Worried about dropping in on camera? Hold up the mirror to the audience
Do you ever feel like it’s hard to drop the mask and really play from that raw and present place on camera? I have an idea that may help you with dropping in on camera (vs feel like you are holding back or hiding).
It can be so hard to let go of that pursuit of the mythical perfectly delivered performance, even when we know better, can’t it?
It makes total sense because in rehearsal you’re making choices and experimenting with rhythms and actions and connections and stakes and hooks and of course you really want all that stuff you worked on to show up in the scene, right?
This can cause a lot of fear and anxiety because you want the part or you want to do the story justice or you want to level up because you deeply don’t want anyone to judge you or criticize you. Ooof, I get it. I so, so get it.
It’s so hard to truly allow yourself to be seen, especially on camera.
If that resonates:
1) definitely check out the clip below for our conversation during class, and 2) can you shift how you think of the audience and/or camera?
Rather than thinking of the camera as something to tune out or hide from, what if you think of it as a collaborator? This works for a live audience as well. I often tell actors to think of the camera as a highly sensitive portal that captures all your thoughts and feelings and delivers them to the world. This helps tremendously for pushing as well, and makes dropping in on camera something you don’t have to struggle for.
We have a whole page of exercises that help actors let go, drop into their scenes and allow the camera in that’s available to students. If this is something you need help with, let us know!
CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION
Sarah: Sometimes there’s stuff that’s hanging on a little bit, that’s keeping us from feeling like we can fully be safe.
Student: Right.
Sarah: In letting that stuff be seen again. But really, sometimes what helps is thinking about this communication that happens not only with the partner, but with the audience, and the audience being the camera, like we’ve been talking about. That you’re gonna allow yourself to be seen so that everybody can see themselves in you.
Student: Yeah.
Sarah: That there’s this shared experience. Sometimes that really helps you show up and take the layers off…of being, of holding the mirror up in that moment.
Student: Yeah.
Sarah: And sometimes that image, that moment, that idea, going into the work like that, can help you take the pressure off of: this is my performance and I have to get it right. That can take the pressure off in a way that helps you to be more naked, so to speak.
