5

The Art of Concentration

Concentration

The Art of Concentration means giving your full attention to what you are doing. Concentrating on the other actor lets you experience the moment without thinking about your emotions. This is the creative source of acting. Your audience enjoys and believes you only to the extent that you are emotionally connected to the other actor. When you feel an emotion, you are interesting, but when you pretend or act an emotion, you lose credibility.

To concentrate, fix your attention on the other actor. The extent of your concentration sets the limit of how good you will be. When you can’t—or won’t—concentrate fully, your performance will be boring. When you do concentrate with your whole being, your performance will be interesting. Learn to concentrate with your whole being. Whatever you do—javelin throwing, painting, racecar driving, acting—concentration puts your attention where it has to be for you to achieve excellence. It gives you access to your intuitive knowledge and energy, which results in spontaneous and creative performances. All the intellectual and logical garbage sloshing around inside your head is the stuff of poor performance, but you can control it through concentration.

Internal Rap

Internal rap is that constant conversation you carry on with yourself inside your head. It goes on all the time, except when you concentrate directly on a point of focus. It sounds like—“That red Porsche is sensational. I sure wish I had it.” “What would you do with it?” “I’d put the top down and get that guy in the beer commercial and drive to Malibu.” “Look at that sexy woman.” “Well, suck in your stomach.” “You should put more feeling in your lines.” “What a cute guy.” “My hair’s a mess.” “Knock ’em dead on your next speech, you can’t miss.” “I wonder how I’m coming across?” “When we do that scene again, I’m really gonna blow him out of the water.” “Wow! I’m sure a good actor.” “Wow! I’m sure a rotten actor.” The rap goes on and on, and most of the time you’re not aware you’re doing it. Internal rap is the enemy of the Art of Concentration.

Call internal rap whatever you want—daydreaming, reminiscing, mental planning, thinking, solving problems—it stops yakking when you concentrate on the other actor. Internal rap is like one of those trick birthday candles that re-lights itself when you blow it out. The instant you allow the tiniest crack in your concentration, your internal rap jumps back in. That’s when the prizefighter goes down for the count; that’s when the runner knocks down the hurdle, the swimmer flubs her turn on the last lap, the race car driver crashes and burns; and that’s when the actor looks fake. Champions—artists, writers, racecar drivers, musicians, athletes, actors—all became champions by learning to concentrate so intensely that their internal rap didn’t stand a chance. When you halt the internal rap, your concentration becomes directed, and you are free to get on with giving a great performance. This is the Art of Concentration in film acting.

Interest Is the Focal Point of Concentration

The greater your interest in the other actor, the greater your awareness and the more directed your concentration. As your internal rap diminishes, the more truthful and intuitive you become.

It is possible, and we have all done it, to carry on a face-to-face conversation with a person to whom you are oblivious because you have not concentrated all your attention on him or her. This non-interest lets your internal rap babble on, and that’s one reason we instantly forget people’s names after being introduced. From now on, as a part of your actor’s discipline, use your concentration to remember the name of every person introduced to you. When your interest is enhanced, the more aware you become of another person’s hair, eyes, teeth, lips, complexion, clothing, attitude, emotions, body language, and name. You become sensitive to tone of voice, facial expressions, and physical being. Intense interest carries relating to a deeper level than speech alone; so, if you are to succeed at acting, at some point you have to tell your internal rap to shut the hell up.

When you truly concentrate on the situation and the other actor, you are “in the zone”: your mind and body function intuitively instead of logically, and your performance seems to come from “inspiration.” You are simultaneously relating on two levels—the conscious and the intuitive.

Feedback

What Richard Brestoff calls “the most precious exchange” with reference to fine acting is a description of the actor’s version of what modern science refers to as a “feedback loop.” He writes, “When actors have an effect on each other; when one action causes a reaction in the other, which causes a reaction in the first character, then the most precious exchange in the theater is taking place.”

