The Robert Winsor Institute - It is the Actor's Job to Bring the Conflict to Life During the Aud
Conflict is typically avoided by the majority of people. It can lead to fear, anxiety, as well as chaos. However, when it comes to acting auditions, conflict is necessary to a successful reading. Every story and character has an inner conflict that an actor must find in order to have a successful audition and performance.
The majority of persons and characters have internal conflicts between desires and feelings. Persons and characters can also experience conflict externally with fate, the environment, the world, and God. And, of course, relational conflicts exist as well. Typically, an actor is only given the dialogue, a brief outline of the character's personality, and a story overview when they are asked to read. Some form of conflict always exists in a story and personality. The actor has the responsibility of finding the conflict and demonstrating it's effects in their audition reading.
Instability is always exciting regardless of how uncomfortable or stressful it may be. Conflict provides an element of depth and movement to a story and character. After you have gotten a handle on the personality of the character, there are naturally going to be difficulties and obstacles that that character must face. Life is always this way. All obstacles in our lives must be manipulated or overcome until they cease being hurdles and become collaborators. "Midnight Run" is a perfect movie to consider. Charles Grodin plays a white collar who is being sought by the bounty hunter played by Robert De Niro. Jack, played by De Niro, needs to collect his bounty by bringing in Mardukas, played by Grodin. Jack is met with a number of conflicts including his personal insecurities, rival bounty hunters, and the infamous Mardukas.
The information provided for your reading may not have all the answers in regards to the character's desires and conflicts. To strengthen your acting audition, you may need to create a character yourself, one that has conflicting desires and needs. In this way, you will be more likely to grab onto and hold the auditor's attention and make the performance more real for the viewer. Far worse than creating the "wrong" conflict is delivering a performance without any emotion and depth. With these skills, your auditioning skills are sure to improve.
Real conflict is rarely one-dimensional. The average character will have several different desires and feelings that are in constant struggle with each other. Using this to your advantage during an audition will make for an exciting reading. Creating a character's personality is far more important than the lines that are being read.
Even though a scene may only contain your character, there is no doubt that other circumstances and persons have and continue to impact his or her life. Being able to bring these hidden elements to life is what will separate you from the other actors and make your audition a success. There is another aspect of conflict to keep in mind. Conflict should always be slightly comedic. Comedy is present even when the conflict is dark and deep-rooted. It is essential or the audition will be far too dark for the auditors to watch. In short, conflict and comedy are both an integral part of a successful and impressive reading.
The Robert Winsor Institute is an institution located in Irvine, which specializes in developing acting and personal improvement skills in children.
The Institute and its different platforms, has been around for many years. Young actors get to learn not only how to successfully book work in film, print TV and commercials, but they also become extremely assertive.
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