Is there some special method to remembering an entire play or movie without having to refer to your lines? I can barely remember one paragraph of lines to the tee, let alone hundreds of pages of lines. Thanks!
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Repetition. I can probly roll off over 200 movies word for word from memory because I’ve seen them so many times. Like all the original Star Wars, all Monty Python, a whole bunch of horrors, Fight Club, Jurassic Park, the list goes on and on. Its just all repetition. But generally, actors dont have to memorize massive amounts of lines all at the same time.
Its is primarily repetition, though keep in mind that a movie is shot over the course of weeks or months, so the actor only needs to memorize the lines for the particular scene being shot that day. They can also do the scene again if they mess up the lines, so it is easier than a stage play.
Some people just have a knack for it. When I was in HS theatre, I usually had all of my lines memorized within a week or so, and often had the entire _play_ memorized in a month. It is just how my brain works – it is _really_ good at remembering prose – I can still quote the ending soliloquy from _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ from memory, despite not having been in the play for 25 years..
Folks that succeed in the theatre are going to be folks who have the ability to memorize their lines.
Well TV shows and movies aren’t shot from beginning to end in one take, so it’s not like they have to memorise EVERY line. Some actors rehearse lines for the specific shot they’re about to film, and then you’ve only got a few minutes worth of dialogue, if even that, to remember.
Part of it is just reading and re-reading the text, and just plain memorising the words. You just have to grind it out.
Part of it is _studying_ the text, thinking about what you’re reading and understanding it. If the writer is any good, your character has a voice, a personality. You can make sense of how your character feels in that scene and how they would phrase things. E.g. If you’re a Marvel fan, you’re probably able to say whether a line is spoken by Tony Stark or Steve Rogers just by looking at it. Or Hermione vs Harry if you’re a Harry Potter fan. This makes the memorisation part _much_ easier.
Then, the writer has a voice of their own too. A really _really_ famous example is Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter, which gives his writing a very particular rhythm. Again, because you know that the text has to fit that rhythm, it becomes much easier to memorise.
In film and TV, you can “cheat” — you don’t have to memorise the whole script in one go, you can revise before filming a scene, and maybe take a couple of takes if you’re not happy with how it came out.
Finally — sometimes you _don’t_ perfectly memorise your lines, and just improvise something on the spot when you can’t remember the right line. If you’ve been good about doing your homework, studying the character and the text, there’s a decent chance that the audience won’t notice (on stage), or that the director decides to keep. You won’t get away with this when you’re doing something really well-known like Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy, but there’s loads of YouTube videos about improvised lines that made it to the cinematic release, especially in comedy.
A few other people have mentioned repetition, and I agree that’s basically the right answer. But remember that memorising lines for a play or film is a major part of an actor’s *job*.
Like any job, memorising lines is a skill that requires a lot of dedication, a bit of passion and above all practice and determination. It’s the same kind of thing as doctors knowing the symptoms of the most common ailments in their field and the drugs to treat them, or someone who is good at languages knowing all the equivalent words in French or German.
Individuals may have different personal techniques for doing it, but at the end of the day when you do it each day every day, it becomes more intuitive.
I am absolutely terrible at memorization in general, but when I acted, it wasn’t too bad, because there are generally a lot of cues from the other actors’ lines. Muscle memory associated with the lines helps too, but that really only applies to stage acting since TV and movie actors are generally expected to memorize their lines in a shorter time frame. Monologues are just as bad as having to memorize and recite a long poem for school, though.
Ex actor here, and Actors Equity Union Member for 15 years (sister of SAG union for stage actors).
Answers so far talk about movie actors using repetition, and no they don’t have to memorize a lot. An AEA actor might receive an offer for a replacement in Broadway show on a Wednesday, start rehearsals the next Monday (typically showing up to the first day of work 80% – 100% off book), then be on stage performing less than 10 days from getting the job.
Repetition which has been mentioned is one small part. We also use our acting methods and context clues. Ie, I can’t ramble off every line I have by myself in a vacuum. But you could tell me almost any cue (a line or action that comes before mine) and I could tell you the line I have right after.
We don’t just memorize our words, we memorize the shape of the action of a play or
musical, our character’s place in it, and what the character feels or wants to express with their line.
