Acting for the Camera: Creating a Deeper, Richer Character

Sit back and think of a time that you went and saw a movie, or a play, and you were completely taken back by a character. Not really the actor that was portraying them, but the actual character. If you think about this time, you will begin to remember that you forgot that this "character" is not real, and that it is just an actor reading lines from a script.

But rather, you felt as if this character was a real person, and you were being allowed to take a look into their personal lives without them knowing. The difference between a good actor and a great actor, is when you can perform a character and the audience forgets that you are you, and you become this character, whomever they may be.

But how do these actors do this? Well, first off, it comes with experience and training - just like everything else in life. However, it also comes with a better understanding on how to create a deeper, richer character. I like to think that characters are like ice cream. Sometimes you will get an actor who plays a character and it become like runny, thin ice cream, it's still okay to eat, but it's not very good and you become quickly sick of it.

However, there are the other actors whose skill is like thick milkshake, you know, the kind that gets stuck in your straw. And as most of us know, we would rather indulge ourselves in the thick milkshake, than in the melted ice cream. But, how can you as an actor become a triple fudge milkshake? It's not too hard actually; it just takes (1) experience and (2) proper training.

Creating a deeper, more in-depth character is fairly simple, once you know what to do. I myself have dabbled with hundreds of various character analysis methods, and most of them work, however, they all pretty much say the same thing over and over again. I have found a method that has helped me in creating a truly multi-dimensional character every time I use it.

This method is extremely simple, and when used with your other various character analysis methods becomes very effective in creating that mind-blowing character that will have audiences laughing, crying, screaming and ultimately loving the performance.