Three Rules For Actors, and Everyone Else

A while back, I wrote about how the Three Rules from Acting training (objective, tactics, obstacles) served as guidelines for writing strong prose—I renamed them the Three Rules for Protagonists. As I did so, I noticed that the Three Rules also apply to the martial arts. Having recently weeded through a bunch of old MFA musings re: the Three Rules and Mamet’s “Where Do You Put the Camera?” it hit me that his theories of simplicity in filmmaking had everything to do with warriorship and the Three Rules.

Whew. Let me begin my explanation with a Mamet quote (from the abovementioned piece):

“As long as the protagonist wants something, the audience will want something. As long as the protagonist is clearly going out and attempting to get that something, the audience will wonder whether or not he’s going to succeed. The moment the protagonist, or the auteur of the movie, stops trying to get something and starts trying to influence someone, the audience will go to sleep.”

As long as an action fulfills the protagonist’s objective, then it’s a strong choice. If it’s merely interesting and only interesting, it will not actually be interesting to the viewer. The same holds true for writing: the minute a writer stops writing beautiful, interesting prose and concerns herself with “what do I want” (Rule 1), she will begin to write gripping works of whatever genre. Mamet calls this “uninflected” which I love as a term for this idea of unadorned, simple, compelling work.

How does this relate to warriorship? In the martial arts, it’s easy to fall into what I call the “coolness” trap; it’s the same trap both actors and writers fall into. It’s irresistible to the ego to write interesting stuff; to be interesting onstage: in other words, to appear cool. The ego doesn’t want to look boring or plain, it wants to look cool. It seems contrary that the least interesting choice is actually the strongest, and that the less information you give a reader/audience, the better they will get into the story. The exact same thing happens to a martial artist: we see so much over-the-top action in films that looks so cool: wire-fu, elaborate long fight sequences, sleek catsuits, macho setups for sport fighting like cages. The problem for the artist’s ego is that the really cool-looking stuff of martial arts is in fact the least effective in a real fight. Same for an actor, same for a writer. And now I’m writing this, it occurs to me that we could probably say this for any art form…

The Three Rules For Warriorship:
1) What do I want? (Objective) –do I want to attack or defend myself? Do I want to cause harm? What specifically do I want to do, physically? How do I want the fight to end?
2) What do I do to get what I want? (Tactics) –What actions specifically do I need to achieve my objective? Weak or waffly (or “cool”) choices here will fail, in a much more obvious way than just a mediocre performance or piece of writing. In a martial arts situation, a weak tactic leads to a smack in the head or even a fatality (or a lost match, if we’re talking sport martial arts).
3) What stands in my way? (Obstacles) –is my opponent’s guard up? Armor or weapons involved? Are there innocents anywhere? Is the law on my side? Is the space restricted, either physically or otherwise?

What’s the conclusion here? That good art should be “uninflected, … requiring no additional gloss” (Mamet again). Keep it simple. Which, of course, is the most difficult thing about mastery. For more of Mamet's words of wisdom, check out his book On Directing.

Image is Jenn and Boaz doing a theatrical thing in a martial arts studio. Go figure.

~Jenn

Do the Hindu

I'm all about the Hindu Pushup--we do them all the time in NinjaFit. But instead of how this guy does it, start in an actual Downward Dog, go slowly and get your nose as close to the floor as you can, then come up into an Upward Dog. And love the sweat! ~Jenn

Thanks to Lifehacker for mentioning this today, and for the link.

3 Rules

This is an old DU lecture from now-nonexistent "Writers on Writing." Stay tuned for a sequel in which I parallel the Three Rules for Actors to warriorship. ~Jenn

Three Rules For Protagonists

Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.
--Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury

Back in acting school, we learned a magic Three Rules that we were to adhere to whenever we performed a new character (which was often a couple times a week). No matter how big a role, the Three Rules for Actors worked to make a performance authentic, dynamic, and compelling.

In acting, when you play a mood, you dissolve instantly into sham. Mood spelled backwards is Doom for the actor.[1] In other words, if you “play sad” you will seem false and cheesy to an audience. If you play a verb, if you play an objective, you’re playing an action instead of an emotion.