We LISTEN. Most stage actors, can tell you a lot of their scene partner’s lines that come right before their own. I can more easily remember WHY my character says every line and if I forget, a good scene partner will make me FEEL some way that helps me remember my line. Sometimes, you’re on stage, your next to talk, and you don’t know your line for a split second. This is when listening becomes important. You say “how did they make me feel? how do i want to make them feel?” and that instantly brings the words back to you.
Stage actors also inhabit a 3 dimensional existence in a space or scene more so than movie actors. So, ie, I know that when i’m in this corner of the stage at the end of the scene, that’s where/when I have this really big line that I yell.
Don’t even get me started on the work some of us do to be understudies or Swings. I’ve been a swing 3 times, though more relevant to musicals. One week, I went on for another ensemble member in my show with 4 hours notice without any rehearsal on stage in that “track”. I could do this because when you rehearse as a swing, you don’t learn the PART, you learn the SHOW. Swings are the apex memorizers, and it’s not JUST repetition.
Plays and movies are entirely different animals.
Actors in plays rehearse over and over and over before the opening performance, and they learn their lines, stage position, posture, etc through repetition. Stage productions typically aren’t a one time thing, and if it’s a successful show, it could have hundreds of showings which only further reinforces everything for the actors.
ETA: Most rehearsals and readings typically focus on one scene at a time. They don’t rehearse the play from start to finish right off the bat. Instead, they’ll work on the first scene dozens of times. Then the next scene. And so on and so on. Once each scene is perfected, then they will rehearse in larger portions until finally having full rehearsals from start to finish.
Movies and television shows are filmed in bits and pieces, with multiple takes on each scene. So the actors really only need to learn a few lines at a time. A 30 – 60 second scene might be shot 5 or 6 times over the course of several hours. That very well could be the only work the actor(s) in that scene have to do for the entire day, so they only need to worry about the couple of lines they have to deliver. There’s no need for then to actually memorize every line they deliver. Actors in movies and TV are also often given some latitude to improv and go “off script.” Stage actors don’t have that same luxury during their performances.
ETA: Movies and TV are also rarely (if ever) filmed in the exact order that you see in the finished product. Take Forrest Gump, for example. We occasionally see him waiting at the bus stop throughout the movie, telling his story to others. All of those scenes were likely filmed at the same time (or at least over the course of a few consecutive days). Maybe they were filmed at the very start of production, or maybe they were done on the last few days, or somewhere in the middle. But they were definitely all shot at the same time. So Hanks just needed to learn the lines for those scenes as they were filming them. And if he couldn’t remember a line, he could literally just yell “LINE!” and someone off camera would say it for him.
There are lots of different ways. For me it’s just brute force repetition, usually varying my delivery every time to really stick it in there. Sometimes I’ll say my lines in silly ways, and that’ll make them stick even though I know that’s not the delivery I’m going to use. Other methods I’ve seen are recording yourself saying the lines and listening to them a lot, and also writing your lines while laying on your back and writing upside down. It’s really just a case of different strokes for different folks. Myself, I just like to rehearse like mad, the things that other actors do and their line deliveries will sometimes be all it takes to really make the transition from memorizing the lines to the lines flowing out as if they are your own reactions/thoughts.
Also, you remember trigger words; especially in the beginning when you’re starting out you can kinda set checkpoints…”when I hear them say ‘grapefruit’ I reply with the line that starts ‘ew, no thanks.'”
Edit: I just realized that I basically took a really long way of saying “that’s my cue ” at the end there heh.
Same way people ace a test or a musician learns a song. Although some people have memory aids that they use, most folks use the rote method (repeat it, test it/verify you got it right, fix the minor mistakes, repeat, until there are no mistakes).
Some people are better are memorizing things for short periods than others, but pretty well everyone can improve short-term memory with practice. Memory retention is an aspect of “intelligence” but hardly the only thing that matters (we are not all born with the same identical memory retention potential but it isn’t unchangeable either).
It is really much like any skill that you can improve a lot by simply doing it a lot (practice it and you will get better). You can train yourself to do better. Some folks just need more training than others, is all.
Long-term memory is a bit different. You can burn short-term memories (hours to days) into long-term memories (potentially your entire life) if you keep using them for weeks, or more.
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