Your dialogue stimulates the other actor’s responses—emotions, appearance, and actions—which are then fed back to you on the separate paths of seeing, listening, and touching. Then your responses are fed back to the other actor, and so on. With actors who concentrate, these responses affect each actor’s subsequent responses throughout the scene. Remember what James Caan said about Marlon Brando: “From moment to moment you never knew. But it always made sense.” That is, it always made sense to the actor who concentrated on Brando.

Emotions

Concentration of attention on the other person’s emotions is the creative source of film acting. Through the Art of Concentration you experience the other actor’s emotions with clarity. Human beings are always in some state of emotional experience, and your job is to deal with that experience:

1. Recognize the emotion that the other actor is experiencing—sadness, happiness, anger, love, fear.
2. Respond appropriately to that emotion.
3. On a subconscious level, don’t let your logic or internal rap interfere with feedback from the other actor and the situation.

Yoshiko, a talented, bright actor, and Harry, a beginning student, are doing a scene in class. We see how Harry lets his internal rap turn his concentration away from Yoshiko.

JEREMIAH: Harry, what is Yoshiko feeling?

JEREMIAH: Is she? If you were concentrating on her instead of on what’s going on inside your head, your internal rap, you would see what she’s feeling. Look again.

JEREMIAH: Great! … and every other idiot who reads for the role is going to do exactly the same thing. How’s the casting director going to see you as different? “Tough tit” is a cliché, but you don’t have to play it as a cliché. Now if Yoshiko were three years old and crying, what would you do? Beat her up?

JEREMIAH: Good, do that. Then say your dialogue.

JEREMIAH: Great! (to the class) This time he saw her pain and dealt with it. Harry says that line with the subtext of sadness that little boys can be real bastards. At the beginning, if he had been concentrating on how she felt instead of getting caught up in an internal rap about the script, he would have seen her pain.

When actors concentrate on the feedback from each other’s actions and emotions, the performances of both actors immediately improve. Actors become more in-the-moment and honest. It’s simple, as Sandy Meisner says, it just takes years to get it.

Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Fear, Love

Although everyone is always experiencing one of the five emotions—happiness, sadness, anger, fear, love—each emotion can have variations. Love can be caring; it can be motherly love; it can be friendliness, sexual attraction, flirting, lust, or passion. Each is a manifestation of the emotion love.

The five primary emotions are the source of all your experiences, and it is possible to experience one or more emotions at a time. Recognizing another person’s emotions can be difficult, but to be a good film actor, you have to develop the art of seeing and identifying emotions.

You cannot know what another person is thinking, but you can be aware of what he is experiencing. If he is crying, you don’t know the reason for the tears, but you can see that he’s crying. In this next scene, Michael is relating to Jane, but she is not responding to him.

JEREMIAH: Jane, what is Michael feeling?

JEREMIAH: Can you read minds?

JEREMIAH: So does everybody else. But acting isn’t an exercise in psychic revelation, and it isn’t a guessing game. If an actor is crying, you don’t know what he’s crying about unless he tells you why. You’re guessing. What’s important is that you see what he’s feeling. I’m not concerned with what you think he should feel. Jane, do you see sadness on his face?

JEREMIAH: Jane do you remember hearing sadness in Michael’s voice?

JEREMIAH: Or were there tears in his eyes?

JEREMIAH: I’m sorry to hear that. Do you want to continue with the scene?

JEREMIAH: Then forget what you think. Allow yourself to deal with what is going on with Michael emotionally, not what you think should go on because of what the script says. What is Michael feeling?

JEREMIAH: Good! Caring and love are the same emotion. Now see his love, and forget about the dialogue.

JEREMIAH: Wow! … (to the class) When Jane saw Michael’s love for his mother, she had a real emotional experience and started to cry. (to Jane) When you concentrate on the other actor’s emotions and stop thinking about the script, the dialogue takes you to another level. That was great. (to the class) Also, what if Jane hadn’t told us her mother had just died of cancer? We would still get the idea that her tears were empathetic feelings about Michael’s reaction to his own mother’s cancer. You can’t really know the reason for the other person’s emotion. The only thing you can do is see and recognize it.

