Exploring Internal vs. External Tempo-Rhythm: Live-Editing in Screen Acting Training

Daly, Darren

Abstract

Tempo-rhythm, as a component of Stanislavsky’s system, provides stage actors with a valuable technique in establishing character, mood, the scene’s dynamic and overall play. It can provoke emotional and psychological responses both in the actor and the audience. The technique remains valuable for screen actors across television and film but is subject to further considerations specific to the medium. This essay considers Stanislavsky’s understanding of tempo-rhythm and its application within contemporary screen acting. It analyses the practice of exploring Tempo-rhythm in screen based actor training at a UK university to highlight how the organic relationship between inner and outer tempo-rhythms is complicated when applied to screen work. The application of the technique by students working on two scenes from Netflix’s Sex Education (Nunn 2019, 10:30-12:06) and BBC’s The Responder (Schumacher 2022, 11:32-13:00) is examined and further supported by a video of the practice. The juxtaposition of the artefact produced on-screen to student perceptions and experiences of tempo and rhythm on set provides a central methodological approach. The findings highlight two pedagogical approaches for developing the technique with student actors in the screen acting classroom: collaborating on live editing and understanding that the experience of time might be expanded during screen acting.

• Deposit Date: Jul 8, 2025
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Stanislavsky and Screen Actor Training
• Chapter Number: 8
• ISBN: 9781032986081 ; 9781032986098
• Keywords: Stanislavski, Actor Training, Screen Acting, Tempo, Rhythm, Sex Education, The Responder
• Publisher URL: https://www.routledge.com/Stanislavsky-and-Screen-Actor-Training/Stamatiou-Carnicke/p/book/9781032986081
• Contract Date: Oct 21, 2024