Jocelyn Jones, Acting Teacher/Author: When you are really behaving as a person and doing things
exactly as you would and responding to an environment exactly as you would in life,
this is acting. It’s so simple, it's very difficult to allow yourself to be that simple.
Film Courage: Can you explain how someone quieting their mind can lead them to their life's purpose?
Jocelyn: Quieting your mind or stilling yourself by breathing into your heart
is taking you to a place of being, as I've talked about, it's taking to a still space
where you can just be in that space, you can ask yourself questions. This is the same space that
artists go to ask questions for inspiration. With an actor, you're always acting in a place
(that's number one) the environment, where am I? Most of the time actors are not moved by their
environment at all. That doesn't matter to them. They're busy acting they're busy saying the words
but you are in an environment. I train actors to touch the chair,
to feel things and first of all to make choices about where am I? Where am I? What makes it so?
If you're in class, I'm in a bedroom. Well what makes it so? Well I'm going to bring these things,
it's my bedroom so I'm going to bring my bedding, I'm going to bring just enough of my own things,
my props and my personal possessions to help me believe in this space. If you're an actor and
you're on a set and you can't bring those things, you go around the bedroom that's your bedroom and
you type this is my bed which side do I sleep in what's in the drawer. I'm a pain in the arse,
I'm all over the place, this is my thing I’ve got to claim it. I have to believe in it
so the first thing is that space so it's you might ask the question well where am I
in this scene and then it's obvious you're in your bedroom yeah but where could I be
well you could be in the kitchen well where else could I be I could be in the garden what if I was
in the garden now something lit up with you in the garden well how would the garden work so it's all
a series of questions and then how do I create a garden well I'm just going to put three or
four plants I'm going to put this chair and then that's going to be my garden what makes my garden
well what are you doing in the garden what are you doing in the garden because it doesn't come alive
for an actor unless he's doing something unless he brings it into Behavior because the story is told
in Behavior so I went on that little detour to say that's where you ask questions from is that space
so when you steal yourself and you breathe into your heart and you ask yourself what do I want
to do in life why am I here what is my purpose in that stillness something can come in whether it's
inspiration to answer a question you're posing as an artist or whether it's inspiration your higher
self to help you along the way to knowing what it is you want to do and what your purpose in life is
I think you had used an example in the book of a gentleman who had turned [age] 50 and he was a
police officer and he realized this was his what he felt was his one chance to become an actor
so you had him create his space in the locker room get his environment that this environment
exercise which I've been writing about for years and years and years but it is the most powerful
thing because with actors you don't give them words at first they only have two things they
create an environment and then they do the things they really do in that environment so
first they have to observe their life so this is the training always begins with observing so they
observe their life for their life's rhythms so this guy came to me and I interview every student
mostly for attitude it's all about attitude because I'm I'm old and I don't want anybody with
my crappy attitude that I had when I was either an actor so I want people with happy attitudes
and to create a very a group that reflects all of humanity all ages all colors all sexes I like it
even even amount of men and women and such so this guy came to me and I was interviewing him
and he said he said he wanted to be an actor and he he always wanted to be an apple actor
but he thought it was a pipe dream and so he kept putting it away I'd do the right thing he became
cop but now it was 15 I thought I'm never going to get to do it I want to do it and I don't know
how he found me but that's the universe always kind of puts those connections together so he
found me and I went oh okay so I wanted to check on his commitment so I said are you a good cop
and he said yeah I'm a great cop I go oh yeah what makes you a great cop because I care I really care
I go excellent can you give that same commitment to acting in my class
he said yeah I said okay you can come to class now this guy is a beginner beginner and he's coming to
class with people who are currently shooting series I put them all in the same class it's
all attitude and he did his first exercise in the first exercise the environment exercise to create
a place right so first he observed he observed himself in his locker room to the police station
and he observed every detail of his behavior and he noted that and he rehearsed that without the
locker room so he could figure out how he was going to create or lock a room on stage in the
theater and then he created this locker room and he did those behaviors ex with the same investment
it's different though because now he's consciously doing them he said he did things inevitably actors
discover this in observing his own behavior he discovered that he did things he never knew that
he did and just did them automatically now he's doing them consciously and he's really investing
in the behavior he's really doing it consciously exactly as he does it in life that brings an
actor to the now that brings him to the present moment just doing and believing in that space
without words without emotions without any story just being and doing that's like this this is the
first two steps this guy did this exercise and he was he was about to leave the exercise it was
almost finished and he had a thought he went to his locker room we saw when he was just a box but
he opened up the box and had a picture of a guy on the thing which was a buddy who had died in
service and he had a second thought and he put he undid his jacket and he put on a bulletproof vest
and he put his jacket back on and he looked at the guy very simple and he left the scene I was
saying they exercised I could have put a camera on this this is the guy's first time ever on a
stage in his life he didn't even do little plays as a child this is his first time ever
and he was beautiful he was just a person when you are really behaving as a person and doing
things exactly as you would and responding to an environment exactly as you would in life
this is acting so simple it's very difficult to allow yourself to be that simple.