Actor Growth

So yesterday I was watching the season premiere of 24 as it is one of my favorite shows. Afterwards, I decided to read about other people’s comments and what they thought about the show. One comment stuck out in my head so much. Basically, the person was complaining that there wasn’t enough “Eye Candy” in the show thus far. Basically, not enough people prepped up in a hot and good looking kind of way.

Why did this make me think so much? Because of the whole plan to make a web series as technically I would need to put a producer hat on too. For myself as the actor of course I would say that it should be all about the story telling and execution. Basically, good scripts with a good cast while presenting it in a compelling manner. But at the same time I have to remember that our job is to entertain, for a lack of a better word, and that people need to care about it.

In many ways I think the viewers look at the characters that we portray as a kind of fantasy and so they want to see these people with above average looks and skills. I guess it is just like watching a sport as you want to see people that are say faster or stronger than you perform extraordinary things.

In those cases too, granted there are many times where people want to see the “ordinary” guy. Same thing with movies. But at the same time I would say the majority would want to see the above average in one form or another. So that got me thinking about how things like the costume and makeup would work for an extremely budgeted web series.

Okay, so with that in mind maybe it’s good to have a healthy mix of male and females in the cast as I’m sure that way the group will be able to cover a lot of ground when it comes to knowing what people find “attractive” and such.

For my personal web series idea I think it caters to an Internet savvy crowd. They say you write what you know and with this idea I think it will be a blast with the things I have seen over the years.

At the same time, I’m wondering if targeting an Internet crowd would mean the standards are different when it comes to looks and all. I definitely wouldn’t want to compromise the creative to the point where I wouldn’t believe in the product anymore. Basically, in a “selling out kind of way.

I guess this whole “eye candy” thing is something I will have to keep in mind though.

Oh wow. Just shows you how small this world and industry is. I’m surprised at all the people I have been reacquainting with in the most unusual places where they are also interested in creating their own projects/films too. Everywhere from auditions, being on set and even this site.

That would be cool if something works out as it would be great to work with people that I already know in some form. Wouldn’t that be great if a team of dedicated individuals in each of their respective fields from writing to acting got together to try and create something viable for the long term.

So one thing I was thinking about was that even when I find a person to work with in creating a web series I need to decide on the type of gear to use. Now obviously since this isn’t a big budget thing one can’t use the most expensive camera and lighting gear.

I was kind of surprised to see how so many digital cameras nowadays shoot like DVD quality video. I’m thinking the set location would play a big role as to make a good short film/series of sorts with limited resources you need to have a shooting area that you can re-use while it not being too distracting for the viewer.

Example, I know a lot of web series consists of stories revolving around the person in a room all the time or an office space of sort. I think it would be wiser to use an HD consumer camcorder though. So, I am keeping an eye out for any good sales too. I looked through the entire CES event this year and didn’t see anything crazy coming.

Okay, I am officially on the lookout for a person to create a web series of sorts with. The first question that comes to my mind is “Where to start looking?” I’m trying to think of all of my local contacts here too as obviously I would need to work with someone local.

I actually have a concept in mind that I would personally enjoy a lot as I think it would be entertaining yet educational. At the same time, I think it suits an online audience perfectly as most people will “get it” right away. Technically I think it would work out best to find another actor who is comfortable in doing a little bit of post production.

I think this would work out cool too as it is like on the side we can create our own work for fun as you never know what can happen and at the same time we can keep an eye out for auditions and such. I know I can probably just use like a free classified ad and get hundreds of response, but that isn’t exactly the best odds to find someone who would be equally serious/committed to it I think.

Hey universe, I’m calling you out. Send me someone!

Alright, so I got a response from the coach today and sent off a portfolio package. Tomorrow I will start to send more. It’s supposed to be fairly dead during this time of year too so who knows if I will have to wait until the new years where people will actually look at it.

I actually saw a casting director complaining that she would like it to be busier which is kind of interesting. That web series idea is still looking like a good option at this point. Speaking of which, I was watching that show Lie To Me yesterday and realized that a lady on a very popular web series had a guest star appearance on it.

That sure shows you that keeping yourself busy with your own work can be a good thing.

Today I got an interesting message from the coach. As you all know, he is actively helping me to achieve my goal. Turns out, the person he was talking to couldn’t help me directly but instead is going to give him a list of potential contacts to share with me.

I was just thinking how there are so many twists and turns with this situation where at this point it looks like I am not going to accomplish the milestone goal and therefore will need to stop attending the workshop and begin the different route.

For my current remaining days of class, assuming my goal isn’t achieved, I have just sent off an e-mail to him too where I expressed how I think it is wiser to spend my workshop time going over all this business stuff instead. Basically, I would rather spend the time going over film industry stuff with like a mentor to better help me in achieving my goal rather than focusing on skill building at this point. Waiting for the response and reaction to that.