5 steps to bring your character into the moment.

Actors often ask if there is a technique or method to making sure one is truly living "in the moment." We work hard to study, prepare, rehearse and build a performance roadmap, but when it comes time, we need to bring ourselves into the specific moment as as scene begins.

Borrowing from techniques taught to patients who need to emotionally regulate themselves to deal with specific situations, we can better ground ourselves in the reality of where our character find themselves.

These are sensory steps anyone can do, and once these steps are worked through, we can then engage in the scene and relationship we are in with confidence that we are truly living in the given circumstances.

The steps are: name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can smell, 2 things you can taste and 1 thing you can touch.

Example:

5 - I see the house I am in, specifically the piano, the table with wine and glasses, the window, the lamp, my wife.

4 - I can hear the wind in the trees, the barking of a dog, the clank in the radiator, the breathing of my wife.

3 - I can smell the wine in my glass, the faint scent of dinner cooking in the kitchen, my wife's perfume.

2 - I can taste the wine on my tongue and the faintest trace of the cheese I ate.

1 - I can touch the wine glass: as I do, I feel it's weight and the movement of the wine as I tilt the glass.

We are now in the true present and we can begin the scene knowing that our character's reality is truly alive around us.

Imagine how helpful this technique is when working on a film set, when one is surrounded by lights, crew, camera and other equipment. Or on a somewhat abstract set where shapes or levels represent furniture and floors.

This is how we use our creative imaginations as actors in a specific methodology to do our work. This is a true process.