Three Rules for Actors:
“What do I want?” (objective)
“What do I do to get what I want?” (tactics)
“What stands in my way?” (obstacles)

Actors ask these three questions of themselves as the character they’ve been assigned, and often will write verbs in the margins of their scripts (tactics = action words) to guide them along the scenes. Any story can be boiled down to this formula. A character does actions to get their objective. When one action doesn’t work, they’ll try another. And the audience will want to know what they’ll do next, and if they’ll end up achieving their objective. When the character either achieves their objective, or discovers it can’t be achieved, the story is over. A new objective is a new story.

These three rules, though taught to actors, I have found to be essential in the understanding of story structure. A writer can ask their protagonist these three questions and the narrative nearly writes itself. Ray Bradbury probably never heard the Actor’s Rules, but his story-writing instructions are a direct reiteration of the objective/tactics/obstacles formula:

Find a character, like yourself, who will want something or not want something, with all his heart. Give him running orders. Shoot him off. Then follow as fast as you can go. The character, in his great love, or hate, will rush you through to the end of the story.[2]

This formula works for anything narrative—fiction, non-fiction, or (obviously) drama. Poetry is about image and sound, so it doesn’t go by the Actor’s Rules. But anything that has events, things happening, a central character (even the writer-as-narrator of a personal essay) has added dynamism and a clean plot if the Three Rules are kept in mind.

Image is from Five Funny Faces' Dr. Seuss performance at Skyline Vista Elementary, 2000. Pictured: Jesse, Jas, Jenn

[1] Uttered by many of my previous acting profs, at CU Boulder and a couple UNC seminars.
[2] From Zen in the Art of Writing

Colorado Bike to Work Day

Well of course that's every day for Team Bonzuko. That is, using bicycles, bus, and other alternative transportation to get where we need to go. We described this lifestyle a couple times before, so go peruse those posts and give yourself a minute of contemplation, and a little more exercise, today at least. Hey, who knows--maybe you'll get to like it!

And yes, the Bonzuko bicycle looks like this very often.

(Hey, wonder if Fat Tire wants to sponsor us...)

Gnarly as a Fiction Fractal

I love this. ~Jenn
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/18/seek-the-gnarl.html

National Bike-to-Work Day

Here in Colorado, we have Bike-to-Work Week in June. But for the rest of the country, today is the day everyone should dust off their spandex, pump up their tires, and get a little cardio with their commute!

As we have said once or twice before, every day at the Bonzuko hombu is Bike-to-Work Day, or at least no-car day. Try biking at least partway to work today, and then ask yourself: could you do it every day? Could you live without your car? How would your life change?

Seeing so many car companies going under, and so many people (especially here in The Best Place to Live Well, according to Forbes) concerned about restoring a ruined environment, gives one pause. Is the car dead?

Image is of the Bonzuko family bike, loaded with groceries. Just a normal day of errands...

Green Commuter

Former Stage Combat student Jason Braddock wrote a paper recently for another class about commuting to and fro MSCD. He interviewed Bonzuko's own Jenn about the subject. Here's an exerpt of what he had to say:

"Fifty dollars in gas and 15 hours spent in the car every week -- is Metro worth it? For many students who commute from outside the Denver metro area the answer is yes. The main reason these students sacrifice so much is because Metropolitan State College of Denver is their best option. ... It is not just students who commute from outside the Denver metro area. Jenn Boughn, who teaches theatre and English classes makes the trip to Metro from Boulder. Boughn depends on public transportation. 'I have no car, I have no license,' Boughn replies when asked about her commute 'I pay around $40 a month for a bus pass, and that's a tiny fraction of what car maintenance, purchase payments, gas, insurance, and parking fees cost.'
On days that she teaches Boughn spends about one to three hours a day on public transportation to make it to Metro and back from where she lives. She tries to set her teaching schedule so that she only has to be on campus three days a week.
Boughn usually teaches three classes each at both Metro and D.U. To make this schedule possible she teaches a few classes online. 'The transportation is usually not an issue.' said Boughn although she cites the time that RTD went on strike leaving her trapped in Boulder.
'I have to have everything for my entire day packed when I leave the house, including anything for the weather.' Boughn said. During the semester that she teaches stage combat that can include a six foot bo staff. Think of the quarter staff Little John from Robin Hood carries and you understand what she is bringing on the bus.
Long distance commuting is a way of life for many people at Metro. They are characterized by grabbing a quick bite to eat between classes. Often having only the fifteen minutes between classes to get things done. They have refined scheduling to an art minimizing the amount of time they have to spend on campus. Most of the time Metro is only a small part of their busy lives."

