Can you share the brief (now closed) and/or your entries so we can see your ueberamazingness?
We did a viewing tonight at the local University. It was a quaint gathering and I told the Kid's, the actors in the films about being shortlisted. pretty happy folks.
What I did was do the cinematography for an 'Acting for Film' class for their intense three week/Full semester that ended two weeks ago. We shot 6 commercials in five days and then I edited them all in six days, submitted and now shortlisted. Also I did Monologues for all 8 students on two occasions. learned how very valuable LR3 is and combined with EOS utility is a godsend for video: Set up shot, tether, take shot, pull into LR3, set WB, adjust camera for WB, Shoot! Voila! it worked, like a Charm, I think!
I cannot share the entries just yet, due to rules barring that. Once the Winners are announced, I will surely be back to share my entries or at least post links. I will say, I had little idea what difference actors make. And now have a new perspective on the whole process. I will share one of the monologues just to give an idea of the...presence and humor these folks possess.
What was your audio situation on that monologue? Boom or on camera? It is humorous.
Any reason to WB in LR3 instead of just in camera?
I used a camera mic ( Sennheiser) with 16ft extension. I noticed after I uploaded it was pre-SB( Sound Booth) edition, so the sound is raw as heck...even has my lead in, sorry! The finished product, which I will upload tomorrow and replace here is better.
All I know is LR3 made me feel a bit safer and it worked. I only made one WB faux pas in a weeks worth of Shooting...I hated seeing it after, but the actors wanted the scene included...and it was a Short listed Vid. Thanks for asking
Excellent! Yeah, I figured you might be embargoed during judging, but please do share when you can!
When you say, "I had little idea what difference actors make"... in what regard? Remember that some performers bring it with them and you just push their start button and let them "do their thang". Others need more direction and guidance to "find" their performance.
I will say that, as one who is usually in the former group (I always have ideas - sure they may change in rehearsal, but I find it impossible to turn up an entirely blank slate!), I actually get very frustrated with NO feedback, which sometimes happens when you have a lot of ideas to offer. I know that it can always - ALWAYS - be made better, and since I'm not hearing/looking at it, I need people to at least act as a kind of mirror for me even if they don't feel they want to change my intentions/motivations/shapes/interpretations. 'Course, when filming (vs unfilmed live), at least you can look at it yourself in rushes and make some changes as desired/needed!
Struck by how much your young lady above took to heart the "don't blink' mantra of film acting. She's good to camera (although I have to say I would have interpreted that monologue very differently from her. Which is not to say her's is bad - in fact, it's GOOD to be able to see material in different ways - but to me that snippet is a slightly different character than the one she puts across. Funny monologue, btw - what is it from?)
Excellent! Yeah, I figured you might be embargoed during judging, but please do share when you can!
When you say, "I had little idea what difference actors make"... in what regard? Remember that some performers bring it with them and you just push their start button and let them "do their thang". Others need more direction and guidance to "find" their performance.
I will say that, as one who is usually in the former group (I always have ideas - sure they may change in rehearsal, but I find it impossible to turn up an entirely blank slate!), I actually get very frustrated with NO feedback, which sometimes happens when you have a lot of ideas to offer. I know that it can always - ALWAYS - be made better, and since I'm not hearing/looking at it, I need people to at least act as a kind of mirror for me even if they don't feel they want to change my intentions/motivations/shapes/interpretations. 'Course, when filming (vs unfilmed live), at least you can look at it yourself in rushes and make some changes as desired/needed!
Struck by how much your young lady above took to heart the "don't blink' mantra of film acting. She's good to camera (although I have to say I would have interpreted that monologue very differently from her. Which is not to say her's is bad - in fact, it's GOOD to be able to see material in different ways - but to me that snippet is a slightly different character than the one she puts across. Funny monologue, btw - what is it from?)
