The Actor's R&R: Record & Review

A blog on the important process of Recording and Reviewing your work.

Hi Actor,

Ever watched your footage back? How did that feel? Awful? A great deal of us do everything in our power to avoid watching our work back. It's uncomfortable. It's unfamiliar. For some reason, our every instinct is urging us to turn away and not look at our errors. This internal narrative is further reinforced by celebrity actors saying they don't watch their own work. This unfortunately for us this is not great for skill growth.

To maximise our time and efforts we must look directly at our mistakes, as well as, celebrate when we get it right. We need to watch ourselves back. Notice the mistakes, fix them and never take them personally. In this post I want to cover the wonderful practice of 'Record and Review'.

Record

Have a weekly practice of taping a scene at home with an actor mate sitting just off camera as your reader. Go for a few takes but not too many as to expend all your effort on one exercise. Just till you're happy with your work and then stop. If you're one of the many perfectionists in the industry, set a timer and once the timer goes off... Stop. "Favourite" or "Heart" your top tape. Judge that choice purely off instinct and personal taste and pack up.

For now, today, you're done.

Next step of the process happens tomorrow where you will come back to watch your footage.

Walking away from it can help with getting space, easing the feeling of discomfort. It also gives you time to reflect and think about how you went. Understanding how you feel is important during this time. Particularly when starting off this practice.

Review

Watch your favourite tape back. Put your "producer cap" on and try staying slightly detached from the acting choices. I'll talk more about the "producer hat" later in another post but for now ask yourself questions that provoke a discussion toward the direction of a good tape.

• Do I feel like I nailed the genre of the scene?

• Did I "go there" or was I second-guessing my instincts?

• Was my work "ignited" or did I hold back?

• Did my character go after what they wanted without apology or did they present indifference?

Here we are gathering useful information for the purpose of skill progression.

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If you are one of the many people who struggle to watch yourself back, adding the weekly practise of reviewing your work might be the answer. You'll be exposing yourself to short doses of discomfort. Over time, you'll acclimatise to the feeling and will eventually learn to enjoy it.

The Record & Review singlehandedly could be the most important tool at your disposal for developing your skills. Note that this is something that is applied to a lot of professions and skills, not just acting. Sporting, weightlifting, climbing, archery, juggling, card tricks and public speaking all use the record and review to gather more specific feedback to help their practice.

I'm curious as to how you go with watching yourself back? Do you hate it? Do you enjoy it? Do you avoid it at all costs? Leave a comment below or reach out directly. Talk soon.

Lachlan is an Australian Actor who has been working within the industry nearing a decade. He’s worked in Film & Theatre.

Talk soon,

Lachy

© Lachlan Stuart 2024