Literal Action Script Analysis | The Great Acting Blog

 

“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solution.” – Albert Einstein

 

The point is that we cannot determine a solution until we have correctly defined the problem.

And that is why script analysis is so important. We cannot decide how to act the scene if we haven’t first defined for ourselves what is happening in it – the literal action.

“What does the character literally do in the scene?” That is the question that needs to be answered before we choose an action to play. We need to be able to state what the character is doing in one, simple sentence and then work from there.

This simple script analysis is crucial, yet so few actors seem to take this approach, preferring instead some vague notions of characterisation or “emotion.”

Correctly define the problem first. Learn how to answer the question: “what does the character literally do in the scene?”.

 

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FURTHER READING
The Importance of Having An Essential Action For The Scene
Acting As If…
Is Acting An Art?
Tragic Irony In Betty Blue

 

RESOURCES

A Practical Handbook For The Actor, [by Melissa Bruder et al].