Acting Glossary of Terms

ACTING GLOSSARY OF TERMS

If you’re just starting out in professional acting, the learning curve may be steep. The world of entertainment is broad and full of details, many of which you will have to master to perform your job effectively. Whether you are just auditioning or you’ve landed your first role, chances are you’ll come face-to-face with some terminology you don’t quite understand.

We’ve compiled a list of important terms for beginners to understand, so you can hit the ground running in your acting career. While this is not a comprehensive list, it should help you become acclimated to your new surroundings.

Action: What the director says to indicate that the camera is rolling and a scene has started.

Ad-Lib: When an actor goes off-script and is expected to improvise in a scene.

Adjustment: A change in direction regarding the playing of certain material.

Advance: An amount of money paid before work has started to secure a professional’s place on a production.

Aside: A bit of dialogue directed only at the audience on stage, unheard by other characters.

Audition: A try-out for a role.

Back to one: A verbal cue indicating actors should return to where they started a scene.

Background: Extras in a production. Often the verbal equivalent of ‘action!’ for extras.

Backstage: The area behind the stage in a production or unseen by the audience.

Beat: A deliberate pause in dialogue or action.

Black out: When all stage lights are shut down.

Blocking: The physical movements orchestrated in a scene.

Booking: Formally scheduling an actor for a role.

Breaking character: When an actor stops acting and steps out of their role.

Call back: A second audition, in which an actor is ‘called back’ to show their skills again.

Call sheet: The list of schedules for all cast and crew in a production.

Camera left: When performers take up the left side of the shot from the camera operator’s perspective.

Camera right: When performers take up the right side of the shot from the camera operator’s perspective.

Camera ready: The state of being ready for filming, with hair, makeup, and costuming done.

Casting: The process of choosing the performers for a production, done by the casting director, director, or other professionals.

Closing off: When an actor turns away from the audience.

Cold reading: In an audition, when an actor is asked to use material they haven’t studied or seen previously.

Commission: A portion of an actor’s earnings taken by an agent or manager.

Craft services: The on-set table containing food for cast and crew on a production.

Cue: A signal for an actor to begin or continue their performing.

Cut: The verbal cue for filming to stop.

Dailies: Raw footage shot on the same day.

Demo reel: A compilation of highlights of an actor’s previous on-camera roles.

Downstage: The section of the stage that is closest to the audience.

Dress rehearsal: A rehearsal in full costume, usually right before an actual show.

Exit: A stage direction indicating an actor should leave the stage.

Eye line: The direction or point an actor should be looking at in a scene or shot.

Feature: A full-length film.

Fourth wall: The imaginary area that separates an actor from the audience. The fourth wall is broken when an actor makes an aside directly to the audience.

FX: Special effects.

Holding: The area extras wait while not on set.

Hot set: A set that is ready for filming.

Improvisation: When an actor performs spontaneously with no script.

Mark: The exact position assigned to an actor on set.

Monologue: The term for a lengthy speech given by a single actor in a scene.

Motivation: The ‘why’ behind a character’s actions.

Off book: When an actor has their lines completely memorized and does not need to refer to a script.

On book: When an actor has not yet memorized their script.

On hold: When a casting director identifies that they want an actor for a production, but has not yet formally hired them.

Open call: A day for auditions open to anyone.

Opening up: When an actor turns toward the audience.

Out of frame: When a performer is outside of the camera’s field of view.

Pace: The speed at which a scene unfolds, or the speed at which actors deliver their lines.

Pantomime: When actors in a scene pretend to speak.

Pick up: When a scene is started at a place aside from its beginning.

Places: A command to inform performers to take their assigned positions on stage.

Props: The objects used by actors in a scene.

Rush call: Last-minute booking of actors or extras.

Script: The written form of a film or production, containing all actors’ lines and directions.

Sides: Pages or scenes from a script.

Slate: A quick statement of a performer’s information before an audition begins.

Soliloquy: A long speech by an actor without anyone else on stage, sometimes directed at the audience.

Spiking the lens: When an actor looks directly into the camera during filming.

Stage left: The area to the actor’s left.

