Actor Growth

Today we were challenged with another cold audition session. The interesting thing about this one is that for the role of the guys there was literally only like 4 lines of dialogue and the person before had like 2. However, there were large amounts of pages before this which doesn’t have the character speaking but it did give you an idea of what the story was about.

With that I did the scene. As it turns out, I over analyzed the scene and read a bit too much on it. As usual when you get sides for an audition you are only given the pages that relate to the scene that the casting director wants you to perform. Besides what is on these pages everything such as the back-story and character relations are up to you to figure out. Because of that, people can come up with completely different interpretations on the mood and energy level of a scene.

As a crazy example, let’s pretend your character had one line saying “I am going to fall down that hole” and the other character says “Don’t do it!”. That is literally the entire dialogue on the sides that you were given. Now think about how vague that is. You basically need to figure out what the scene is about by trying to say research the show/film online or read as much as possible into the other pages that were given to you even if they are crossed out.

Think about it. If you interpreted that scene as a guy about to end his life then the delivery will probably be more dramatic/mellow. If you made a choice to say these guys are like playing a video game on this huge projector outside then it will be more fun and anxious. Those are the types of choices that you are forced to make otherwise nothing will really come across when you perform the scene. That’s why it is important to try and find as much about the scene as possible.

Now by over analyzed what I mean is like in that situation I would say things like “These two are best friends where they know it is the end of the world and so one guy doesn’t want to live anymore. One guy is a sports athlete and the other is a ex military guy”. Basically, that results in a “How in the world did you get that out of reading those sides?”

The lesson is that sometimes things can be a lot simpler than necessary. It is kind of contradictory too at times as you need to make strong choices in situations like these and therefore it is more about getting right I’d say.

This week we actually did the exact same scenes as last week due to a technical difficulty where we were unable to watch our scenes and the fact that the camera wasn’t functional anymore. In many ways, I guess you can consider this like a callback audition. So, I basically did it with the notes I was given last time.

For the first take the mood definitely was more focused on the lady while trying to get a baby out of her. I was actually surprised at how realistic the frantic it looked on film as I was literally just improvising the whole thing on a bare floor. Although, the factor this time around was that because I didn’t look at the paramedic enough it appeared like I was simply shouting all the time and basically getting them to cooperate through fear.

It took me a few tries to get this right as I basically had to find the balance between being crazy-mad and frantic while still trying to convince the people around me that the character was sane, so to speak, where he was in control and could be trusted to perform this on the fly operation. In the end I was able to do that.

That is a hard thing to do many times. I know for myself I often have a habit of either going too big or too mellow. It’s finding that balance to make it perfect. There was an interesting comment too as the coach was saying in reality if he saw me yelling and all where I wasn’t paying attention to the paramedics that he would believe me. For the sake of film though, it just works a lot better for me to pop my head up. So many little unnatural details you have to keep in mind too. balance

So this week all of the guys were given a pretty crazy scene where the character was literally mad and yelling pretty much through the whole piece. Basically, he was a guy that was going to do a C section on a lady to get a baby out and has a lot of complicated issues personally.

Beforehand I made a choice where I was going to play this guy with a very angry and annoyed direction where during the scene near the end I would stand up as he was being confrontational with a couple of medics. Now keep in mind in the scene there was a dying lady who he cared about right in-front of him and my choice was to start off by kneeling on the ground as the character was contemplating how to get the baby out.

From I read, he needed a knife and the medic was spending way too long going through this kit which aggravates the character. Therefore, my decision was to stand up that time. Now I brought that up as usually in the audition you have to warn the camera person on your movement intents so that they can prepare for it.

Right when I said that the coach told me not to do that. He was basically saying how in real life if you were trying to get a baby out of a women like that there is no way you would leave her side. Regardless of how angry you are you will want to stay there and it would be more powerful for the scene.

That was kind of a throw off for me as I know in a normal audition a casting director wouldn’t give you that benefit of providing direction. So, that was kind of odd. But, I went with the direction and did everything kneeling down and never got up. It was kind of funny as last week’s advice was counter productive for this week’s scene.

