Aaron Marcus, an actor with 38 years of experience, explains why mindlessly repeating lines before a scene backfires. Instead, he reviews lines then lets them go, and uses music to find the emotional place he needs. He points to a bonus video for five strategies he uses as a working actor.
Have you ever felt absolutely crazy repeating your lines over and over again before a scene is shot? I used to. Watch this video until the end and you're going to learn how to avoid that and different strategies to use that will make your scenes and performances much more powerful. I also have a special bonus for you at the end, a great video teaching you the 5 strategies that I've used that has allowed me to work as a full-time actor for 38 years now. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Actor and Model Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center, where I share information from my 38 years working as a full-time actor. Hey, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video has been uploaded. And if you like the video, Please give it a thumbs up. That's really helpful. And share, share the link with your fellow actors. If you're anything like me and if you've ever experienced this— when actually it wasn't even just first starting, I was doing this for, for a while until I found that it just, it just didn't work. Before shooting a scene, or it could even be before an audition, it doesn't make any difference. I used the same strategy and the faulty strategy of kind of like preparing before a final exam. And right before the exam started, I would be going through my notes. I'm looking at everything. I'm reading things over. I'm just repeating things a lot. I would do that prior to a shoot. So to give you an example, let's say I had a line like, so when is your client going to arrive in the court? And I would, beforehand, I would say, okay, so when's your client going to arrive before court? So when's your client going to arrive before court? And I just would repeat it. It was almost like a mantra. I'm just going over and over and over and over and over again, just like for a final exam at school. And what I learned? It doesn't work. At least it didn't work for me. You know, if you have a different experience with it, let me know and leave a comment. I'd love to hear it. But yeah, what I found was I was just repeating and repeating, but I wasn't thinking. I wasn't feeling. I wasn't hearing the words. It was very mechanical. And sometimes I would get in there and we'd start to shoot. And I would just get stuck. You know, I just did it 30 times in a row prior to walking onto the set, but now when we're starting to shoot, it just didn't work. And let me just— on a little bit of a side note, let me just tell you, especially if you are auditioning for, and maybe if you're fortunate enough, actually booking day player roles, you know, smaller roles, It's much more difficult than a guest star on a TV show or supporting— or I mean, not supporting, but a major role in a feature film. The reason why it is so much more difficult for people with smaller roles is that typically we don't get an opportunity to go through that experience On a daily basis. You know, when you're starring, you know, in a TV show, you're working every day, you know, 5 days a week, whatever the shooting schedule is. You know what I'm talking about. Or if you're in a feature film, you might be working on this, you know, project 2, 3 months. And, you know, pretty much every day you're out there, you're doing it. When you're getting the smaller roles, we don't get a chance to practice it that much. And I'm not talking about going over your lines. I'm just talking about experiencing everything. And there's more pressure. It's almost like you're going to a party and yeah, you were invited, but people really don't know you. It was like a friend of a friend who invited you to the party and you go there. You don't know the people. Everybody else, they're all good buddies. They've been hanging out with each other forever. And you're the new person there. And that's what it's like on a set too. And I'm not saying that sometimes people aren't incredibly welcoming and friendly, of course, but still, you're not the star who walks onto the set and says to the DP, director of photography, who this person has seen for the last couple months, and they're talking about their families and how was dinner last night and You're just walking onto the set, so it's just harder and there's more pressure. So here there were 2 major changes that I made, and I stopped this repetition. I stopped— it's almost like being on a hamster wheel and you're just like spinning and not really taking anything in. The very first thing is Yes, I will go over my lines before a scene. I'll do it. And if I can be on the set, I try to do that. It makes it better for me. And I know I've talked about that before. It's more helpful. I feel more comfortable. I feel like I know what's— I can anticipate. I know what's going to happen because I'm already there. I'm not just being yanked out of a— not only yanked, but taken from your trailer onto a set. I'm just more prepared and more relaxed. But yeah, I will go over my lines. I'll do it. I got it. And then I let it go. I have to trust myself. I did it. I practiced. I worked really hard at getting my lines down. I said them. Let it go. And I stopped doing that repetition stuff. Second thing that I love doing And once again, I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this. You know, how do you prepare before a scene? Are there certain strategies that you use? Because look, we want to all learn from each other here. That's the whole point of having this channel. So please leave a comment. I have found— and once again, everybody's different— but music affects me greatly. I used to be a musician, used to be a songwriter. Many, many, many years ago, but I did that full-time for like 7 years. And I will choose a very specific song or songs that match the emotional place that I want to be at in that scene, and I will listen to it. Done my lines, now I'm just sitting and I'm getting myself ready for the scene. Or sometimes I'll even do that prior to getting onto the set to help, you know, get me in the right frame of mind. I find that to be unbelievably helpful and allows me to focus. It calms me down. I stop thinking of the lines and I can just be. So those are the 2 things that I really like And, you know, once again, I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do you prepare before shooting a scene so that you can be really comfortable? Really quickly, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video is being uploaded. And I did promise for you to be able to watch this special video that I created. It's right up here. Oh, cool. And that means it's almost time for me to, to end things. So anyhow, these are the 5 strategies that I use that have allowed me to work as a full-time actor. Guys, I'm Aaron Marcus, and I hope this has been helpful for you, and can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya. See ya.