Stage right: The area to the actor’s right.

Standby: The verbal indication that actors should be ready and awaiting their cue.

Take: A shot in progress.

Upstage: The part of the stage farthest away from the audience.

Wrap: The end of filming for a day.

With the knowledge of these terms under your belt, you’re all set for your next acting opportunity!

Glossary of Acting Terms

GLOSSARY OF ACTING TERMS

 Actions/Intentions: The action verbs the actor uses to fulfill the Objective/Driving Question. i.e. to possess.

Activity: A specific physical task that may or may not be connected to an action, such as a character loading a gun or packing a suitcase.

Ad-Lib: Spoken words (sometimes witty comments) said out loud that are not in the script. They can also be given “off the cuff” when another actor forgets a line.

Adjustment: A direction or modification an actor makes in the playing of material. They are often instructions given by the director.

Affective memory: (Or “Remembered emotion”) Memory that involves the actor personally, so that deeply rooted emotional experiences begin to respond. His instrument begins to awaken and he becomes capable of the kind of living on stage which is essentially reliving.

Animal work: Sensory and body work based on the observation of animals, birds and reptiles.

Apron: The area of the stage in front of the proscenium arch.

Arena: A type of stage where the audience is seated on three sides (also referred to as Thrust).

Aside: A character’s comment or observation, often delivered directly to the audience or themselves.

Beat: 1. A component of spoken material with a single action. A new beat occurs when the character changes what he is doing to attain his objective. 2. In blocking, holding for 1 second=1 beat.

Blocking: To set the movements of actors on a stage or set. Also, any given movement that enhances the scene, such as a specific character gesture. 

Central conflict: The oppositional force between characters that directly affects or motivates the action of the plot.

Characterization: The actor using their craft to explore and develop the specific qualities of a character.

Cheating or Opening Out: Angling  or  squaring  the body out  toward the audience or camera, while still partly facing the other actor/character.

Cold Reading: Unfamiliar material, such as a scene or audition sides. An audition in which you are asked to read from copy you are not familiar with, generally with little or no time to prepare.

Composition: The arrangement of the staging and design elements to create a visual picture.

Conflict: An essential and vital element of acting that involves the obstacles and struggles (inner and outer) that a character must overcome to reach their objective.

Countering: A blocking movement by an actor to rebalance the stage in reaction to another actor’s movement, or change of position.

Cue: The action, line, or phrase of dialogue that signals your character to move or speak.

Cue-to-Cue: A tech rehearsal where to save time, action and text is cut out between cues.

Dialogue: The written words spoken by the actors/characters.

Downstage: The front of the stage or the part closest to the audience.

Dramaturge: A profession in theatre that deals mainly with the research and development of plays. The dramaturge often assists the director in the preparation of a production.

Driving Question: Always beginning with “How can I…?” It is the rephrasing of the actor’s objective in the active and very specific form of a question that needs to be answered in the scene, i.e. “How can I rip the blinders from her eyes?”

Dry tech: The rehearsal and setting of lighting, scenery, and sound cues, in preparation for the full technical rehearsal with actors.

Emotion: The agitation of feelings such as: sadness, power, fear, love, hate and joy. These can be followed by responses such as: rapid heartbeat, crying or shaking.

Emotional Recall: (or Emotional Memory) The emotions from an actor’s memory (long or short term) of personal experiences that are used to connect the actor to the character, and meet the emotional needs of the situation in the play or film.

Endowment: To give physical or emotional attributes to your character, to create more reality and meaning to further the needs of the story. Objects can also be endowed with physical, emotional or historical attributes: shaving without a blade, removing wet clothing when it’s not wet, drinking water as if it’s vodka.

Fourth wall: The imaginary wall which separates the actors from the audience, and the audience from the stage. The actor uses it to create the reality in the scene, and keep one’s mind in the world of the film or play.

Framing: Crafting and sculpting individual moments for the purpose of highlighting them.

Given circumstances: The background and current circumstances of a character, ranging from who you are, where you are, and why you are doing it. The costumes, sets and lighting—all the circumstances that are given to the actor to take into account as they create their role.