Great Feedback there DM, thanks! I am not at all certain what her Monologue is from, but she really took me by surprise when she came forth with it. Though Lauren wasn't Shortlisted with her Commercial, which is quite well thought out, I think the gal has a delivery that works. ANd yes, she comes across very sweet and lovely as you can almost see in her. She had to miss a semester just last year from being broken up in an Auto accident..yadda, yadda...and the gal just pushed thru it! Broken hip and all!
All of these actors I worked with had 'never ' worked on 'film' before, hence the class: Acting for film, they are all theater majors.
As far as me not knowing what a diff the actors make, or made...It is hard for me to quantify. I do not watch Tv and haven't in years (>7yrs.). But I do watch a lot of films. Since I did this class, I have finally had a bit of time to revisit some movies I like, and it came crashing down on me how much actors/acting really makes the scene. I guess I 'sorta knew it, because of seeing so much film and seeing/hearing so many bad scripts, and seeing actors pull a scene together...I just had no idea such young folks could do the same, could pull it off, could convince me of the moments reality. Had no clue. SO yes, whether I conveyed it or not, these young actors taught me a bunch!
The feedback from them has been terrific. They have no reason to blow smoke, because I am the artist in residence, not the professor, but they all say what a huge amount they learned in our short time together.
Fortunately for me, I had their professor to direct them. It was all I could do to do all the sets and set up's with light, lighting, camera and lens choices. From my end, not working with so many before it was...busy. And I tend to spend weeks editing one piece, so to know I was facing 6 videos with a deadline 8 days away from wrapping, It was ...a huge experience as well!
I'll post the updates as they happen, thanks for checking in!
Incidentally, two of the folks that were short listed had to miss two days of class to do some work in the New Three Stooges film going on in Atlanta presently, so they are already getting work.
PS: All shot on the Canon 5DMk2, Nikon Glass.
Cheers,
Fascinating, Tom. And I went to your site to poke around - I sure wish you'd post more of your work here, because it's fabulous!
Yes, a lot of it is the actor... but don't discount great direction. By which I don't mean art and photographic direction - that's important to a finished product, of course, but not what necessarily draws a performance out of an actor.
There's a wonderful story told by Philip Glenister (a British actor who's been doing the rounds as a supporting/semi-character actor for years, but who recently jumped to iconic superstar status as Gene Hunt in the BBC's time-travel cop-shop drama, "Ashes to Ashes"). In the fabulous drama "State of Play", one of the female leads had to do a long walk towards camera across the set. She just couldn't get it quite right, and they were doing take after take as the director tried, unsuccessfully, to draw out from the actress the kind of swagger that he wanted. Finally he said, "Pretend you're walking to the 'Mission Impossible' theme song". They got it in one after that.
The point being that carefully chosen words to extract the necessary visual/attitude/line-reading/look to camera/whatever can make ALL the difference! Sure, it's the actor - and the better they are, the less the director needs to do (one of my theories about why type-casting has become so prevalent over the years - it saves hours, even if it often isn't, IMO, as interesting as extracting something out of somebody against obvious type) - but the director can do so much to make it even better.
I must admit, two years of developing and eye and understanding of lighting in still work (combined with seeing some really fabulous, fabulous television - really feels like we're in a new "golden age" of TV at the moment) makes me wish I had the face (and the figure!) to do some on-camera work - I'm fascinated. Most especially by the differences between that and what I do on a big stage, to big music. So much the same, and yet so very, very different.... :muses:
Great stuff, Tom - congrats again, and do share the outcome!
Fascinating, Tom. And I went to your site to poke around - I sure wish you'd post more of your work here, because it's fabulous!
Thanks for that Dm! Words like that take me quite the distance in my own creations. I get a lot out of others postings, and enjoy them.I don't post much, simply because I feel I really have nothing different to offer. On the rare occasion when I do post, it is usually to give a visual description of some thing er other. Though those pull backs of Hackbones did get me going!
Ah, the magic words...I know that one, I see it like Jack and the bean stalk..the magic beans, and something grows.