Thanks, Jason, for asking! Hope you get a good grade! ~Jenn

Even the guy who can't think said something!

“A teacher opens the door, but you must enter yourself.” – Chinese Proverb

Who is there? It’s a teacher, and a student. The teacher’s role is to present learning modules structured towards personal enhancement. A seeker should take initiative to explore and embody the module for all it is worth. It is insufficient to merely acknowledge an opportunity; to make it meaningful it is necessary to dive right in.





A cultured person must recognize and seize opportunities for growth. Without growth, the mind becomes at first a fortress and later a dungeon of seclusion. If there is no motivation to pass through a doorway of knowledge, that doorway may as well be a moat of raging lava separating this fortress from the rest of the world.
The world is rich with lessons and stories and passions of many kinds. To turn away from these things is to miss out on life itself.
Life has many doors, leading to rooms of wonder and delight. These rooms often lead to bridges which in turn lead to even more doors. If the doors are open, it may be interesting to explore what lies on the other side. Knock, knock!
~JAS

To Shin Do Black Belt Question

As I compile thoughts and inspiring quotes for elaborating on the last question on the To Shin Do Shodan written test, I realize much of what I'm writing would be of benefit to you lovely lurkers who come here to read about the movement arts and how they shape our world.

Why do you think that you should receive a To Shin Do Shodan black belt?

The center of my answer is that I've earned it. How so? To elaborate, I went to the "Black Belt Quality" section of the Special Testing Procedures handout to see if I could positively, honestly live up to the elements of black belt quality detailed there. I've condensed and answered them below. The image is from my Shodan test in ninpo taijutsu, August 2003.

• I understand the purpose of the technique / can demonstrate knowledge of technique details. ~I can say with confidence that my understanding has been there from day one (probably because of ninpo training), and my knowledge of details is vast. Any details I have missed, I make a point to focus on and refine in training. It helps that I'm not starting from square one.
• I rely on unified body movement / retain control of my balance. ~In the past, when I've observed myself in photos and videos of myself moving, I notice that I tend to get cut off at the waist. The cause of my lack of focus on my lower body is no doubt due to my bad knees. I have seen this improve more and more, until the most recent footage I've seen of my movement has shown centered balance, bent knees, and aligned spine for optimal power.
• I demonstrate mental focus /concentrated fighting spirit. ~Look at the picture in the Nexus post below: that's focus. I practice zanshin consistently. However, I must respectfully disagree with the "no grinning" clause I see on this handout. On the contrary, the joy and laughter I foster when teaching or practicing is an essential facet of warriorship. It's one of my best attributes, and is central to being a ninja. Shoto Tanemura said that the heart of a ninja should be "as peaceful, joyful, and lovely as that of a flower" (Ninpo Secrets). Stephen Hayes said it plainly in the recent Nexus interview: "it's fun; there's a lot of laughter." I'm all about laughter as power.
• I am ever carefully observant of safe and controlled technique practice. ~As a Stage Combat instructor, safety is key. So is doing techniques correctly as far as execution/effect. The balance of these two things makes for a good partner either onstage or on the mats.

To close, here's a verse from an old handout from Shoto Tanemura:

If one holds a sword,

one's spirit should be like a sword,

If one holds a staff,

one's spirit should be like a staff,

If one holds nothing but air then

one's spirit must be as air.

Nexus article

Nexus magazine interviewed Stephen K. Hayes when he was out here last for his seminar at the BQC. It's a great article--read it here. But most importantly to Team Bonzuko's own Jenn's giant actor's ego, the second of two pictures featured in the article! Fierce! Okay, well, she was concentrating. Very hard. What?

