Acting

Details

I also agree that the mirror exercises are harder than they look. When we had to do it without a leader it made it even harder. I never knew rather she was going to move or if I should so I hesitated a lot. I also really enjoyed the exercises when people had to join in. I honestly didn't think it would turn out to be fun like it did. I never realized until this class how important little details are in acting. For example when I "walked" into the bookshelf because I didn't really pay attention to where the others "placed it". Also when we were doing the joining in exercises by adding a simple detail you could set the entire scene. As I said before i didn't realize how important the little details were.

Creativity

I very much enjoy going to class. I find myself amazed at others' ability to think outside the box. For example, during Tuesday's class we did an exercise where people had to join in an activity. At first the joiners tried to do what the first person was doing. When we did the second activity and Renae pretended to play hop-scotch; other people joined in with different activities. One person was sitting on a swing. I found myself thinking Can we do that? It had never occured to me to work together with someone but to feed off of them and do something different. This class inspires me to be more creative. When there aren't rules you don't always have to play it safe; get crazy!

The Real World

I do not know if anyone watched The Real World last season, but instead of being assigned a "job" like usual, they were assigned to go to improv classes. As they improved they were then assigned to participate in shows. Yesterday I was sitting in class listening to Prof. Polanco talk and I realized that we are basically doing the same thing - minus being on TV and doing shows. It was amazing how much The Real World cast improved by the end of their time there.
I feel like I learned so much already that would not have crossed my mind if someone did not point it out to me. For instance, when holding an imaginary fork or rope...my fingers/hands can not be pressed together or it does not look realistic. I am looking forward to seeing how much everyone in class progresses and improves throughout this semester. And I am really enjoying being able to take a course different from all my other classes.

Mirror, Mirror

I agree that the mirror exercises are harder than they look. I have never considered myself a control freak ( In fact, I always thought that it was my nature to follow rather than lead) but when we do the mirror exercises i often find myself wating to take control because I feel the need to DO something. The hardest part of the class so far has been trying to keep it simple. It is so easy to just be a mime and "show" what i am doing. It is a lot harder to actually "do" something with nothing. I never considered myself unimaginative, but I have difficulty interacting with things that aren't there.

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I noticed today how hard it was not not know who is leading the mirror game. It wasn't quite like taking turns, it was more like trying to move one of those quiji boards with the letters that spell out the name of your high school crush or tell you if you're going to win the lottery. (OK, not quite like that) I was trying not to think too hard about what was going to happen next but it was hard. I liked the part of class where we did something and people joined in. I am a better joiner than starter because I couldn't think of anything. good class

Leadership

I thought our mirror exercises and discussion on leadership was very good. In most things I do, I consider myself a leader. Whenever we have group projects, I am usually the person who makes sure we are getting everything done. In the mirror exercise, it is very important to not always be the leader. I liked when Professor Polanco said that five actors working together are going to perform a better play than if one of the actors is trying to be the leader and the other four actors are following him. This got me thinking that for the next group project I have to do, I should not step up to be the leader and see what happens. I am sure that the other group members would think of better ideas all working together compared to just using my ideas for the project.

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I have acted in many plays since I was in fourth grade and I have never realized some of the things that we are learning. I knew that you had to react off of others but I just never thought so hard into it. Watching movies it is easy to pick out bad acting but im sure many can do that. I think it is a lot easier to act with props and words but I do think that what we are doing in class will help a lot.

Acting and Such

As many other, I, too, have been watching the acting in movies/TV shows/etc. lately ever since I began this class. It's interesting how many tips you can pick up on just by focusing on the acting of what you are watching. It definitely gives you good and bad examples of how to express certain emotions or how to react in various situations.

I feel that taking this class was a really good decision for me. I have done a little bit of acting (high school shows, community theater, etc.) in the past but I have never actually taking an acting class. It is really interesting to me to use what I have learned from the past and to combine it with the new things that I am learning. I think this class will help me grow as an actress and will definitely help me should I decide to do any more shows in the future.

Acting

I have notice how well actors are able to control their emotions during a scene. The way that they can make themselves so their emotions is amazing. It seems to me that being able to cry would be a really hard thing to do. But the actors do such a great job at it that it is hard to realize that they are still acting. I also like when actors act like they're trying to act. I remember the Woody Allen epidsode on Seinfeld where Kramer tries to figure out the best way to say, "These pretzels are making me thirsty."

Degree of Difficulty

I completely agree with the posts showing respect for how hard acting can be, especially because I think that being on stage is difficult. And watching movies with emotional performances (I watched 'Blood Diamond' yesterday) I now can't help but think about how actors who are crying or screaming or dying actually think to a degree that it is indeed happening to them at that moment. I wonder sometimes, also, whether the toughest thing about acting is actually the acting part or whether it is getting into the proper mindset to actually act. For some reason I think that once someone is in that place where they are completely into what they are doing as somebody else, which is clearly very hard to get to, it would be easier to keep going with a character, but I don't know.

