"Acting is a state of mind. It's about priorities" - 4 muscles: 1. Childlike innocence 2. Imagination 3. Vulnerability 4. Concentration You're welcome ;)
Pull that childlike innocence out of that dark adult soul of sadness an use it to start your imagination an imagine your super vulnerable an then concentrate as hard as you can an then you can act like your happy as you walk into your 9 to 5 haha
this is what i say to get people to totally understand acting and it totally works every time when your in a theater watching a movie and its a good movie and your really absorbed with what's going on in the movie and it gets to a real tear jerking part and you start to mist up or cry THAT'S ACTING in the back of your mind you know nothing sad is happening for real BUT YOUR CRYING FOR REAL because your consciousness is so absorbed by your imagination THAT IT MIGHT AS WELL BE REAL, you are going to REALISTICALLY react, and your date sitting next to you watching you cry will never think your just faking it to fool them THEY KNOW YOU ARE REALLY FEELING THAT EMOTION. they can see that YOUR JUST FEELING A STRONG EMOTION ABOUT SOMETHING TOTALLY IMAGINARY people understand that totally because it's happened to all of us a million times they just never understood that THAT IS ACTING that's it, right there, that's what it is acting is reacting, they say that all the time real reactions to imaginary scenarios the better and stronger your imagination the better an actor you are this point of view also has the benefit of pointing out that the actors and the audience ARE DOING THE SAME THING TOGETHER theater is a SHARED experience a shared IMAGINARY experience and im not even talking about music music is an even more interesting example of the same kinda thing
@@jurrasicparkvideocompilation why are you shooshing me? IM NOT TALKING!!,i wrote a thing, you just got so absorbed with what i wrote that YOU FELT I WAS TALKING. you ACTED like i was talking over the video.but in reality it was YOU READING.See that,just like i WROTE ,it totally works every time. I made you an excelent actor in one lesson, no charge
God, been studying acting for a while now, but didn't get the courage to try auditioning. This video blew my mind and gave me confidence! This man is great. It's true. Everybody fears the result....and some of us really lose concentration quite easily. Yet, when you're afraid of trying, you need to hear it.
I've been acting for a while myself and auditioning is seriously the most nerve wrecking part of the process.People can truly get lost in am I good enough and how do I look while I say these lines and with these character choices,but you just have to go for it.What type of acting are you into?Theatre,TV/Film, or both and what gotchu into acting?
I studied with Harry for about 2 years. It took me a year before I truly grasped what he meant by "doing the work." Thinking about your life as a character and what made them want to say the words they spoke. I stopped acting because at that point I was not willing to "pay the price." But I found my way back to it, or did it find it's way back to me? (lol). This time around I am open vulnerable and was absolutely shocked to find as I went through my first few gigs, that ingrained in my consciousness while I went through a script was Harry's voice coaching from the dim lights of that small theater...Those years in class paid off. Thanks, Harry!
@@a.krishna3924 haha thank you for the question. I should have written: "at that point I was not will to pay that price'" It's about becoming the person(character) in your head. That's a huge price most people are not capable of paying simply because they are so consumed with being who they think they are. You have to open to being another person. Are you willing to let who you think you are go for an hour a day and learn another person? If you can then, you are doing the work and that is the price you must pay. It is common for many actors to spend a lot more than just an hour a day at it but that is the starting point. hope this helps!
@@openheartcreator7643 when you said they are consumed with who they think they are as in, is it like for example, lets say I'm a shy person in real life, but my role is a people person, completely opposite, would the price I'm not willing to pay be that my belief of my own shyness makes it impossible for me to embody that extroverted character? Like a mental block?
I was lucky enough to take Harry’s classes 20 years ago when he was at The Brewery in downtown Los Angeles. He looks exactly the same and hasn’t aged one bit. Though I’m no longer acting, I still remember many wonderful things he said to me along with his affinity for ‘dumb blonde’ jokes. My favorite of his: “How do you get a one-armed blonde out of a tree?”... “Just wave.” 👋🏼
Harry is still the grand master of acting teachers! Great info and thanks for the comment. We've known him a long time but he must have changed his jokes a bit as we have not heard those.
I do short films with my friends for fun Fun in the sense, we are serious about it, we do it like it's our hobby..that's the fun Anyway one of my friend's dad works at theatre..he advised us to think about the character as your guru or mentor He said if we try to imagine ourselves as the character then we'd get obsessed to such a degree that it will cause problem portraing it..but if we get inspiration from that character that will help us more And that did for us..over the years I came up with my own process..i approach a character as a person who was actually real in past..more like biography type..that really helps me to create my own world as the character and then approach the reality as the character's own world..
