Working in commercial film

I'm working with one of the lead actors for an upcoming commercial. Trying to get a stage actor with no film experience more comfortable in front of the camera. My view is that if you involve yourself with your character emotionally and you are so absorbed with that, it becomes much less nerve wracking. While waiting for the shoot, occupy your time with positive self talk, deep breathing, relaxation exercises and concentration on learning your lines. Follow that up by practicing your emotion range and testing how it feels. Make the emotion show on your face and body. Try making it larger than normal then tone it down and learn to make your feelings come to the surface subtly. Work on your emotional range and what your character must do to control feelings as the story develops and finally just interact and REACT to other actors. Remember, even in a commercial, it's all about personal relationships and how we feel about the situation we are involved in. Know what emotion you're supposed to be feeling and play that until something happens to change the emotion. Make your character interesting so that you are an empathetic character or fascinating one to watch. Fully commit to all actions and stay inside his/her head to the exclusion of all else. Don't try to act: try to live in the moment.