Location: London, United Kingdom.

So the next challenge – acting in front of a camera. The fear and tension I feel in front of the camera is tremble causing wobble making proportions. I have rolls of film with me doing crazy challenges but with my vlogging (video diary) entries beginning in the near future I realised this was a challenge…possibly the toughest I had to complete. Put me in front of hundreds of delegates to do a presentation…easy – I’m a laid back & super confident guy…put a camera in my face…I turn into jelly.

I booked my first class and wowsers what a blowout – In my mind I was immersed in my role but when played back on screen what was in my mind did not transfer to my body or face….Crrriinnge!!! Tense, rushed and breathing so shallow I should have fainted with  such lack of oxygen. Maybe a bit too hard on myself as the rest of the class had more experience. I was definitely too aware of the other students!

Letting myself go and relaxing in front of the camera is a Relentless Challenge to savour once I successfully complete it.

Mindset engaged.

Week 2

So could week 2 be a better experience…read on:

Can one immerse themselves into another person’s life experience. This was my task for my screen acting class part 2.

I was given the part of Will from the movie Good Will Hunting played by the movie star Matt Damon. The scene was was the emotionally charged duologue between Will and his psychologist. **Movie Spoiler** – he was abused by a step father and i had to portray that on screen.

After my blowout crash n burn from my 1st session – my first thought was why was I given this dark emotional role. Then my Relentless brain kicked in – I can OWN this.

I took the lines and broke it down, even watched the scene from the movie which didn’t help too much. I had to empathise with Will character and feel his pain and misfortune  from being physically hit by his step dad. Very difficult as I could not personally relate from my idyllic childhood and amazing parents.

I set myself as a nonchalant 20 something into a fragile and vulnerable kid who got hit up by a step dad…I was there in that moment.

At the end of my performance I was awoken from my character state by the applause from my classmates. For what seemed an eternity but was in fact only 3 minutes – I went to some other place and transcended into my character. Fuck – I can do this when i watched myself back…no cringing this time around!!

I still have a long way to go but 2 lessons in…I’m starting to love the camera.

Relentless Challenge – Relentless Life