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🎭 Acting is a state of mind rooted in childlike innocence, imagination, vulnerability, and concentration. 01:02 🌟 To be an accomplished actor, exercise and practice these four muscles: childlike innocence, imagination, vulnerability, and concentration. 02:00 💡 Avoid concerns about results and subjectivity; focus on absorbing information and behaving naturally under unnatural conditions. 02:58 🎭 Acting is a game of pretending, and techniques like substitution and sense memory are tools to prepare for the performance. 03:56 🤹♂️ Great actors embrace their childlike innocence, accepting the illusion and playing pretend in a mature way. Made with HARPA AI
Dude..i study in Lee strasberg and this channel is fucking amazing..you are doing great job..you are really contributing something to this world of art...don't stop doing it..you have great potential and the right talent and perspective..please please make new material, post stuff more frequently. PS: this is my first ever comment on youtube ever. Nothing i ever saw made me comment.
way better edit. Would nix the sound effects. they don't really add any value on top of his voice. They also never need to be longer than 1 second, ever./ ( the ringing one. way too long. it is distracting.) Still you went from like 0 in your last edit, to 10, in comparison. Miles apart. Good work
absolutely spot on! while everything he says I agree with from experience, it's interesting as actors how often we forget these things and go very wrong!
Great point. Harry has got some really great insight. If you'd like to check out some more of his videos on acting, check out our site. watchmeetmake.com/meet/harry-mastrogeorge/
Haha. Finding that childlike innocence is something we all want to re-discover. Thankfully Harry Mastrogeorge believes we "haven't lost it". Part of what he's talking about is getting out of the way of ourselves. As an actor, if you get too much in your head, you're in trouble. Harry talks about acting as a "game of make believe". So if we can get out of our own way, let everything go inside, and find that place where we don't have a care in the world (like a child), then we can be open to who the character is and the story we're trying to tell.
I've read Strasberg before and I can say most people that write about the method just smatter some exercises. This on the contrary, it's another thing, it's quite in line with the method ulterior message. I've seen there is more benefits in practicing mindfulness than trying to force some rehearsals.
I love how on these videos in the comments, people always want to add on or put their own advice. How about you go make your own videos and stop riding someone else's.
If there is one thing that I have learned. It’s that there is a tremendous amount of support from actors, for actors. Some of the Best friends that I have made, I have made during rehearsals, or screen tests. Rarely, have I heard an actor trash another actor. We are all in it together. I have been to a lot of channels, and the comment sections are usually brutal. Except, for the acting channels. Or, most channels pertaining to art. This channel being one of them. Everyone here for the most part is super respectful, and just wants to engage and be better at what they do. And for me acting, is about Finding myself in other humans. Other actors, are my tribe. As in perfect as we are. Someone in this thread mentioned empathy possibly being another Muscle. I 100% agree. I think without empathy, our ability to pretend, or become someone else is impossible.
One example Harry Mastrogeorge has talked about is the great actor Daniel Day-Lewis and how he finds those states of mind. Lewis has a room in his home where he can go to shut off the noise of the world. It's there that he allows himself to get into that state of mind, letting his imagination go free. It takes practice though.
We'll be posting more of his interview soon. It will also be available on the new channel HIERONYVISION www.HV.cool. Thanks for asking. He is a legend in his field.
If in Los Angeles, see if Harry has a class open. A number of really talented actors have honed their craft with him. There's also more acting info on our website and more videos coming after our new channel launch. Thanks for watching!
The link to his site above is still active but seems to need a flash player to be viewed. Otherwise here's an email: info@harrymastrogeorge.com. He teaches at the Hudson Theaters in Hollywood.
Much obliged to you and your channel, he will definitely be my very first Acting coach ever and It will be such an honor to train under him. Time to pay him a visit.
I struggle to find videos like these! Thanks for the suggestion of Backstage. I feel great after watching one video from the channel you had suggested. I'd love to do acting but the only thing that is stopping me doing it is whether if I would be any good or not. Do you have any more resources like these?
Interesting comment. Note that Harry's clients / students have been some of the top film actors in Hollywood at one point or another - so these thoughts should apply to both theater and film. Curious to hear what others think. Thanks for watching / message.
Please don't talk in terms of riddles. I wish you had explain each of these terms. Specially "Child like innocence" or "Heart of a baby". What does that mean? How do you apply it to acting?
Thanks for the video hope you read the bible and understand Gods wisdom if you haven't yet, make a change, turn your life to Christ if you don't want to go to hell( Matthew 16:24, John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,John 14:6 ) Many people will disagree and mock you trust me, but its worth it for an eternity praising our Creator. As Jesus said "if they hate you remember they first hated me"(John 15:18). Read the KJV bible, start from the New testament. God bless you
