Wednesday, March 16, 2011 (Day 178)
Let me begin by saying so long to one of my old ways. The way in which I am talking about was my super critical state of being. At one point of time, I thought being super hard and critical on myself seemed like the right thing to do. Now that I know better, I'm going to put that habit to rest. Forever! Good bye old ways. Now LETS CELEBRATE!!!
I am now a person of celebration. If you are wondering why. Let me explain in a series of events my reasons of my celebratory expressions. Since the first day of my free acting class: ...Some of The Best Things in Life are FREE my teacher Allen Levin told me I should start my own video blog. Immediately, I began planning and less than 2 weeks later I posted: Introducing Motown Maurice's Video Monologue Blog Volume # 1
If you look at the post now you'll notice a highlighted area that now says I removed the comment 24 hours later. This is what it originally said, "I'll grade myself a D for this one. As you can see its a working process. Lets see how my critique is for volume 2 or 3."
The next morning I went to class (day 178) and Mr. Levin was counseling one of the students on being hard on herself. Unfortunately, I was just walking back in from the break (I was rehearsing a scene with one of my acting partners) and I wasn't able to catch the whole speech. Nonetheless, I walked in and noticed there was tears in the eyes of the student. She just finished a scene and for some reason she was very hard on herself. Mr. Allen stated how good she actually did and there was no reason for her to be hard on herself.
He went as far as saying that being hard on ourselves is pointless. He use to do it, we all do it but its unnecessary. The moral to the lesson was to celebrate everything we do. Whenever we accomplish something, it should be celebrated by doing something you don't normally do. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy your the accomplishment. Enjoy life.
As he was saying this, I realized that I've always tried to be this rough and tough critique towards everything I did. What I did the night before was a prime example. I rated myself a "D" for my first video monologue blog. That was so not necessary. I honestly felt good about the monologue but nooooo, I had to be extra hard on myself and give myself a D grade. When I told Mr. Levin that, he said, "first of all you should of gave yourself an "A" because it was your first one. Indeed, he was right. Now I fully understand the need to "Celebrate All Times."
All the successful people I'm aware of enjoys life and celebrates it. That's the cool-aid I need to be drinking from here on out. I'm not regretful of how hard I use to be on myself. Everyone does it at one point of time. However, now that I have been bestowed with this new reinvigorating source of knowledge I am a born again person. This one piece of advice has changed my outlook on one minor barrier that could of held me back from reaching my full potential. I have found a source of joy in everything because now I really enjoy my life.
Honestly, I have always liked my life but I never really embraced the fact that I could I can also enjoy it at the same time. On that note, LET CELEBRATE!!!
Can you see me dancing? Huh huh huh huh ah ah ah ah huh huh.
In the spirit of celebration let me help you and at the same time help myself by sharing with you some Acting Tips I've just learned.
Random Acting Tips
* Everything in life is doable (with in reason of course)
* Help people.
* Celebrate Everything.
* Acting is a communal art. Not a competition.
* You can't have any fans unless you are your own fan.
* You have to be good to yourself.
* Perspective is how they choose to perceive.
* The most talented actors almost never get the job, its about being yourself and being you. If you enter with the right attitude and energy you can get any job.
Performance Tips
* Art is looking for conflict.
* Always try to bring a different perspective.
* Comfort is the enemy of the artist.
* An actor is at his finest when he is relaxed.
* Study real things.
* Make a choice.
and
* Decide if you suck or if you are great and the world will conform to what you believe.
As I'm now writing this (12:25am 3/21/11), I got on the phone for a quick second and made a phone call to my newest acting associate Kim. She took me home from a shoot a few hours before. I met her on day 163. Moreover, we always have great conversations and I always share what I can to inspire. In this case, she mentioned something about her comfort zone. I never tell anyone one what to do but I fully expressed to her that I'm not feeling anything that has to do with a comfort zone. I told her as soon as you start conforming to a comfort zone you are applying limitations to life. Limitations don't work well in the world of acting...
Needless to say, as I'm writing these notes from my acting class I found this: Comfort is the enemy of the artist. That's why I had to stop what I was doing, call her and simply tell her that note and get off the phone. Powerful!!!
Where did all the laughs go?
Okay, I'm still writing about Wednesday, 16, 2011 (day 178) so bare with me. My acting partner and I repeated the same performance today as we did on day 171, the week before. Of course this time we upgraded our performance with a few new ideas. The week before, I got a lot of laughs from the audience without even trying. I completely wasn't expecting it. This week on the other hand, I don't recall getting any laughs. Last week, I didn't try and I got laughs, while this week I tried and got no laughs.
The reason for that is because I tried too hard. The truth is, all my life I've made people laugh without trying. Since I tried so hard to make the audience laugh, the scene was no longer funny. Some of the feedback I received after the scene are as follows.
* Use subtext: Meaning don't talk when you don't need to.
* In the terms of being funny, look for opposites. For example, if I'm on the phone and I can't talk loud in a public place, shout out loud and say, "I'm in a public place and I can't talk loud, call me back later."
* People come to movies for real life.
* Every moment is real life.
* Your performance has to be believable.The more they believe the more laughs you will get.
There was so much more tips I didn't write down but these are just a few to marinate on.
Day 179 Thursday, March 17, 2011
The next day I audited his Thursday class. I honestly wasn't 100% sure what I was about to attend but I am sincerely glad I went. Now that I fully understand what I got myself into, I am proud to say that I have found my official acting teacher/coach and acting communal family. Since the first day he has been telling my free class the importance of us working together and supporting each other.
Ironically I was briefly motivated to start my own United Actors Force. This is remarkable revelation. I passionately wanted to form my own group of actors to help end this individualistic mentality that truly is the opposite way of making it in Hollywood. I thought I wrote about it in my blog already but I assume I bypassed that information. Anyway on week 21 day 143 before the start of the movie premiere my friend Cassandra and I brain stormed an idea to start The United Actor Force. I was fired up for a while but then I realized a few things. Mostly importantly, I needed to stay focused and learn more about Hollywood before I start something like that.
Nevertheless, I won't have to start any actors force because everything I envisioned is already established in this acting class. Its a wonderful thing to finally find placement under the right teachings. A successful actor never stop getting training. Mr. Allen Levin's teachings and community of students will be my learning grounds continually. As long as I'm not working on a big project I will be there. This will be my home. The students are friendly, the class is affordable...what more could I ask for.
Final Thoughts
All this writing makes me want to celebrate.
As the quest continues...
The Future of Late Night
Motown Maurice
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