Earth Day

When was the last time we at Bonzuko wrote about not driving? Ah yes, it was Bike-to-Work day last summer. Well, today is Earth Day, when folks across America spend a moment to think about what they can do to improve the environment.

The Bonzuko hombu has done a couple things lately to be "greener"--using our wonderful computers and phones to explore non-paper ways of doing school and business. We brew our own beer, which way cuts down on our recycling-of-cans/bottles output.

But the main green thing we do here is something we've done since we met (and Jenn has done all her life): we don't drive, nor do we own a car.

Consider these questions for a moment today on Earth Day: what would your commute be like without your car? Where would you work if you had no car? What time would you have to have left your house today if you weren't driving to your destination? How much gasoline do you think you'll burn today? When was the last time you walked two blocks (a machine inside a gym doesn't really count)? Four blocks? A mile? What would you need to carry with you if you had no car today? How far can you carry five bags of groceries before you drop them? What kinds of errands would you be able to run today if you had no car, and how much time would it take you? How much will you pay in car insurance and parking this month, and what would you do with that money if you had it back?

Thanks to jaeger.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/msandifo.html for the image

SKH at the BQC

What a pleasure it was once again to take a martial arts seminar from Stephen K. Hayes yesterday here in Boulder! The one-day seminar, hosted by the Boulder Quest Center, was a pleasing mix of several different interesting facets of ninja training. I promise I won't blog about the meditation and make it sound ridiculous (those at the seminar will remember his story about that). :) What I will do is give you lovely lurkers the highlights:

• Multiple-people scenarios. So many times in the dojo one works with just one partner. These scenarios (two attackers, one defender; two friends, one bad guy) helped to envision how these effective techniques can work when there's more than two to tango.
• Kevin-san demonstrates his bojutsu prowess (pictured) and is rewarded with promotion to shoden level weapons proficiency.
• Meditation on saying the right words, also changing the ending of a memory in a powerful way. Don't worry, An-shu, that's all I'm saying about it!
• Bonzuko's own Jenn gets to uke for Mr. Hayes himself! It's an honor to be tossed to the floor by a master such as him.
  
• But what stuck out most of all to me was the swordplay. Especially because the theme of using a lethal weapon non-lethally is just what has been recently on the mind and blog-posts of Daily-Cross-Swords. See here. Can you use a sword in defense, without cutting or killing? We learned a couple ways to do so. What timing, as Mr. Hayes said!

All in all, it was a great experience and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Thanks again, Mr. Hayes, for coming out to Boulder! Stay tuned, lovely lurkers, for more pictures as they come in. ~Jenn

Stage Combat to Martial Arts

When one gets to a certain level as a stage-combatant in the SAFD (I think also especially when one is looking to teach), one's stage combat instructors urge one to take a real martial art in tandem with one's continued stage combat training. I assume the reasons for this are something like the following: it's important to know how fights can go down in real time and speed for one to be able to create an effective staged illusion; one should always be in fighting trim; there are many film fights that require a martial-arty style to them and it behooves an actor-combatant to be versed in said style; it's a good idea to know what a real punch/kick/etc. feels like, again so one can create an effective illusion.

I have had a few SAFD-tied friends ask me for advice when they are told to embark on the martial arts journey. They ask me which martial art I'd recommend. I've answered them with the following, and I thought you lovely lurkers would benefit from hearing this question and answer as well.

First of all, I could never tell you what martial art to study. Beginning martial arts training is the start of a lifelong endeavor (or at least it should be), and is perforce a very personal choice. So I'd urge you to take a bunch of introductory free classes, talk to a bunch of teachers, and especially interview students to see what their experience at a school is like. Look to see what the credentials of the teacher are and what the tenure of the students is (do students study for a couple months, get a black belt and leave, or are there people that have been around for years?) and most importantly, listen to your instinct, young Padawan, and see if you dig the vibe.

That's advice for anyone. For actor-combatants in particular, I would add:

Find an art that will ameliorate your training, and challenge you. Find one that will add to your skills, not allow you to continue doing what you're already doing. Find what they call a "hard" martial art.

