An acting student asked me recently how to prevent him from clenching his fists when he did angry in his scene work. He said he noticed on tape in playback after class that every time he had to be mad in a scene, all these other physical things occurred that he couldn’t control. Things like the clenched fists, and raising his eyebrows when he spoke angrily, were getting in the way of pure emotion. They were becoming distractions and habits, and he didn’t know what to do.
This is called misplaced tension. It is probably the same thing he does in life when he’s mad and he never sees playback of that, so he’s not aware of it.
And that’s sort of the crux. We as actors must be aware of the things we do in a scene, first of all so we know what we look like to others, and secondly so we can duplicate it on camera for coverage. (When you get a role on camera, you’ll have to shoot it over and over again from different angles, and in order for it to “cut together” in editing, all your actions, intensity, prop business, movement, must match take after take.)
In the case of misplaced tension, there are exercises you can do to fix this, and they center around the idea of putting that tension someplace else on purpose. Make a new habit that you’re constantly aware of. Plan what your voice and body do when you need them to perform heightened emotions. All that takes practice and exercise.
But for starters, as an acting assignment for all, evaluate your performances and be aware at all times of what your voice and body are doing. Make sure you completely commit to your homework (what you plan in advance for your scene) and leave yourself some room for impromptu things to happen during your acting experience, but be in control of your actions.
A thinking actor is an actor that can “match”.
Best,
Beth