Stanislavski's 7 Questions For Actors (and Animators)

Konstantin Stanislavski

The Russian actor and theatre director Konstantin Stanislavski said that an actor should ask seven questions to understand the nature of their character. 

Animators are actors - but with a pencil or a mouse. To make our work believable, we need to ask these same questions, so that our work has authenticity.  Just like actors, we need to get into the heads of our characters, and understand them. 

Start with Your Character - Who Are They?

What does this janitor want? Animation by Rich Jeffery

Start by thinking about your character - who is this person, and what do they want? Animators are actors, which means that we must think hard about our characters wants and desires.

Stanislavski's Seven Questions

The great Russian actor Konstantin Stanislavski suggested that an actor to should ask seven questions to understand the nature of a character.  

"The Method"

Stanislavski is considered the father of the "Stanislavski System", which heavily influenced "The Method", the acting system whereby an actor immerses themselves into the character in order to create a truly believable and convincing performance.  

The Seven Questions that an actor (or animator) should ask themselves:

• Who Am I? (Start with the basics and then fill in the gaps with your imagination)
• Where Am I?
• What Time is It? 
• What Do I Want? 
• Why Do I Want It?
• How Will I Get What I Want? 
• What Must I Overcome to Get What I Want?

Who am I? Where am I? And what do I want?

What do these characters want? Animation by Sunny Asadi

For practical purposes, we can boil this down to three essential questions: Who am I? Where am I? And what do I want? Answer these three questions and you are well on your way to creating a scene that is meaningful and interesting. Remember this basic point: if you don't know what your scene is about - your audience won't either.

Acting and Performance Resources

To see more resources on acting and performance at Escape Studios, follow the links below:

• Acting for Animators with Michael Caine
• How to Animate Eye Darts
• Hold On to Your Character's Eyes
• Why Animated Characters Need to Blink
• Animation Tutorials at Our Vimeo Channel
• Lipsync Tutorial with Marc Stevenson
• Character Animation Tutorials at Our Online Tutorial Channel
• Nine Ways To Create a Great Pose
• How to Animate a Dialogue Shot
• Body Mechanics Tutorial with Amedeo Beretta
• Animate a "Take" with Monty

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