Coming to a Wrap

Today we will begin the final day of filming for Cull. After what seems like a lifetime of being on the set (only 3 weeks really), we will finally be able to move on to the Editing process. As is the case for all productions, it is a bittersweet feeling. While I will be happy to return to my normal life, see my friends (whom I've neglected so much!), and start working once again, I will sorely miss these days of being on set. After having the chance to work on a movie of this caliber, I can say with a certainty that this is what I want to do with my life! Though I fear the strain that this lifestyle will put on my friends, family, and loved ones, I hope and pray that they will stick by me, and accept this as a part of me. I don't think I ever fully realized what a life in movies really entailed; the amount of time spent away, the work, sweat, and tears, and not to mention the long hours. But I don't think I can give it up.

I can live my dream.
I will live my dream.

When Dreams Come True

It's an amazing thing when you realize that your Dreams are beginning to come true. This month has brought it's own wonderful surprise. I am currently working on a film Cull, not only as an actor, but as the Assistant Director! No, I'm not starring in this one, but I do have a couple scenes and a few lines, and I'm AD! I never realized quite how awesome that could be! Thanks once again to Don Baldwin, Director of Master's Class, for giving me the opportunity to move forward with my life dream and goal!

The Movie is a dark comedy about 2 female serial killers, Victoria and Claudette. I play Jack, one of Victoria's coworkers at the post office. This has been quite a process. I've taken 3 weeks off work from Eden Alley to completely dedicate my time to the Movie. We have completed one week of filming, and have two more to go. The fun really is just starting. We have a wonderful cast and crew who work really well together, and we have incredible talent! Susan Traylor is playing Victoria, and Alex Farnham is playing Dell, Claudette's Love interest.

I'm so happy right now because this is happening. Even with all the stress and last minute changes, I'm doing whtat I love, and that is all that matters. I will keep everyone updated on the process, but no promises as to when because I am strapped for time!

Paragon Movie Premiere!

Finally the Premier of Paragon is coming to a Theater near...Kansas City! Anyone is welcome to come, tickets are $7, and procedes go to support Independent Film making. For more details please visit: Paragon Movie Premiere Facebook Page

Life!

Well things are still moving along. I am now helping as a stage hand for Evil Dead the musical being done by Padgett Productions at Union Station. I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into when Fran asked if I could fill in for a couple of nights, but I have now agreed to help with the run of the show. I also got to help finish building set and figuring out really awesome effects (this ended up being multiple nights of working till 6am)! It's a great show and I suggest everyone come see it! The cast and crew worked really hard to get it up and running, and the highlight so far has been oversold audiences and the attendance of Tech N9ne; who I helped get seats, talked to, and didn't even recognize until later!

I have also been hanging out with the cast of "The Truth About Why", which is the film I'm doing. After re-editing the script, we now have a feature length film as opposed to the original 40 min short! I can't wait to actually get to start filming! We've had a couple of recasting issues, but I think it's all going to be just fine. In correspondence to this, I also attended the KC IFC (Independent Filmmaker's Coalition) meeting last night, and I think I'll start going on a regular basis.

Started Classes!

Last night I returned to the CAS classroom to once again start taking classes! It was Commercial night! I had to do 2 Burger King commercials, and let me tell you, they’re harder than you think. One was a simple one liner, and it’s hard to not be robotic for a simple one line pitch. I came to the realization that I’m really good at doing something, and then doing the exact same thing over and over again. It’s not really a bad thing, but it can be hard when you’re expected to make each shoot a little different, and then on top of it all, to not think about it and just do it. One way or the other, it felt good to get back into the classroom again.

Oh, and before I forget, so you can see the new look, here’s head shot of the new do!

(no I wasn't supposed to smile, it was for a Modeling Gig!)

One thing that really stuck with me from last night was from the gift one of the other students gave to our teacher Brian Cutler. Apparently one of Brian’s favorite sayings is a quote from Laurence Olivier said to Dustin Hoffman (and apparently, after a Google search, from a lot of other people to other actors too!):

“Don’t act. Just be.”

Acting Needs: Training

Last night I attended my very first Film Acting class! Thanks to Bailee and KCStage I found a great little training studio just up the street from where I live. It’s Brian Cutler’s Commercial Actors Studio, and the main instructor is none other than Brian Cutler. The class set-up is done so that all the levels are in the same class together, just working on varying degrees of difficulty. Every time you take the class, you move up to more difficult levels, and new students join in and get to learn not only from the instructors, but from the more experienced students as well. Last night was the first night of a 4 week On-Camera Class, and we started with Commercials. So the two other new students and myself got to watch the dozen other actors perform what they had been working on (oh, almost forgot, they film it all with lights and sound so you get a feel for the camera), and then received a little extra instruction about marks, slating, and things to keep in mind before we did our own one-line commercial. We were then given notes, and got to try a couple more times. Before the night was over everyone had a couple more commercials to shoot, and us first timers had some larger ones, and a partner one as well. After everyone presented what they had been working on, we then got to watch and critique all the shoots we just did. During all of this Brian and Jill (who was running the camera) were giving constant feedback, and would take the time to talk about auditions and agents, even what to and not to wear to a Film audition (guess what color is most suggested to wear…blue! Blah!). The great part was the other people in the class, everyone is very welcoming, supportive and encouraging.
I realized that I have a lot to learn. While yes my experience in theatre will help me, I've always been winging it when it comes to camera work. There are some very little things that I could do to be better. For example, I need to work on keeping the action and energy of a scene going until the director says cut. I usually would freeze when the scripted action was done, I did this because I didn't know what else to do. What I was doing was making the directors job more difficult by giving them less to work with. The second major thing is that I keep shifting my eyes away from the camera. I've become so used to being told not to look at cameras (photo, not video) that I've adapted it to film as well.
Next weeks class will be cold reading of scripts! The format will be very similar to the commercial class, I can't wait!