Student Dance Works at Cedar Crest

Last night I went back up to Cedar Crest to see their evening of student dance works. Pieces choreographed and designed by the students were the schedule of the evening, and I got to see a lot of my friends from Spitfire and Big Love. The evening was eight different dance pieces, some of them good and some of them absolutely amazing. There was one performance that clearly took an idea from out production of Big Love, and it featured all the girls dancing with long pieces of white scarves. But really, the part that impressed me the most was watching these girls do what they are really trained to do. Seeing dancers work on musical theatre is one thing, but seeing them "dance" and do what they are trained to do is something else entirely. I was very impressed with what the girls could do last night.

filming "Across the Border" (a long overdue entry)

Several weeks ago, I went into Philly on a Sunday afternoon to shoot a scene for "Across the Border." I previously discussed meeting with the director to discuss the script prior to the filming (see entry On Directors), and I wrote an entry about the experience but did not have the opportunity to post it. This, then, is that entry from weeks ago:

Spending the day working on "Across the Border" was a fantastic experience. It has been a long, long time since I had the chance to spend an entire day working on a film. We started around 1pm, wrapped around 10pm, and it was a great day. I knew Jenn and Jere slightly from my work on Paper Cuts, and I didn't know my scene partner Nikiya at all. Needless to say, as soon as Nikiya and I said hello to each other, we started filming the "morning after" scene, when we wake up in bed together. There is no better way to get to know a woman than to be semi-naked in bed with her ten minutes after you meet. We also had the cat jumping into bed, cuddling between our legs because we looked so comfortable. We actually did a complete take of the scene without moving the cat from between us. As always, that's something to mention on the DVD commentary tracks.

We working steadily through the script, and it was a lot of fun to only be an actor on the project. Nikiya and I had plenty of chances to go over our scripts and talk through the lines as Jenn and Jere spent the time on the setups and the lighting changes. Unlike recent projects, there has been no time limit on the shoot, which eliminates the need to feel so "rushed." We took a few coffee breaks during the shoot, ordered pizza, worked to some great music, and had a really good experience.

This is a picture of me as Juno and Nikiya as Kate in Jenn Wexler's "Across the Border." I had a great time working with Nikiya. She was always professional as an actress, and she had a great sense of timing and humor. We were dedicated to making the movie look as good as it could, and we had a great time doing it. Everything was always professional with her, and it was lots of fun as well. It's rare and refreshing to see both those qualities come together. Jenn and Jere were the same as well, treating the entire production with a relaxed but professional attitude. Extra care was taken to make sure things were perfect, and even the acting moments were given the time and attention that they required. And Jere was the one responsible for most of the excellent musical choices throughout the day.

More than anything, the day just reaffirmed my chosen profession. At my current level, the pay for this industry is crap, and it's really a challenge to find any job that would pay a living wage. In addition, not being on the West Coast (i.e. in Los Angeles) limits the projects that I could do, even on a bigger scale. Simply put, JJ Abrams is not going to look in East Norriton, Pennsylvania when he's looking for his Captain Kirk. I know I can do this job. I have the talent, I can handle the long days, and nothing else gets me as fired up or excited as this does. I need to start being more aggressive with my career, and take more risks to get those things that I really want from my life.

Paper Cuts - Ep. 6

Yesterday began with another early morning train ride into Philly to film most of my scenes for the new episode of "Paper Cuts." This shooting day was a little harder and a little more frustrating than shoots have been in the past. I was challenged right off the bat by a "re-write" that was discussed at the read-through two weeks ago, one that I was never given. So I had to learn a song that I was supposed to sing in a matter of seconds, since our schedule was running a little behind. And then after rushing through the first scene, it was a long wait until the next set-up was complete so we could move on. And then the next few scenes were done with a rush on them, and it became a very technical morning for me, moving from mark to mark and saying my lines. Next Tuesday I finish my scenes for Episode 6, and then the next script is the season finale. We're not sure if the show is going to continue next year, and I'm told the season finale will wrap up some plotlines and yet also leave the door open for someone to revive the show at a later date. It's been a good run, no matter what happens, and the experience has been very rewarding. It's been the most on-camera work that I've done lately, and I have really enjoyed watching the character develop over time. One more episode of fun, and then it's off to other things.

