Another mini-post. I recalled an old quote that goes, "All form of art endeavor to be more like music." It's an interesting observation. Regardless of how much you agree or disagree with it, consider an important part of writing melodies: rests, that is places where an instrument doesn't play any notes, are just as critical as the actual tones themselves. Think of that start-stop rhythm in Roxanne by The Police. Or the iconic riff from Smoke on the Water.
Actors call pauses in dialog beats. In the play or screenplay, a beat is usually indicating by an ellipsis (...). It's hard to point out a good example of the use of beats as you're not supposed to consciously notice them. Though I will say for a bad example, watch any movie Kristen Stewart is in.
Make it your homework to watch some really good movies this week and watch out for actors using silence, beats, and pauses to subtly increase the drama.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
This is very important. You must also give magic time to sink in. In your patter, or in the mechanics of the routine there should be natural pauses to emphasize or allow spectators time to process.
ReplyDeleteAnother "bad" example is ANY day time soap opera. Like Days of our lives. The end of every scene is riddled with the "pause" and the intense look of the actor, thereby forcing the audience to reflect on what was just said.
Well said. I feel like after an effect "hits" you have to allow a moment for it to sink in but if you let it go for too long their mind will move to trying to make sense of what has happened. I suppose learning to balance that comes with experience and paying attention to your spectators yes?
ReplyDelete"I suppose learning to balance that comes with experience and paying attention to your spectators yes? "
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Timing is a skill like any other. You develop it over time.