"Upon the rocks the ugly houses stand. Come see my shining palace, built upon the sand!" As an actor, it is our job to bring imagination to life, to create shining palaces for the audience to enjoy.
Since my moving plans have hit a small snag and are temporarily delayed (only a few days, no worries!) I played with my new video editing software just enough to get the second student film I did last fall up on YouTube! HOORAY!! But YouTube has a 10 minute time limit on videos, and rejected the film in one part because it is 14 minutes long. Even though the film was well under the 100 MB limit, even though I have seen numerous other videos on YouTube that are 17 mins or more, an hour in a few cases. So, the film is unfortunately in two parts on YouTube. BUT--Blogger *totally rocks* because they've added their own video uploading fuction, so I present here for you, complete and uncut:
First, I *LOVE* Best Buy! I especially love their 18 month interest-free promotions! They've got one going until the 31st, so I bought some stuff I've been needing and/or wanting.
I bought a digital camera! It is small enough and casual enough to use for fun pictures. But also powerful enough to take headshots with a high enough quality to print as 8x10's. Nearly every aspect of taking the photo can go 100% manual on this camera. So my plan is to have my aunt (who has professional photography training) take my headshots for me with my new camera! YAY! I'll be so much more comfortable with her than with a stranger, plus, we can break up the session, do one look on this day, do that look on another day, which I personally think is so much easier than trying to change my look, hair, and make-up 3-5 different ways all within a few hours.
I also bought movie editing software! I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but now with any luck, I can get my footage off the DVDs and into a computer file where I can edit them together, and upload to NowCasting & LA Casting, and to YouTube so you all can see them too! And hopefully some of the technical issues I've had with some of my amatuer projects can now be fixed (such as scenes too dark, etc).
Second, I'll be moving in a couple of weeks, HUZZAH! I'm sooo ready to move out of my current location. I'll be renting a room in a house that's only 20 minutes from my day job. BUT it's also further from LA. Like 60 miles east of LA. But I figure that's okay for now, because 95% of the time, I'm driving to my day job, and 5% (if that) I'm driving to LA to audition. And I've decided I'm only going to submit for paid projects from now on. If a student project looks really interesting, I'll submit for those too, but it's time to take a step up. And since NowCasting and LA Casting have very very few paid jobs listed for "non-union w/out agent", it's time to make a plan and take action to find an agent. I'm also wondering if once I get a reel and resume clips up on NowCasting, if that will open the door to more paid job notices. I don't know what kind of criteria the directors/producers can set on their end for casting notices.
Alright, I feel really goofy about this, but here's a short video I made to help out a friend.
She's looking for more people in as many different states and countries as possible to do this dance, she's putting together a video for a favorite teacher who's retiring due to a brain tumor. (YIKES!) Anyhow, let me know if you'd like to help out too! Check out her YouTube page, she's actually got quite a collection going of Lat Dancers from around the world! http://www.youtube.com/user/isla2611
First of all, I should have said this last week after everyone was wonderful enough to leave me "Welcome Back, Never Left" comments:
THANK YOU so much for sticking with me, and for your support! You all *ROCK*!! I appreciate you all so much. *Group Hug*
Next up, one of you asked about the YouTube videos I've been working on. Here ya go! (Please remember these are amateur projects created with no training to speak of.)
(I just have to say on the video above, Karaoke Idol, how proud I am of my actors. They had no script, and they hadn't actually seen my performance when we shot their reactions and dialouge. I'm also very proud--maybe too proud--of the credits and theme music I created.)
These are the only two I've acted in so far. The second video is really really bad overall, (that was actually our very first attempt at shooting any kind of film/video) but I like to think it's so bad it's funny?
There are other videos on our YouTube page, The Random Acts, that are my friend Kim's projects, and Lip Sync Idol that I directed. I have two more that have been filmed, but one is incomplete due to irreconcilable difficulties, which I will post here at some point. The other I think will turn out okay after all, and I'll post that to the YouTube page.
Oh yeah, I get to go reshoot my half of the scene in An Unlikely Love tomorrow evening. Apparently the lighting was too different when they turned the camera around. We had filmed the lead actor saying her lines with natural lighting, and then they jumped briefly to another scene (that did not include me) before they lost the natural light, and then they filmed my side of the scene after dark. So we're gonna shoot my side again tomorrow at the same time of day as we shot the lead actor's lines, so I'll have the same natural lighting.
So yesterday evening's shoot for the student short, An Unlikely Love, was okay. This is the project I auditioned for on Thursday afternoon. We got started a little late due to this and that, which is not unusual on any set. I did not recieve any direction, so I'm assuming that means the director liked what I gave for my scene. The camera operator complimented both of us (the lead actor and I) a couple of times, however. So I'm eager to see how the completed project will turn out. I fear that my performance wasn't as good as it could have been, based on how it felt on the inside, but how it feels on the inside isn't always accurate to how it reads on camera.
I also have to remind myself that I had such a small part, it's only a fraction of what the completed project will be. A page and a third out of a 10-15 page script. (I never got to see the whole script, but the lead actor seemed to have 10-15 pages.) And to be completely honest, my Ego-Monster was not happy about that at all at first. But then I reminded myself, that it could (and will be) the same thing in bigger TV shows and films. One line in this TV show, two lines in that movie. That's just the business.
The interesting thing I discovered from yesterday's shoot, is that the way we've been working on my amature YouTube videos isn't that different from what I experienced yesterday. An Unlikely Love was shot digitally (with a camcorder instead of 16mm film), so the biggest difference between that project and my own being the student director had professional lights, and a good eye for lighting and the technicalities of making the scene look good on film. That's where I've been struggling as director of my projects, because I don't have the training or the education.
But last year I bought several books to read, a basic book on the different types of shots, another that appeared to be a college textbook about creating the visual artistry of film, I also found several useful YouTube videos about basic types of shots, the 180 degree rule, etc.
The ironic thing about all of this is, I don't want to be a director. I am simply an actor who wants to act, and so I am self-teaching the directing part to create my own opportunities to be an actor and increase my experience and skill in front of a camera.