Acting

I have a new found respect for actors.  I always thought that acting was easy but i have now found that it is by-far a lot harder than i thought.  Class on thursday was very fun and hard at the same time.  Trying to mimic someone else's motions without making it obvious who was the leader was def. hard! 

Acting

Acting

I agree with everyone that acting is a lot harder than i thought. Like Fabio says you have to actually live that moment in order for people to believe you. And that is a very difficult task for me. I can think of the moment and how it went/goes but its hard to actually "live" the event. I also agree that with the use of props it would make it easier. When we had to act like we were playing tug-a-war it would have been much easier to do. Another example of this would be when we had to act like we were eating. We didn't have any props but the table and it was hard enough but it would have made it even more difficult if the table wasn't there. Overall so far i have grown to respect people who do acting for a living because it is hard work and takes a lot of time.

Acting

I have a new respect for actors since being in this class. I believe that to act as if you were doing something is not as easy as if you were actually doing it. Also I believe that props make it a lot easier because when acting without them you have to take into consideration all the minute details and sometimes that can be difficult. Though if you can accomplish that you can really make someone believe you. Acting is something that seems as though it would be easy, however since starting this class I can see where it could become hard. I found the most difficult exercises in class were one's where we were eating and pretending to do something where we didn't have props. You just really have to consider all the details of what you are doing and slow down and that seems to make your acting a little bit more believable.

A New Respect For Actors

I agree with Aaron that acting is probably easier when you're allowed to use props and whatnot but at the same time I still think it is really really hard. After just a few of these classes I already see actors in a new light because pretending to do something and making it look real is not an easy task. I think the whole idea of being really good at pretending when we were little and then being told that we're not supposed to do that anymore as we get older is very interesting because some of the most well known and idolized people in the world are famous for being actors and pretending. Also, I've always been completely amazed by child actors because for me acting is hard but they're so little and they can do it so much better than me. But applying the thought that it's natural for kids to pretend and really believe something is happening makes it a little easier for me to understand how they can be so talented at it.

Lately when I'm watching TV or a movie I think of how the actors are just standing there in front of dozens of cameras and crew people and it amazes me how real they make everything seem. I can't even pretend to play tug of war in front of a group of 20 some people with out cameras, I can't imagine doing more serious involved things in front of all the people on set while filming for TV or a movie.

Television Acting

I agree that the actors and actresses on television make it look easy. I would have to imagine though that they have had a lot more experience than any of us. It would probably pay off in the long run if we had 100x classes of acting.

Although I have been in a few plays a long, long time ago (youth group in church maybe when I was ten), it seems like it is a lot harder that I remember. Maybe when I was younger I was able to imagine things better. In those plays though, I did get to use props which I think might make acting a little easier if there is an item to actually look at.

Acting is difficult

I agree with Paige. Before taking this class, I think acting was something that I took advantage of. When I used to watch television or movies I always thought to myself that actors have the best jobs in the world, I mean how hard could it be to read lines and pretend? After doing a few simple exercises in class I have been enlightened to see the depth of acting. I have learned that it is very difficult, and to be good at it you must be very talented. Before, it was very easy to watch the cheap scary movies or the movies on the Sci-Fi network and pick out 'bad' acting. While watching these movies I used to think that anyone could do better than the actors cast in these movies. I now know I was wrong. Good actors are extremely talented and they make such a hard task look extremely easy.

Movie Night

I watched "What Happens in Vegas" this weekend and really noticed the ways in which they ate, drank, and expressed emotion(s). I used to think that it looked easy, but I now know how challenging it really is to imagine something that really isn't happening. It amazes me how something we do every day can be so difficult to act. When we act in class our bodies seem stiff and our eyes seem glazed (not emotionally into the scene). However, when watching this movie I realized that the actors and actresses had feeling in their eyes as if the scene was really their life!

Watching a Movie

I watched What Happens in Vegas this weekend. This was my first movie I have watched since being in Acting for Non-Majors. I found myself watching the actors more closely because of this class. I was amazed how easy they made acting looking. I have realized that acting is not easy! I need a lot more practice at making the actions I am acting out realistic. I never really thought about the difficulty of acting until I took this class. I believed every single action the actors were doing. I was paying attention to their facial expressions. Cameron Diaz was making excellent facial expressions that were believable. One thing I realized was that I have only seen Ashton Kutcher do one “type” of acting. He always is the quirky character who is always joking around. I would like to see him play another role in a movie!