20 Seconds

I just want you to watch the first twenty seconds of this clip of One Life to Live.  That's all I ask.

Now, let me tell you what I see from an acting perspective.  These are things that make perfect sense, but since I was specifically taught these things by my teachers and mentors, they are blatant to me.

In the first second of the video, we see Dorian in the middle of thought, moving to do something specific -- what that specific thing is, we as the audience don't know.  Then the doorbell rings.  There is an entire thought process that plays out before our eyes in one exact second.

It reminded me of watching Kate Mulgrew at "Hollywood Speaks at the Adler," captivating young fans and acting students with tales of her experiences as a young actress and the wisdoms imparted to her by her teacher (Stella Adler).  There are many stories and a lot of advice that stick out in my head from that day -- like the one about her matriarchal teacher pulling her across the stage by her hair, or the lesson about looking out the window and dying inside as a man walks away -- but the one I am reminded of in this quick second of One Life to Live is the advice that you should never just walk onto a stage or make an entrance.

You're always going somewhere -- doing something.  There's always an inner thought process.  You can't find your keys.  You forgot to turn off the lamp.  You need to make an important phone call.  In Dorian's case, she is fretting over the kidnapping of her nieces, helplessly stuck at home trying to coordinate volunteers, family members, and the police with only her technology -- a computer and the phone.  (In a later episode, as she waits by the phone, a visitor -- Viki -- points out that she is all alone.  She has her phone but no human consolation.)  What goes through the character's mind as she turns back to her desk is something only the actress really knows.  (How wonderful to know something that intimate!)

It reminds me of Kate Mulgrew's demonstration.  She left the stage in the middle of her talk -- off stage right through the door of the set of a play that would be happening later.  Then, it became her door.  She walked halfway through, turned back, disappeared again, reappeared, fiddled with something out of sight, completely distracted, continued onto the stage (or into the room), kept looking back, not watching where she was going, and eventually turned back to her audience and pointed out something to the effect of, Wasn't that much more interesting?

We had no idea what imaginary thing she was fiddling with on the other side of her door as she entered.  Maybe the hall light wouldn't turn off?  Maybe she was straightening a shelf or table that was cluttered?  Maybe she was trying to keep another person or animal out of the room?  Maybe she hung her coat up, turned the light off, squashed a bug on the wall, and then heard a noise?  Who knows!?

In that one second of this television show, was Dorian going to make a phone call to the police commissioner?  Read the MyFace statuses of her nieces' friends?  Send another email to her constituents and contacts?  Give instructions to the people manning the tip hotline?  Check the website of a local newspaper or television station?

Oh!  There's the doorbell.

Fourteen seconds after her initial thought, she is answering the door and squinting as she is blinded by the flash of a camera in her face.  She's not too awfully surprised by this, because she is the mayor and she did run a somewhat controversial campaign that received a lot of media attention (a year ago).  While she is still recovering from the flash, she is told to "say cheese," and she looks back at the photographer.

In the 17th and 18th second of the video, the photographer lowers her camera and Dorian is able to get her first glimpse of the face behind it.

And in that 18th second, we have another one-second piece of brilliance.  Dorian sees the face of her photographer and it is very apparent and clear to the audience that there is a glimmer of recognition.  She has seen that face before.

Let me tell you about the whole seven seconds between Dorian swinging open the door and that moment of recognition from the perspective of an acting student.

First of all, when Dorian opens the door, the fact that there might be a camera on the other side of it is the last thing on her mind.  This is obvious by the way she is caught off guard by the flash and has to recover.  The actress knows that there is a brief blindness after the flash as the human pupils adjust and readjust to the light.

The photographer says, "Say cheese!" which prompts Dorian to look back up at the camera.  She is still dazed, like it or not, and by the time her senses recover the camera is already covering the face of the photographer again.  The actress knows that the character still isn't sure who, exactly, is standing at her door.  There is another thought process in itself.

Finally, the camera is lowered and Dorian is able to see who is taking her picture.  Before the scene changes, she takes a moment of realization and begins to draw conclusions as to why someone is photographing her.  In one second.

The character, though she has seen the person behind the camera before, and though she has been standing before her for several seconds, does not show any sign of recognition or realization until the specific second when the camera is lowered and the face is revealed.

Here's a really cool thought:  Very few actors are able to play the same character for the span of time that a soap opera actor is able to.  However, it is every actor's duty to know whatever character they play, for however short their period of time together is, intimately.  When the actor steps into the character, when the character "takes over," if the actor has done their homework and truly knows their character, all of the character's responses and gestures come naturally -- without a thought or effort.

The actress doesn't have to say to herself, Okay, I have to act this way now, because my character is thinking about this other thing. It just happens because the actress has stepped out of the way and the character is now living in that magical other world that only comes to life when the actor allows it to.

(Here is a more complete version of the clip above.)