My character wouldn't do that : contemporary cognitive science and acting. / Donna Soto-Morettini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Soto-Morettini, Donna, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Acting.

Cognitive science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (177 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

London [England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.

Place of Publication:

[London, England] : Methuen, 2022.

Summary:

"Starting from the idea that the main hindrance to a great acting performance is self-consciousness on the part of the performer, My Character Wouldn't do That examines the ways in which some of our traditional and contemporary approaches to acting put us into a 'mind space' that can encourage self-consciousness. Examining evidence from a range of contemporary cognitive sciences, the book approaches acting and actor training in an entirely different way. Based on the latest research into brain activity and human behaviour, the book covers areas that standard acting texts do (character, emotion, memory, imagination, making active choices) but reconceives each of these elements through the lens of that contemporary research. The book is the first to look closely at what contemporary research tells us about: personality/character and how environment shapes us; how memory works and how actors can work with (rather than against) their memory in preparing for performance; why actors must use different kinds of brain states and imagination in the various stages of preparation, rehearsal, and performance; how actors can frame active choices in a way that refocuses the source of thought and action; why actors should distinguish the stages of preparation and the kinds of thinking / imagination that works at each stage."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

Acting Good and Bad

The Anxiety of Influence

What is Acting?

Mental Battles

Acting is a Three-Stage Process

Acting is a Holistic Process

Summary

SECTION ONE - The Evidence

The Actor's Brain

Self-related Thought

Modes of Thinking

Default Mode and the Self

The Paradox of Control

You Can't Take Preparation into Performance

Rethinking How We Learn

Memory

How Did You Ever Learn All Those Lines?

Types of Memory

Processes of Memory

Text and Memory

Memory and 'Mood Congruence'

Elaborative Encoding

Your Brain 'Specs'

Working WITH Memory

Character

Thinking About Character

Thinking Metaphorically

Who am I Anyway?

Changing our Preparation

Predicting Behaviour

My Character Wouldn't Do That

Imagination

Types of Imagination

Getting the Body Involved

Emotion

Feeling or Emotion?

What is Emotion?

Maybe I'm Feeling?

Starting from the Body

'Trigger' Memories, Sense Memories, Emotional memories

(Possibly) The Greatest Acting Performance You Do

The WHOLE Emotional Experience

Mindreading?

SECTION TWO - Putting Things into Practice

Stage One: The Big Picture

Find the Big Picture

Two Different Processes

Keeping All Your Options Open

'Actioning' and its Discontents

How Do We Really Get What We Want?

Stage Two: Alternating Brain States

From Default to Task-oriented Mode

The Importance of Reading Mind and Body Language

The Importance of Keeping Options Open

The Importance of Doing Things Badly

Stage Three: Performance brain

Staying in Task-oriented Mode

Setting the Right Challenges

Staying in One Time Frame

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781350230385

1350230383

9781350230361

1350230367

OCLC:

1289456249