Training strategies towards performing emotions on film: an integrated approach

Abstract

South African film budgets do not allow for extensive preparation and rehearsal periods. South African film actors prepare their portrayal of emotion as part of their performance scores in isolation and are expected to present their already crafted performances while the camera is rolling. However, the actor must be able to produce an emotion at will. They must navigate the onset and conclusion of the emotion whilst effectively portraying it to the camera that is capturing the moment on film. The (film) actor’s physical manifestation of the character’s emotion is the means through which audiences gain insight into characters (Baron and Carnicke [2011]. Reframing Screen Performance. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 174). The actor needs to embody these elements to signify the character’s emotions (Gosselin et al [2005]. Components and Recognition of Facial Expression in the Communication of Emotion by Actors. In: P. Ekman, and E.L. Rosenberg, eds. What the face Reveals: Basic and Applied Studies of Spontaneous Expression Using the Facial Action Coding Systems (FACS), 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 243–270) quickly, upon demand, and with the required filmic verisimilitude. This article offers a five-phase process, that draws on various embodied performance pedagogies (such as Emotional Body, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies and Lessac Kinesensics), as well as from relevant scholarship in the field of Emotion. This process facilitates and brings forth required embodied emotions in actor to character development in a way that reinforces verisimilitude and can be effectively strategised away from the actual filming moment. It is structured to be safe in its approach, effective in the emotionally embodied delivery, and acknowledges both cultural and idiosyncratic diversity in the actors in the service of the character to be portrayed.