The Most Powerful Secrets To Develop As an Actor —
Benneth Nwankwo
As an actor, one of the most powerful secrets you can develop is to understand the other departments of film production.
Many actors in Nigeria believe their job ends with learning their lines, coming to set and doing what the director says.
That is the basic requirement.
If you want to be the actor producers call again and again, you need to see the set the way a filmmaker sees it.
Look at the Nigerian actors who have grown beyond acting.
Funke Akindele directs her own blockbusters, and Toyin Abraham directed Oversabi Aunty, which crossed ₦1B.
Ramsey Nouah directed Living in Bondage: Breaking Free, and Genevieve Nnaji directed Lionheart.
None of them started with that knowledge.
They learnt it from years on set, and it made them better at everything they do.
When you understand how a director thinks, you act with more awareness of blocking, camera movement, and emotional beats.
You stop wondering why you were asked to stand by the window, because you can see that the shot needs your face in profile and the light is coming from that side.
You also understand why a pause matters, because a pause is not wasted time.
It is where the audience feels what your character is feeling.
You begin to follow the rhythm of the whole scene instead of only waiting for your own lines.
Then there is editing, and this is where many actors lose points without knowing.
An actor who understands editing performs with the mind of an editor.
On set, it feels like a moment that belongs only to you, but you are really working for the final cut.
You know the audience will not see every movement or gesture you make, so you become intentional with your expressions, your timing, and the way you deliver a line.
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You waste nothing.
You also become careful about continuity, which is the part that gives editors headaches.
Remember the hand you used to pick up the cup in the previous take.
Remember the exact word where you turned your head, and the exact beat when you sat down.
In our industry, where shoots are fast and the budget is tight, a small slip like this can cost a lot, because the editor has to cover it, cut around it, or live with it.
A careful actor saves everyone from that trouble.
Cinematography is another area worth learning.
Once you understand framing, angles, and light, you stop fighting the camera and start working with it.
You know when to open yourself up to the lens, and when to stay still so that a quiet look can carry the whole scene.
A close up forgives nothing, so the way you hold your face in it matters, and an actor who understands this uses it for effect.
Lighting is the part most people ignore.
When you understand it, you see why you must hit your mark and why some positions are important.
In Nigeria, we often work with limited equipment and little time, so the light is carefully placed, and a few steps in the wrong direction can take you out of it.
Without knowing, you step out of your light and the gaffer has to start again.
An actor who understands this stays in position, and still gives a natural performance.
You do not need to enrol in film school to learn any of this.
Watch the monitor when the director allows it, and ask the cinematographer why a shot is framed that way.
Sit with an editor for an hour and watch how a scene is cut, and ask what slowed it down.
Shoot your own monologues with a phone and edit them with a simple app like CapCut, and you will soon notice what works and what does not.
There are free tutorials on YouTube, and every set you work on is a free class if you pay attention.
All this extra knowledge makes you more valuable.
You give the director, the editor, and the cinematographer less to fix and more to build on, and that is the type of actor every filmmaker wants to work with again.