Glad to hear TV is good. I have thought about going out to watch sometime in one of those places with lots of tv's just to see what I see...probably would be good for me.
I know Youth and beauty sell quite well, but for me, and I think lots of folks, talent trumps all that...You got talent DM, I know that from listening to your Stuff. I can only imagine how your performances are. Don't discount yourself on the potential for entertaining thru other media due to age/body type. talent rules!
Thanks again, And I'll post back when the dust settles.
Aww, you are sweet Tom As much as I love to sing and am driven dramatically by the musical element of what I do, I'm finding myself increasingly fascinated by straight-acting performances these days, and a lot of it is BECAUSE of all this fabulous TV. Don't know your tastes, but you should certainly check out some of the highly-regarded (and, IMO, inventive both dramatically and visually) shows of the last few years, most of it (including the British stuff) readily available on DVD:
- Deadwood (yes, it's violent and the language is, uh, strong, but it is absolutely part of the storytelling and NOT gratuitous, which IMO makes it integral and valid. AMAZING performances and it's almost like a Shakesperean tragedy in its emotional scope).
- The UK Life on Mars and the sequel Ashes to Ashes (should have mentioned LoM in my previous comment since it came first - I'm just more of an Ashes fan myself). Crazy and brilliant. Lots of British in-jokes, but many Americans have enjoyed it wholeheartedly even if they didn't get all the location references/gags.
- Madmen. (Yup, I'm a fan. Series 1-2 superb, 3 a bit iffy, 4 back on form, 5 only just starting filming now. Visually amazing.)
- First two series of Grey's Anatomy. (Went nuts after that IMO, but really REALLY strong characters initially.)
- the revival of Doctor Who. (I watched the old show as a kid, but we have become absolute ADDICTS in this house (and diehard David Tennant fans) thanks to Russell T Davies' resurrection of the show 6 years ago. Not quite so crazy about the current series (diff writers/producers), but I'm still enjoying it. But Seasons 1-4 (especially 2 and 4) are FABULOUS television at any level, for any age, even if you don't like sci-fi. It manages to be fun, exciting, scary, philosophical, poignant and downright funny all at once. And how many other programs can please 10-80 year olds who will all express their delight in it equally? An amazing achievement, IMO.)
- Russell T Davies + David Tennant (as well as Peter O'Toole!) in another of their fabulous collaborations: A witty and rather post-modern telling of the Casanova story. It's just FUN.
- Another David Tennant triumph (also with David Morissey and Sarah Parish): Blackpool. It's kind of part musical, part detective/murder mystery, part romcom. Hard to describe, but wonderful to watch!
- If you like period drama, check out the BBC's North and South, and Little Dorrit. Both fabulous adaptations.
- for a slightly-more-cerebral than usual spy series, Spooks (AKA MI5 in the US). Series 1, 4, 5 and 7 are my personal favorites, although they all have something to offer.
/total tangent
Yes, do keep us posted on the results!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahh well. Results in, and nothing more. Being Shortlisted did thrill me and I know one or two of them 'got it!' My biggest issue and concern all along was too much shooting of too many Commercials in too little of a time-window. Still, pleasantly surprised at our making short-lists with 3 of those entries.
This one below is one I think was very close in taking AT&T's brief to heart.
Rethink Possible was the brief title.
Great job, Tom! Sorry nothing further, but being shortlisted is a great thing - hopefully it gives you the encouragement to keep doing more and more!
(PS One tiny nit - the opening sequence in the "Le Vol" was crooked... Yeah, I know - totally nit-picky photographer thing - but I kept noticing it so felt I should probably say something on the "for next time...." principle!!!)
(PS One tiny nit - the opening sequence in the "Le Vol" was crooked... Yeah, I know - totally nit-picky photographer thing - but I kept noticing it so felt I should probably say something on the "for next time...." principle!!!)
Oh..Your Monitor is skewed...Just take a biz card or two and place them gently under the left side...that'll straighten the scene right up!
