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cirrus Inner circle his minions made 1751 Posts |
What do you guys think of this quote?
"It is better to create your own reality from what nature has given you then to copy the mannerisms and methods of another." (On method acting, page 92) |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
I like it... as long as you're also got a director working with you to tell you "that's not working for me - do something different".
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
I think it is just another way of saying cut your coat according to your cloth.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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ViolinKing Veteran user a loyal user has no more than 307 Posts |
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On 2012-09-03 18:00, cirrus wrote: Sounds difficult. |
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Johnny Butterfield Veteran user 378 Posts |
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On 2012-09-03 18:00, cirrus wrote: I don't think I should copy that method.
The current economic crisis is due to all the coins I've vanished.
The poster formerly known as Fman111. |
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Pop Haydn Inner circle Los Angeles 3691 Posts |
What do you think of the quote, Cirrus? What did you find provocative or helpful?
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SIX Inner circle New York City 1772 Posts |
I think the main issue is that, as human beings we copy mannerisms and mothods of another as we grow..Its part of life...So maybe it should be recreate, verse create?
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Vick Inner circle It's taken me 10+ years to make 1120 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-09-03 18:09, Jonathan Townsend wrote: Brilliant and true! Too many times magicians don't have a director and we are too close to our work to see the challenges
Unique, Thought Provoking & Amazing Magical Entertainment Experiences
Illusions By Vick Blog of a real world working magician Magic would be great, if not for magicians |
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Michael Kamen Inner circle Oakland, CA 1315 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-09-03 18:00, cirrus wrote: Working with a director is an important dimension of acting, like a musician working with a conductor. Certainly, if one wants the opportunity to play with an orchestra one better be comfortable with that. Directors may differ as to how they want to interpret a script. The actor and the director must each bring a perspective that contribute to the final result. I don't think the subject of stage direction is a helpful response to the question posed, which seems to be about the craft of the actor and how to achieve authenticity in bringing a script to life -- the actor's contribution.
Michael Kamen
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
If you create your own reality from what nature has given you then are you acting at all?
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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Brad Burt Inner circle 2675 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-09-03 18:00, cirrus wrote: Really? What if what nature gave you was socio-pathology or psychopathy? What if you are a Borderline or a severe Narcissist? Doesn't the part demand the response? If all you 'ever' gave it was what you were given at birth wouldn't that be very limiting? Pushed to it's logical extreme you would never learn to drive a car.....
Brad Burt
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Michael Kamen Inner circle Oakland, CA 1315 Posts |
I don't think the author has made too much of a leap to extend the meaning of "nature", in this context, to one's life experience.
Michael Kamen
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
However authentic or sincere the actor's behavior may be in their role, it still has to work for the audience in context of the work being performed. That's why directors work with actors to get a performance that appears authentic and sincere to the audience.
Imagine some actor insisting on doing Richard III as a cross dresser with tourette syndrome. Even if apparently authentic and sincere would it really help the play? Now consider how an audience might react to a performing magician whose works are offered without any invitation to imagine the magic and instead appear half hearted invitations to interrupt, to make comment about what "must be happening" given what is apparently really being done. Not much to work with there, IMHO.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Michael Kamen Inner circle Oakland, CA 1315 Posts |
Ok I would stipulate that "script" implies integrity respecting the author's vision. In practice this is a negotiation between actor and director, with each contributing to what needs to be a shared vision. If that is the goal, the actor's job is to find in their experience, their "nature", that which will bring the script to life. The director also has their job, but that is not the subject of this particular quote that clearly does not pretend to explain the whole of theatrical production.
Michael Kamen
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Pop Haydn Inner circle Los Angeles 3691 Posts |
"The actor is required to steal from other actors..." Laurence Olivier
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Michael Kamen Inner circle Oakland, CA 1315 Posts |
Another question that might be posed is, how does the quote in question relate to magic craft? I would say it relates to magic craft in the same way that method acting relates to magic craft and magic performance. IMHO, not very much.
Michael Kamen
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cirrus Inner circle his minions made 1751 Posts |
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On 2012-09-09 01:11, Michael Kamen wrote: In my opinion it relates very much. You have to believe in your magic theatrically to be able to perform magic. If you vanish a ball for example, you have to see, in your mind, that you put the ball in your left hand and then vanish it, if you contradict this: stop with magic. "The actor is required to steal from other actors..." Laurence Olivier I don't know what you mean by this, but if you relate this to magic: how are you stealing from other magicians? If you are going to simply copy another act, do so, but it will always seem fake. An act is specifically tailored to perfection to suit a performer, it will never work for another. |
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Pop Haydn Inner circle Los Angeles 3691 Posts |
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On 2012-09-09 03:18, cirrus wrote: If you don't steal, you will never progress. The worst problem in magic today is encouraged and unchecked originality. Too many magicians try to be original BEFORE they have learned the craft. Originality should follow competence. I have and do steal from other magicians all the time. I highly recommend it. Look at my routines, and if you look deeply enough, you will find scads of stolen ideas and stolen understanding...If you know how to look past the coats of new paint. "An act is specifically tailored to perfection to suit a performer, it will never work for another." Source? Proof? My Teleportation Device Routine was specifically tailored to suit my old character. Now it is specifically tailored to suit Pop. MANY other magicians have taken the same routine, practically move for move, and word for word, and made it fit their character very nicely. Hamlet may have been written specifically tailored for a particular actor, now dead more than 400 years. Hamlet still lives, because he has been reinvented and re-tailored to fit specifically some new actor. People who are competent craftsmen and artists understand this. What Olivier meant is that all actors who play Hamlet are seeking the TRUTH of Hamlet's character--an interpretation that helps explain who he is and why he behaves the way he does. The actor, according to Olivier, must steal from other performers whenever their interpretation is more truthful and revealing than anything else the actor can come up with. Truth is the target. Artists seek it in a centuries old shared project. This routine is cobbled together from lots of other people's work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_s-WCj7Uzs Hopefully, the thefts are hard to trace. |
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Brad Burt Inner circle 2675 Posts |
Here's the thing: Originality in a vacuum is simply not possible. You have to know something to create something. The more you know the more your mind can rearrange into something 'different', but the building blocks came from somewhere else.
Want to write great patter? Read lot's of stuff about lot's of stuff. Doing mentalism? Read books like "Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain". Want to not be creative? Never look at what came before. Want to do an act as Merlin or Merlin like character? Read 2-4 classic books that have the Arthurian legend as their theme. Better books than movies and I love movies. Why? Because a book demands that you use your imagination. Studies have shown that movies actually work against the use of imagination! Borrowing experience is so important that you really couldn't live if you didn't do it on an almost daily basis. They have entire institutions where you go to do nothing but 'steal' from past. They are called schools, colleges, etc. Best,
Brad Burt
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Pop Haydn Inner circle Los Angeles 3691 Posts |
Anything you take from another performer, in my opinion, without permission is a type of theft. There is artistic thievery, and inartistic thievery.
If you steal big things--things that an audience watching your act and the victim's might notice and compare--then that is inartistic thievery. If you steal the inner things--timing, sensibilities, approach, attitude, phrasing, and so many other essential things, those thefts will go unnoticed even by the victims. Steal little things, and from lots of different people, and rework and reuse them in creative ways. Don't steal a car and expect a coat of paint to protect you if you still sport the same license plates... |
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