I'm trained in meisner but the emotional preparation isnt working for me so lately ive been trying sense memory and have gotten tears after about four minutes. Anyone who uses sense memory could tell me how much practice it takes to get tears faster? ex: 10-15 seconds or instantly

Nope, sense memory has never worked for me at all. Of course I don't really cry in reel live unless I am totally wrecked (a few times in my adult life), and no amount of sense memory can get me there.

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Originally posted by Victor1:
I'm trained in meisner but the emotional preparation isnt working for me so lately ive been trying sense memory and have gotten tears after about four minutes. Anyone who uses sense memory could tell me how much practice it takes to get tears faster? ex: 10-15 seconds or instantly

In front of people?

Get Lorrie Hull's book "Strasberg's Method." She has some exercises that you can do on your own to practice working on your sense memory.

instead of trying to make yourself cry use your imagination.Create a sad experience where people would be crying.This is a NLP technique you'd think it has nothing to do with acting .It does though

Heres what you do: Get in a meditative state where your relaxed and focused .Go somewhere away from distraction.I find the best time to do this is right before bed. Re-create a scenario in your imagination .Where you would crying feel the sadness .See yourself crying/sobbing/bawling etc .The more real you make the experience in your imagination.The stronger the feeling when its at it's strongest. You'll probably be crying at this point.Pinch the skin between which ever two fingers you want.

Your going to do this two more times do everything the same.Your re living the experience you've created to where the emotion reaches it's peak. Then pinch and repeat one more time. Next time you need to cry whether at a audition or for a scene your doing.Come up wit h a creative way of .Reaching for the area that you pinched.The emotions will come back just as strong as they did the first day you experienced them.

After your done doing the this the first 3x's and you want to see if it works.Just wait a few mintues after your third pinch.Think about something else for a bit then give the pinch.I did this not for acting just to see if it would work.I created a happy experience and i snapped my fingers .This was almost over a year ago even today when im feeling down.I can snap my fingers and a smile immediatly surfaces on my face .The feeling is not as strong as it was but its there .

Let me know what your results are if you do try this .You can also train yourself to look at something .It doesnt always have to be pinch it could be in holding a prop .

What's described is not much different from sense memory. You're trying to create scenarios that you can conjure up again to hopefully produce the same emotions. Actually, I don't see how it's not sense memory. Sense memory is not just using past experiences but also using your imagination to create scenarios that you could possibly use in a later scene. And what is normally done in a class that teaches sense memory is you're in a quiet environment and start in a relaxed almost meditative state as you create like what you do for your thing.

The better use of imagination is using it NOW as you're acting and focusing on the present. Make the environment and the relationship with the other person real. Not much different than when you were a kid and used to pretend to be a soldier and on the battlefield with real guns or a knight slaying dragons. You didn't have to create an "emotional inventory" and use triggers (ie. pinching or snapping) to activate those. NO! You just played and it was real to you.

"didn't have to create an "emotional inventory" and use triggers (ie. pinching or snapping) to activate those. NO! You just played and it was real to you." Thats true when your a kid but most actors are adults theres a reason for the inventory.Or for the anchoring (pinching,snapping) if it were as easy as when you were a kid.When your and Adult then they're would be no acting method.No classes or techniques or teachers it's the process of relearning all that.As you get older your sense of play withers.

Your taught to grow up be mature day dreaming is not something adults do.In a sense it's drilled out of you.Alot of acting comes from psychology ,pyschology is the other side of the coin.Truthteller are you a child? (not a dig just a legit question) .How in touch with your inner child are you ?

I've always had a VERY vivid imagination and I never had to really deal with adults who told me to "grow up" or "don't do this or do that" etc. If I did, I'd ignore them.

Maybe that's why any kind of Strasberg teaching or anything involving sense memory never worked for me.

I also studied with a lot of people who studied with Adler herself. They were always impressed with how quickly and easily I could do all of the imagination exercises. All Adler teaches is using your imagination right away to create and not using emotional inventory/trigger stuff.

yeah,thats what i like about her way of doing things becauses its very true to what acting is .It is about using your imagination and not being attached to the characters .They should be treated like clothes .You put them on when need be but when your done.You take them off lucky you for having that adler experience.

truthteller how far in your career are you acting wise ? You must be pretty well known to have that kind of natural talent

Connecting to your emotional life is a delicate process. Everyone is different with different life experiences, but a general rule of thumb in the craft of acting is not to be concerned with the emotional result. Acting is doing, so if you feel that something is important to you in the scene and authentically pursue it, your emotional life will respond. If you're interested in doing more reading, get Susan Batson's wonderful acting book called "TRUTH". Good luck!

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