Seriously though, and you're gonna love this... I just realized (and remembered) that was the scene I shot with the mini-tripod located over the actors sink. I had to use a make-up compact mirror to focus and set the scene since the camera was about four inches away from the sink surround and the faucet was right next to the Shutter button....It is a wonder it was able to be used at all! Thanks for the nit-picken reminder!
Seriously though, and you're gonna love this... I just realized (and remembered) that was the scene I shot with the mini-tripod located over the actors sink. I had to use a make-up compact mirror to focus and set the scene since the camera was about four inches away from the sink surround and the faucet was right next to the Shutter button....It is a wonder it was able to be used at all! Thanks for the nit-picken reminder!
Ok, that is so TOTALLY the kind of thing I would do if I couldn't figure it out any other way!!! Seriously. When in doubt? McGyver rules.....
ETA: One word - superclamp. Ok, two words: Superclamp or a Nastyclamp (those things are AWESOME.... I just wish they were a bit less expensive!)
Ok, that is so TOTALLY the kind of thing I would do if I couldn't figure it out any other way!!! Seriously. When in doubt? McGyver rules.....
ETA: One word - superclamp. Ok, two words: Superclamp or a Nastyclamp (those things are AWESOME.... I just wish they were a bit less expensive!)
Clamps? Got one er two! The thing is...this camera and it's LCD was 4" from a Wall. I had to do that to gain enough distance for perspective control. Did you know College kids have small apt's.? D
Comments
Can you share the brief (now closed) and/or your entries so we can see your ueberamazingness?
We did a viewing tonight at the local University. It was a quaint gathering and I told the Kid's, the actors in the films about being shortlisted. pretty happy folks.
What I did was do the cinematography for an 'Acting for Film' class for their intense three week/Full semester that ended two weeks ago. We shot 6 commercials in five days and then I edited them all in six days, submitted and now shortlisted. Also I did Monologues for all 8 students on two occasions. learned how very valuable LR3 is and combined with EOS utility is a godsend for video: Set up shot, tether, take shot, pull into LR3, set WB, adjust camera for WB, Shoot! Voila! it worked, like a Charm, I think!
I cannot share the entries just yet, due to rules barring that. Once the Winners are announced, I will surely be back to share my entries or at least post links. I will say, I had little idea what difference actors make. And now have a new perspective on the whole process. I will share one of the monologues just to give an idea of the...presence and humor these folks possess.
Simple Monologue from Lauren
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qKna9CYEK8Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Any reason to WB in LR3 instead of just in camera?
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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I used a camera mic ( Sennheiser) with 16ft extension. I noticed after I uploaded it was pre-SB( Sound Booth) edition, so the sound is raw as heck...even has my lead in, sorry! The finished product, which I will upload tomorrow and replace here is better.
All I know is LR3 made me feel a bit safer and it worked. I only made one WB faux pas in a weeks worth of Shooting...I hated seeing it after, but the actors wanted the scene included...and it was a Short listed Vid. Thanks for asking
When you say, "I had little idea what difference actors make"... in what regard? Remember that some performers bring it with them and you just push their start button and let them "do their thang". Others need more direction and guidance to "find" their performance.
I will say that, as one who is usually in the former group (I always have ideas - sure they may change in rehearsal, but I find it impossible to turn up an entirely blank slate!), I actually get very frustrated with NO feedback, which sometimes happens when you have a lot of ideas to offer. I know that it can always - ALWAYS - be made better, and since I'm not hearing/looking at it, I need people to at least act as a kind of mirror for me even if they don't feel they want to change my intentions/motivations/shapes/interpretations. 'Course, when filming (vs unfilmed live), at least you can look at it yourself in rushes and make some changes as desired/needed!
Struck by how much your young lady above took to heart the "don't blink' mantra of film acting. She's good to camera (although I have to say I would have interpreted that monologue very differently from her. Which is not to say her's is bad - in fact, it's GOOD to be able to see material in different ways - but to me that snippet is a slightly different character than the one she puts across. Funny monologue, btw - what is it from?)