Learn to see and recognize which emotion is going on, and then respond to it. It is easy to recognize extreme emotions, like violent rage or roaring laughter. But it is more difficult to recognize and identify the subtle ones. An actor may be experiencing a strong emotion, yet outwardly showing only subtle signs. Don’t be trapped into thinking she is not feeling anything, because there is always some sign: the eyes, the expression, the tremor or stillness in hands or muscles, physical position, the color and tone of the skin, even your intuition. There is always a clue to what a person is feeling, so concentrate and find it. To become a great actor, develop the skill of recognizing emotions to the point where you can recognize the emotions of a marble statue.

One emotion can successively give way to another and back again rapidly to the first emotion or to yet another emotion. Being a good film actor means seeing, identifying, and responding to these changes. When talented actors put their attention on their partners and are open to experience, then fasten your seat belts.

Two advanced students, Katy and Gary, are doing The Closer, written by Louis La Ruso and Robert Keats. Gary has found out that Katy has been seeing another man. Most actors would play the scene at high volume.

We pick up in the middle of the scene. Each has read the scene only once.

JEREMIAH: Terrific! (to class) That’s what you should be able to do in an audition. This scene looks like it has been rehearsed and planned out moment by moment. But they only read it once.

JEREMIAH: That’s the point. Both Gary and Katy are responding to feedback from each other. What each receives is stimulating their responses. It has nothing to do with making logical choices. Without rehearsal you don’t have time to plan exactly what you are going to do. (to Katy and Gary) Did either of you know what you were going to experience in the scene?

JEREMIAH: I can understand that, but what I found interesting is how she evoked other emotions in you. You seemed to get sadistic pleasure from the feedback you received from her.

Differentiating between the Emotions

Love, fear, and anger are each capable of stimulating a release of adrenaline into your body. When you think of or see your lover, adrenaline flows. Your heart rate goes up, you get excited, your hormones start pumping, and you become aroused. When you make an illegal U-turn and a flashing red light confronts you in the rear view mirror, your body gets a shot of adrenaline. Your heart rate goes up, you experience fear, and you want to flee. When the cop takes out his ticket book, you get angry. Such anger is usually directed inward— “Damn, why did I hang that U?” But it can also be directed outward, which is why police officers sometimes get shot writing traffic tickets. A police car chase starts with a red light in the rear view. Adrenaline pumps, the driver’s instinct for fight-or-flight takes over, and away he goes. Adrenaline also fires up the batter’s fight-or-flight instinct, and with murderous intent he goes after the pitcher who has just dusted his ear with a 98-mile-an-hour fastball.

Love, fear, and anger, which we classify as separate emotions, each puts us through the same adrenaline-induced physiological responses. Since we live in a civilized society, we have been taught from childhood not to act on our impulses. How you react depends on your personal situation and the circumstances. Good actors cultivate their intuition so they can act on impulses. This gives them great emotional resources in their film acting.

Love

Love is affection towards another person; warm feelings, caring. This feeling can range from kindness to intense sexual desire.

Anger

Anger is hostility towards any person or object, or towards oneself. This hostility can range from simple frustration to blind rage.

Fear

Fear is the fight-or-flight emotion that arises in the presence or anticipation of danger. It can render you unable to respond or it can put you into panic. Fear exists at a primitive level to protect you, and it can sometimes override the logical part of your mind. In acting, you experience fear in two ways: personal fear and character fear.

1. Personal fear. This is your own fear as a person, and you do not want it to be visible to the audience. Unlike the other emotions, which work on any level, personal fear can inhibit you. Personal fear comes from your concentration on yourself instead of on something outside of you, and it blocks you from feeling other emotions. If the other actor is personally afraid, help alleviate his fear so he can respond emotionally to you. Support him emotionally. Extend yourself with a hug. Hold his hand, stroke him, or talk to him softly. His focus will change. He will become more aware of you and less self-conscious. He will start to relate to you, and his performance will improve. When you embrace him emotionally, he will experience a level of shared feelings (intimacy) that allows the scene to work.

