More student actors
C&C always welcome!
You saw the pretty (mole notwithstanding) blonde last week; here's the rest of the shoot. The rest of the TOUGH shoot. While they're very cooperative, most of them don't have any experience and are young, self-conscious, have no real sense of their own type yet (physically or dramatically) and have very limited emotional expression, particularly to camera. They make me work hard! I only get a few minutes, so it's also tough to really get to know them in that short time; I have to kind of guess as to what I can get out of them in 15-20 minutes, and hope they've relaxed into it a little by the end. It's a load of fun, though, and I think (I hope!) they enjoy it too!
1. This guy was a sweetheart, but he turned up in plaid, and has a very barrel-y physique; had to work hard to find a good angle for him, which I think I got here (along with some decent connection to camera). I admit that, despite the cliche, I like the chain link; it seemed to go with the "rugged" look, somehow. He had a better range of expression than the others here; his pictures were more of a challeng in finding a flattering angle than extracting personality.
2. Sweet girl who I think with a good makeup artist to bring out those beeeyoootiful eyes, more polished hairstyling, and a little practice could learn to really work the camera, but as is it was hard to get her away from a school-picture, frozen smile - very self-conscious and giggly. This one's possibly a little grumpy looking, but I felt it had a bit more personality than the anodyne smiles of most of the others.
3. Toughest of the afternoon. Shy young man with two looks: this with a smile; this without a smile. I went for something which he could use for TPY (to portray younger); he could easily pass for 15-16, particularly with the clothes he brought, so I was thinking kind of a "teen TV" look for him. I think it works, although without having seen him perform I have no idea what he can deliver... since he was giving me NOTHING. None of my usual tricks to evoke some kind of facial expression/connection worked with him - need to figure out some more to use on truly "stuck" subjects like this one!
4. Last, but not least - this lovely septegenarian. I WISH somebody had told me about her, as not only would I hvae brought different lighting gear with me ( I really wish I'd had a smaller softbox and/or a shoothru umbrella), I would have given her COMPLETELY different information about makeup/styling etc!! It never occurred to me to include makeup tips for older women to the acting teacher (note to self - add to it for next year!).
She followed the instructions on my handout (which assumes young women, and suggests styling accordingly) to the letter... which was totally NOT the right advice for a woman of her age (less is definitely more for older women and she was absolutely plastered with makeup). I sent her to scrub off much of what she had put on and this is what we wound up with; I've run this through PP and tweaked the makeup digitally as much as I could. I so wish I'd seen her before she did it so could have guided her better! Ah well. SUCH a sweet lady - former nurse who's taken up acting in retirement. I hope I've catpured a little bit of her awesome personality, but I reeaaalllly wish I'd known about it ahead of time; I can think of SO MANY fabulous shots I would have liked to do if I'd just had time to think it through beforehand. Ah well - one of the reasons I do this shoot is to stretch myself and think on my feet, so I guess it's good for me!
You saw the pretty (mole notwithstanding) blonde last week; here's the rest of the shoot. The rest of the TOUGH shoot. While they're very cooperative, most of them don't have any experience and are young, self-conscious, have no real sense of their own type yet (physically or dramatically) and have very limited emotional expression, particularly to camera. They make me work hard! I only get a few minutes, so it's also tough to really get to know them in that short time; I have to kind of guess as to what I can get out of them in 15-20 minutes, and hope they've relaxed into it a little by the end. It's a load of fun, though, and I think (I hope!) they enjoy it too!
1. This guy was a sweetheart, but he turned up in plaid, and has a very barrel-y physique; had to work hard to find a good angle for him, which I think I got here (along with some decent connection to camera). I admit that, despite the cliche, I like the chain link; it seemed to go with the "rugged" look, somehow. He had a better range of expression than the others here; his pictures were more of a challeng in finding a flattering angle than extracting personality.
2. Sweet girl who I think with a good makeup artist to bring out those beeeyoootiful eyes, more polished hairstyling, and a little practice could learn to really work the camera, but as is it was hard to get her away from a school-picture, frozen smile - very self-conscious and giggly. This one's possibly a little grumpy looking, but I felt it had a bit more personality than the anodyne smiles of most of the others.
3. Toughest of the afternoon. Shy young man with two looks: this with a smile; this without a smile. I went for something which he could use for TPY (to portray younger); he could easily pass for 15-16, particularly with the clothes he brought, so I was thinking kind of a "teen TV" look for him. I think it works, although without having seen him perform I have no idea what he can deliver... since he was giving me NOTHING. None of my usual tricks to evoke some kind of facial expression/connection worked with him - need to figure out some more to use on truly "stuck" subjects like this one!
4. Last, but not least - this lovely septegenarian. I WISH somebody had told me about her, as not only would I hvae brought different lighting gear with me ( I really wish I'd had a smaller softbox and/or a shoothru umbrella), I would have given her COMPLETELY different information about makeup/styling etc!! It never occurred to me to include makeup tips for older women to the acting teacher (note to self - add to it for next year!).
She followed the instructions on my handout (which assumes young women, and suggests styling accordingly) to the letter... which was totally NOT the right advice for a woman of her age (less is definitely more for older women and she was absolutely plastered with makeup). I sent her to scrub off much of what she had put on and this is what we wound up with; I've run this through PP and tweaked the makeup digitally as much as I could. I so wish I'd seen her before she did it so could have guided her better! Ah well. SUCH a sweet lady - former nurse who's taken up acting in retirement. I hope I've catpured a little bit of her awesome personality, but I reeaaalllly wish I'd known about it ahead of time; I can think of SO MANY fabulous shots I would have liked to do if I'd just had time to think it through beforehand. Ah well - one of the reasons I do this shoot is to stretch myself and think on my feet, so I guess it's good for me!
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Rather than grumpy in #2, I see teenage angst. This one works for me.
#4 just isn't working for me for the makeup reason you stated.
BTW - I have found myself going through your latest posts looking at your posing for ideas...
Comments and constructive criticism always welcome.
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She was such a lovely woman - I really feel bad that I didn't get some "WOW" shots of her (and annoyed, because I know I COULD have done something amazing if I'd just had a little time to think it through; I haven't shot many elderly women, so I couldn't think on my feet quite as well as with the more typicaly 30-40somethings that seem to form my main clientele)
Flattered you like my posing! Some of it is by design (and often inspired by Sue Bryce techniques); some of it just clicking when I see something in the eyes that I like, and the body has followed suit.
I pull this one out on occasion with the tough young men...
Works 96.7% of the time...
Use at your own risk...
"Ok, you're doing good...Now, eyes right here and say I like girls with REALLY big (pregnant pause) feet."
looks like a fun project
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My first thought about getting better, more dynamic expression is to use an acting prompt--but I'm sure you've thought of that. They may be so new to this that it doesn't work. So I have a different idea for you: Have you thought of having music playing in the background of your shoot? I'm thinking music with attitude...something young and fun, or strong and belligerent, or emotional and compelling... When I wanted to get my son to work his fedora last year during his before-prom shots, I played some classic Sinatra (my son's a bit of a music geek, so something classic like that was acceptable). It worked like a charm.
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I do use prompts, although I tend to frame them as emotions/character types rather than situations eg "Be the the runaway teen" or, "CSI feisty lawyer" etc. Somtimes I'll use situationsm ir occasionally characters or actors they have told me they like (my problem child was a huge Matt Smith fan, but even invoking Who fandom didn't help get a reaction! lol). Do you have any particular language/prompts you've found helpful for young'un's who are "stuck"?
grt,boco.
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