Great Feedback there DM, thanks! I am not at all certain what her Monologue is from, but she really took me by surprise when she came forth with it. Though Lauren wasn't Shortlisted with her Commercial, which is quite well thought out, I think the gal has a delivery that works. ANd yes, she comes across very sweet and lovely as you can almost see in her. She had to miss a semester just last year from being broken up in an Auto accident..yadda, yadda...and the gal just pushed thru it! Broken hip and all!
All of these actors I worked with had 'never ' worked on 'film' before, hence the class: Acting for film, they are all theater majors.
As far as me not knowing what a diff the actors make, or made...It is hard for me to quantify. I do not watch Tv and haven't in years (>7yrs.). But I do watch a lot of films. Since I did this class, I have finally had a bit of time to revisit some movies I like, and it came crashing down on me how much actors/acting really makes the scene. I guess I 'sorta knew it, because of seeing so much film and seeing/hearing so many bad scripts, and seeing actors pull a scene together...I just had no idea such young folks could do the same, could pull it off, could convince me of the moments reality. Had no clue. SO yes, whether I conveyed it or not, these young actors taught me a bunch!
The feedback from them has been terrific. They have no reason to blow smoke, because I am the artist in residence, not the professor, but they all say what a huge amount they learned in our short time together.
Fortunately for me, I had their professor to direct them. It was all I could do to do all the sets and set up's with light, lighting, camera and lens choices. From my end, not working with so many before it was...busy. And I tend to spend weeks editing one piece, so to know I was facing 6 videos with a deadline 8 days away from wrapping, It was ...a huge experience as well!
I'll post the updates as they happen, thanks for checking in!
Incidentally, two of the folks that were short listed had to miss two days of class to do some work in the New Three Stooges film going on in Atlanta presently, so they are already getting work.
PS: All shot on the Canon 5DMk2, Nikon Glass.
Cheers,
Yes, a lot of it is the actor... but don't discount great direction. By which I don't mean art and photographic direction - that's important to a finished product, of course, but not what necessarily draws a performance out of an actor.
There's a wonderful story told by Philip Glenister (a British actor who's been doing the rounds as a supporting/semi-character actor for years, but who recently jumped to iconic superstar status as Gene Hunt in the BBC's time-travel cop-shop drama, "Ashes to Ashes"). In the fabulous drama "State of Play", one of the female leads had to do a long walk towards camera across the set. She just couldn't get it quite right, and they were doing take after take as the director tried, unsuccessfully, to draw out from the actress the kind of swagger that he wanted. Finally he said, "Pretend you're walking to the 'Mission Impossible' theme song". They got it in one after that.
The point being that carefully chosen words to extract the necessary visual/attitude/line-reading/look to camera/whatever can make ALL the difference! Sure, it's the actor - and the better they are, the less the director needs to do (one of my theories about why type-casting has become so prevalent over the years - it saves hours, even if it often isn't, IMO, as interesting as extracting something out of somebody against obvious type) - but the director can do so much to make it even better.
I must admit, two years of developing and eye and understanding of lighting in still work (combined with seeing some really fabulous, fabulous television - really feels like we're in a new "golden age" of TV at the moment) makes me wish I had the face (and the figure!) to do some on-camera work - I'm fascinated. Most especially by the differences between that and what I do on a big stage, to big music. So much the same, and yet so very, very different.... :muses:
Great stuff, Tom - congrats again, and do share the outcome!
Ah, the magic words...I know that one, I see it like Jack and the bean stalk..the magic beans, and something grows.
Glad to hear TV is good. I have thought about going out to watch sometime in one of those places with lots of tv's just to see what I see...probably would be good for me.
I know Youth and beauty sell quite well, but for me, and I think lots of folks, talent trumps all that...You got talent DM, I know that from listening to your Stuff. I can only imagine how your performances are. Don't discount yourself on the potential for entertaining thru other media due to age/body type. talent rules!