Essentially, last week the takeaway note was to face the camera more and not staring at the object. So, for this scene a subconsciously decided to look up at the reader as I knew if I looked down to much you would only see the top of my head. But, funny enough that is what I should have done for this scene where I would be more focused on staring at the dying lady.

The coach did mention though that he should have informed us ahead of time about the camera. At the same time he said that in an audition you can request the camera guy to say lower the camera if that was the direction you chose to do your piece. That was an interesting note I thought. Was a crazy scene though.

Today we did another round of cold reads. It was kind of surprising for most as people thought we would be doing scenes where we would get one night to prepare it in an effort to pretend that this is an audition for a role that you are seriously being considered for.

I read a scene from the show Fringe. There was about three pages worth of dialogue too which was a lot considering this was a last minute kind of thing. So, I did my thing based on my interpretation of it. It was kind of funny as I messed up the lines a lot but still I kept going pretending that I didn’t make an error.

Now the interesting thing for me came in the comments. The main point the coach wanted me to take away from this session was that he couldn’t understand why I was moving my head around during some of my conversations. He mentioned how when I was sitting there listening to his comments that I am perfectly still which he loves. He then made a comment that my movement was based on nervousness as he had his own quirks too.

Technically I can see that point and how it can be distracting and there is nothing to really debate about there. However, what I personally didn’t agree with 100% was that it was due to a performer’s nervousness as oppose to my direction and interpretation of the scene. Cause I can tell you that I didn’t feel nervous at all.

I was doing a self evaluation on my way home thinking of the times when I naturally move my head specifically like that. The bottom line, it comes to down to if I don’t fully trust the person then I am always second guessing on what their true intentions are or if I am trying to find the subtext behind the words they are saying. Hence, the eye movements, head tilts, etc.

To me that was a light bulb moment too as I guess I self realized the direction that I need to think of to avoid that. Example, in that scene my interpretation was that I was this individual who was a bit confused and suspicious about these two colleagues as I thought they actually had something to do with the incident and why they were here. However, after the feedback it sounded like the person was more about relaying a message and that they fully trusted each other. Therefore, I figured this was more about direction and making the right choices.

Someone in the class disagreed with that point though by saying how in the first scene I did for that Reaper script he noticed the same thing and therefore he agreed with the coach that it was more about something along the lines of nervousness. After thinking about it though, again I thought it was the same thing where for that scene there was a lot of distrust between the characters and those are the type of gestures I naturally make as choices in those incidents. It’s not due to nervousness though I’d say for that particular gesture as oppose to direction.

So with my personal theory and solution, since I know myself best, is that since I was requested to do this scene again I will change the direction where the character is more trusting about the environment and the people he is talking to. If I still get that comment then I know it is due to an external factor such as the nervousness that was mentioned. However, if it is not there after then it is indeed more likely to be a result of my personal choices.

I know that was one of the comments a past coach made to me too where when I get to read and fully understand the entire script I seem to do so well. However, when I get just small portions of it like some sides for an audition I tend to over think the situation and make more out of it than it really is. Example, like this whole trust issue in the scene. That was actually one of the reasons I chose an audition based workshop too this time around.

As well, again a past advice I have received from different coach mentions that I should feel free to move myself more and not be rigid. However, this coach is saying stay still mostly as it is better. So, that is what I will do. I’m starting to think that in a real setting it is more about knowing who you are auditioning for too to determine which style to go with. Let’s see how this goes.

It was a small class today again with three people. However, there was one new student as another lady was on vacation. So regularly I guess we can expect about four people. The focus today was on cold reads where we had absolutely no time to prepare for a scene as we were just given some sides and then expected to perform it as if it was a last minute audition.

The first scene I was given was a side for Stargate Universe. Overall it was a pretty serious tone type of scene. I was a little worried about this as I made a comment on how these are the types of audition roles that I don’t think I would even get a callback for normally. Reason being was that it was a military esque type of role and I didn’t think that I could come up with anything creative enough to get pass the fact that I don’t have the Hollywood military guy look.

The coach then made a comment on how I can’t really think of it that way as in real life I could easily say that I am in the military. As well, being me was unique in itself as no one else necessarily has the same look. True enough and I did the scene. The coach thought I did well and made a comment how I was perfectly believable as a military guy and that he would have saluted me. That was kind of a good challenge I thought.

