My Silly Little College Blog.

help, advice, stories… i gotchu

Tag: acting

Improving Acting Skills During COVID

By

On March 7, 2021

In Acting

Acting has always been a skill that was worked on with others. Whether it was an improv troupe, an acting class, a show with castmates and a director, a performance in front of an audience, it was something that was done with others in person.

Now, in the midst of a pandemic, we’re forced to hone our skills in other ways. I’ve found that it’s definitely possible to achieve this at home. Although the input and criticism of others is important and helpful, your own opinion is great too.

Over the past month or so, I’ve practiced exercises at home, recorded myself and watched it back, and I even made a little skit and uploaded it to TikTok. I’ve learned that I can practice and improve from my own bedroom, without a director. All I need is my imagination, the silly video ideas I come up with, and a camera.

It was a huge goal of mine to be able to post a video on social media in the form of a skit. I’m glad I got to do this, but being the perfectionist I am, I already want to do better. I hope to continue doing exercises at home. I want to make more skits, with better and funnier stories, as well as higher quality sound and audio.

Some great next steps would be to constantly write down ideas. Whenever I think of a funny story or video idea, it typically just comes and goes. I’d love to get in the habit of making these ideas a reality, and I would recommend this to anyone looking to act at home.

I can’t wait for the acting world to come back to life, but one of the silver linings of this pandemic was that we were able to keep things going from home. I hope we can all take something great away from this terrible, historical event. We’ll be back on stage eventually, but until then, let’s make the best of acting at home!

Making a Skit From Home

By

On February 28, 2021

In Acting

This week, it’s finally time to use what we learned, and make a skit! I know we all have funny ideas rattling around in our heads, but we need to filter things and plan them out before we turn the camera on. Let’s get into it!

I’m making a video today, and the first idea that comes to mind is to act out a funny story from where I work. We have to remember though, just because something is funny for us, doesn’t mean it will be for everyone else.

For example, during one of my last shifts, I told a customer his total came to $19.39. He responded by saying that 1939 was a great year. It took me a moment, but I realized that 1939 was the beginning of World War II. I became concerned, and later retold the story to my family. We found it funny in a dark humor way. However, acting out this scenario wouldn’t be universally funny, some people may still find it too dark.

This is what I mean by filtering and planning. We want to act out scenes and skits that are undeniably entertaining for everyone. I was once told in an acting class; “If you can be funny without cursing or being inappropriate, you are truly funny.”

I think about that a lot, and I want to make content that is universally funny. Jerry Seinfeld has spoken about this. He talks about it like it’s a challenge, and it definitely is. When your jokes aren’t getting anywhere, throwing something inappropriate in always manages a chuckle. It’s not necessary though. It’s best to work with the basics.

So, for example, a better work story to act out would be the time I went to help in the kitchen and couldn’t find any gloves. A coworker came up to me and said, “oh, here!” and pulled a giant wad of gloves out of his pocket (thanks, George). The kitchen had a good laugh.

This was a really easy skit to do at home. I made it for TikTok, and I distinguished different characters with masks, hairstyles, and a hat. Since everyone’s wearing masks anyway right now, putting aside a different mask for each character is perfect.

When you have a skit idea similar to this, there’s no need to add anything inappropriate. The key to the skit being funny and entertaining is the story itself and the comedic timing. Add funny pauses and moments of silence, make funny facial expressions! That’s what gets a laugh out of folks.

Anyway, aside from YouTube and TikTok, Twitter can also be a good source for more acting tips.

https://twitter.com/i/lists/1364669705135550470

There’s also a great voice acting community on Twitter, and voice acting is another good way to act at home during the pandemic. It’s also crucial to think about your voice and your tone in skits. Unless it’s the joke, having no emotion in your voice isn’t going to make your acting convincing.

I’m glad we still get to practice acting and make skits during all this, and I hope you get out there and make some. I’ll see you on the TikTok For You Page!

Acting on a New Platform

By

On February 21, 2021

In Acting

Since a community of actors, comedians, and other talented folks has formed on TikTok, it’s been a great place to upload all kinds of skits and silly videos. I’ve always wanted to post on the app myself, but I have an embarrassing confession to make.

I, a young college student on almost every social media platform, have no idea how to properly make and edit a TikTok. I know, I’m crazy.

This week I decided to dive in, join the rest of my generation, and finally learn the in’s and out’s of using TikTok. There’s a lot more to it than recording and uploading.

At this point, here’s what I know:

  • Be careful what you post! Although videos made by well-known accounts get more attention, random videos can go viral. Don’t post something without remembering that anyone can see it.
  • Not everyone is going to like your content, and they can be brutal about it. You need to prepare yourself for this. Make sure that you’re able to handle harsh criticism before you post something.
  • The recording process is much easier than you’d think. Opening it up may be intimidating, but don’t worry. The majority of users don’t even use all the bells and whistles, especially those making skits.