Thanks again, And I'll post back when the dust settles.
- Deadwood (yes, it's violent and the language is, uh, strong, but it is absolutely part of the storytelling and NOT gratuitous, which IMO makes it integral and valid. AMAZING performances and it's almost like a Shakesperean tragedy in its emotional scope).
- The UK Life on Mars and the sequel Ashes to Ashes (should have mentioned LoM in my previous comment since it came first - I'm just more of an Ashes fan myself). Crazy and brilliant. Lots of British in-jokes, but many Americans have enjoyed it wholeheartedly even if they didn't get all the location references/gags.
- Madmen. (Yup, I'm a fan. Series 1-2 superb, 3 a bit iffy, 4 back on form, 5 only just starting filming now. Visually amazing.)
- First two series of Grey's Anatomy. (Went nuts after that IMO, but really REALLY strong characters initially.)
- the revival of Doctor Who. (I watched the old show as a kid, but we have become absolute ADDICTS in this house (and diehard David Tennant fans) thanks to Russell T Davies' resurrection of the show 6 years ago. Not quite so crazy about the current series (diff writers/producers), but I'm still enjoying it. But Seasons 1-4 (especially 2 and 4) are FABULOUS television at any level, for any age, even if you don't like sci-fi. It manages to be fun, exciting, scary, philosophical, poignant and downright funny all at once. And how many other programs can please 10-80 year olds who will all express their delight in it equally? An amazing achievement, IMO.)
- Russell T Davies + David Tennant (as well as Peter O'Toole!) in another of their fabulous collaborations: A witty and rather post-modern telling of the Casanova story. It's just FUN.
- Another David Tennant triumph (also with David Morissey and Sarah Parish): Blackpool. It's kind of part musical, part detective/murder mystery, part romcom. Hard to describe, but wonderful to watch!
- If you like period drama, check out the BBC's North and South, and Little Dorrit. Both fabulous adaptations.
- for a slightly-more-cerebral than usual spy series, Spooks (AKA MI5 in the US). Series 1, 4, 5 and 7 are my personal favorites, although they all have something to offer.
/total tangent
Yes, do keep us posted on the results!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This one below is one I think was very close in taking AT&T's brief to heart.
Rethink Possible was the brief title.
Le Vol ( The Flight)
"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xg-0ADvdwPg" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="560"></iframe>
(PS One tiny nit - the opening sequence in the "Le Vol" was crooked... Yeah, I know - totally nit-picky photographer thing - but I kept noticing it so felt I should probably say something on the "for next time...." principle!!!)
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Oh..Your Monitor is skewed...Just take a biz card or two and place them gently under the left side...that'll straighten the scene right up!
Seriously though, and you're gonna love this... I just realized (and remembered) that was the scene I shot with the mini-tripod located over the actors sink. I had to use a make-up compact mirror to focus and set the scene since the camera was about four inches away from the sink surround and the faucet was right next to the Shutter button....It is a wonder it was able to be used at all! Thanks for the nit-picken reminder!
hey DavidTO! Yeah, I have had a hoot with these kids. They are lovely! Very talented folks. Thanks!:D
Ok, that is so TOTALLY the kind of thing I would do if I couldn't figure it out any other way!!! Seriously. When in doubt? McGyver rules.....
ETA: One word - superclamp. Ok, two words: Superclamp or a Nastyclamp (those things are AWESOME.... I just wish they were a bit less expensive!)
Clamps? Got one er two! The thing is...this camera and it's LCD was 4" from a Wall. I had to do that to gain enough distance for perspective control. Did you know College kids have small apt's.?
Just received news this a.m. that My Video for the Chevy brief, nailed fourth Place!
Can we see it?
No kiddin! mee too!
Nah...I cannot share it yet. Now I have to wait until Chevy says go ahead...since they are paying for the privilege. Soon I hope, thanks!
title, Magdalena Viajando!
Thanks for the Support DM!