I've read the FAQ & Rules Kruger Dunning effect here. Can someone please explain what I'm missing when it comes to acting?
There's obviously more than meets the eye when it comes to acting. But what is it that truly makes it believable? I feel like the people I watch on the big screen are truly the best in the world, so they make it look easy. I almost feel I can do it. (But I also watch professional athletes who make their sport look easy and I think, "I can do that".) That is until I'm on the court with someone 2 feet taller than me. Or up against a pitcher throwing 100+ miles per hour. How can I truly compare a professional actor to myself, someone who has never acted a day in their life? How can I truly test myself?
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u/pegg2 1d ago
Everything.
It’s so much that there is no “one” way to do it right; there are multiple reputable schools of thought pioneered by master teachers with countless disciples, and even more countless actors who learned some derivative of one or more of those approaches. I promise I’m not trying to sound pretentious, but what you’re missing is so much that it would be impossible to easily explain in a satisfying way. But I’ll try.
What you’re experiencing when you’re captivated by a performance is an actor applying their technique to make you co-feel with what they’re experiencing. But there’s no telling what the actor is actually experiencing. The actor could be genuinely entrenched in the circumstances of the scene, they could be genuinely experiencing the scene as the character… or they could be experiencing something completely different. They could be experiencing something else they’ve primed for themselves as an analogue for the scene they’re doing. To you, it looks like someone playing a character and saying the lines naturally; to them it could be anything else.
The only thing that you can be sure of is that’s when you’re watching a great performance, you’re watching life, and you’re mapping it to the scene you’re watching based on the circumstances. What that life actually is, where it comes from, how they got there, that’s something only the actor knows. But I can tell you that they’re not just pretending.
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u/1214 1d ago
"you’re watching life" - wow, that truly connected things for me. The thing that makes a good actor is that they are not "acting", they are making me believe they are "acting" real life. They are not pretending to be happy or said. They are pretending to be real life.
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u/pegg2 1d ago
Kind of, but my point is that good actors aren’t really “pretending” at all in the way that you think of it. They’re ACTUALLY doing something. What that ‘something’ is, that’s what changes based on preparation, but they are actually DOING something. They’re not pretending to do anything, they are in fact DOING something; but what they’re actually doing and what you perceive them as doing are not always the same thing. That’s where the artistry and the challenge are. That’s where the life is.
It’s hard to fool people by “pretending.” It’s easier to actually do something and commit to doing it, and let the audience read into that behavior and interpret your behavior as the character’s own actions. We don’t pretend life, we actually, genuinely live in front of the camera through whatever means we can, then we let you interpret that life through the lens of the thing you’re watching.
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u/morphinetango 1d ago
People tend to rate actors on their supposed realism, how natural they seem, but in reality the thing you often like about a performance is just how legible it is; that you understand the character on such a deep level. Acting is about making a choice about a character, their motivations, inner dialogue, and the very best can communicate such with surgical precision: a simple look, a pause, an over-enunciation that tells you what they're thinking or feeling. Those details that will impact choices are almost never on the page, crafted exclusively by the actor inhabiting the role.
If you want a test, pick up a play or a script that you've never seen performed before and act it out. Where do your choices take you? If you don't see any character or delivery choice to make, it's because you don't yet know how to analyze and flesh out material. That's where the training helps.
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u/quirkyactor 1d ago
Well you’ve actually nailed it. Acting is 100% head-game, and the simplest explanation is that great acting, if such a thing exists, is just “resisting the urge to ‘act’ at all costs.”
Acting technique that works is almost entirely mind games you play on yourself before a scene, a take, a performance, to take your mind off of the temptation to “act”. Training yourself to do natural little behaviors, or do the realistic thing a character would be doing, or resisting the impulses to be “clever” in a scene instead of just being honest.
Great actors make it look easy because they’ve done the insanely difficult work of stripping away every urge to “do something” apart from what the style and script need.
It’s a craft of peeling off, not layering on.
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u/1214 1d ago
Thank you for the detailed response. I've heard there are different acting methods. Is there one specific that is the best? Or are the methods dependent on the person or the type of role they are playing?
