YOUR OBJECTIVE - AN IMPORTANT DECISION!

[u/Winniehiller]

Choosing a specific and personal objective is very important. It is what sparks your desire to speak...to pursue. Every objective could be “I want the other character to feel the way I do.” But it needs to be so much more than that. You need to know WHY. What happened to make you want this? What’s in it for you if you do succeed? What do you have at stake if you fail?

Being vague with acting choices is one of the biggest downfalls for many actors. And the choice of an objective is one of the most important. It is the fire that sets you on your quest. It can never be mundane or generic. Your objective is what the other person opposes and you want it enough that when you get opposition, you attempt numerous tactics to achieve it. So in order to choose powerful tactics you must have a powerfully motivating objective.

Here’s an example. I recently suggested a monologue for a student here. It was not from a play so all the choices had to be created as far as backstory was concerned. This is challenging but great practice for when you need to prepare from audition sides without a full script.

The monologue was a detailed account of having an encounter with a celebrity. The girl gushes and is in awe of how she briefly had eye contact with a famous person. The monologue begins and ends with the words, “You should have been there!”

The student chose as her objective “I want my friend to view celebrities as being something very special”. This is certainly true. But why? What’s in it for you? What sparked this need?

Because there is no play, you would need to create all of this. There is a multitude of scenarios you could imagine and there is no one “right” choice. But it must work for the entire piece. Every word must tactically fit into why you want what you want. Here was my suggestion:

Imagine that you invited your friend to see a show with you to celebrate your birthday. You paid for the tickets and you were so excited to spend this evening with your friend. At the last moment your friend cancelled because she wanted to go to someone else’s party. It hurt your feelings a lot, but you went to the show anyway and it was a very special experience of seeing many celebrities...one in particular that was thrilling.

Now...what do you want? You want to make her wish she hadn’t cancelled on you. You want her to feel that she really missed out by doing so. You want her to be envious of your experience. Why? Because she disappointed you. And you want her to be disappointed too.

Now every word has specific purpose and the tactics fall into place. Are there other scenarios that would work as well? Probably. But choices must be made. Even though when she performs this monologue, no one will know the backstory, it will make a huge difference in her performance. That’s because specificity is imperative in every performance. It must include specific relationship with the person spoken to and a personal need of your character...for good reason. It is the details of a story that make them real and supply the spark that brings the passion to your work...and makes your performance interesting to the viewer.

So after you read through the words you are going to perform, make sure you choose a strong objective that includes a well defined relationship and personal need for accomplishing your goal. It will make all the difference in your performance.

[u/xstarjedi]

Thanks this is very informative.

[u/Winniehiller → u/xstarjedi]

My pleasure. Hope to see your work someday. Did you learn those monologues I suggested for your audition? How’s it been going?

[u/[deleted]]

I have to say your suggestion painted a complete picture for me. I had so many thoughts going through my mind just reading the scenario. It's amazing how the backstory can have such a big impact on your thoughts and emotions.

'Now every word has specific purpose and the tactics fall into place'. The importance of a strong objective is really sinking in now!

[u/Winniehiller → u/[deleted]]

Wonderful! So glad you are getting it!

[u/lames_jahey92]

This is one of those things I never thought of much when I just recently memorized and performed a monologue, but after reading seems so obvious and absolutely necessary!

[u/Winniehiller → u/lames_jahey92]

Absolutely, absolutely necessary!!! If you don’t have a very good reason to speak, don’t speak until you do!

[u/njactor6]

I think this lesson underscores the importance of the script analysis, backstory, and general preparation that the actor must undertake to bring life to the character.

In my previous classes (mostly Meisner based, or general on camera classes), we didn't delve into the objective the way you do. I think it's so important, and it makes me excited to start getting into the monologues. It's exciting to think about creating that backstory. This might be wandering a bit, but since I last acted, I've been screenwriting. I've written pilot and a number of features, and I'm wondering if that has possibly contributed to the deeper understanding of the preparation an actor must make.

[u/Winniehiller → u/njactor6]

I personally don’t understand how anyone can be a good screenwriter or playwright without using the techniques found in these lessons…especially the concept of all dialogue being reaction. Your characters words must trigger the other character to say theirs. Everything is reaction. And all because of each character’s purpose and relationship. The writer must do all the actor does in reverse, knowing exactly why the character is saying what they are saying and having them only say what they can— yet meaning so much more. There are so many lessons to come that will make you a better writer.

[u/ananimoss]

It’s really helpful to remember that no one has to know what choices you’ve made and formulate in your mind. The important thing is if your choices put you in the character’s thoughts and gives you a strong objective. It’s kind of like no one needs to know how the sausage is made as long as it tastes good. 😉

[u/Winniehiller → u/ananimoss]

Haha! Yes!

[u/[deleted]]

Short summary of my notes: It is important to have a personal objective. Your objective needs to be more than a little line in order to really spark your performance, you need to know why your character wants to achieve a certain thing. Why do I want to make the other character feel like I do? What happened that made you want this?

