WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MAKE “STRONG CHOICES”?

This was a question I received yesterday and it wasn’t the first time I have answered it. But with only 2 confirmed readings of my answer yesterday, (all I have is those little red arrows to judge by), I thought I should post about this again. I have added more to my answer today to try to make this very clear, so everyone should read this. Let me know when you do.

First of all, what is a CHOICE? Anything that you must decide yourself...anything that will affect your performance that is not given to you in the script, is a CHOICE you must make as an actor. Simply learning your lines is not enough. There are decisions you must make as an artist to make it easier to step into your character’s shoes and embody his/her thoughts, desires, reactions and pursuits. Because we are unique individuals, everyone’s CHOICES are going to be unique...which will make each person’s performance of a particular character unique.

We start by analyzing our scripts and answering questions to do so. (See Acting Lesson # 2 in my lesson posts).

https://www.reddit.com/r/Actingclass/comments/97dxhy/acting_lesson_2/?st=jmwhpdrn&sh=f9e4bbec

Some of the answers to these questions are given to you in your script, some you must make up with your own imagination. You must interpret the given material and provide yourself with whatever is missing. There are more effective choices you can make and more generic ones that will not propel you as strongly in the scene. The audience will never know what these choices are. They will just see them in the spontaneity and believability of your performance.

The first major choice you need to make is your objective. Did you read the post linked below? It gives an example of a weak choice and a stronger choice. This is so important because it covers the very crucial aspect of the purpose of your scene:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Actingclass/comments/cqqaoy/your_objective_an_important_decision/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Often, if you don’t have a complete script you need to make up many necessary details. These are CHOICES. I think I can best explain this by giving an example. Though some of you may have heard this story before, it’s time for careful review.

A student of mine was working on creating a demo reel. She was creating short scenes that showed her ability to give a believable, moving performance as well as showing how she could best be cast. Here is one of the scenes we created together. Even when writing your own material you must make STRONG CHOICES in order to bring it to life.

The scene begins with an older woman working in her garden. A shadow falls over her and she is startled to see JAMES standing over her. Here are the lines we wrote for this short demo reel scene:

“What are you doing here? I told you never to come back. What you did was unforgivable. I don’t want you here. She doesn’t want you here. And you will never be my son-in-law!”

If you were doing this scene you would need to ask “What is happening here”. She answered, “My daughter has broken up with her boyfriend/fiancé because he did something terrible. I am throwing him out.”

That’s pretty obvious. But when she went to perform the lines, I didn’t believe her and I was directing the shoot. It was my job to help her get the best performance possible. Her lines were falling flat. She wasn’t upset enough. Shocked enough. We had do delve deeper. Make STRONGER CHOICES.

From her performance of the scene, I didn’t feel that what James did was truly unforgivable. That was because she hadn’t chosen something he had done that was specific enough to upset her. I asked her to decide what he had done that made her want her to throw him out forever. So she said, “He cheated on my daughter.” We shot the scene again. It still didn’t have the gravity we were looking for. We needed to dig deeper. The choice needed to be STRONGER.

So I ask her “What do you think is the most unforgivable thing a person can do?” She answered “Harm a child”. And because we wanted to up the stakes even more, I wanted to add something from her personal life. What would make this particular person harming a child, even worse? My student is very involved in her church and trusts and admires the clergy there. She said it would be even more painful if someone she trusted, like a minister, was involved.

So I came up with a new scenario. We decided that the woman in our scene’s daughter, Melanie, is a single mother who became involved with the youth minister at her church. Both Melanie and her mother loved him and were happy when he proposed marriage. Then yesterday she walked in on him being inappropriate with her child...a little girl. Shocked and fearful, Melanie took her daughter to her mother’s house...hiding from him and trying to figure out what to do next. The whole family is deeply upset and unsure of how to handle the situation. The minister/fiancé had been calling Melanie all day and was told firmly to stay away. Then he shows up in the back yard.

So now the scene begins. The mother is sitting in the back yard gardening. The minister from her church (a man she had admired), is now a monster...is now a child molester and her own granddaughter is his victim. He appears right there in her own yard. Her granddaughter and daughter are in the house. She needs to get him away from them, quickly before they see him.

There was no script other than the short scene, so there are no right answers here. Only CHOICES to be made. But when she shot the scene again, she gave a much more moving performance. No one will ever know this scenario as they watch her demo reel. But they will see deep and believable reaction. That is because the result depended on making the right CHOICES. The STRONGEST CHOICES we could come up with. We altered the situation and the relationship in this case. We raised the stakes. This can be done with almost any script because the adjustments happened only in her own mind. The script remained the same. But the result was remarkably different.

Even in a full length play, there are many choices you can make as far as relationship, objectives and your character’s history and perspective that will make a difference in your performance. You can draw parallels from your own life and imagine a person you know as you speak to another character. You just need to make the right choice that will pull out your own, personal best performance. What you are imagining and thinking as your character, makes all the difference. There are so many details you must add to make the scene real for yourself...to get your thoughts and emotions flowing.

So...STRONG CHOICES are anything you must add to what you’ve been given in the script, that make for more interesting scenes and characters and a more complex and believable performance. From pre-story to objective. From choosing a parallel relationship that is similar from your own life to choosing vivid subtext. The more specific and compelling your CHOICES, the better/stronger your performance will be. Your choices need to include what most ignites your own emotional/thought life on behalf of your character. You need to choose imagery and imaginary circumstances that trigger you personally and are appropriate to your character’s situation.

Sometimes you need to try different choices as you are rehearsing your role, to see what works best. If one thing doesn’t trigger you enough, try something else. But every choice should be for the purpose of aiding you in being in your character’s mind more fully in the most effective way... moment to moment. From the events you must imagine coming from, before the scene begins, from the subtext you are thinking between and beneath each line, to the thoughts you continue to think after the scene is over. They are all CHOICES.

Hopefully this will clear up any confusion you may have about this very important aspect of acting. Do you understand? Please ask anything else you are wondering about. Everyday in this class is AMA. And don’t forget to read my comments on all posts! There is something there for you!