Group Theatre: Founded by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg in the 1930’s, the Group Theatre based its acting on the innovative teachings of Constantin Stanislavsky. A renowned American theatrical company whose members included: Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Bobby Lewis, Sandford Meisner and Harold Clurman. The company was based on an ensemble approach to acting as first seen in the Moscow Art Theater, and changed the course of American theatre forever. They created new American plays with a vision that spoke to and reflected the common man and to change the troubled times. The traditions of the Group Theatre are continued to this day.

Happiness: (also called The Super Objective) The character’s long term objective or “big dream” in life. The “happiness” does not necessarily apply directly to any single scene but has an effect on every scene. It also helps in providing conflict and dimension to every scene.

Improvisation: Setting out to do a scene with no pre-planned or written idea. A process leading to spontaneous discovery that allows   the actor to find real, organic impulses within themselves.

Impulse: A natural response that an actor responds to in the moment.

Indicating: Showing what your character is feeling or doing without really feeling or doing, leading to a false and shallow performance.

Inner Action: A physical action verb chosen by the actor in the pursuit of an objective. It always begins with the word “to” i.e. to attack, to soothe, to tickle.

Inner Life/Inner Monologue: A character’s active, imaginative inner thoughts while the actor is playing a role.

Instinct: A compelling or powerful impulse.

Instrument: The actor’s collective working of the body, voice, mind, and imagination.

Intention: Another word for an acting objective, or action, that an actor pursues while onstage.

Line Cue: The last portion of the last line before your cue begins.

Magic if/What if ? : Created by Stanislavsky, the actor tries to answer the question, “If this were real, how would I react?”

Meisner Technique: An acting program that uses (among other things) repetitive and in-the-moment exercises first devised by Sanford Meisner of the Group Theatre. The technique emphasizes “moment-to-moment” spontaneity through communication with other actors to generate behavior that is “truthful under imaginary circumstances.” Meisner also emphasized using the actor’s imagination to create emotional reality—the creative “as-if”— over the personal, emotional experience philosophy championed by fellow Group Theatre member Lee Strasberg.

Method, The: A generic term used to describe the acting philosophy of using personal emotional experiences in acting, as first introduced to the Western world by Stanislavsky and furthered by members of America’s Group Theatre in the 1930’s. When used today, “The Method” most often refers to the deeply personal emotional work taught by followers of Lee Strasberg, one of the Group Theatre members, and can be summed up as: “Training the subconscious to behave spontaneously.”

Moment-to-moment: The acting process concentrating on the present, not what’s going to happen in the future.

Monologue: An uninterrupted speech by a character in a performance. The monologue may be to another character or the audience.

Moscow Art Theatre: Co-founded in 1897 by Constantin Stanislavsky with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. The theatre was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, as opposed to the melodramatic style which was popular in Russia at the time.

Motivation: The Why? The reason a character pursues a particular objective or super objective.

Objects: Physical items used by the actor to enhance and give more reality to a character.

Objective: A character’s pursuit of a specific goal in a scene. Also referred to as the intention or driving question.

Obstacle: The conflict and stumbling blocks to a character’s struggle in pursuit of an action or objective.

Organic: A natural response that comes (organically) from deep within the character/actor.

Outer Tactics: The method or “how” an actor/character goes about doing their action in a beat. An active verb form preceded with “by” always ending in “ing.” Each beat has both an Inner Action and an Outer Tactic: To gain entry (Inner Action)/By honeying (Outer Tactic.)

Pace: The speed at which you pick up your cue and deliver the next line of your dialogue. Pace can also be the speed that creates a style for the piece.

Pantomime: An art form related to the dance; not to be confused with “silent scenes” or a “scene without words.”

Physical gesture: A specific movement or physical action of a character that expresses the psychology, feelings and desires incorporated into one gesture. It is often used by the actor to awaken the essence of his character.

Particularization: The process Uta Hagen taught, making each event, person and place (down to the smallest physical object) as exact as possible. These details are explored in great detail to discover how they are relevant to the character.

Physicalization: To express with the body. Showing as opposed to telling. Externals of a character, such as how they eat, walk and talk.

