“The intent to live, Achieving your true potential as an actor”, By Larry Moss

The book is referred to as intent to live because most of the great actors who perform the acting seem not to be acting but living. This is depicted on how they portray their act; very real from the eyes of the audience. Larry moss has described these instances in this book on how the actors can achieve this level of acting by sharing out the techniques he has developed for over thirty years. As per Larry Moss description, the techniques highlighted can help actors in setting their imagination, emotions and behaviors on fire. These shows how hard work of preparation is helpful in performances that will yield good fruits. This great work done by Larry Moss has been helpful to many actors in the senses that; the actors are able to connect personally with the scripts developed by their characters and is able to overcome their fear and inhibition. The actors are also in a position to master the technical skills that are essential for success in movies and theatre. As per the content of this book, Larry Moss is there to instruct and inspire the actors. The book is very helpful for the actors whether they act for a living or simply they want a deeper understanding of great acting.

Larry Moss has described new elements in this book on how they can be applied in an acting scene so that acting can be grateful. He has also portrayed on how this new elements can be reflected on the growth of an actor and also change the actor’s approach on acting. The elements descriptions are portrayed in the following paragraphs; Overcoming fear and relaxation is one of the elements described by Larry Moss in this book. As per the description depicted in this context, an actor should be relaxed in front of the audience. Relaxation is seen as a complex subject by Larry Moss in the sense that it is difficult to differentiate between emotional tension and muscular tension. From this context, sometimes an actor can be emotionally tensed but the body muscles are very relaxed and other times the actor’s body could be carrying stress which could result into muscular tension. As an actor, it is therefore very useful to differentiate between different kinds of stress that can interfere with your performance. Tension is a normal thing to all human beings but we should develop a way of overcoming it. As per Larry Moss, physical tension in our body often begins in childhood.

When we try to hold back our joy, anger, tears and humor, we interfere with our different body muscles that tend to stop our natural body impulse. Emotions also have an impact on the actor’s performance in a way that; when actors are emotionally stressed they may tend to swallow these emotions which may affect their throat or other body parts. This context portrays how emotional feelings can lead to physical consequences that will affect the actors’ performance. Some of the physical consequences that are brought by emotions can be headache, stomach and some which cannot be ignored. As an actor, you should also be aware of your physical image you are representing to the audience since your physical embodiment plays a big role on stage. The audiences are always carried by the actors’ facial expression and physical energy they portray on stage. Therefore as an actor, you have to consider these factors while on stage. As per this context, an actor should keep breathing while on stage so that to release the tension.

Voice, accents and blood memory is also another element that is discussed by Larry Moss in this book. As per Larry Moss, most of the young actors from the west coast don’t feel to have a strong and flexible voice since they believe they will be miked for film and television. These actors from the west coast are also mislead by believing that their performance will be primarily visual since they are deceived by believing that film is a visual medium always. This is a very wrong perception as per Larry Moss since a good actor should have nice vocals especially in live theatre. Vocal performances are very different from medium performance. In a live theatre, an actor is supposed to have a strong vocal ability and vocal energy that will fill the theatre. For an actor to achieve this goal, he should practice to be heard from that particular place. Being audible is a very key element in successful acting since the audience should be able to understand the complete idea the actors are passing across. In this context, Larry Moss is concerned about those young actors who tend to drop their vocal energy at the end of the line which cause the words to be missed by the audience.

The actors who have this syndrome seem to talking to themselves but not the audience. As per this context, the scene is not about the actor but about the story and the audience in the theatre room. The audience should be able to understand and feel what the actor is saying. This will enable the audience to enjoy the message which the actor is putting across. For the actors to use theater in developing their voice and vocal expression, then they will have to learn to adjust their voices to the demands of a microphone when they are doing film or television. When using microphone, you can’t be as loud since this will interfere with your emotions you are conveying to the audience. Another technical reality you need to consider when using film and television is your face. As per this context, most actors rely on face to express their feelings in wrong way by either bugging their eyes or talking from tense jaws without noticing. This will send a wrong message to the audience. From Larry Moss point of view, to be a leading player in features like films, television and certain roles in theater, actors must have qualities of stillness and simplification.

This act is mostly referred to as presence and it has to be portrayed from the eyes of the actor. The face of the actor has to be very still since the performance has to emanate from the eyes of the actor. This does not mean an actor has to be stone faced and self consciously minimal but he has to be subtlety. An actor should portray these emotions through their eyes so that he could carry away the audience emotions. Some parts especially in comedy are more expressive facially than others. Actors should not use their face or body to signal their feeling to the audience but they should actually feel them. This act is referred to us indicating your performance in film industry. Indicating your performance as an actor is a very bad mistake since it portrays how fake you are as an actor. Another thing you need to consider as a good actor is having a good taste and being smart in making your choices in a particular medium. Another aspect an actor should consider is meticulous choices. These are specific emotional points of view actors say or do while on stage.

Meticulous choices are intelligent choices that indicate your emotional understanding as an actor. Another element described by Larry Moss is how to work with your director as an actor or be your own director. From Larry Moss point of view, there are different types of directors. We have directors who understand and support actors’ process of work. There are other actors who know nothing about acting but they think they know. These kind of bogus directors are there to blame actors for their inadequacy and they wonder why you cannot perform. They are really wastage to the actor. We have other directors who are technically smart in film making but they don’t know how to help actors. This will make the actors to look lousy.

Due to these factors, it is better for an actor to be his own director as per Larry Moss perception. Actors are therefore expected to be more prepare to avoid falling in this trap of victim role. If an actor is not prepared, he doesn’t have a choice but to fall in this trap. An actor should understand that a director is not a teacher or a coach and thus they should practice adequately. As an actor, if you find your director unhelpful, it is better to find a friend who understands this job to help you. An actor should also develop a good relation with the director and production staff. This will be very helpful for the actor if he has a problem since he can easily share it out with the technical team. The three elements discussed by Larry Moss are very helpful to the actors who feel to transform their acting career to the next level.