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!

clean up in aisle 5

I'm not totally sure what I am supposed to write about but I was watching the office today, not sure if anyone else watches that but I really really like it and I noticed something that kinda sorta related to our acting class. one of the characters pretended to pull the pin out of a grenade and throw it at another, the character that it would have hit picked up some paperclips at the correct moment and threw them in the air, it was special and funny. I suppose they are professional actors that have no doubt already taken acting for non-majors and got an A. plus.

The Horror!

While I am writing this I am watching a REALLY old horror movie ( it was made in the 40's) with my friends. I know that people complain about the quality of the acting in movies today, but judging from this movie, the acting was no better back then. This movie reminds me of a bad high school play. All the actors are trying to show what they are doing rather than being real. Now that I am focusing on it, it is really getting on my nerves. As far as plot goes, the movie is interesting, but I don't believe any of it becuase of the crappy acting. There are occasional moments where the acting is not so bad, usually when the characters are not speaking. The dialogue is especially stilted.

about class

Thursday's class was interesting and a good learning experience for me, seeing first hand with a diverse style of exercise, humor, and knowledge is a good method of molding or building a relax and team work like atmosphere and that this technique can bring a group of diverse personalities on board for a common cause. The mirror exercise is a tool or technique that could be very beneficial in my field of work (CTRS) not only with my clients but also with staff /team building exercises.

eating in convo

While eating in convo, I watched a couple of people eat their meals. As I watched one person, I noticed that they always took a sip of their drink after every bite. It wasn't a big sip, it was just a very little sip. I also saw that the person would always lean towards the table when they went to take a bite. The person's chewing was kind of weird. It looked as if their mouth was moving side to side. And finally, I noticed that for some reason they were eating their ice cream with a fork. That suprised me a bit.

I actually watched people eat in the Eagle's Nest which made it pretty hard because I'm not very discrete and it was hard to watch people eat without totally staring at them. But I figured it out after a minute or two and I decided to watch a group of three girls while they ate and carried on a conversation. After watching people pretend to eat in class it was really funny to notice little details while people ate real food. For example, I noticed that they talked more than they ate; they would take a bite or a sip of something then put it down and continue talking. Then I remembered that in class when we were pretending to eat everyone did it really fast, it was like there was no break from eating and most people hardly chewed anything. While I was watching the girls I paid special attention to how long they chewed their food.....it was way longer than I pretended to chew on Tuesday. Clearly I was just swallowing my food in gigantic chunks.

Watching someone eat.

At first I felt pretty awkward as I watched someone eating from across the room. As he ate for about the first few minutes he didn't have much to say, however, once he got some food down his eating became slower and slower as he was more concerned with the conversation around him. He took really big bites and also was talking with large amounts of food in his mouth. At first he was really hunched over his plate really concentrating on his food but as time went on he would slowly sink back into his chair not really interested in his food anymore. He also seemed to chew really fast as he was about to say something.

Eatin' Folk

I managed to sneak some stares at three people who were eating, two of whom were in conversation and one that was listening and eating. Eating is a more violent act when it is done between sentences, and it is done almost subconsciously. The people I watched were not focused at all on their eating, and the more engaged listener seemed far more engaged with her friends than she was with her bowl of soup. The one girl I was watching was eating more properly than the other two, and that is more of what I would associate with eating alone, careful and more aware of herself.

Eating in Convo

Today i observed 3 guys eating at a round table during lunch today.  They seemed to be close friends from the way they interacted.  They talked while they were eating and didn't seem to have any manners while eating.  I felt this was very typically of college boys. 

Observing Someone Eating

I observed a blonde guy sitting at a table across from me eating today at lunch (around 1pm or so). He was eating chicken for lunch with chocolate milk. He ate with his fingers and did not use any silverware. He was sitting at the table with 3 other people, one being another guy and the other two being girls. With the way he was interacting, it seemed that these people were his close friends. He seemed very talkative with the table and seemed to talk more than eat. Out of all the people at the table, he talked the most. He would take a few bites, chew, swallow, and then start joking (or what I assumed to be joking, since there was much laughing) around with the people at the table again. He sat a bit hunched over his plate but did not ever have his elbows on the table. He was also smiling for most of the time I observed them.

Eating

Eating dinner at convo

I watch a group of four girls eating dinner. The first thing i noticed was one of the girls would put her fork down after every bite. Also another girl would wipe her face after every bite. And the last girl kind of shoved her food into her mouth. I did notice that all the girls talked a lot while eating. It seemed as though one girl would talk as the others were eating and once she was done another would strike up a conversation while the others ate. So it seemed to switch roles so that it gave them time to eat as well. I also noticed that all the girls did lean over their plates while they ate. So i noticed a lot of different things within the five minutes of watching them eat.