MEMORIZING LINES

Some say to read them a thousand times over, play them on a recorder
in your sleep, or stay up all night reading them.
Nope.  Not the most efficient.

First, you have to visualize the film.  Read the script slowly, picturing what it may
look like on camera or in real life.  See it.  Feel it.  Live it.  Don't try to memorize
anything yet.  Now read it over a couple more times the same way.
Now that you've seen it in your head, put the script down and tell the story.
Don't worry about the words, just know and tell the story.
Example.  You're standing on a street corner, you witness an automobile accident.
You go home and say, "Honey, you should have seen it!  The light changed,
this blue car goes blazing through the red light, slams into the red car, the red
car spins around, the blue car rolls three times before slamming into a light post,
the ambulance showed up"...you get the picture.  You saw it.  It's in your head.
You can tell the story.

Now back to the script.  You've seen it, told the story in your own words, now go
back, read the script again, and revisit the words the writer used to tell the story.

How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.
Piece by piece, line by line, work on memorizing those lines in short spurts.
And...know your scene partner's lines.  They will help you to remember yours.
You are responding to your scene partner, so listen as you would listen in real life.
Well, as you would listen to someone you really want to listen to, that is.
That way you can hear them saying those things that will help you to know
how to respond to them, or basically, clues to your cues.

One thing that helps me, after doing my homework and learning the lines, is to use
one of those little pocket digital recorders to record the other character's lines, leaving
enough time between them to properly say mine.  That way, you can pop the recorder
in your pocket, plug in your earbuds, and have the conversation anywhere, any time,
and your little scene partner is right there playing the scene with you.  It's great practice,
and after a while, responding with your lines becomes completely natural.

Do it now...

Don't wait until you have an audition to go to before you start working on
memorizing lines.  Find scenes online, and start working on them on your own.
Like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get at it.  Pick a new short
one or two minute scene every day or two, and work it like it's a big audition piece.
When the real thing comes along, you'll nail it!