5 Great Ways on Learning Acting at Home and Save Money

Bollywood Star Kareena practicing at temporary home

"Practice makes perfect"

Practice is an exercise, practice is a mantra, it simply tunes both our physical and mental entities to the required frequency that helps us to lead towards perfection.

Well, why not practice Acting from the comfort of your own home?

1. Analyze: Look at and know yourself

This does not mean to just stand there and look in the mirror. Look at yourself and examine how you behave and act normally, what do you do when you are speaking? What about your facial expressions? Your gestures? Is your dialog delivery? Do you use your hands, eyes, eyebrows, mouth,  lips properly? What's your style of speaking? Is it like a good public speaker, a politician or what? Is your voice, diction and language clear and impressive? How do you walk around the house when you are joyful, upset, sad or frustrated? When you are excited, how do you answer the phone? How do you get ready for bed?
For acting in front of the camera, everything you do is captured and magnified. So, it is the little things that you do on camera to express emotions, and feelings that demonstrate the best acting abilities. Remember, the camera (viewer) loves subtle expressions and a degree of stillness. So by paying attention and understanding of how you normally do daily tasks you can improve your acting abilities
(Author and an acting coach): “Many so called acting experts in schools disapprove using a  mirror. I don't agree. As an experienced actor myself, using mirror has always helped me. The fear of becoming a typed actor by practicing in front of a mirror, in my opinion is incorrect. Everything depends on your power of imagination to transform yourself into a new life, that too instantly

From Hollywood and Broadway Stars

"It depends, but mirrors are usually more efficient to simply gauge how you look, than for helping you craft a monologue" 
~Mike DiGirolamo, actor with 15 years of experience

"Both. Mirror and recordings. Obviously, recordings are a much better way. My suggestion would be to experiment with some gestures, expressions & looks in front of the mirror, and then turning on your recording and begin your performance."
~Actor Kris Mavericko, Actor

"Sit in front of a mirror
Easier said than done, right? Regardless if you’re actually preparing for a specific audition, sit in front of a mirror and stare at that gorgeous reflection of yours. Play around with different facial expressions, run the gambit (happy, said, irked, etc). Pay particular attention to every little feature during each emotion – how the lines in your face crease, whether or not you have dimples, and how your eyes and brow react, to name a few. You may feel (and look) a little silly while doing this, but this is the quickest and most effective way to analyze your facial expressions."
~Kyle Dean Massey
http://www.castittalent.com/blog/2011/10/mastering-your-facial-expressions/

2. Use Mobile Asking a friend to Record Your Performance

TV News reporters and good public speakers spend hours if not days, in front of the mirror so they can better understand their facial muscles and expressions. If you are able to record yourself with a mobile camera,  making different facial expressions, talking, crying, or yelling you will be able to see what looks the best in front of camera. Think about it, even Jennifer Lawerence (She is a renowned  American actress) said that after watching herself in ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ that she had a really bad crying face. If you are able to see what you look like in different angles, and expressions you will be able to act even better in front of the camera.

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3. Watch Yourself

More and more, it is becoming commonplace for actors to watch the playback of their scenes for performance and technical  purposes. So, being comfortable at home watching yourself on camera and understanding the technicalities of film acting are both important skills that can be practiced

Film A Monologue:

Read any monologue in English from  internet, translate in Hindi

Set-up a camera, cell phone, or webcam to capture your performance

Prepare as you would for an audition

Choose a point in the room to talk to, a chair, a speck on the wall, whatever

Imagine. Picture the other character in the room with you and play to them, observing their reactions as you act

Press Record, perform the monologue

Watch the playback and observe yourself. What worked? What didn’t?

This exercise will help you become more comfortable on camera and also help with the technical side of film acting. Do your eyes drift? Are you “over acting”? Experiment with your motivations and technique until you find what works for you. This simple and solitary exercise builds comfort and confidence in front of the camera that directly translates to the film set.

Remember that acting is an internal process (Imagination, observation, concentration and dreaming, creating a character)  that leads to an external performance. Do not focus on external results like your facial expressions or posture. Focus on the thoughts that led to them.

Source

4. Must Read Books!

There is a ton of books for sale that will allow you to learn from the greats such as Stanislavisky's Method Acting, the Meisner Method, Michael Chekhov and other acting techniques. Take up a book and learn unique ways to audition, to perform, and to get into character.
Where to find?
Go to the side bars of the home page of this blog, On the left sidebar find "acting classes too expensive...", Click arrow in the center, go to amazon.in and buy books. Similarly, on the right sidebar and find "Learn Acting From These Amazing Books..." Click the same as the above and buy (Credit or debit card required)

5. Final Word

To Practice Acting from Home, may not guarantee a way to success in Bollywood and landing an audition. But, it will allow you to use your time at home efficiently. Talent is in you for sure, it is the those that are willing to put in the hard work and time that are able to achieve success.
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