How I got into acting - or my acting philolophy... Yuki Iwamoto
Growing up in different cultures provides challenges to a kids mind. One can keep adjusting, just like in the movie "Zelig" by Woody Allen, in which he tries to adapt to the ever changing surrounding - a human chameleon. There are few options given to a person being placed into a new social environment. One can either adapt, stick out by neglecting the truth of change or try to go the middle way. I kept adapting, at least I tried to imitate behaviors, accents and customs, and yet searching a way to actually understand cultural reasons for different expressions. Moving from Japan to Germany, from Germany to Japan, and from Japan to the US, from US to UK, I was hoping to acquire certain skills, as ordering Stouts in London, Ales in Boston, Kirin in Japan and Weizen in Germany. Ahh Maas Bier bitte!!
Did that guy say "You stole my f... pint!"? Where are we? In UK? or in US - though it would be rather an ale than a pint... That sentence could be a life threatening, or an insult of deepest grade in the UK, depending on the situation, whereas in the US, an Ale is just an Ale, something that will be gone after a nice throat humidifying experience. But the deliverance of the spoken sentence is what counts. Was there a hidden connotation? A joke? Or is he serious? Or does he want to create a brotherhood friendship by showing me how much beer does mean to him as it means to me? Did the emphasis lay on f... or on pint? How was the facial expression? How was the rhythm? How was his basic undertone? Did he breath heavily loosing his last grip to life?
One thing you should be worried about is how to react.(My advice: run like hell - after swallowing the last drop) Is your pulse running or is it calming down? Does that indicate shame, excitement or sorrow of stealing that Ale? But what if that was just a scene? Why the hell are you stealing that ale from that poor bloke? Everything has to be considered in a scene and yet the intention of the scene should be short and clear. Acting out a motion has to merge with a natural part of you, the sub-context has to glide along with the scene. However, the word "Action" blows everything away from your mind. All that theory that you dealt with before.
I like that moment.
I like that moment when all your energy is being let out, the camera running and the scene is running like a wave. Sometimes it's like breathing. Just like Kyudou, where you inhale, pull the arrow and concentrate for a moment, then let it go to strike the target. You are a floating piece in the story.
And yet someone said that the purpose of art is not limited to a momentary ejection of adrenaline, but transformation from a lifelong construction of belief, thoughts and dignity for the art.
Now and then I notice how my left brain and right brain interacts. One tries to control the situation in a logic manner, like spooling down a program, the other tries to control the emotions coming out. I don't know whether it is an effective way to perform a part, but it seems to work as a scene increases in difficulty - in terms of logistics and time codes of muscle movements in front of a camera.