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!
In: 70
I’ve only taken an intro to acting class so take this with a grain of salt.
It’s mostly repetition. You break it down into pieces. Sometimes you need to improvise — you know roughly what your lines are but have forgotten the exact words, just try to get it as close to the heart of what the character says. Pay attention to your acting partner and their lines and cues. Some people have an easier time remembering lines if there’s choreography to go with it (i.e. I know when I say this speech that I start pacing around the room, and when I say this line, I stop pacing and face the stage).
I think most actors start small with short simple lines when they’re learning, and they work up to longer lines and monologues as they get more experience and work out methods of memorizing their scenes.
My acting class had three main assignments — a scene with no words where I’d work with two or more other people to put together a “music video” (so it’s mostly choreography. Mine was a boxing match), a two person scene with really basic lines that we can’t alter but we can alter tone and delivery to tell different stories (mine was an interrogation scene, and I was the criminal), and a two person scene from an actual play (we did Becky Shaw as a class). Each assignment had more skills and was a bit harder, but it got a little easier to do each time too. Just took practice, rehearsal, and good scene partners
In Islam some lucky people become Hafiz who memorise the whole Quran by heart (that is very very very long) usually done starting whilst they are young as it’s said to be much easier to memorise things at a young age, & finishing whenever they are able to, often by the age of around 16. Those people are considered really special.
They then can also perform the “taraweeh” prayers in Ramadhan where over the course of the month they recite the whole Quran by heart in prayers leading a whole congregation of hundreds & even thousands of people.
Even those that don’t become Hafiz, most Muslim kids will memorise lots of “surahs” (smaller parts) from the Quran & many other prayers. Again this is done from a young age as it’s said to be easier to memorise & through repetition. Once you’ve memorised something you can usually remember it forever by reciting it back regularly or even just now & again. Some surahs I’ve not recited in years/decades but can come back to me automatically if someone starts it off. The brain can do amazing feats.
Combination of:
* memorize the gist of their lines and practice them before hand
* most actors are not on screen/stage all the time, so they get to review the script for the next scene before they do it.
* TV/Movies have the benefit of retakes and editing, so as long as an actor can memorize a few lines at a time they can still make it work.
Former stage actor here,
Being “off book” is a skill you develop through repetition. Similar to how you know all the words to your favorite songs.
Most plays are in rehearsal for months before opening night. During that time, we perform and block out individual scenes and will do a scene multiple times a day. Over time, you just naturally memorize your lines.
Personally for me, once blocking (stage directions, like enter here, say this line while pointing at character) was done, the physicality helped me associate certain movements with the lines I needed to say. I would also spend time on my own rehearsing, especially monologues (a speech where one character is doing all of the talking) while I was driving or in the shower.
In short, humans have an innate ability to memorize repetitive actions. Do you have to think about what to say when answering the phone? Or how to start a car?
In short, by practice. Just going through each scene of the play a few times makes one remember their lines (and all the agreed non-verbal things which there are sometimes way more than there are lines; but, the physical movements also help remember the lines between the movements). Source, having been a minor character in a play.
Also, it is not entirely uncommon to get to adjust the hard-to-remember-for-you lines to something that is more intuitive for you. After all, you are supposed to be in character, so your lines should be something that come naturally for you. And, nobody but your director (and your co-actors) will notice, unless you are Harrison Ford and say “I know” (in Star Wars Episode V).
More prolific actors and actresses also probably have developed their own set of mnemonic techniques to remember the hard to remember lines faster. With good memorisation techniques, and crucially a bit of practice, one can even remember full stories (the base techniques date back to antiquity and beyond, with Cicero documenting his method of mentally walking through a house during his speaches).
In the case of plays, if someone is bad at it, they won’t last very long. The people who remain are good at it. I wonder if starting in high school makes a person better at this.
I remember Bruce Campbell wrote about, when he was working on *The Hudsucker Proxy*, the Coen Brothers asked him to help with some pre-production, which included helping, as he put it, “P-P-Paul N-N-Newman” to rehearse.
Bruce: “So, uh, Mr. Newman — ”
Paul: “Call me Paul.”
Bruce: “Okay, sure. So, uh, *Paul*, how picky do you want me to be when we run these lines?”
Paul: “How do you mean?”
Bruce: “I mean, do you want me to correct you a lot, a little, or not at all?”
Paul: “Tell you what, I just need to stumble through this a few times first. How about if I call out for the line if I need it?”
Bruce: “You got it.”
Paul: “It’s funny, I use to have a mind like a steel trap. Then one summer a long time ago, I did eighteen different plays in twenty-four weeks and it all turned to mush…”
Movies and plays are super different. For movies, actors just need to memorize chunks at a time depending on the filming schedule and some improv might even be allowed. For plays, you have to memorize ALL your lines perfectly — this is just a matter of practice. I did a lot of theater in high school and had some very long lines and it was just practice, practice. Like memorizing song lyrics, almost.
It’s a talent and if you don’t have it, at least a little bit, nothing will work. As in math, music and art. Repetition, logic and clues will only get you part way unless you have the talent lingering in reserve. A “steel-trap memory” is a unique ability and some degree of this is inherent to good recall, otherwise, take notes. Kim Peek, the famous “rainman” savant could remember 12,000 books but his motor skills and logic are limited.
G.E.Smith, guitarist and band leader remembers the music and lyrics to thousands of songs, hearing some only once. The ability to hear musical “pitch” or “timing” or remembering lyrics can be learned, by a few. The rest of us are doomed to playing alone in the basement.
A latent talent for memory may be enhanced, but without that talent, you will be a stage-hand.
It’s just a TON of repeating the lines. I only did one play in high school, but I’ll be honest I was intimidated by how much I had to memorize. For TV shows and movies, you have to remember that not all the scenes are shot at once. So there’s a long period of time from the start of the movie to the end to memorize your lines scene by scene.
For plays it’s different. You have to memorize it all, but you get maybe 3 months (that’s at least how much I got for my play in high school). Now the concept is similar for TV shows and movies. But if you’re reading these lines everyday and repeating scenes then it isn’t surprising hard to memorize. It’s almost like watching the same movie everyday, eventually you’ll have most of the lines memorized.
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