DISCLAIMER: We do not own any of the footage displayed in this video. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED. ¬¬¬Constantin Stanislavski, famed Russian actor, director, and teacher, profoundly influenced the theatre of the 20th century and beyond. Throughout his long life, he developed a variety of techniques that became known as the Stanislavski System or The Method. His books, My life and Art, (an autobiography), An actor prepares, building a character, and Creating a Role, are still studied today. What is the Stanislavski System? Although very complex, one of the basic goals of the Stanislavski system was to portray a believable, natural character on stage. This notion was a striking contrast to the thespians in 19th century Russia. Most of the actors during that era spoke in a grandiose tone, and gestured in an over the top manner. Stan helped to change much of that. In many ways, Stanislavski is the father of today's style of method acting, a process in which actors immerse themselves into their characters as much as possible. Elements of the method: Here are a few defining aspects of the famous teachers method. THE MAGIC IF A simple way of beginning the Stanislavski method is by asking yourself, "What would I do if I was in this situation?" This is a good way to consider natural reactions to the events in the story. RE-EDUCATION Actors must rethink the way they move and talk while on stage. Conventional theatre styles of that period of time called for an actors over-emphasis. However, in real life, we don't behave that way. Stan compelled actors to find ways to exhibit true to life human nature. OBSERVATION Stanislavski was the ultimate people watcher; he encouraged his students to carefully observe others, focusing on their physical traits just as much as their personalities. Every person is unique, therefore every character should exhibit unique traits - many of which can be inspired and adapted from an actors observation. MOTIVATION Stan expected his actors to consider, why does the character say this? Why does the character move to this side of the stage? Why does she turn on the lamplight? Why does he take the gun out of the drawer? Some actions are obvious and easy to explain, others can be mysterious. The actor must study the text thoroughly to determine the motivation behind a characters words and actions. EMOTIONAL MEMORY Stan wanted his actors to actually feel the emotion they were portraying. If they seem cold for extreme grief, actors needed to put themselves into the mindset of the characters situation so that they genuinely experienced the feelings of intense sadness. Stanislavski is viewed by many as being one of the most influential figures in relation to western theatre. His system and concepts are still practiced by highly skilled actors as even though his techniques were created a long time ago, they are still relevant to a majority of stimuli today. A few examples of actors who practice his methods are Leonardo DiCaprio and Heath Ledger. During the filming of Django, Dicaprio accidentatly smashed his hand into a glass -- but instead of stopping, he carried on and used his injured hand as a dramatic stimulus for his performance. The notorious Heath Ledger truly embodied his schizophrenic character, the Joker. The actor locked himself in his apartment for a month prior to filming, and it is estimated that he slept for 2 hours a week during the film process. He only answered to the name "the Joker" on set to crew members.

• published: 21 Oct 2013
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