Thursday in class we filmed our scenes. Michelle encouraged us to warm up, use the physical exercises Kennedy had taught us to connect to our bodies and voice. So for the first time, I went out in the hallway and warmed up. Breathing exercises, speaking Omnish (I think I previously spelled it Amesh). Then Michelle called us back into the room. As I went back into the classroom I realized I hadn't done any phyisical relaxation exercises and I wished I had. So L. and I went second, and just before we started the scene, I shook my whole body out very quickly, like a dog shaking off water.
We went through the scene once, Michelle gave us a couple of notes, and then we filmed it. She seemed very impressed with both of us. She said, "Wow. That was a difficult scene." The only note she really had for us was regarding the moment when L's character blurts out that my character's husband has been having an affair. I hadn't done any homework for that particular moment, so my reaction was missing a lot. But other than that, she said I did a really good job staying connected to L. even when I wasn't speaking, and allowing my face to show my thoughts and feelings as I reacted to what I was hearing.
When I sat down, immediately one of my friends whispered to me, "That was so awesome, you did so good! We were all sitting here, 'Wow!', because you completely disappeared. Your transition into your character was seamless, even between takes. We couldn't see Isabelle at all in your character. Good job!"
And then A. told me I could be the next Kathy Bates. (Wow!) She said that I was able to just drop into the character and really bring her to life in the same way that Kathy Bates does. I said, "Thank you, that's very nice of you." And she said, "Well, you deserve it. If you can find the confidence Mark was talking about on Tuesday, you'll totally have what it takes." Wow.
And I feel that the improvisation Linda and I had done, and the physical work on our character we had done in movement class helped so much, in more ways than I am consciously aware.
When we watched the scene back, I saw some of what they were talking about. I don't agree that I disappeared entirely, I could see flashes of myself in my performance. But once again, the big thing that hit me was I didn't like the way I look on screen. And this time it wasn't even about weight, it was about my face. But I don't want to go on and on about how awful I felt I looked. It just got me thinking about what sort of characters I could realistically play, what types of characters I look like I could play. And it also reminded me that I need to accept the way I look instead of wishing I looked like Nicole Kidman or Charlize Theron.
We went through the scene once, Michelle gave us a couple of notes, and then we filmed it. She seemed very impressed with both of us. She said, "Wow. That was a difficult scene." The only note she really had for us was regarding the moment when L's character blurts out that my character's husband has been having an affair. I hadn't done any homework for that particular moment, so my reaction was missing a lot. But other than that, she said I did a really good job staying connected to L. even when I wasn't speaking, and allowing my face to show my thoughts and feelings as I reacted to what I was hearing.
When I sat down, immediately one of my friends whispered to me, "That was so awesome, you did so good! We were all sitting here, 'Wow!', because you completely disappeared. Your transition into your character was seamless, even between takes. We couldn't see Isabelle at all in your character. Good job!"
And then A. told me I could be the next Kathy Bates. (Wow!) She said that I was able to just drop into the character and really bring her to life in the same way that Kathy Bates does. I said, "Thank you, that's very nice of you." And she said, "Well, you deserve it. If you can find the confidence Mark was talking about on Tuesday, you'll totally have what it takes." Wow.
And I feel that the improvisation Linda and I had done, and the physical work on our character we had done in movement class helped so much, in more ways than I am consciously aware.
When we watched the scene back, I saw some of what they were talking about. I don't agree that I disappeared entirely, I could see flashes of myself in my performance. But once again, the big thing that hit me was I didn't like the way I look on screen. And this time it wasn't even about weight, it was about my face. But I don't want to go on and on about how awful I felt I looked. It just got me thinking about what sort of characters I could realistically play, what types of characters I look like I could play. And it also reminded me that I need to accept the way I look instead of wishing I looked like Nicole Kidman or Charlize Theron.
1 comment:
hi again,
sorry if i'm freaking you out by all this similarity. It must be strange to have an australian girl sending you all these messages. hope it's nice rather than weird.
Watched the last eppisode of 6 feet under last night. hadn't seen it before and tv takes a while to get over here. Anyway my trange story is that my friends tell me I look like 'claire' not that that means I act anything like her. and really it's way too flatering, i have red hair but i'm not pretty like that.
I hope if i go to the states we can catch up and talk acting.
all the best to you!
isabel.
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