Actor Growth

I got a notice that I will be back on Stargate Universe tomorrow and it looks like it is an extremely early morning call too. As well, it looks like there might be some interesting stuff as usually when the production provides all of the wardrobe for this kind of work it means that you are more than likely going to do some crazy things.

Example, you are going to get soaked to death, smothered in dirt, etc. That way, you don’t have to mess up your own clothes and have to worry about washing it and all. As well, incase they need to continue shooting a scene that way the can make sure that it stays the same for continuity.

Wonder how that will work too since I am in with a specific group of people in the story and we all brought a little bit of our own clothing items while on set.

One thing that I was thinking about this week was after that workshop it made me think on my experience to date with the acting coach. The advices I got thus far feels like it has more to do with a directional choice in how I portray a role as oppose to methods and techniques to better help my ability to play/land different roles.

A really good example is the comment he made about wanting me to play things more seriously. That one scene I did appeared that it specifically revolved around high school like characters. Now what he did afterwards was that he tried to motivate me indirectly to take things more seriously and started to imply that I need to generally start to treat things with an older perspective.

He loved it when I did the scene where it was so serious and how it showed compassion and really didn’t like it when I started to show a more “uncertain” character side afterwards like an unconfident teenager. He clarified it by saying that I should treat things like this as a mid 20’s character.

Now this was very interesting I thought. In general his advice was very broad in a sense where it was implying that my choice in how I played the character would be fixed by changing my acting range to be more serious and “mature” like. When really, for many of the scenes it came down to my directional choice based on my initial interpretation of the story and setting.

Think of it like this. Imagine it’s like sex education where grown adults in love in a particular country think that kissing or simple skin contact can cause aids or something (Yes there are places like that). Therefore, when you play this character in a particular scene involving casual intimacy you approach it in a way where you are very nervous and fearful.

Afterwards, a person comes up to you and tells you to stop acting like a kid and be more like an adult who is deeply in love with the person. However, because you still have that notion about the character’s ignorance about sex you still play it in a cautious way. Similarly, then the person comes up to you again and of course you as the performer is confused too.

Like with that, simply reviewing his/her interpretation of the setting will change everything. In that example, instead of saying “act older” just changing the actor’s mind that these characters aren’t ignorant about sex will automatically make them play the character to what you are looking for.

I think that is useful too for a director or even actor to keep in mind. If you want to change the way that someone performs a role then the key thing first is to make sure they have the correct interpretation of the setting and circumstances that they are currently bind to I’d say.

I volunteered my time today for a project that a student was doing for his course that involved doing a voice over for an anime clip where I had to make up a voice for three characters. It was done in a recording studio at a school that was similar to what you would see in a professional recording environment.

It was kind of interesting as they wanted me to speak the characters with a Japanese accent yet all the dialogue was in English. The person even mentioned himself that he wanted it to be entirely in Japanese, but the instructor told him to do it this way as a challenge to a certain extent I guess you can say.

I have always found too in film that usually requests to speak English with an Asian accent usually happens to be Japanese for some reason. This is actually the first time that I had to try and voice three different characters. The obvious challenge is trying to make everyone sound distinctively different too. That’s why I am amazed at some people such as the actors on the Simpson and how one actor does the voices of so many people.

One acting coach told me that you have to simply just practice and experimenting with different voices as it is the only way you can truly learn.

Another day took place of the acting workshop. This week we did the exact same scene as last week except we recorded it on camera. This was a session that was mighty conflicting and confusing in many ways for me. Fortunately I am not the type of person that takes advice and criticism personally as I could have easily seen a person taking offense to how the day went between myself and the acting coach.

It was kind of funny too as before the workshop started I was talking to a lady about different acting coaches. She was telling me how she despises coaches that specifically put people down as to them it is more of a power trip as oppose to helping people. I didn’t experience any of that thus far with this program though.

So the first thing that happened was that the reader that helped me in my scene last week wasn’t present. Therefore, when it came to my turn I just turned around in a playful way asking if anyone wanted to read for the 17 year old girl part. A lot of people smiled and I got some volunteers.

Afterwards, the acting coach made this comment about how we need to keep it together when transitioning to the next scene (In an aggressive way). He threw in a comment implying that what I did was being disrespectful to others who paid money for this course as well and that I should keep the humor to outside of the workshop.
So I guess that kind of started the tension.

Later on he mentioned that if I did that in an audition I would not be considered. It’s kind of conflicting too as many people including casting directors have told me that they want to see the fun and cheerful side of you before you do your scenes. Example, nice smiley slates, seems down to earth to work with, etc. Ironically too, most people told me that I should lighten up more before going into the audition room.

I did my scene and for the most part I believe I did pretty much the same thing that I did last week. There was a lot of feedback about my general body posture which a lot of people have told me about before. But the most conflicting comment which kind of turned it into an able to hear a pin dropping in the room scenario was beginning.

Essentially the acting coach was implying that I tend to show a funny and goofy side of myself too much and wants me to be more serious and sincere which he mentions is what I need to do to make it to the next step. He was saying it in a rather harsh and what could easily be taken in an offensive manner I thought. That was so confusing to me too because that is the only acting coach or film industry professional who has said that to me.

It was confusing as normally dramatic and serious roles are the main types of work I do. Example, guy having to deal with a very stressful situation, in an extreme conflict with another or say having to morn over the death of a loved one. I was trying to get some clarification about what he was trying to imply too because of this. However, I think he mistakenly took it as “Your comments are useless” type of scenario.

Such an interesting situation I thought and many people in the class thought I took it harshly or something too. Was just extremely confused. lol. After the workshop there was a lady that approached me too and tried to discuss with me about the coach’s feedback and that hopefully I would really consider what he said as she went through a similar situation.

I was then explaining to her about my confusion and how it was just weird as I have to factor in what he told me as well as all of the other advice and feedbacks that I have ever gotten. It was like everyone’s feedbacks would simply contradict each other. Then one lady commented how it is about getting the right coach who can find the right words to communicate to you on what they really mean as everyone is different.

So true I thought. But in general I understood the gist of what this coach was trying to say and what to improve on. I guess the bottom line is that you just have to hear what everyone has to say with the utmost open mind and then make a decision what you think is the right thing to do.

Today I was talking to a lady as she mentioned that her English was not very good and needed help with it. At the same time, her native language was Mandarin which isn’t exactly my native tongue. What ended up happening though was that I agreed to teach her some conversational English and she agreed to teach me some Mandarin.

When she asked me the reason for wanting to learn the language I mentioned that I thought it may just be useful if in the future I need to use it in some way for work related purposes such as doing film work. When you think about it, knowing different languages is a special skill too when it comes to the acting world.

I know a lot of people usually think of an athletic ability only when it comes to special skills. But imagine if you are the only one within your look range and type in your area that can speak a certain language. Odds are, your chances of getting a part that requires that would drastically increase.

I thought this was a very interesting point that was told to me. Basically, the notion was that the most successful actors in the business are the ones who take a pro-active role in not just acting in a film but rather producing it as well.

Come to think of it, I suppose that is true in many ways. Producing it doesn’t necessarily mean forking out millions of your own dollar either. It could be that if you are chosen to act in a film that you are also say heavily involved in the stunt choreography as you want it to reflect accurately to real life situations from a personal standpoint.

It was funny too as I just got a script today for a potential role and it seems like the person wrote it with me in mind and asked me for any ideas. I think this is safe to use as an example where I would try to use my off screen creativity to help with the script and story telling as well where it would be as if I was producing it too.