- By Solomon Wood
In this blog, we will be addressing the common phrase “Practise Makes Perfect”. Many times Alyson will say this phrase to us in class and by the looks on some of our faces it seems that this tiny sentence of wisdom goes in one ear and out the other. But, to become the best actor out there you must heed this advice! So, how do we practise at home? And how do we get the most out of classes and what we can do at home? Well, here’s how!
Classes
I regret to inform you that classes alone are just not enough. Think about it. There’s all those brilliant actors in the world that have perfected many techniques, and I highly doubt they did it just one hour a week. Just classes alone aren’t going to make you the best actor out there. So, here’s what to do. When you go to class, take a mental note of what techniques you have used in class and if you are given a script take it home! Once at home you can use the script and perfect those facial expressions or vocal tones or anything you feel relevant that you would benefit from.
Self-tapes
Record your own self-tapes. Nowadays, most auditions are done via self-tape (don’t ask me why, it’s probably because it’s hard to get to certain places for people) so you really need to brush up on these techniques. (I have already done a blog on this) So this is definitely something worth practising. To do this, simply take a script from NFD and follow the normal self-tape rules. (Remember to be off script!) When you’ve completely finished and you think you’ve done the best self-tape that you can, send it to Alyson! She’s told me to let you know that she receives 2-3 a week and is more than happy to see other. She’s also told me to let you know that she’ll offer constructive criticism to help you improve, so it’s really quite a good thing to do! I would say to maybe do one a fortnight, but you don’t have to focus on this all the time!
Timings
Right, so I’ve given you a lot to think about but here’s the big question: How much should we do? Well, it all depends. If there’s something in you life like exams such as GCSE’S or A Levels then it’s probably best to work on those. I would say the right amount of time is 20 mins to half an hour. Just shut yourself away if you work best alone and read through the script, trying your best to be natural and making sure you really connect with the script. If you don’t work well by yourself, get a friend who’s willing to help. Or, I have another option for you!
Skype
One of the ways of practising outside of NFD is using Skype. We encourage our older students such as those in high school and College to use Skype to get in touch with other students to practise. Take the group I have started for example. I got people in my class to download Skype and find me so that I could add them to a group. On this group we call to rehearse certain scripts and we leave messages if a person has a problem with a certain script so we can call and sort everything out. I think it’s really beneficial for everyone in the group as it brings us closer as students but we also get to see how each other work and there’s just a really nice feeling from being able to help someone. I think it’s a really good way of practising. And because everyone on the group is from NFD, we don’t need to explain the script to each other!
Conclusion
Hopefully you found this beneficial as it took quite some thought-power to type. Please continue to do the best that you can and remember: Practise Makes Perfect!