The second scene was completely different as I was reading as a busboy for a project called The Troop. My personal interpretation of the scene was that it was a comedy and so I played it in a “douche” type of way. In some ways I was holding back too as I wasn’t sure if this was the right direction. However, in the end the room was laughing and the coach mentioned that he has seen hundreds of people do that scene and that my interpretation of it was so unique that everyone in the actual audition room would have been cracking up.

There was another coach there too today and he was saying how it’s all about bringing something unique. Basically, in the audition room the casting director sees so many people and for the most part everyone does it the exact same way. Doing something different will make you stand out from the rest. He made a comment about mines where it’s kind of like they expect everyone to make chili, but it’s adding those different spices to it to make it your own. He said I basically made chili and threw some corn in there. lol.

Afterwards I was talking to the coach in the end and the topic revolved around what he realized was a key in his success before things started to take off for him. It came down to his personality in the audition room. Example, walking into the room where people would like him as an individual and seeming like a great person who you would like to work with.

I mentioned too how this was a kind of poplar opposite advice I received from the last coach as he basically implied to me that you have to be dead serious as you are a professional and all. Interesting day though and was a nice change of pace from the stuff that I normally do.

First day of the workshop and it was kind of surprising as there was only three of us in the class. Surprising as in the e-mail it looked like there was about six of us originally. There was one lady in the group who I actually saw before from the casting director workshop I attended awhile back. Turns out she works as an assistant for that casting director too.

Now this workshop actually takes place in a studio where a lot of auditions take place and funny enough I saw a fellow actor that was in the same acting workshop I was in. I think he was auditioning for some kind of commercial. For the beginning we simply talked a bit about casting directors and what to do in the room in general.

There was also a lot of conversations about memorizing lines and some facts were brought up such as a person like George Clooney is actually horrible at memorizing lines apparently. I never really watched the show E.R., but apparently if you pay attention there are so many times where he looks down while doing a scene as what he’s doing is actually referencing a script so that he knows what his line is. Funny I thought if that is true.

I did do and audition side from the show from The Reaper as mentioned. The character’s name was Gary and it had something to do with him suckering the devil into giving him all this stuff without actually signing his soul away. This class was a little challenging and interesting I thought and here’s why.

Usually when you go to an audition you don’t really get much in terms of the back story. Therefore, you have to make choices on why the character acts the way they do. My initial interpretation was that this was a filthy rich guy that is a complete jerk as he embarrasses others for his own enjoyment. Therefore, I played it in a very mellow way.

However, the coach then mentioned that this was a comedy scene and that it is all about timing and that the character has to be super energetic and excited. For example, there is one part where the character shoots a paintball gun at the butler. I initially just did it in a subtle jerk type of way but was then was told that what the scene needed was a guy that was having a blast in a very energetic fashion in shooting a butler with a paintball gun. So, I tried that and unfortunately I couldn’t fully relate to why a guy that rich would be so juvenile in his reactions since this sounded like an everyday thing for him.

Upon doing the scene he said that he saw potential for me in doing this scene and to try it again for next week. That got my curious. I then went online to look for this clip and sure enough I found it. From what I see, the actually footage on the show is kind of closer to how I interpreted it. However, I do believe that the coach’s direction would have made it more fun.

That got me thinking too on how subjective an audition could be. And this brings up my confusion as I have mentioned time and time again when it comes to training with people. As you may recall, the last acting coach thought that I did way too much comedy initially and wanted to see a more serious side as he believes that is what I need to do to accelerate my career. He even went as far to say that people that didn’t push me in that direction were afraid of seeing my full potential as I mentioned that people have told me to be more relaxed and energetic.

As you can see, it is like the flip opposite again where in this case I opted for the more serious tone and the coach seems to think I need to be more comedic and energetic in my actions. Very confusing field I must say. So what I do fear a little is that since the coach requested that I do the same scene again that this may turn out to be a directional thing where it’s more about acting out a scene based on a specific direction as oppose to audition strategies and the business of it all.

One confused actor here. lol.