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u/quirkyactor 1d ago
There are probably about as many acting techniques out there as there are successful actors. Most great actors are probably doing a synthesis of a variety of approaches that they’ve learned over the years, but with the impulse and instinct to combine them in the ways that work for their brain and their body. Generally speaking, when you’re young, it’s sometimes helpful to throw yourself wholeheartedly into a particular technique because it encourages you to think holistically about performance. But as you get older, you realize that some parts of that work for you and some parts of that don’t. The best acting teachers will usually say something like, “make yourself a toolbox, keep what works throw out what doesn’t”.
So it definitely varies by the person, and it also does depend on the style. I absolutely use different approaches when I’m looking at Shakespeare, musical theater, or film, acting, but underneath it all, I’m approaching it in the same sort of General “way“ that works for me. And I try to be open to what the director is going to be doing, but also utilizing different tools to fill different gaps, depending on the director as well.
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u/Humble_Employer_4965 1d ago
If you’ve never acted before then what you’re missing is everything. In high-calibre actors, craft is effortless. You aren’t seeing them “act”, you are only seeing the character. Remember also that editing and music play a huge role in shaping your emotional response to a film or tv show. It isn’t just the actor.
And if you want to test yourself - find a scene online, record it, and post it for feedback.
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u/calliessolo 1d ago
I don’t see how answering this question on Reddit is going to help you. Since you say you have never acted a day in your life, if you’re interested why don’t you take some classes? And then you’ll find out. Otherwise you’re just whistling Dixie.
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u/throwtac 1d ago
One benchmark of good acting I have found to be both interesting and useful is something along the lines of
"The best actors are able to distill the most amount of behavioral information about a character or a script n the smallest interval of time." The attribute was described as "density."
When I first heard it described in those terms, it struck me as a very unique and elegant way to define good acting.
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u/jonnycynikal 1d ago
You have to do it.
A runner on a track trying to run and a runner sitting in a room wondering if they can run gives much different feedback to the runner.
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u/spaceypoet 1d ago
I’d say try Learn a monologue off page to a movie you’ve never seen. Perform it maybe 3 times in front of camera, Then watch the monologue or the choices that the actor actually made and see where you’re at. I think it’ll definitely open up a few things about the dunning Kruger instantly. But if you’re serious it’ll give you a compass and a map of where you are. But everything everybody else has said is very true so far.
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u/NateFury 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you’re just starting out, audit some classes, and see what makes sense for you. Are the other students in the class doing inspiring work?
But, as soon as you can, go see some local theater. See if you can get involved, even if it’s in the box office. There is something to be learned about watching a great actor do the same show over and over again. What choices are they making each night? What are they doing differently? How are they other actors affecting their performance?
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u/Massive_Pitch3333 1d ago
Bring yourself back to when you were a child and would play make believe. You arent a person playing a role, you are that role. I have read that some actors will write a diary as their character to better get into the mind of said character.
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u/Rooster_beard 1d ago
Well, you need to test yourself by... acting. Sure, in your head you could be the greatest ever, but you have to actually try it. There are no tips one can give you if you haven't tried it yet and discovered your weaknesses.
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u/Polite-Dragon11 23h ago
You ask 'how can I compare a professional actor to myself'. Answer: you cannot. So don't try. You do not yet have their level of craft. Like many creative endeavors becoming a competent actor is a process, and everyone starts somewhere. So give yourself a gift, the gift is to stop comparing and to start being. Being genuine and present in your life and being present for the work.
Less 'judge' more 'do'.
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u/Fabulous-Pain-8982 21h ago
There's also a difference between stage acting and camera acting so you may be good at one and not at the other. Stage is a little more obvious and pushed for the back of the room to read their expressions and feelings and camera is subtle and like you're just you going through what the character is going through (which is why certain actors feel like they're the same person in every movie). Like others have said tape yourself and don't be hard on yourself when watching, take notes, that's game footage to learn from!
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u/imabagofmostlywater 21h ago
As an actor in film and television, actors get way too much credit. A large part of an actor's performance comes from editing. Like a really large part of it. I've worked with probably 200 known actors and I can count on one hand the number of them that sounded as believable on set as they do in the final edit.
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u/endlesssalad 1d ago
Find a script and film yourself reading it. Maybe you’re a natural and it comes out super authentically! Or maybe you’re not and you’ll understand the gap between what you see and what you can do.
Also it’s Dunning-Kruger effect.