Presentational: An actor’s awareness of the audience through direct address to the audience, by looks, signs or gestures.

Private Moment: A well-known technique developed by Lee Strasberg, based on Stanislavsky’s theory that the challenge of the actor is to “act privately in public.” An individual acting exercise (performed in front of others) in which the actor does an intensely personal activity while alone, while giving the effect of “being private in public.”

Psychological gesture: If we define gesture to mean a movement that has intention, we could say that the Psychological Gesture is a movement that expresses the psychology of the character.

Props: All objects on a theatrical or film set, used by the actors. Hand Props: often small and hand-carried objects used by actors during performance, i.e. glasses, wallet, handkerchief. Practical Props: props that actually have to work during performance, i.e. cigarette lighter, flashlight.

Representational: Represents “realism.” Characters in their real lives that are not aware the audience is there.

Run: 1. A series of brief lines building to a speech or key moment. 2. The number of performances a show does.

Script Analysis: The close study of a play or screenplay. This incorporates all of the dialogue and stage directions to find the answers necessary to create a full and rich character and to craft a performance that serves the script. The exploration of the script may include the questions of theme, story, character, and overall elements of the play and characters.

Sensory: Connecting the character to the body and mind through the senses; to taste, hear, feel, see, think, perceive; to know through the physical inner self, as opposed to the instinctive.

Sense memory: (emotional recall) The basis for Lee Strasberg’s Method Acting. “Sense memory” is used to refer to the recall of physical sensations: sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound.  These physical sensations surround an emotional event, instead of the emotions themselves.

Sides: A portion of a script (pages) selected for an audition that highlights a specific character.

Soliloquy: A speech given directly to the audience, ordinarily with no one else on stage.  Usually played as a direct address to the audience, sometimes played as a character thinking aloud in the audience’s presence.

Speed-through: A rehearsal with actors going through the lines of the play as quickly as possible, picking up the cues. Sometimes called a “glib thru.”

Spontaneity: A free unplanned impulsive moment.

Stage Business: A stage activity used to accent, intensify, or heighten the manner in which one uses an object on stage.

Stage Directions: The writer’s insertions of blocking, reactions, gestures, or use of props to clarify the action.

Staging: The final results of blocking—Alternatively called blocking.

Stage Left: In a proscenium theatre, the actor’s left, while facing the audience.

Stage Right: In a proscenium theatre, the actor’s right, while facing the audience.

Stakes: The heightened consequences for each character of achieving or failing to achieve their objectives.

Stanislavsky, Constantin (1863-1938): Russian theatre director, actor, and teacher most responsible for the manner and technique in which the craft of acting is taught. Co-founder/director of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1897 with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. He developed a “system” or “method” by which actors could consistently produce superior work by tapping into themselves and their real feelings, to create naturalistic acting as opposed to the representational acting style popular at the time.

Strasberg, Lee (1901-1982): Acting teacher, artistic director of the Actor’s Studio, and developer of what came to be known as “Method Acting,” an approach based on early writings of Stanislavsky. His teaching method was based on Stanislavsky; but, among other things, Strasberg intensely focused on actors exploring past memories to use real emotions to connect them to their character.

Subtext: The character’s complex thoughts, feelings, motives, etc. created and layered under the actual words and actions of the character by the actor.

Substitution: The recasting of people, objects, and events in the script that the character must react act to, with real people, objects and events that the actor has known or experienced in their own life.

Super objective:  Stanislavsky developed the concept of the super- objective (referred to here as The Happiness) that would carry the ‘through line of action,’ mapped out for the character through the entire play.

Tactics: “How” a character goes about achieving their goal. Also, specifically the way a character “masks” their inner action or intention, on the outside: i.e. to alarm (inner action) by freaking out (outer tactic).

Tasks: Pieces of work or functions that need to be done, the total of which comprises an overall activity.

Tempo; pace; rhythm: The level of speed with which the scene or play is acted out. The general effect creates a specific mood or tone to the work.

Three-Quarters (Actually ¼): A stage position in a proscenium theatre, where the actor is facing half-way toward the actor to their side and half-way toward the audience. Thus the audience is essentially seeing a three-quarter view of the actor.