   When you are personally afraid, no matter how you act, the camera will unerringly pick it up, and on the screen you will look like nothing more than a scared actor. To get rid of personal fear concentrate on the other actor and turn it into workable energy.

2. Character fear. This is the fear your character experiences. To do this on film, you have to be truly afraid. If you try to fake it, the camera sees you as an actor trying to look frightened. Accept the circumstances.

Laughter and Sadness

Laughter and sadness both relieve emotional tension. Laughter relieves tension by explosion; sadness by surrender, letting go. The end result of both is to relieve tension, unlike the other emotions, which stimulate.

Laughter, which is an expression of being happy, is a fully extended emotion, ranging from a simple smile to uncontrolled laughing. In a scene where you have a slight smile but are not really laughing, “happy” is a more appropriate description. Of all the feelings, laughter is unique. It is a shared, contagious emotion.

Sometimes people laugh to avoid experiencing some other primary emotion. A man stumbles on the edge of a carpet and laughs. A newscaster bobbles a word and laughs. A girl giggles when she is called on to recite before the class. An actor chuckles when he looks into the eyes of his serious partner. All are using laughter to turn aside embarrassment or an uncomfortable emotion.

Brittany is a talented actress with a ready and natural smile. In the next scene she works with Joshua, whom she comforts after his father’s death. The first time they do the scene, she smiles all the way through, which keeps her from dealing with the reality of the death of the father.

JEREMIAH: Brittany, why are you smiling?

JEREMIAH: That’s fine. But when you smile, smile only because you relate to Joshua, not because you’re trying to be sympathetic—that’s your logic at work. You were smiling even before you started. You’re avoiding the reality of the death. If you have the impulse to smile because of what you get from Joshua, smile. You can even laugh if that’s what you feel. Take it again from your last line.

JEREMIAH: (to the class) Once Brittany stopped smiling for no reason except to protect herself, she had nowhere to hide. Then Joshua’s father’s death hit her right between the eyes. She dealt with it and had a strong emotional experience.

Sadness is the emotion of sorrow, unhappiness, or pain, usually followed by tears. It can range from slight disappointment to uncontrollable crying, which is difficult to do when you want to do it. Some actors have more access to their tears than others. Sometimes chemicals are used to induce tears, or glycerin to make tear drops. These tactics work at times, but nothing can substitute for the real experience.

The emotions you experience can and will vary in intensity, energy, and spontaneity depending on your personality. Some actors have logical control over most of their emotions, but great actors don’t have any constraints.

Focused Concentration

Concentration of attention on the other actor’s emotions— happiness, sadness, anger, fear, love—is the creative source of film acting. Placing your concentration on the other actor’s emotions gives you a specific point of focus. David Mamet said that the actor who thrills the viewers is the one who “behaves with no regard to his personal state, but with all regard for the responses of his antagonists.” When you disregard concentration, you lose your connection with the other actor. You then stop relating and become mediocre, or worse.

How to Increase Your Concentration

Seeing

See and respond to the other actor’s emotional changes. If your partner changes emotionally, react with an equal or greater level of energy to her change. This doesn’t mean that you should go through a lot of gyrations or facial expressions. If you have an emotional experience, you don’t have to do anything, because that experience will come through to the other actor, and, more importantly, to your audience. As you get better at seeing with a child’s eyes, you will respond more and more intuitively.

One of my favorite moments is in the film Legends of the Fall with Brad Pitt. Pitt’s character, returning after the first World War, rides up the hill toward the ranch. The ranch hand sees him in the distance and calls to the colonel, played by Anthony Hopkins; Julia Ormond and Aidan Quinn, who plays Pitt’s brother, each experience an emotion that we see and understand. They do this without words, facial gymnastics, or silly indications. They actually experience the emotions, and we see them.

