Scream Queen Acting Observations

Time for another blog on acting tips I observed watching Scream Queens 2. This week we cover making strong, good acting choices; being organic; and mind games. Also a note on scene partners.

Strong, good acting choices: For this I will compare the performances of two actresses in the director's challenge. This week the actresses had to perform where they were attacked by a ghost. Actress one was told previously to stop playing it safe. She stepped it up. The only reason she was not named the week's leading actress was due to her work earlier in the week. Actress two had been told her acting choices were weak. This week was an example of weak acting and it resulted in the axe. (That means she was eliminated.) Being attacked by a ghost means being thrown around. The director had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at her being thrown around choreography. No pun intended but nothing will kill a horror film faster than the audience laughing. I suppose if the contest was for a remake of Beetlejuice...

Being organic: I will compare another two actresses in the director's challenge. The only mark they had to hit was ending at a particular spot. One actress overacted. She was making all sorts of facial expressions and hand gestures. The result was the actress putting on a performance. The other actress decided she was going to reach the mark organically and did not preplan the attack. She simply let the moment takeover. She was told her performance was completely believable. The result was the character being attacked by a ghost.

Mind games: Overact actress has a history of attacking organic actress (being organic example)verbally regarding her acting ability. After the director's challenge when the actresses were back at their house, overact said organic's performance was the worst. Overact would probably say that if organic's performance was Oscar level. Organic is taking overact's comments personally.

Remember my mentioning made the director laugh actress getting the axe? All previous weeks the decision had been unanimous. This week the decision was split. Guess who got that one descending vote for elimination. That's right, Miss Overact. I suspect next week's episode will involve some proverbial crow eating.

I already mentioned the ghost in the director's challenge. This meant the actresses had to use their imagination. The safe from elimination challenge which no longer guarantees a callback involved green screen work. Just the actress, the green screen and marks (in this case a floating ball) to help with eye line. While few of us are likely to have an opportunity to co-star with a ghost it is a safe bet any actor in the business long enough will end up in front of a green screen.