How to Develop Your Acting Skills at Home
How to Develop Your Acting Skills at Home
People are getting to spend more time at home than ever before. Unfortunately for performers, that means that they have less time on stage and less time in front of an audience. Fear of getting rusty or losing their hard-won skills has pushed several performers into trying new methods to practice. Instead of shouting at a mirror-like site, many places will recommend that there are the top ways to hone your skills while still getting to stay home.
Practice A Monologue A Week
Memorization is as extensive of a part of acting like anything else. Instead of trying to memorize the same script of a favorite movie or television show, you should change it up. Try learning a monologue between five hundred to a thousand words every week.
This practice can be tricky since five hundred words is a lot longer than most people realize, but it\’s an excellent exercise to help you grow. Pay attention to how you emphasize certain words and if specific roles need an accent. It\’s okay if it takes you a little longer every once in a while, as long as you keep pushing on to the next one.
Pick Up On Trends
There\’s nothing like a trend to help boost your interest and possibly your popularity. Look out on apps like TikTok for trends in acting or lip-synching. Although it may feel silly to lip-sync with another person\’s performance, this act can help you learn how to use your body and face more creatively and pantomime.
Another great pro of this practice is that it will allow you to get your name, face, and skill out there. Every video you post publicly will be another audition to the public, another attempt at hopefully getting a solid role.
Practice Off Of A Colleague
Every actor knows other actors. The best way to hone your skills and improve is to play off of one another. Performers can practice off one another on Skype or FaceTime and give each other what they need to learn and grow. Although there is a slight lag between conversations on nearly any video interface, you can learn to work around this and take the time to grow and become better about improving on your feet. This practice might feel a little silly at first, but voice actors like Hayden Byerly can attest to how acting through your voice primarily can be a handy skill to have.
Do Expression Practices
Use a delayed camera on your computer or phone, and practice expressions off of yourself. Randomize a list of emotions, and then try to slip into those emotions one by one quickly. If you want to make this more difficult for yourself, place your back on the camera and show these emotions through only body language. On camera, you\’ll be able to see what you do right and wrong and will get to learn how to improve.
Acting may be a social gig, but that doesn’t mean you have to be in a crowd to practice.