This scene is a perfect example of truly seeing. Each actor intently sees what is going on with the other, and, without words, each has an emotional experience that is clearly communicated to the audience.

Listening

Sharpening your listening sense almost instantly increases your effectiveness as an actor. Listen, really listen, to everything the other actor says. Force yourself to listen. Hear the tone of his voice. Is he louder or softer than I am? Am I responding to his emotional tone? Listen as a young child listens.

In As Good As It Gets, Jack Nicholson plays an obsessive-compulsive man. He is sitting alone in a restaurant and takes out his plastic eating utensils. Helen Hunt, who plays a waitress in the restaurant, interacts with Nicholson. When you view this scene, watch how the talented Nicholson is absorbed in listening to Hunt’s tone and inflection.

Touching

Touch relaxes you and invokes intimacy. Touch heightens your awareness of the other actor and allows you to believe what she is saying or doing. Often, in class, two actors doing a scene will be a little stiff or un-relating. Then one of them touches the other on the arm, and you can see them both instantly relax and become intimate. Almost always, a scene goes better if in some way you touch the other actor or she touches you. Touching focuses your concentration and releases your inhibitions. The actual root meaning of “acting” means “to do,” “to carry out an action.” Physical movement, which includes touching, can evoke an emotional response.

At the climax of As Good As It Gets, Nicholson kisses Hunt. It is an unemotional kiss and not very exciting. Nicholson takes a moment, then—

Nicholson’s second kiss is spontaneous; he caresses her hair and shoulders. The touch tells us that he cares for her. The touch works on a subconscious level and tells the audience more than the kiss.

Physical and Emotional Copying

Mimicking another actor by exactly duplicating his emotional and physical responses as he experiences them keeps you focused on him. It stimulates you. Copying like this is extremely effective when you are first learning the Relating Exercise because it forces you to concentrate and relate. In Duck Soup, Groucho Marx does a vaudeville act with his brother, Harpo. Both of them are dressed identically and stand facing each other; between them stands an empty frame representing a mirror. As Groucho moves, Harpo exactly mimics his movements to make it appear as if he is a mirror reflection. It is a brilliant piece of comedy. They copy each other’s movements perfectly until the payoff when Groucho drops his hat.

Mimicking makes you a participant, not an observer. It forces you to engage the other actor, physically and emotionally. Trying to mimic exactly another actor’s every movement and expression makes you concentrate on that actor to the total exclusion of everything else. In every scene you do, concentrate to that extent when you see, listen, and touch.

Summary

Concentration of attention on the other person’s emotions— sadness, happiness, anger, fear, love—is the creative source of film acting. Learn to differentiate between these emotions through the Art of Concentration.

Actor Practice

Seeing

1. In class, watch each scene and identify what the other actors are feeling.
2. Watch movies. Pay attention to how actors express feelings without words.

   Listening

3. At night when everyone is asleep, turn out the light and listen for as many different sounds as you can.
4. During the day shut your eyes and see how many sounds you can hear and identify.
5. During conversation, listen to yours and your partner’s vocal levels. You will probably find that your vocal level matches that of the person you are with and that of the situation. Purposely raise or drop the level and notice the difference in response.
   1. In bed
   2. In a living room
   3. In a ball park or football stadium
   4. In a movie theater
   5. In a car (parked, driving)
   6. In a restaurant
6. In comedies, watch when an actor imitates another actor. It usually evokes laughter.
7. Stand in front of a mirror and do a mirror exercise with yourself. Do it long enough for the image in the mirror to lead you.

   Touching

8. Sit with a loved one and say something intimate like “I think you are beautiful.” Now touch the person and say the same thing. Notice the response.
9. Study the body language of others when they are feeling emotions— sadness, happiness, anger, love, fear.
10. Constantly watch people, and develop the ability to recognize the emotion that each individual is feeling.
11. From now on, concentrate on and be interested in anyone you are introduced to—and remember the name.