Hi Teresa and faithful supporters of Teresa!

Admittedly, my knowledge of acting on the studio set is very limited because I am more into music but I suppose any form of help right now can help to alleviate the tension that you are feeling about that challenging role of portraying the "sickly and morose" Ke Xinyu in Fireflies' Dreams (seen from your interview answers in Samantha's link).

I found something rather useful in an online forum about a tutorial for newbie actors acting for the very first time and I decide to edit some of the "tougher" language and certain parts of the content (after consulting a number of other sources about acting) in order to help you to understand it better. Hopefully, it will provide some useful guidelines as to how you can portray your character better in the upcoming TV Idol Drama in November.

Of course, the same friendly and gentle persuasion from me applies since you are still having examinations right now - only continue reading this post after your examinations are over. It's for your good and I hope you already know why by now. Good luck for your remaining papers and take care of yourself in the meantime!

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Rule 1: Don’t Look At The Camera!
Sounds obvious doesn’t it? Well you’d be amazed. There are of course rare exceptions to this rule – but it’s not up to you to figure out when these are… you’re a beginner… wait for the director to tell you otherwise.

Going a little deeper into the rule, it also means you shouldn’t even acknowledge the fact that the camera exists at all. When you’re at the shoot, you might have lights shining at you, people moving about in your peripheral vision, a guy holding a mic under your chin, and all sorts of nice distracting things. Learn to ignore them. They aren’t important to what you’re doing, and who you’re portraying. Just pretend they don’t exist, because they certainly won’t exist in the world your character is in.

Rule 2: Learn Your Lines!
No really – I mean it. Learning lines isn’t as easy as it looks, and can be rather time consuming depending on how many you have and how complex they are. Some lines are very difficult to learn (especially if they don’t have a cohesive flow), and some are very easy – but don’t wait till the day to find out. Some actors like to learn their lines on the day to keep it fresh (I know I do) – but I don’t recommend you do this because you’re going to be worried about a thousand other things. There is nothing worse than watching an actor who is obviously trying to remember their next line while the other person is speaking… which brings us to:

Rule 3: Listen To The Other Actors
Make sure that you are actually hearing what the other actors are saying, and just not waiting for your turn to speak. Listen to the words tinkling into place, and how the other actors deliver them – because they are going to shape how you respond. Pretend to yourself that you’re hearing each sentence for the first time. This is actually a really, really important rule.

Note: you will not be able to do this if you haven’t followed Rule 2.

Rule 4: Who Do You Think You Are?
Or rather… who does your character think he or she is? You must learn to think in the mindset of the portrayed character, not in the mindset of the audience. If the character you are portraying is a self-suffering loner, then he or she will always feel dejected and outcasted, no matter how much obvious encouragement is being showered on him or her. The audience can, of course, see the irrationality in the character, but the character can only see the world as he or she deemed or believed to be so. The point is, is that no character sees themselves in the same light that the audience would. Who does your character think they are?

Rule 5: Know Your Genre
A pretty basic rule and one that is easy to do homework on. Whatever movie, flim, play or drama that you are in, to look up or read up on the genre it is in and learn what makes it tick, draw the viewers or audience and make them love the genre.


Rule 6: Asking Questions 101
Unsure about your character? Ask the director - that’s what they’re there for. Not certain why your character would say something? Once again, ask. If you have questions about your character, ask them before the shoot date – time is limited on shoots.

If you have questions about your motive (the reason that your character is created, evolved and even ended in the flim)… first make sure that you haven’t been able to figure it out for yourself. Asking for your motive is a highly risky question if the answer is obvious – and is likely to make the director kill you. If you can’t think of one though… ask.

It’s important to know as much as you can about your character, and to make sure that you and the director are on the same page. Which ties in with:

Rule 7: Trust The Director
If the director wants you to do something a certain way, and it feels wrong to you… trust them: they can see the camera – you can’t. They also know how your character fits into the jigsaw of the film a lot better than you, and also the story that is being told within each scene. Sometimes playing your character true to form can overshadow the plot.

And when I say “trust” I mean “trust”. Don’t just do it because the director told you too… you have to trust them that they know what they want.

Rule 8: Feel, Don’t Think
I think this one is pretty self explanatory. Don’t think your sad or happy in a scene… feel sad or happy. Try and be in the same emotional state as your character… it means you can free your mind to think about other things.

Rule 9: Be Confident
This one is really important. If you are unsure at all about being in front of a camera… don’t do it. You’re just wasting your time and everyone else’s. The camera knows when you don’t want to be there. When you’re there, be confident in yourself that you are going to be amazing! Know that the camera is going to love you… and it will. You can trick a lot of people into thinking you can act if it looks like you think you can.

Note: This isn’t the same as being nervous. Nervousness is perfectly fine – and can give your performance energy and spontaneity. But be confident that it can. Believe in yourself.


Rule 10: Have fun!
Smile and give yourself a little pat on your back after finishing a successful shoot. It's already tough work for beginners (possibly coupled with long hours of waiting) and you should learn to loosen up with a smile and enjoy yourself with the wondrous experience of having the chance to act in the first place!
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(Source:  http://boards.theforce.net/Fan_Films/b10015/18179183) Edited for the use of language and content clarity since teresatseng.com fanclub and idollic.com/teresa/ have members who are underaged for certain use of language. My sincere thanks to Daniel Knight for his tutorial.

Sean Ho

"Music clears the mind, fills the heart, moves the soul."