Have you ever wondered why actors are capable of memorizing long storylines? Like if you see the script for a whole movie, it's consisted of lots of pages. Especially, if you are the main actor, you would be having a lot of dialogues, and the first question on your mind is "how in the world am I going to remember all of that?" well, that is the actor's job. However, they have a memory technique to deal with that. It's nothing flashy, nothing expensive, just a slight change in the process of memorization that proves to be effective, as you can see.
One of these techniques that our professionals at Child Actor LA talk about is association. Why name it "association"? Well, from the word itself, the process is associating the words with images, pleasant ones. Something that is memorable or something that you are really used to and you would never forget. This is because your brains have the tendency to block unpleasant images out. When doing this, you should definitely use images that are vivid, vibrant and has sense. These makes it much easier to remember compared to the senseless ones. Also, using all of your five senses is effective. Try exaggerating that image in your mind and make it humorous, that way you would never forget it. This is very true because I have a hard time forgetting funny moments.
Here are also some of the techniques actors use to make their memorization capabilities much stronger:
- Recorder - Reading the scene or the dialogue and recording it on a tape recorder. And then replay it a thousand times and listen to it.
- Envelope - Familiarize yourself with the script or the scene and then get an envelope, cover that part of the scene yon your script and imagine the person's face while saying those lines and check out the script again if you did it correctly.
- Writing - Copy and write the lines into a paper but do it in sequence.
- Song - Add some notes on your words, like a melody. Recite the script in a sing - song way.
- Crazy Dude Technique - Mumble the words to yourself. Do it as if you are talking to yourself. And of course, you should also answer yourself, that's how it is. Warning: you will look totally crazy.
Well, it thinks that's all of it. You could also try combining all of these techniques and form one super technique to make sure you would be memorizing each line. But if you really wanted to know how actors memorize their lines, you can look for acting classes like those at Child Actor LA. There are professional who would definitely teach you. Or you could even try using the internet, Google it and find the answer. But to make your life easier, simply settle down with these things. These are the techniques that have the highest probability and assurance that actors use them.
