Physical Energy =/= Expending Energy

One of the most important things I have learned about acting from performing, from classes, from talking with other theatre professionals, from judging Human Video competitions, is that expending physical energy is not the same as having physical energy.

In fact, most of the time, expending energy in thrashing or bouncing around, and fighting is actually antithetical to having physical energy. This idea might seem a little confusing at first, but if we look to physical science, we can easily see how it applies to acting (especially in a Human Video).

Here is a child's science experiment I found through Google that describes the difference between "kinetic" and "potential" energy:

This Week's Experiment - #216 Pendulum Perils

This week's experiment requires a lot of faith in the laws of science. When it is done at science centers, it usually involves a bowling ball rushing towards your face, but we will use a less dramatic version. You will need:

string
an apple that still has the stem on it
a high place to tie the string. I used a shower curtain rod.

Tie the string to the stem of the apple. You can use something besides an apple, as long as it is round and easy to tie the string to. If you use something that is not round, it may smack you in the nose, so I suggest looking for an apple.

Tie the other end of the string to the rod that holds your shower curtain. You want to measure the string so that if you sit in the bathtub, facing towards the curtain rod (sideways in the tub), you can pull the apple over so that it touches your forehead.

That is exactly what you are going to do. Lean your head back against the wall, so that it does not move forward or backwards. Pull the apple towards you until it touches your forehead. Now comes the part where you have to trust me. Release the apple, letting it swing away from you. That wasn't so bad, now was it. But wait! Now it is swinging back towards you! Will it smack you in the face?

No, as long as you do not move your head, the apple will not hit you. Why not? As the apple moves away from you, it is picking up speed. It is converting potential energy, from its height, into kinetic energy, the energy of motion. Once it passes the lowest point, the opposite begins to happen. It is now moving against gravity, and some of its kinetic energy is converted into potential energy. Once all of the kinetic energy has been converted, it stops and starts to move downwards again.

In a perfect system, this would keep happening over and over, with no energy lost. In reality, there is resistance from the air, friction with the string, all sorts of things to drain away some of the energy. This means that each swing will not go quite as high as the one before it. Because we know that our apple on a string system is not perfectly frictionless, we know that the apple will not make it back up high enough to hit your face. Just be sure not to move, and use a small apple, just in case.

When the apple is moving through real time and space, it is expending it's energy; it is using up any potential energy it has. The problem with that is that as the energy is used up, the store is burned through. When there is only so much of the energy, there is less and less of it after each swing. When this energy is "drained away" there is nothing left, and "each swing will not go quite as high as the one before it."

It is the same way in acting, especially in a Human Video.

In a perfect world, without friction, you could expend as much energy as possible and it would all still have an effect on your audience. The problem is, we don't live in a perfect frictionless environment. When you keep "swinging" you loose what potential energy you have built up.

The key then, rather than expending a lot of energy is wasted gestures and fighting, in thrashing around wildly, in bouncing needlessly, is to conserve your energy.

What I mean by this is not "don't expend any energy" but rather I mean conserve it. Use it in the most important places. Take a good look at your storyline. What is the "Central Question" of your story? What is the most important idea? Use your physical energy to emphasize that point.

Neither does this "conservation" mean that you should have "dead spots" in your physical action. During the interim, between your important points, think of ways to build up potential energy. This can be done in a variety of ways:

Re-emphasize the Central Question/Idea
Make the conflict more urgent
*Almost* expend the energy and then pull back from doing it

These are just a few examples.

Try it out and see how much more effective the "physical energy" is in your Human Video.

Human Video
Human Video