We’ve been studying the 15-step scene preparation and I want to continue to break this down for you. As a student who’s in acting class or doing private coaching, I want you to have these tools available to you when you’re auditioning or working on set.
So, tonight we’re going to continue now with viewpoints, buttons, and your emotional state. It’s your emotional state from the top of the scene, yes? So we’re very clear, you have that emotional state as you start the scene. You’re not warming up. You are there, okay? Then, you have a viewpoint about the situation you’re dealing with as the character. It’s a very specific viewpoint. Then, you have what you want the other person to understand and all this is filtered through your viewpoint. So, I’m going to read a new definition of viewpoint, okay? We’re going to clear up a couple more things.
All right. Viewpoint: “the mental attitude that determines a person’s opinions or judgments.” Want me to read that again? It is “the mental attitude that determines a person’s opinions or judgments.” It’s a point from which they view things in their life. So, a character has a point of view, let’s say, about his personal privacy being violated. His viewpoint is very strong about this and determines his opinion about privacy. Do you follow? So he believes that government drones are taking away his personal privacy and he’s very disturbed by this. Do you follow? He’s experienced some very unsettling things about having information on his computer being used against him. It’s an emotional subject for him and that becomes apparent in the conversation he’s having with another character. The other character believes it’s a necessary evil and this makes our guy crazy. What he “hears” is that it’s okay to spy. What he “hears” is colored by his viewpoint. You hear it through your viewpoint, okay? Everybody got that one? Good.
All right. A button is something that draws an emotional reaction from someone. I know as actors in my class, you are all familiar with this. I’m just defining it so that everybody’s on the same page. To push someone’s button is to draw a strong emotional reaction from a person. An example of a button being pushed is one guy shoving another guy, right? Jack shoved Mark. Mark shoved Jack last week in the scene from Rounders, right? It got a strong emotional reaction. Right there, on the spot, bang, right? Good. So, a guy could shove a girl and it would push a button of abusive behavior. What are you doing handling me physically like that? Pushes a button. So, we can have buttons on a lot of things, okay? Your buttons can be pushed on watching sad movies. Teasing can push buttons, leaving – someone leaving or saying goodbye could push buttons, slamming doors could push buttons. You name it, it can be a button for somebody.
So, why is this important as an actor? Buttons are important because you have to know what button somebody’s pushing on you as this character. What are your sensitivities? What’s the emotional history? What is it that really makes you sad, makes you angry, makes you feel they don’t care, etc., etc., okay? So, a guy brings a girl flowers, right, and he’s really excited that he brought her flowers, and she says, “Oh, you brought flowers, how nice.” He doesn’t hear that. He hears, “They’re nice, they’re okay.” From his viewpoint, she did not respond the way he thought she should respond. So, from his viewpoint she should have said, “White flowers! They’re my favorite! I can’t believe you remembered!” He has a button on not being appreciated, okay?
He may have some history on not being appreciated. If you don’t know what his buttons are, then you won’t play the scene as it’s intended. A button is something where there’s usually emotional history.
Are you seeing how these things start to dovetail? You have to know what your buttons are. Then, by paying attention to what the other person is saying, you can find out things about yourself. He says, “Stop saying that! It’s not funny!” So, what does that tell you as the actor? Chances are, there’s a button on this subject.
Okay, so, there are all of these clues in the script. You’re searching all the time for the clues. A lot of your clues are what you find in the other person’s dialogue. You’re just looking and listening for what they’re saying to you. “Why are you so touchy about flowers?” Here we go. So, you want to know your buttons and from what you say and how they respond, you get their buttons. Okay, that’s on buttons.
So, you have a point of view. You brought somebody flowers. You have a script in your head that they should say, “Oh, my god, you brought me flowers, these are the most wonderful flowers, the most unbelievable flowers, they’re so beautiful, they smell so good, I’ve never seen flowers like this in my life.” That’s the script in your head. When she says, “Wow, how sweet of you, these are so pretty,” it doesn’t match your script. Okay, your viewpoint as the person who brought them is, “she doesn’t really like them. I really wanted her to like them and went out of my way, and she doesn’t even care.” So, everything the other character is saying, you interpret through your viewpoint.
We do this in life, but it’s not getting into the work. Everybody has a viewpoint. Everybody has a script. You expect it to go a certain way. You want them to understand what you are feeling through your viewpoint, okay? So, when that viewpoint is driving you, you start to see where this character lives. You don’t have to be in your head about anything. If you know your viewpoint, you have assumed this viewpoint fully and it is extremely important to you – you are trying to get them to see it. That’s everything to you in that moment. Do you get this, then? Sam comes in and his character has just broken up with the love of his life and he says, “She’s gone out with another guy. She’s out with another guy. How did this happen?” That’s what it says in the script. What he’s trying to say is, “I’ve been betrayed.” Do you get this? “I have been betrayed. She has gone out with somebody else when she said she was mine and she loved me.” That’s his viewpoint. Do you get it? Her viewpoint could be that they were just dating, but his viewpoint is completely different and that’s what he’s trying to get his friend to understand. When you understand the viewpoint of the character fully, you have the key to his emotional life. The situation you’re playing now takes on a new importance because you have assumed the viewpoint of the character. I hope this gives you new understanding on the importance of finding the character’s viewpoint and how much it affects the way you play the scene.
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