Why? Because by practicing stage combat, you are constantly going for safety, throwing punches and weapon strikes outside the body, and (we would hope!) never taking a hit full force, or really at all. If you go from this to a soft art like Aikido or T'ai Ch'i, you're just continuing the softness, the avoids, etc. Choose a hard martial art: one that will have you actually landing punches on bags and pads, one that has you defend against free-response attackers so you can experience speed, one that will teach you how to punch and kick (and/or cut, stab, and staff-smack) correctly when the strike is landing. This way, you know what happens in real life (at least, a school's close approximation) and can bring this new knowledge to your creation of illusions of violence. Having said that, make sure nobody's really getting hurt or you're not going to want to study there very long. There's a delicate balance between martial arts safety and combat realism that many schools have mastered, which will help you immensely in your theatrical combat pursuits. Don't take the easy path of just allowing yourself to continue to look cool. Choose something that will improve what you do.

I also personally feel that knowing how to fall and roll is the most important stunt/stage combat skill you can master. If the martial art you choose doesn't include ukemi, find something you can study along with it that does.

Finally, if you didn't get a chance to read this way back whenever I posted it earlier, I hereby assign it to you again: Tony Wolf's excellent article called "Ne'er the Twain," about the "martial arts/performing arts dichotomy." And read this post from August again.

~Jenn Images from the most recent two test nights at the Boulder Quest Center (2009).

l33t Speak

Since I am just as much a language arts geek as a movement arts geek, every so often I'll post something literary or language-arts oriented here on the Bonzuko blog. The other day I was innocently looking up the defninition for a piece of cyber-slang (O how the innocent are slain by Google), and found this article on "leet-speak" on wikipedia. Some of you lurkers may know even more about this, but my knowledge was slim. I found this fascinating from a lingustics standpoint. Enjoy. ~Jenn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leetspeak

All of You Need to Read This

This is Chapter 19 from the book Business and Legal Forms for Theater. It talks about liability and Stage Combat. If any of our IGAGI Award nominees had read this, they wouldn't have made it to our list.

All of you read this: Chapter 19: Stage Combat and Stunts

Yet Another Amazing Toy

OMG, have you lovely lurkers seen the new Nerf N-Force swords??? I want a set of these, really! And they're Nerf, so you know they're made for some serious safe play. Okay, my birthday's in ten days... ~Jenn

Look at Gizmodo's bit on these blades of soft-yet-sturdy fury: N-Force Awesomeness

Ka'plah!

Is there a good reason why a thief would choose a fantasy replica sword to hold up a convenience store? Beyond that, this thief actually got money from not one, but two stores and is still at large. We were just writing earlier that cheap, brittle museum replica swords aren't useful for anything. Well, maybe we were wrong. No, this is wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

~Jenn

Injured Stuntman

It looks like Daniel Radcliffe's stuntman was seriously injured doing a harness-flying stunt. We actor-combatants and aerial dancers here at Bonzuko send good thoughts and best wishes for a full recovery.

Check out this article about the incident; it sounds pretty bad. Apparently he's worried his career as a stuntperson may be over. The article reiterates what we've been writing here about the dangerous art of falling: "...no matter what precautions are taken, performing stunts always carries a risk."

Here's to you, David Holmes. Hope everything gets mended and you'll be up and at em again soon. Jenn can't find a photo of you right now, but here's your impressive imdb filmography: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1088505/

Saturday's Exciting Events

The Boulder Quest Center is hosting two fun martial arts events this coming Saturday: one is for BQC members only, the other is open to all women.

Demo Team Auditions: 3pm. BQC Black Belt club members only, show us your finest demo and see if you make it in to this exciting new group!

Women's Self-Defense: 4-6pm. Free and open to all women, this seminar shows women how to empower themselves and provides a few martial arts tricks to keep up your sleeve.

Image of BQC Demo Team from the most recent test night, 2009. Jenn n Jeff.

Happy New Year!

Here's to a happy and fruitful 2009!!!!

~The Unbeatable Bonzuko Team