0925 – Pause and Breathe, Focus and Relax

2023.07.14 – 0925 – Pause and Breathe, Focus and Relax

Pause and Breathe

High levels of adrenalin affect the body’s chemistry for violent action which it doesn’t get. Burning off energy by filling your blood with oxygen will help you replace this missing activity. A bout of steady breathing does this. Breathing is the key-thing, as I always say!

Take a few minutes to centre yourself. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. It’s not big gulps of breath, it’s ‘mindful breathing’: calm and reassuring breaths, noticing your body and its surroundings. Calm with five deep breaths from stomach and other relaxation exercises we have looked at in-depth before

Focus and relax!

Take the focus off yourself, make it about the audience, to share and serve them. Don’t over analyse or overthink what you’re doing and saying.

·        Give it some time – once you are in the studio you will get over the initial nervousness after the first few links, takes or pages. Confidence will come!

·        It’s not just you – other people will be nervous as well: the producer, the client and others may also feel the same way. You’re in this together to make it work for all of you!

VOICE BOX

Inspiring confidence as a director:

·        Be welcoming and do introductions

·        Avoid being negative (timing, etc)

·        Talk through what you want to achieve and how it fits in, the context of the project

·        Check, water, pencil, a script

·        Ask for a first read

·        Tell them you love what they are doing and help them get what they haven’t got ‘yet’

·        Best to have actor have their own understanding so they sound believable, clear feedback

“yes and…”

·        Try not to interrupt mid flow, avoid stop/starts

·        Create an environment where people feel confident and comfortable to create creativity

There’s more advice on this, in episodes #615, 627, 629

·        Keep things light – stay professional, but don’t be overly serious. Keep the room at ease, crack an (appropriate) light comment if possible and get into the spirit of having a good time. Perhaps be a little self-deprecating if you have to do multiple takes.

·        Concentrate – sometimes you don’t have time or ‘headspace’ to be nervous because you’re concentrating on the task in hand. Slow down, take a breath and take your time. Don’t let what you can’t do, interfere with what you can do. In other words, don’t worry about what you can’t change.

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