Acting Tips for Beginners
Just starting in the acting game? Try these acting techniques for beginners
There are a million different acting tips for beginners. Where to begin? For different character types, acting tips and techniques might vary wildly in ineffectiveness.
However, there are some things to do with starting acting that is sure to improve acting ability. Read on to discover some of the most useful, tried and true acting techniques for beginners.
Get as much experience as you can
One of the first things to overcome as an actor is a lack of experience. In any form of live and public activity, whether playing music, playing sports, doing stand-up comedy, or acting, it is important to get out in front of a live audience.
There’s a reason that speaking in public is so scary to so many people; being the centre of attention under bright lights can feel unnatural, and flood your body with adrenaline. By getting as much experience acting as you can, you can learn to deal with things like panic, jitters and stage fright. Experience is the first step in getting used to acting in different environments.
This is why taking acting classes is more beneficial than private lessons. Choosing an acting school that gets their students to get up in front of the rest of the class when they do their acting exercises or perform a monologue is the best place to start. This is because you start off performing in an environment where everyone is in the same boat and the more you get comfortable in a class environment the easier it will be to transition to other environments.
And it’s not just about getting experience in front of a live audience. A camera can be the harshest and spookiest audience member of all. If you’re having trouble acting naturally while the cameras are rolling, there is a solution: practice makes perfect. Set up a camera and start learning to get comfortable with acting while being recorded.
See more performances, and watch them as an actor
Watching a play or a TV show as a conventional audience member is very different to watching the same thing as an actor. When you watch critically, with a mind to your performing, you can evaluate choices that an actor is making, and learn from the experience.
Learn how to cry
There is one thing that people always want to know when looking up acting tips for beginners: how to cry. For many people, this is the hallmark of a true actor.
To learn to cry is not important, but learn how to make others cry. Learn how to affect others. All emotion comes from motion of thought. The right thoughts bring the right emotions. So the way you think brings emotions to you, and the way you make an audience think brings emotions to them.
If you cry, then that’s a bonus, but if the audience feels something then your job is done.
Sign up for acting classes
Everybody struggles with different things when they start learning the craft of acting. An exterior eye can be extraordinarily helpful in nurturing your talent and developing your skills. Acting classes can provide good general tips on acting for beginners, but the right teacher will also be able to see where you’re struggling and nurture your gift in a positive direction!
Book in for acting classes in Sydney and take your performances to a new level of professionalism.
Billy Milionis is one of the few Australians to have ever studied under the legendary master teacher, the late Sanford Meisner. Billy has also studied story structure and scene analysis techniques with John Truby and later at UCLA. He has also spent several years doing improvisation in Hollywood with the L.A. Connection. In addition, he trained in the technique of Stella Adler, Practical Aesthetics and Lee Strasberg’s method.