Through line of action or continuity: Stanislavsky’s concept of the inner line of effort that guides the actors from the beginning to the end of the play. (An Actor Prepares)

Transference: Uta Hagen’s term for the actor’s process of making transferences from their own experiences to those in the play until they become synonymous with them.

Trigger: An emotional or physical signal that signals or sparks a bonfire of emotion to break through to the surface.

Upstage: The opposite of downstage; the back part of stage in a proscenium theatre; the farthest part from the audience. Derives from the eighteenth century, when the stage was slanted, or “raked” toward the audience, with the rear of the stage higher than the front.

Upstaging: To go upstage of an actor with whom you are sharing a scene. This causes the other actor to be in the downstage, weakened position of having to face upstage to maintain the illusion of eye contact.

Upping the stakes: Increasing and upping the importance on a scene or moment to heighten the dramatic tension of the character or scene.

World of the play: What happens. Where it happens. When it happens. The circumstances affected by the society, economics, culture and politics of the time. What we learn from the setting of the play.

Film & Television

ADR: (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) see looping.

Cinematographer: The expert responsible for capturing, recording or photographing images for a film, through the selection of visual recording devices, camera angles, film stock, lenses, framing, and arrangement of lighting.

CU: Close up.

Double: A person doubling for a principal actor usually for stunts (dangerous shots).

DP: Director of photography, the head cinematographer.

Eye Line: Eye line is the direction an actor should look off-screen to match a reverse angle or a P.O.V. (point of view) shot. It is best to give the actor an actual thing or spot to look at rather than a blank spot on an empty wall or an empty space in mid air.

Extras: Actors hired for non-specific, non-speaking roles, to add background atmosphere and reality.

First AD: The First Assistant Director. This is the director’s right hand man, who basically stage manages the entire set.

Holding: The area or bus set aside for extras to wait between scenes.

Key 2^nd AD: The senior 2^nd AD is responsible for having extras on set at the right time, blocking extras into crowd scenes, cueing of extras etc.

Looping: The recording or re-recording of dialogue for a previously for filmed scene.

M.O.S: A shot, a sequence, or a film that is shot without sound, which is added later. M.O.S. stands for “With Out Sound,” and derives from German director (Otto Preminger) asking for a shot to be filmed “Mit out sound,” which was written “M.O.S.” on the slate.

OC: Off camera.

Off: 1. A scene starting with a shot of one actor and opening to the scene. 2. A cue to an actor to take their cue off of the reaction of another actor. (see reaction shot)

OS:  Off stage.

Over the Shoulder: A camera shot of the scene shot from behind or “over the shoulder” of a principal actor, revealing what they are seeing from their point of view.

Pick Up:  Reshooting a section of a scene from a specific point. i.e. “We’ll pick it up from here.”

Piggy Back: A camera shot with both actors involved, facing the camera one behind the other. The “piggyback” allows both characters to have their private thoughts about each other, while allowing the audience to see what both characters are thinking.

POV: A shot that shows the scene through the character’s eyes. We see the world from their point of view.

Reaction Shot: The camera shooting a character’s emotional or physical response or reaction to something that is happening in the scene.

Reverse: A camera shot set up to shoot the reverse 180° view of the previous shot.

Second AD: Second Assistant Director. On most sets there are many 2^nd AD’s responsible for everything from crowd control, extras, parking, traffic control, security, cuing, and actors on camera.

Second Team: Stand-ins for the principals involved in a specific scene. You will hear an AD yell “Second Team!” calling stand-ins on set to stand where the principals were, while the DP lights the scene and the camera operators rehearse their moves and focus.

Spreading the Shot: One actor stands too far from the other, which “spreads the shot out.”

Stand-in: An extra hired for size and coloring to double for a principal actor for lighting and camera set ups.

Take: A reaction shot of an actor. i.e. “take Stabler.”

Video Village: The area where all of the camera shots are fed into video monitors, allowing the director to get an accurate view of every shot.

VO (Voice Over): A recording that will either be added later or played back while shooting the scene.