7 Essential Acting Tips for Beginners to Try at Home

Establish a Routine

When it comes to an art or anything creative, it is important that you also have some time-based planning in place. It is easy to forget time when we get immersed into any creative or even technical process we are passionate about.

Sometimes, it is also a little difficult to make decisions or have a productive day. In times like these, it is very easy to feel a little lost and lose aspiration. To avoid or reduce mindless time, it is always good to set a routine. Even if not a binding one, you can keep a time limit to each activity.

What that will do is, it will keep you on your toes. It will keep you looking forward to the upcoming activities/things to do. As refreshing as it can be, it may also give you a creative break from over-working on one single activity.

When you have a balanced day, with a balanced routine where you are giving yourself time for work, time for learning something new, some physical exercise, some mentally relaxing time, you will feel better. You will feel balanced, and will stay sharp with positive energy. Establishing a routine is a great habit to reduce stress or anxiety and plays a big hand in your mental and physical well-being.

Take Time to Rehearse

You can rehearse a presentation, a speech, answers for an interview, scripts for acting, new skills you may have learnt, like a dance move or a musical note! But whatever you try your hand at, rehearsal is one of the most important habits you want to imbibe.

If you are a perfectionist, you already must be re-doing any said activity to perfect it, but make sure your methods of rehearsing are right!

One way of rehearsing thoroughly is by making sure you are involved in the activity physically and mentally. You need to put in your full efforts. Make sure you keep notes, write down your questions if you have any so you don't forget any. Read the notes, record yourself when you rehearse, and review your presentation! You can schedule a timeline where you want to perfect a certain aspect.

Explore your individual ways of rehearsals so that you can give your best performance when the time comes! And don't forget to have fun when you practise!

Practise your Script

If you have a script, you can start by reading the entire script as a starter. You can write notes about what you understand about the character you are playing. How do they think? How do they react?

Then, after entering the mind-space of your character, try reading the lines again. Notice the difference, and try to develop your character in the script.

You can read different books and try different characters, you don't need to wait for an acting school to give you another script. Try different characters, try different emotions, try practising it in front of others for feedback.

Practising your script will make you comfortable in your role, will prepare you for your character and give you a better understanding of the narrative, the story-line and will help increase your confidence as an actor.

Record Yourself as you Rehearse

Many times, the best person to give you the right feedback can be you!

What you can do is record yourself as you rehearse. 

Don’t be hasty to record yourself, make sure you have completed the previous steps, that you have understood your character, you are on the same page as the story-line, you are in sync with the lines of your script, and you are comfortable and confident enough to record yourself.

It is only natural to fumble in your first attempt, but that’s the beauty of this process. It will help you get comfortable in front of the camera, and will give you the opportunity to give yourself the first feedback on your performance.

You don’t need an expensive camera to do this, simply recording yourself on your phone will do the job! Without being overly critical of yourself, gently analyse your actions, your voice and intonation, and see if what you have in your mind while performing is matching with what you see in your performance.

It is an incredibly important process to get in touch with yourself, to know your strengths and weaknesses and most importantly, work on the weakness as you look at yourself through the lens.

Prioritise

Prioritise your activities.

Sometimes, you need to just read the lines again. Sometimes, you need to practise. Sometimes, you will have to give yourself a break and relax- mentally and physically.

You may face situations where you need to prioritise what you want to focus on. Is it something you are learning, a new skill you are developing to help with your acting?

Are you physically fit and need to prioritise your physical and mental health?

Acting is a tough profession, and you need to be physically, emotionally and mentally fit to be able to handle the criticism, tough routines, balance lifestyle and keep progressing.

Embrace your art and prioritise your activities according to the needs. Be clear about your goals, check your finances, and plan your priorities accordingly.

Take Inputs From Those Around You

As we said before, acting is an art. When you talk about the creative aspect of acting, leaving behind the technical aspect, you enter grey areas.

Since art cannot be defined as right or wrong, and it has no bounds in the sense of creativity, you need to check what reactions you are getting to your acting. Taking inputs from those around you is incredibly helpful when it comes to you being on the same page as your audience. Take the inputs as critical appreciation, and develop your skills accordingly!

There may be times when you may get different perspectives. You will see how these perspectives will shed light on your understanding of the character, and whether you can portray the subtle and bold aspects as an actor.

Acting is a performing art, and that means knowing if you are able to reach the audience is vital. You need to know if you have enough range of emotions, whether your body language is in sync with your lines, if your intonation makes sense in the story as a whole!

Watch Other Performances

Whether it is watching movies, TV series, soaps, theatre or stage performances, watching other performances consciously will take you places!

Try to repeat and re-enact what you like the most. You can learn a lot about body language, facial changes, intonation, even subtle non-verbal acting by studying other's performances.

Alt Text- Young actress watching someone act on her laptop

While you do that, remember that not everything looks good on everyone. There are some skills that come naturally to you, and some that you will need to develop. See what you want to develop, what fits your acting style. 

Don’t underestimate the simple practise of studying other’s performances, if your mind is analysing the details, it will help you immensely to build your acting skills.

Contact us at the Indian School of Acting!

Although acting is not the easiest profession, it is one of the most rewarding ones. You need to develop a lot of creative and technical skills when you want to become an accomplished actor. It is natural to feel a little overwhelmed to a beginner.

But, if you are a motivated, dedicated and hard-working person with high aspirations and self-awareness, you can realise your dreams! 

We, at the Indian School of Acting believe that there is truly no age limit when it comes to the art of acting, and as long as you are willing to give it your best efforts, we will be your support system! If you are someone who wants to try your hand at acting professionally, we provide multiple courses.

If you have any doubts, want to know more information or want to apply, please don't hesitate to contact us! 

Click here to apply!