Feels good to be in the saddle again

After spending several days filming over the last week, and knowing I have two solid mornings on Paper Cuts coming up as well, I sat down in a Borders Books and Music store to start writing a short film that we want to enter into an upcoming competition. It's been a long time since I formatted the script page, but the first few pages came very quickly as I worked on my coffee-flavored beverage. I'm meeting with Rob again tomorrow afternoon to go over the idea itself, and hopefully we can crank out a script next week for our story. The contest deadline is in early May, so we should be writing this soon, so we have time to find a cast, set a schedule, and then edit the movie together. I think it's a pretty good idea, so I'm excited to keep this script moving forward.

Starting tablework

At our first rehearsal for "The Mercy Seat," we worked slowly and carefully through the first twenty pages of the script. We started by discussing the script, trying to figure out the "moment before." When it comes to dramatic scripts like this, it's always important for both actors to know what happened before the plan begins. The show opens with my character sitting on the couch in the apartment, and then my lover enters the room. So we spent time talking about what had happened just before, what we had spent the whole day and night before doing, and what happened just before she left the room. Little details like that are hardly ever things that are mentioned onstage, but they help the actors create a more real environment in which they perform.

After that discussion, we went through the text looking for beat changes and moments of importance. By going through it slowly, we could really take the time to pull the lines apart and try to figure out what is going on. A few days ago, I was a little scared that this role might be a little out of my reach. Looking at the moments slowly, it all breaks out and becomes much... simpler, for lack of a better word... and I realize that I can make the choices on a line-by-line basis. So the role as a whole seems much more managable to me now.

Wonder if Spielberg started this way...

When I was in high school and college, I made some independent short films with friends. They went on to study film in college and make their own independent movies, and I've now included a link to their company on my blog. So you can check out their work at the link for Digital Reality Films. Last week, I went by their place after an audition to work with them on a few of their commercials for an online video contest. It was just like old times working with them. We shot three or four commercials for Heinz Ketchup, which are now posted on YouTube. One of the best ones can be seen at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO1gstRJeTY&feature=user.

Their company is well into post-production on their most recent project, the horror film "Preservation." They shot it last summer, and they were showing us the rough cut of the film before we started shooting. Through the course of the night, we also discussed some other projects that we wanted to produce, and I would like nothing more than to sink my teeth into some short films. I have all this free time, I might as well try to make something with it.

On directors

Recently, I filmed a short scene for a friend's senior project at UArts. And while a full entry about the day of filming has been written for a while and not published, it is because I first wanted to talk about the experience of an actor working with a director. Sometimes, the experience is one where the director and the actor piggyback off of each other and work in such harmony that they can complete ideas and thoughts from the other. These cases have been few and far between for me, notable exceptions being the times I've worked with Tim Brown at Cedar Crest College. Usually, the experience is an overall neutral one, in which both artists get along with each other reasonably well, but nothing dramatic comes of it. Other times, the relationship is rocky and fraught with danger. Good thing this next picture is only a "demonstration" of an actor giving in to his full on rage.

In meeting with the director to discuss her scene, it also brought to mind one of the principle duties of the actor that I'd like to reflect on. We went through the short four-page script several times, including a couple of times going line by line. She wanted to hear thoughts, approaches to the material, and basically "performances" of the lines so she could tell me which ones she liked the best. Like many other good directors I've worked with, she had an idea that she conveyed by expressing emotions and qualities that she wanted me to exhibit. Facing such instruction, I needed to make notes in my script that I could act in the scene. When she gave me an instruction to be more harsh with a line, I decided that the line would be delivered as the end to the conversation. When I gave her my reading, it was exactly what she was looking for. It is, ultimately, the actor's job to translate the ideas of the actor and the director into something that will register onstage or onscreen. They can't complain about the unclear direction or "unplayable" notes, since it is up to those actors to take what the director tells them and turn it into something they can do in the course of their performance.

And hopefully when actors can master this skill, they will prevent their directors from looking at them like this.