Tempo - Rhythm

Stanislavsky also thought a lot of how tempo - rhythm fits into the making of a scene or play, becoming an important part of his process. He decided that each scene has a pace, this is the overall speed that it moves at and this is a stays constant until the scene changes. There is then the second factor of the tempo that each character has. This can be along the same lines as the pace of the scene as these two things influence each other and therefore if the majority of characters have a very slow and mellow tempo then the pace will be very slow and mellow. However, there is the opportunity for characters to have a tempo that goes against the pace of the scene, creating a conflict that in turn creates drama and an interesting dynamic. Stanislavsky was also a large fan of sound effects and how these could be used within scene to create an atmosphere and the pace. Things like a simple ticking clock create an overall pace that the characters can work to or against. The tempo-rhythm is also linked to the objectives of the character, this was discovered through and exercise we did in class. The exercise showed that as the stakes of your objective get higher, your tempo increases as you have more to lose. This makes the scene become more intense and dramatic.