Whether performing on stage or in front of the camera, an actor needs to be able to embody a character and their emotions. In screen acting, most shots only show the actor’s face and upper body and, unlike theatre, film actors speak at natural volumes rather than projecting their voices. Because film acting is much closer to ‘real-life’, lots of actors assume that no warm-up is necessary.
While many people believe that the standard actor’s warm-up should be reserved for stage actors, a good warm-up has the ability to greatly improve a film actor’s performance. This guide on how to warm up for film acting will help you to prepare your body and voice for an upcoming film shoot or audition. Using these tools and exercises, you can remove unhelpful tension and help emotion to flow freely.
Approaching an Acting Warm-Up for Film Acting
With a good physical and vocal acting warm-up, an actor can rid themselves of tension and other internal blocks that separate them from the character’s emotion. For film acting, your focus throughout the warm-up should be less on preparing the voice for projection and the body for expansive movements, but rather for a state of internal freedom in which you allow emotions and thoughts to express themselves freely. A warm-up can help you to feel more present and grounded in your body, helping you to come closer to experiencing “the present moment” with a greater sense of realism.
Throughout the following warm-up exercises, try to find a state of focus and determination. As you proceed through the exercises, think about your character. By the end of the warm-up, try imagining you are looking out at the world through your character’s eyes. This way, the warm-up will not only prepare you for the physical demands of the scene but will also help you to connect to your character.
We’ve split up the warm-up into two sections – physical and vocal. Nevertheless, these two aspects should be thought of as linked. While you start with your physical exercises, be aware of how finding more physical openness is helping your breath. While you reduce muscle tension in the throat and face, notice how this will help with your vocal openness at the same time.
Physical Exercises
The warm up should begin with some physical stretching and movement to release tension from the body. These exercises are designed to make the body feel responsive, supple, and open. Hopefully, you’ll find that your performance feels much more natural and realistic after a good physical warm-up. You might find that your small gestures and movements feel spontaneous and free rather than forced and artificial.
Here are some physical exercises for actors to try:
Yoga and Stretching
Begin by gently stretching and opening the body. Tilt your head to one side, relax the shoulders, and breathe into the stretch. You could even try a simple yoga video online to wake all of the muscles in your body, including the side body, the hips, and the hamstrings. In each of your stretches focus on succumbing to gravity and allowing the body to release, rather than cranking it around into different positions. When you’ve finished stretching and moving gently, you should feel aware and in control of your whole body.
Grounding
Lots of actors talk about feeling grounded. This is the feeling of being centred and rooted into the ground. Simply stand with your feet under your hips. Close your eyes. Make sure none of your joints are locked. Sway gently from side to side and back and forth and feel the weight transfer across your feet. Come to stillness when you feel the weight is evenly spread. Bounce gently through your knees for several minutes feeling the weight going down into the floor through your feet. You should aim to feel heavy and rooted when you finish.
Roll through the spine
Rolling up through the spine is one of those classic actor movements that everyone seems to do. But it is a useful way to check in with your posture and connect with your spine. Fold over at the hips letting the upper body dangle. Try to release any tension in the neck, shoulders, or face. Then, rooting down through the feet, start to peel up through the spine, noticing each and every vertebra on your way up.
Physicality for Film - Find your Character’s Physicality
If you have some extra time in your warm-up, try to spend some time exploring your character’s physicality. Perform simple tasks as though you were in their body. Notice if your character has any physical habits or ticks. Notice whether their pace and energy differs from yours. After a warm up, these physical exercises for actors can be a helpful way to enter the character’s physicality without coming from a place of tension.
Vocal Exercises
In most cases, the vocal warm-ups for actors will be a little longer than the physical section. After all, screen acting is focused on capturing the expressiveness of the upper half of the body, including the voice. By warming up the voice, you might find it easier to convey subtle emotion. You might start to feel that emotions naturally “attach” themselves to the voice. Essentially, your performance should feel more genuine and natural and opening and releasing the breath and voice.
Try these vocal warm-ups for actors in sequence after a physical warm-up:
Breathing Exercises
After a physical acting warm-up, start to focus on the breath. You might start lying down or standing up. Notice the breath travelling in and out. Feel it dropping all the way down to the diaphragm, below the ribs. Imagine your vocal channel (your airway and throat) is an open tube that the air pours in and out of with no effort on your part.
Begin to stretch and breathe into the areas you’re stretching. Focus on the ribs and back. Try to find space in these areas with each and every breath. You can even pat the area with your hands as you breathe.
Incorporating the Voice
As you continue to breathe into various parts of the body, begin to introduce the voice with gentle, closed hums and fricatives (“zzz”, “jjj”, or “vvv). Continue to make these gentle noises, still imagining your open, tension-free vocal passage. Alter the pitch of your sounds and play around with different lengths and volumes.
After a few minutes, begin to open the sound up into vowel sounds, continuing to explore pitches. Try sending the sound to different areas of the room. Imagine the sound you are producing has a physical quality that you can see as you produce it, that comes all the way from your breath inside you, and travels out.
Articulation and Speech
After opening up the sound to vowels, begin to focus on articulation and consonants. Start to focus on the muscles of the face. Warm-up these muscles by chewing, moving the tongue around the teeth, opening the mouth wide and closing it tight, and so on. Massage around your jaw with your hands.
Next, start practicing plosives consonants like “P”, “K”, “T”, “B”, “D”, and “G”. Make them short, sharp, and crisp. Put them together in different sequences. Try to eliminate any extra splashy sounds, and keep these sounds as clear as possible.
Move onto some tongue twisters to improve your articulation. Then, move onto a line from your own script. Practice speaking it in a variety of ways, over-enunciating each word, altering the pitch, and so on. You might want to practice speaking very quietly and clearly as you will acting for film.
Accents and Vocal Ticks
Finally, once your voice is warm and free from tension, try exploring the vocal quality of your character. Is their voice different from yours? Do they breathe in a different way? Where does their vocal pitch sit? Can you stay connected and grounded while exploring these unique vocal qualities?
The Takeaway
Try to carve out some time to try these exercises before your next on-screen audition or performance. You might be shocked by the difference it makes. Focus on preparing your body to be reactive, responsive, and malleable. Your voice should be connected to the breath and free from tension. Hopefully, this warm-up will help you to physically and vocally embody the character without straining resulting in a natural, believable, almost effortless performance.