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!

Current Acting Project: Paragon

Well, I have to remember to get my full acting resume up here somewhere. I'd like it to be a permanent feature, if anyone knows how to do that, I'd appreciate the help. So for now I'm just going to tell you about my current acting. A few months ago I auditioned for a role in an Independent film being shot here in KC called Paragon (check out the Blog):

"PARAGON tells the story of Augustus Carr, a vigilante by night, as he seeks to stop a drug dealing madman known as "H" from completing a series of ritualistic murders that could bring about the end of civilization. Aiding Augustus in his search are his friends Corliss Erman (a homeless man who is immune to disease) and Erica Grant, an investigative reporter for the Kansas City Clarion."

It is being directed by Scott Kessler with Insert Creative Name Here Productions. This was my first movie audition ever, I was nervous as heck. I really didn't know what to expect, and afterwards I expected to be offered a role as an extra. Well I did a little better than that. I was offered the role of the Janitor. I would have 1 scene and about 4 lines. My reaction "I Have Lines!!!!", needles to say I was stoked.

Then last Sunday they were shooting a couple of scenes at a bar, and I had my godson for the weekend, so I figured I'd take him out to the shoot and let him see what goes on behind scenes, and maybe we could be extras! Apparently the Actor playing Stivviq (the bouncer of the bar) had not shown up, and no one had heard from him for a few weeks. Well Scott and our Fight Choreographer Terry were trying to figure out the fight scenes scheduled for the day, and who could take what hits/kicks/throws. It was here that I leaned over to Terry and offered my help, I let him know that I have fight choreography experience, and could take a hit if needed. That sealed it, I was then moved up to the role of Stivviq! A larger roll, just like that! That day we proceeded to shoot the fights which involved me charging the main character, Paragon (played by Steve Williams), and being picked up and Jack Knifed into the floor! Totally Awesome! Steve being the kind soul that he is insisted we use the thicker mats, I wasn't really concerned, but after doing the throw about 20 times in a row I was thankful. I was even happier the next day when I woke up and wasn't sore at all! Thanks Cliff and Elayna for all the fight training at Festival!