What makes award-winning performances so memorable, so powerful, and so award winning is because the actors entertained us as serious artists. Most actors are good at the part about being serious artists. What they forget at their careers’ peril is the part about being entertainers. The difference between an artist and an entertainer is the artist does it for the art and the entertainer does it for the audience. What makes great actors great and filmmakers want to cast actors is when actors are both. As film artists, it’s all of our jobs to entertain our audiences so that we can
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Monthly Archives March 2019
What Actors & Directors Should Keep In Mind When Creating Heroic Characters On Camera
The first character ever created was a hero. The first story ever told was the story of a hero’s journey. The main reason audiences have been watching and reading stories ever since is because the hero’s story is the story we all imagine we are living. It is the story we dream. What all heroic characters have in common is a mission to save. Even independent dramas about characters struggling to relate are peopled with every day, emotionally flawed heroic characters trying to save someone or something. It is their overriding characteristic. It dictates how every moment in every scene
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Do’s & Don’ts Of Moving On Camera
Actors ask “What’s my frame” or “What’s my framing?” because they want to know how much room they have to move in the film frame. The answer to the question is “Why would you want to move?” You’re not going to move any more in the wide shot than you are in the medium shot or else the shots won’t cut together. If you have to move on camera, move back and forth and not side to side. Side to side movement makes an actor look less experienced because side to side movement is harder to edit. Back and forth
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How To Get A Laugh Everytime
Most actors aren’t funny. They would like to be funny. They would like to do comedy. They’ll play a scene as if it’s funny, and they’ll deliver their lines as if they’re funny but they don’t come across funny. They come across as actors trying hard to be funny. Try this. It’s quick, painless and, if done right, pretty much guarantees you’ll create comedy and get a laugh. Take a scene and ask yourself what are the sentiments your character’s words are expressing to the other character. Are your character’s words expressing anger toward the other character? Are your character’s
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