The app can be intimidating, but I’m here to help! Let’s get into character, shall we?

Now that we’re warmed up and ready to attempt a skit for the internet, let’s talk about being in character. The lines you say are important, but what makes them is the delivery. Before recording, really get into your character’s head and think about why they’re doing what they’re doing.

When I would act for the stage, a great way I would accomplish this was by reading through the script and going over all the lines. I’d get an understanding of the character’s personality and motives, and when reading the lines, I would imagine the character’s thought process and reactions to other character’s lines.

Let’s say you’re doing a skit where Character A is a child, and Character B is their sibling playing a prank on them. When acting as Character A, you want to be as innocent and oblivious as possible, and really think about their thought process when their sibling messes with them. Maybe they’ll be shocked, process the situation for a second, and then start crying. When acting as Character B, you want to be mischievous and clever. Maybe your character will laugh when they prank their sibling… and then go through a thought process and realize they need to stop their sibling from crying and alerting a parent.

Getting into character’s heads and becoming characters is a good way to improve our skills at home, and uploading videos online is a great way to get feedback, entertain others, and have fun with it! I’m honestly looking forward to posting some skits, but it can be hard to come up with ideas. So, I’m gonna go watch some TikToks for inspiration, which I’d always recommend, and make some videos myself! Happy uploading! : )

An Era of Acting Online

By

On February 14, 2021

In Acting

YouTube has always been a constant hub of content, including skits and acting videos, and TikTok has become a strong competitor. At the end of the day, both platforms are where all the acting is these days and both are a great place to start.

YouTubers and actors on the site are incredibly helpful, and give tips ranging from acting techniques to editing videos. I don’t know about you, but whenever I watch skits on TikTok, I can’t help but think about how much I’d love to give it a try. So far, my most recent video only has 209 views as of today, but that’s okay! This is what we’re here to do, to improve acting skills at home and make the most of this hobby during the pandemic.

If we want to improve our skills and lead up to making skits to post online, a great place to start is with basic warm-ups. Getting tongue-tied while trying to deliver the punchline isn’t always going to make it funnier.

Here are some of my favorite warm-ups I learned over the years in theatre that you can do at home by yourself:

  • Pretend you have peanut butter all over your teeth and try to get it off with your tongue (I know it’s so gross but I mean it when I say trust the process)
  • Stretching! Simply stretching out all of your muscles before getting into it helps.
  • Tongue twisters, this can range from the classic “sally sells sea shells by the sea shore” to ones more common in theatre like “red leather yellow leather”
  • Character walks! This can be done with other people, but when by yourself, try to imitate the way characters carry themselves and walk. This can be normal, or totally out-there and cartoonish.

After warming up, think about some funny jokes or skits that have been in the back of your mind since that initial “dang I’d love to make funny videos on YouTube, that would be so much fun” thought crossed your mind. I know they’re in there. Then, record yourself acting them out! This can be unedited, or choppy, it doesn’t matter. This is just for you, and I can guarantee you will not like what you’re seeing once you watch it back. Don’t worry, it’s part of the process!

After you have these videos for yourself, you’ll know exactly what to improve. I, for example, look at the camera way too much. When I watch videos of myself, I think to avoid the camera in the future. This is a great way to improve your acting for the camera skills by yourself. Over time, you’ll become more comfortable with the camera and be able to watch your videos back and think “not bad” instead of “I wish I deleted this yesterday.”

Practice makes perfect. The more you try, the more you practice, the more comfortable you’ll be delivering that punchline or making that funny face. So get out there and practice, and maybe I’ll see you on my For You Page on TikTok! : )

Acting During a Pandemic

By

On February 6, 2021

In Acting

One of the things I miss the most from normal life is theatre. Before large gatherings became borderline dangerous, I spent a lot of my time acting. It was a great hobby to have back when it was safe to perform. There’s so much involved in a hobby like that.

I used to perform in shows, go see shows to support my peers and friends, play acting or improv games with my friends or at clubs, and even make silly home videos with my family. So when you look at it, there’s still ways to be an actor and improve your skills when there’s a pandemic. It’s not always about performing in front of the biggest audiences, being the best, or getting awards. That’s something that I always try to teach people who want to get involved in theatre, or who want to try acting. You’re not always going to get the role you want. You may not get the recognition you want, the sudden viral fame, or be put on a pedestal.

The first step to truly enjoying acting and theatre, is being in it solely for the acting/performing part. When you don’t think about the outcome, and focus on being in the moment and enjoying being a character, it takes the stress away and makes it fun.

That’s what I hope to accomplish with this blog. To find ways for me and others to improve their skills and act at home, and have fun with it! I hope to cover things like how to truly become a character, how to play fun improv games with your friends (safely, of course), and how to create your own skit at home for YouTube or TikTok (Yes, I want to make a TikTok).

Join me on my journey to grow as an actor in this challenging time!

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén

Skip to toolbar