Actor Journey: 4. The Working Of Relaxation, Concentration and Sense Memory

1. Many actors begin to work on characters by asking a lot of questions. What should I do? How should I play this? What’s my activity, my action? And so on. All are valid questions, which they will try and answer intellectually and then create behavior that indicates the sum of their answers. However, they have predetermined how the character will act, and this can appear too artificial. Particularly in the case of stage actors, the resulting gestures are often too broad for the camera and the film medium.
2. However, for many actors, not knowing the answers to all the questions right away creates a lot of physical and mental tension that blocks their ability to focus the concentration on the more unique aspects of the character. If they were to learn to trust the sense memory, many of the answers they seek would be found, but in an ever-evolving form, brought about by the process of relaxation, concentration, and sense memory.
3. Film acting is usually quite small and subtle. There’s a gentleness to it that is magnified by the camera. The smallest thought, or change in expression of the eyes, is captured. The actor is often confined to an uncomfortable space during a shot, and a particular scene might be filmed dozens of times in different angles and takes, with the actor repeating essentially the same things over and over again. Often, there is little space in which the actor can move. Each time must appear fresh and real.
4. Theatrical gestures and many choices that one can use on the stage will not do under these circumstances. A smaller gesture, with its origins organically stemming from the actor, is required for this environment.
5. So, what starts happening when you stop doing these broader gestures and are only left with yourself? At first, it feels like nothing. Nothing is happening. It feels like there is a void. In actuality, that void is the open, fertile, planting fields of your imagination. Here, you drop the sacred seeds of your chosen concentration. It is very difficult to adjust to doing this. It takes courage to reach the point of relaxation wherein you can observe what you must stop doing and allow the space to open up inside, for the unknown possibilities of what at first feels like nothing. This is the beginning of concentration and the acceptance of the fact that you yourself are more than enough to play the part. The void is often associated with the dark, with uncertainty and not knowing what to do next. 
6. For a film actor, this is the perfect place to be. This is the beginning of the search. The chosen concentration in the form of sensorial memory is projected into this space like a laser. From this thin ray of light, something organic begins to develop and take over the whole being. It is from this resource that impulses will arise and the development of a character ready to go before the cameras starts to emerge.
7. This character must be a talking, breathing human being (well, most of the time anyway). It’s time to open our eyes, to start thinking about how the breath and the voice and the text come into this process and affect the relaxation, concentration, and the playing of a part.