The Best Way to Analyse a Scene (You won’t BELIEVE it)

Scene analysis is tough. Understanding the words of a scene is easy, but working out what’s happening dramatically – under the surface is tough. Most actors won’t admit it but scenes scare the shit out of them. They could improvise a break up scene, but when they have to use someone else’s words, it gets significantly tougher because we don’t share the intention behind the words, and we’re left paddling around in the 7% of human communication that is verbal, instead of totally inhabiting it.

We have analysed a lot of scenes. Thousands. For ourselves, for colleagues, for clients and with thousands of students. we do so many analyses these days that we often don’t think about what we’re doing when we’re doing it. It’s become unconscious.

The trouble with that is that it can make teaching it difficult. The more unconscious the process, the more ‘magic’ it feels. And it isn’t easy to teach magic.

Recently we stumbled upon a secret that you won’t really believe, but we assure you that comes out of watching hundreds of clients struggle.

The best way to analyse a scene, is not to read it too much.  When we read a scene a lot, we get lost in the words. We start to imagine the significance and symbolisation of the words, and we become distracted from what’s really going on. Our minds hang on to the unintentional, becoming fascinated by references with personal connect, and not the dramatic underpinning of the scene.

So, don’t read the scene too much. People reading the scene a lot were second guessing themselves. People reading the scene a lot were getting it wrong. So don’t read the scene too much.

To be honest, this time last year, if someone would say that, we’d be ready to give them an ear-bashing. But it works.

So, this is what we do now:

Read the first line or lines of the first beat of the scene to establish the beginning point. Then read the last lines of the beat. Then get curious. Ask yourself ‘so what do I need to know.’

For instance. The first line of the beat is RAY: Can I borrow a tenner.  The last line of the scene is RAY: I know I could count on you buddy.  Okay. So we go from needing a tenner to maybe getting it. What am I missing? What do I need to know?

I need to know how we from needing the money to praising the person (potentially for giving them the money).

Now scan the beat only looking for where the writer has told us how we get from A to B. Don’t get caught up in details, only look for where you can learn about that journey.

When you understand how the journey is made you understand the dramatic journey of the scene’s beat. Now you can ask more specific scene analysis questions.

If this story is about borrowing money on the surface… what’s it about underneath? What’s the basic human conflict at the heart of the scene?

You could even go back to reading the script a little more if that helped, but really, try to read a scene as few times as possible.

From there we can ask more specific questions still. What are they doing in the scene? Why are they doing it? What’s stopping them and what do they do to overcome that? Why not? What if they don’t?

But the secret is to read it as few times as possible.