Actor Growth

Some of those short films that I acted in has been published on various online platforms for fun by the producers and it is kind of interesting to see people’s reactions. At the same time, I was just watching some other videos that people have created with some people being Internet celebrities.

The funny thing too was that for these Internet celebrities people asked them how life is like being well known online. Some of them poked fun at themselves on how while people know them online, in the real world virtually no one knows them which means for the most part they can still live a normal life.

That’s kind of interesting I thought and made me wonder if in the future there will be such a thing such as a Web/Internet actor compared to a TV/Film actor. Most of the stories I have read for actors starting out on the Internet is that they get discovered online and eventually go on to do things in the traditional sense. Although, it’s mostly as a result of a web based show that gets a contract to show its work on network TV.

Acting craft wise I don’t see much of a difference though compared to say going from a theatre acting to a film and TV one. Must be interesting though to be successful online yet remain invisible to the mass general public.

Today I participated in that short film and it was a fun experience. It was done in a public area too and of course you always get the stares when people see a camera pointed at you. Now for the most part the group consists of aspiring actors and filmmakers.

After watching the video today I mentioned how it kind of reminded me about this series I saw on Youtube before called “We Need Girlfriends”. From my understanding, it was just a bunch of guys making their own short film series which eventually garnered a lot of attention and got a network television contract.

One person then said that this was the type of thing they have been thinking of doing more seriously for a long time now and that we should all try to plan out something more serious. I fully agreed personally. At this point it seems that equipment is an issue as the films are being shot on a consumer DV cam that produces video at about a 320 x 240 resolution.

Although, the person that is aspiring to be a director is planning to get a more modern day camcorder. For myself I am more into the acting and so it is more about seeing the type of part I could play in a series type of role depending on what the idea ends up being. All about taking initiative for our careers.

One thing that you have to look out for when it comes to shooting a film that takes days to complete is the continuity of your appearance. Example, imagine filming this one scene that requires days to do. As you know, things like your hair grow or imagine if it is styled a certain way. You pretty much have to say trim it every few days to make sure it is consistent throughout the shoot.

I had that happen once in school where we shot part of a film and then took like a two week break. Afterwards, I had to make sure that the haircut I got was very similar to what I had on the day of the shoot. Time consuming I must say.

Can’t imagine what it’s like for makeup artists too when it comes to projects that require things like scars and other wild getups.

I was watching 24 today and there was this one scene with a baby in it which was kind of suspenseful I thought. I won’t reveal too much as to not spoil it for others. One thing that made me think of from an acting point of view was how it must have been difficult working with baby. For one thing, you probably can’t exactly just say to the baby “Hey, start crying” or “Start smiling”.

I remember one set I was on where the cast consisted of a lot of teenagers and it sure got hairy. They never remembered their lines for some reason as an example and often never stayed quiet on set when the cameras were off. The director literally flipped and shouted “Tell them to do their F****** job”.

I use to teach kids theatre at my high school as part of the curriculum for the acting program that I did. Indeed, some of them were super rebellious. What I found is that working with young people in acting is just like any other line of work. What was really frustrating was when I asked them to do things only to get like a rebellious reaction. Eventually though, what it came down to was respect.

Example, there was this one kid that would literally mouth off to all of the teachers and basically just did his own thing. Of course he would get the typical reactions which wouldn’t sway him. One day, I was instructing the class to play this game called “fruit basket” where it is kind of like musical chairs. Basically, the kid in particular lost and was suppose to sit out. Instead, he just weaseled back to the chair and ignored the game rules.

As he tried to sit down on the chair, I literally just yanked it awake and he fell on his bottom to the ground. He was so shocked that I did that and he was giggling in an embarrassed fashion. I just had a neutral look to show him that he was out and that I wouldn’t toy with his behavior and the class actually cheered. I was basically trying to get through to him that if he didn’t respect others then the same would be returned.

Interesting enough, he then tried to mock me to some of his classmates but they all just thought it was funny that someone finally stood up to him. Sure enough, after that day he was actually a very good student and listened to everything I said as he finally respected me. Acting, direction and everything he followed it and was having fun still. He even began to open up to me about his life and why he is so “angry” I guess you can say.

So I guess that goes to show that if you are ever working with a “difficult” child actor that many times it’s not so much about showing who’s the boss but rather just getting them to respect the situation they are involved with as well as the people they are working with. I suppose an adult actor is no different too. It can be a blast too to see how younger people can be a natural when it comes to acting.

I was having Dim Sum with the family today and one thing that came up was that my brother told me that I should ask my agent if they would be willing to take on his 2 and a half year old son (My Nephew of course) as they thought it would be a fun experience for him.

Himself and his wife actually tried to get him into a commercial audition once except the production people mentioned that he was too young as at minimum the kid had to be at least 3 years old for some kind of legality reason. I guess that kind of encouraged them to peruse the film industry even more.

Like most people I only read about kids that grew up ion the world of film and how it can be really good or really bad for them. Must be interesting too as at that age you don’t really have to much choice in terms of making decisions for your career. At the end they said they wanted me to be his agent. Lol.

All I said I could do is if they wanted I can post up some funny footage of him on YouTube and see what happens from there since there are so many babies/kids that became popular that way. I have one video where my nephew smacks me over the head with like a doll……so maybe I’ll do something for the heck of it and if an agent or company discovers him well then all the better huh?

So I got booked for a fitting tomorrow which means I must be needed for something very specific. A fitting is basically just a day that you go on a production and the wardrobe simply checks you out to fully prepare you for the day of the actual shoot. Example, like in that Farewell Atlantis movie a lot of people needed military costumes with props and so the production needs to make sure everyone is good to go right on the day of shooting as it can take awhile.

The only strange thing is I have no idea what show or movie this is for as usually I would at least get some kind of notification of it beforehand. All I know is that it will take place at the Vancouver Film Studios.