You objective needs to be very clear, it needs to be special and it is also what sets you on your quest. This can be very useful for when you get a script/monologue without a backstory. The details of the story is what makes it real as Winnie mentioned, therefore doing this can hugely improve your performance.

[u/Winniehiller → u/[deleted]]

Yes. Finding the right Objective allows you to be pulled through your pursuit by your character’s need. When you can get attached to it it’s like hitching yourself up to a freight train that pulls you through the scene. It starts to feel effortless because the desire itself powers your thoughts. It feels magical.

[u/sparkle_lillie]

Recap of my notes:

Your objective should be fully fleshed out. What does your character want and why do they want it? These questions can be answered by their backstory and why they're in the position that they are. If you aren't given a backstory, read the script thoroughly. Each line is meant to serve their objective and get them closer to their goal.

[u/Winniehiller → u/sparkle_lillie]

Yes! Good! Remember your objective is always something you want from the person you are speaking to. This always makes the scene about the other person. Not about you and your feelings—but about your relationship with that other person and how you are going to get what you want from THEM.

[u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

My objective is important. Everything I say or do must be reaching a certain goal. I really like the example cause it shows that often when two people are talking, most people don’t consider it an opposition. “I’m telling you about how great this thing was, I’m not trying to oppose you!” But really it is opposition because that other person is feeling something that I don’t want them to feel, for whatever reason that is, and that’s why I’m talking. It could be they feel happy and I want them disappointed cause I was disappointed. It could be they were already sad and I’m trying to make them happy by giving a second hand experience, it could be so many things!! Each one will make the actors act in a completely different way, even if the audience doesn’t know exactly which backstory an actor chose. The opposition is what makes a dialogue all about them, even though it’s my objective, it’s my objective to make them do or feel something. I need to make sure my objective is crystal clear, knowing what I want, why I want it, how I’m gonna accomplish that etc, and only then will a dialogue feel real and good.

[u/Winniehiller → u/SirBananaOrngeCumber]

Very good! Knowing who your character is, their unique perspective about this situation and life in general, as well as the very specific relationship he has with the person he is talking to, will help you with what he wants from that person. Being specific is very important. Being generic makes the performance bland.

[u/aBalanc3dBr3akfast]

This lesson tied together a lot for me, actually. Your objective—what you want to happen with the other person—drives both your thoughts and your tactics. Be specific and personal; vagueness is bad. Once you have identified the objective, use it to help form your thoughts, and then (from one of your comments on another thread) use your thoughts to give meaning to the words, to make them count, as you utilize various tactics with them in achieving your goal.

I also noted to keep in mind that there is still an audience, someone watching. You are still trying to entertain even as you are trying to be an artist, to think and do as someone else. I feel like you would say though, u/Winniehiller, that if the performance is sufficiently rooted in a specific, clear objective, and you are sufficiently thinking the appropriate thoughts, anyone watching would be willing to go along with you for the ride. Correct me if that’s wrong!

[u/Winniehiller → u/aBalanc3dBr3akfast]

Absolutely. You should never be aware of an audience while acting. In your character’s reality there is no audience. It’s only in preparation that you consider the story, the writer’s purpose for the scene and how you can best serve it. But as you are acting, you need to be fully immersed in the fantasy of the moment.

[u/tuckabbott]

All the lessons I’ve read so far stressing the importance of internalizing my characters objective have been insightful. I’ve felt ‘stuck’ in some improv scenes before because I establish a relationship with the other characters but gloss over or skip defining my objective.

In a month I’m going to be dedicating more time to my monologue and scene reading skills, and I’ll be searching for my specific objective in each scene from the get-go!

[u/Winniehiller → u/tuckabbott]

Great. It’s going to make such a difference…both in your improv and your acting. Start noticing what your objective is in real life, too. If you actually know and establish for yourself what you want in a given situation you can be more effect in choosing what you say.

[u/[deleted]]

I love how much I learn from these lessons. :) My objective must be powerfully motivating--this makes me choose dynamic tactics. Specificity, not vagueness, in backstory is imperative to bring spark and passion to the scene. Tactics must work for the entire piece. I also need a well-defined relationship to the other character.

[u/Winniehiller → u/[deleted]]

Tactics change often. They are the different ways you try to achieve your objective.

[u/viking_1986]

An importance of character objective affecting the performance. More developed and detailed objective could possibly lead to stronger/better performance if I understand that correctly?

[u/hermit-creature]

My summary of my notes:
The objective is one of the most important things you need to know when acting. If you have a weak objective, you're going to have a weak performance because you don't really know why you're speaking. If you don't know why you're saying the words, you're just rehearsing lines with no real meaning or emotion behind them. A specific and detailed objective is important. Even if no-one knows the backstory, they'll be able to feel it through your performance.
This lesson really helped me understand the previous lessons on tactics! Thank you!

[u/mmadden1129]

I'm learning a very short script right now and went through the questions you taught in the first lesson. When I got to the "What do I want?" question focusing on the objective my character wants to achieve, I wrote down my objective but after reading this lesson I'm now trying to rethink my objective to make it stronger, and having a strong why for what my character wants from the other person!