DRMA 121 – Fall, 2011
Dawson’s Handy Guidelines for Scene Analysis or Scoring
When performing a piece of music a musician first reads from a musical score and learns the notes, the pauses, the rhythms and other qualities that the performed music is to have. Similarly, an actor works from a script. The difference is that a script is tremendously underdetermined. That is, scripts do not give all the information an actor needs to know. The words are there, but the playwright gives very little indication as to the tempo, the rhythm, the style, etc. This is why actors must score their scripts.
Before we begin this process it needs to be emphasized that in scoring a script an actor is not trying to get the scene ‘right;’ this is not puzzle solving and the actor should not believe that she must slavishly perform the scoring that she has prepared prior to rehearsal. In performance, being alive to the moment is paramount, and this means that the actor must be flexible and able to respond authentically to what is happening on the stage. Still, it is important to have some idea as to how the scene works – to give ourselves guidelines – and this is why we score scenes.
When scoring a scene or play it is important to first orient yourself to the overall work, so before you begin breaking down your scene you should read the play through first. After you have read the play you should know the basics: who wrote it and when, what are the main dramatic actions and themes, what is the genre. Once these basics are understood you are in a position to understand your scene as it fits into the larger work. Reading the scene through another time is a good idea – just to make sure you understand it.
Now you are ready to score your scene. Your first task is to
Identify your character’s initial OBJECTIVE
Figure out what your character wants at the beginning of the scene. Write this at the top of the page. If your scene has more than one page, write the objective at the top of each page. ‘Gerald wants to ______.’ Write it in the third person, but remember that as an actor you will want to think of objectives in the first person. ‘I want to ______.’
Because objectives are pivotal to what you do on stage as an actor, take time to make sure that your objective is clear and strong. Good objectives have a few common characteristics:
Objectives are intense, immediate desires. Don’t be abstract or philosophical, even if you think your character is. To be effective on stage, objectives must be concrete and present. ‘My character wants to be thought of as a good person’ is a weak objective because it doesn’t imply immediate need. ‘I want to impress her’ is much better because it is immediate and implies a need for action.
Always write your objective as an active, infinitive verb. Doing this will give your character – and you – something to do. An actor who says ‘My character wants someone to love’ hasn’t given herself an action to play. The character could be hanging out, despondent, forlorn, inactive and boring. That’s not what we want to see on the stage. An actor who rather says ‘I want to find someone to love’ has activity on stage. Looking, searching, finding. By making the objective an active verb the actor has given herself a character that will be fun to play and interesting to watch.
Objectives are always positive from the character’s point of view. This allows you to play the scene without thinking poorly of your character. ‘My character wants to be a jerk to him’ is not a good objective because it puts the character in a negative light. (It’s also a passive verb, which is a no-no.) ‘I want to get him to leave me alone’ is better because it is positive and implies action.
Objectives are not small actions or activities. Don’t mistake small actions for objectives. If your character is trying to get a pencil, there is probably some reason for this. The objective is not to get the pencil, getting the pencil will help your character do something more important to them. A rule of thumb is to ask ‘what for?’ What does your character want to do this thing for? In this instance the character may want the pencil in order to fill out a job application. The real objective here is to get a job, not a pencil.
Identify the OBSTACLE
In order for drama to take place, there has to be some reason that your character cannot readily get what s/he wants. Identify this and write it at the top of the page, just beneath the objective. Again, if there is more than one page, write it at the top of each page. ‘Obstacle:_____.’ Remember that this is written from your character’s point of view – this is the thing your character is struggling to overcome.
Identify your character’s first TACTIC
People pursue their objectives – try to overcome their obstacles – in some way. These are called tactics – the things a character does to achieve her/his objective. Identify this first tactic and write it just beneath the objective and obstacle. This should be written with an active infinitive verb: ‘to question, to stab, to insult.’ Now you are ready to start the scene: you know what you want, what’s getting in the way, and what you are doing about it. You can now be an active actor on the stage.
Mark BEAT CHANGES
Of course, things will change. As they change you will need to try different tactics, and you want to mark these places in your script. Usually this happens when character perceives that a tactic isn’t working – for whatever reason – and s/he changes tactics. Sometimes the circumstances of the scene change for another reason that forces a change in tactic. Either way, your character has shifted tactics, so this moment is called a beat change.
At every beat change in the scene you should make a horizontal line in the margin. This is an art, not a science, and actors will differ on how beats in a scene should be broken down. That’s okay – consistency is overrated. However, there are a few pitfalls to avoid. Too many beat changes (marked for frivolous and inconsequential changes in the script) will render the scene unplayable. Too few beat changes will render the scene boring. Use your aesthetic judgment.
Note that your beat changes reflect your character’s tactical changes in the scene. You should only mark another character’s tactical changes if you believe 1, that your character notices this in the scene and, 2, your character responds to this change. It is inevitable that different characters will have different beat breakdowns for the same scene. As in life, we interpret things differently, and if each actor has done this work conscientiously then the misunderstandings and miscommunications in the scene (great fuel for conflict and drama) will be obvious.
Explain the beat change
Above the beat change line you should write a few words that explain why you think the beat change occurs there. A few words should suffice. “I see that she’s crying.”
Identify your character’s tactic in the new beat
Remember, a tactic is something a character does to try to achieve her objective. Tactics are always active and are indicated by simple infinitives (“to shame, to bribe, to convince,” etc.). Write the new tactic below the beat change line.
Identify changes in objective
Occasionally your character will get what s/he wants. Unless this is the end of the play, it means that your character will immediately move on to a new objective. When this happens, write a line through the text at the moment this change occurs and identify the new objective, the new obstacle, and the new tactic. Be sure that you are not mistaking a smaller change for a change in objective. If a character is denied sugar cookies and then asks for chocolate chip cookies, this is not a change in objective.
Once you have identified your character’s initial objective, obstacle, and tactic; identified and explained the Beat Changes; and identified your character’s different Tactics, you have completed a basic scene scoring. This is an essential step in preparing a scene for presentation, and it makes you ready to enter rehearsal. Know that in the context of rehearsal your scoring would inevitably change, as you incorporate other people’s ideas about beat changes and tactics and as you incorporate more sophisticated scoring elements such as rhythm, pace, style, etc.