Deconstructing with Della: Hanging out with Kevin Spacey
January 02, 2017
The 2017 blog series will focus on deconstructing communication related events, activities and experiences.
I will be asking people to help me with ideas or share their thoughts on specific topics. The concept is to look at communications scenarios from various perspectives. I want to raise questions, break through conventional thinking and pose alternate approaches.
Deconstructing is such a vital way to learn. It does not always mean being critical, it can be learning from something done well. To kick off the series, I will start with Kevin Spacey and his master class on acting.
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| Photo Source: MasterClass |
No, I am not thinking of a career change. We (Xenia and I at Q Workshops) bought an online set of Spacey's video courses as we expected it might spark ideas for our presentation training workshops and facilitated sessions. We also happen to be fans of House of Cards and other Spacey shows. It is a good deal - 28 courses for $90 and you have them forever.
First part of this deconstruct is to review the video class form of learning. In the past, I have not loved this method. Typically, it involves people lecturing, looking stiff and talking monotone. Spacey is obviously good on camera and the high quality format makes you feel like you are in the room. Wannabe student actors sitting on the floor, each taking turns to trial different approaches to acting parts in plays and movies. Sometimes, it feels quite uncomfortable. One guy tries to explain away his hurried speech on his accent and Spacey yells, "Bullshit!" Spacey says that is no excuse as he knows lots of people with accents who can slow it down. Tough love, but the guy slowed it down and was much better.
It was fascinating to see the improvement in acting style when Spacey added a new element of a mask or got the person to pretend they were doing a household chore while speaking. His coaching style was to whisper to the person a suggested change in the middle of their dialogue. I doubt such an interruption would work in our training sessions. However, we might use the whisper method to get our participants to try a new ending after their mock presentations, "Okay, now try that final point again but this time pretend you are talking to your best friend."
Spacey shows you how changing the emphasis on one word can bring a totally different flavour to a monologue. This is something for us to try when preparing for our stakeholder engagement sessions. Exploring which key words resonate to open the group up to new discussions could be of great value.
As a master of impressions, Spacey was pure entertainment as he switches from Bill Clinton to Johnny Carson with ease. The lesson here came from how he studied famous personalities to perfect his craft. We can all learn from being better observers of others. Spacey would watch Johnny on TV and then go to his live studio show to find the little nuances. For example, Johnny would pivot on his back leg as a way to balance on a sloping stage. Emulating that stance was subtle yet mirrored the man perfectly.
There was more to these Master classes than we wanted or could absorb. There were lesson plans and feedback opportunities. Not hoping to be the next Helen Mirren or Jennifer Lawrence, we did not partake in the full course. However, we felt we got our money's worth from an educational as well entertainment perspective.
We will definitely be signing up for more Master Classes throughout the year. On our list we have Usher on the art of performing and Annie Leibovitz on photography. We are also going to check out Dan Rather on Udemy - 34 lectures, 4 hours and only $19 for lifetime access.
I like this form of learning. You get the lessons when and how you want them. I have been turned off some of the conference speaker circuit due to the blatant self promotion and overly commercial pitches. As much as I love my books, blogs, news and articles as sources of new information these classes seem to have the pizazz of celebrity mixed with quality content.
The classroom of today is so convenient and only a click away.
The classroom of today is so convenient and only a click away.
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