feel research should be done in spare time, so you can come to classes with ideas and knowledge in your head.

After this we got into our pairs and began rehearsing our chosen scenes, Sav and I have chosen Girl Interrupted, starring Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder, two amazing actresses, and a very dark and chilling scene between two women in a mental institute. My character, Lisa, is very derranged and is a sociopath. She intimidates and bullies the other girls and is like a school child around them, playing everyone off against each other and making their lives hell. As a character she is very emotionally disturbed and I feel she did not have a nice upbringing and her parents probably had problems as well, she is not very stable, and seems as though she has never found a happy place in her life, she destroys relationships and pushes everyone away from her. She cannot accept help, and I feel sorry for her to a degree, but I feel she deliberately makes drama and enjoys seeing others in pain.
She is a disturbing character, especially after watching the film, and in a scene she does not even flinch at the sight of a former patient hanging herself in her bathroom, which is partly LIsa's fault. As she tormented her in her own house, after Lisa and Suzanne(ryder) escape the mental hospital. Lisa bullies Daisy, and makes comments about how Daisy has sexual relations with her biological father and how he is a paedophile, she is nasty about Daisy's progress in the hospital and how she was not released because she had gotten better, it was because the nurses "gave up" on her. She keeps on at her, and the next morning Suzanne finds her hanging in her bathroom, and Lisa simply says "Oh, what an idiot" and takes money from her hanging bodies bathrobe! I found this so disturbing and unnerving to watch, how can someone be that cold? She has serious issues, because if that were me, I would of ran out the house screaming or I would of physically thrown up, to see a body hanging like that. But she is so indifferent, because she is numb inside, due to years of depression,self harm, drugs and "casual" sex.
I have been researching about socio paths, and they are on the eye, usually quite attractive and well presented. They like to look good, and to seduce other people. They are OBSESSED by money and it is their main motivation, they will do basically anything for money. This is definitely Lisa, as she steals money from Daisy and a man at a party, and then she runs away. I imagine she has probably spent most her life behaving like this, and never having any real friends, because people she has gotten close to in the past have probably been driven away from her because of her stealing, lying or her inability to show affection.

  I feel I have a good character interpretation of Lisa and I have researched a lot into her behaviour, and this shows in the way I act in this scene, I feel Lisa would use a lot of facial expressions, particularly with her eyes.I always stare right at Sav, who is playing Suzanne, in a cold and chilling way, Lisa's eyes are cold and empty, and I portray this in the scene. 
We have found a location for the scene,as it is set in the basement "boiler room" of the mental hospital, we want to re create this using a very dark, empty and large space. There is an abandoned canteen at the back of college which is perfect for this scene, as I have been inside it before and it has a great echo and a "cold" feeling to it, and I feel this space would be great for this scene and would look great on camera.

I cannot wait to film this scene, and I feel as we keep rehearsing our characters become stronger, Sav and I are filming this scene after the Easter holidays, so we have a couple of weeks to rehearse this, and will rehearse in the space on Monday. And will stay after lessons to keep rehearsing.
For makeup/hair/costume for LISA I feel she would wear minimal make up and look quite grungy. Angelina Jolie has blonde hair in this film, I think it is a wig, but I feel that Lisa having dark hair would match her character better, but the director of the film and Angelina obviously made that choice to have Lisa with a blonde hair style. She also looks like she never eats, as she is SO thin in this film, but Angelina Jolie is pretty naturally thin anyway, but she does look really ill at some points, and I feel this creates a naturalism for Lisa, as someone like that probably would be very thin in real life.

I will have my hair down, and wear minimal makeup on my face,and possibly have dark eyes,I will try it out and see which looks best on camera. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to smoke in this scene as it is shot inside the college, Lisa smokes ALL the time in the film, I think she smokes in every single scene, so smoking is part of Lisa's " look" but this won't be possible. 
I think I will wear plain clothes, maybe a chequered shirt with black leggings. I want to create an edgy grungy look for Lisa, as this is how I have interpreted her in my mind.

I feel this look is better than the one above,as I imagie Lisa with dark looks rather than blonde, and I have dark hair so I feel I can portray this look