Wednesday 24 April 2013

The Great Acting Blog Has Moved

Dear Friends,

Posterous is shutting their service down on the 30th April, and so The Great Acting Blog will no longer be found there. All posts can now be found at 

I do hope you will subscribe at the new site, and continue to receive The Great Acting Blog posts.

Kind Regards,
James

Thursday 7 March 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "Poetic Acting In Noirish Project"

Npscreengrab02

As many of you probably already know, filming began on Noirish Project recently, and, generally, it went very smoothly. We all had worked together before, and we all wanted to work on this material, which created, despite the early start on a cold February morning, a very happy, productive camp. It was also my first opportunity to try out my notion of “poetic acting” (which I outlined here). In a nut shell, poetic acting requires austerity on the part of the actor, aswell as simplicity and discipline, rather than forcing things, he simply allows moments and expressions to “pop out” of his performance, as a by-product of his attempt to do his action. Poetic acting also requires pared-back camera work, and minimal editing,  as this clears the way for those organic moments and expressions to become significant – such subtleties would be lost without this minimalism. The object of poetic acting is to offer the viewer the chance to interpret the behaviour of the characters they see upon the screen, using those momentary expressions created by the actor as signs.  This invites the viewer to engage more intensely with the scene, and witness hidden truths, witness that which is not manifest in the script. This does require  the viewer to pay acute attention to what he is watching, and clearly the minimalist filmmaking helps by offering the minimum of distraction.

The script is very gentle and slight, which requires the acting to be likewise, and again, this is in order to  give precedence to small moments. Ironically however, I find this gentle form of acting enormously challenging, it’s more natural for me to play high drama or (sometimes) high comedy. If I don’t feel as though I’m hurling my very soul at a brick wall as forcefully as I can, then I don’t think I’m doing any work. However, when I reviewed the scenes we had done, the little moments, which are so important to the film, were certainly present, and shockingly so at times. This has certainly re-enforced my belief in the aesthetic we are employing, and hopefully, we will see it strengthen and produce even more vivid results as the production progresses.

 

Next up, Billy and Jimmy get lost in the woods, which should be a lot of fun to do. We will be taking a slightly different approach this time, as the scenes are only sketched out in the script, and we will, on the day, improvise specific tragi-comic events, and then, the week after, we will be back to fully scripted scenes.

Monday 25 February 2013

"Re-Rehearsals"

Production on my new feature film, Noirish Project, will continue through March and April.

Meanwhile, a free download of short film, Prelude (To Noirish Project), can be got here.

 

We fully rehearsed scenes last month, only for the shooting of those scenes to be postponed due to snow. This week, we are in the odd position of having to re-rehearse those scenes, as we are shooting those same scenes next week. It’s odd because our original rehearsals had been rigorous, and we had reached the point where we were ready to do the performance proper. Now, all actors have a creative metabolism, which is to say that each actor has his own rhythm of work and knows how to time his development in rehearsals so that he peaks when the scenes are to be done for real. So when you reach that peak but the performance doesn’t happen, it creates an odd feeling when you have to come back to re-rehearse those scenes. Usually, once I’ve performed a scene and it’s done, I can let it go, and put it behind me, but these recent unperformed scenes still linger at the back of my mind, as I haven’t been able to go through the process of discharging them. As I approach this week’s rehearsals, there is a feeling of history in the air, there are ghosts, and they need to be exorcised.

How to approach these new re-rehearsals of old scenes then? Well, we do not need to go through the script analysis process, as that has already been done, and it will be just a question of re-focusing and reminding. After that, I think it is a question of forgetting about how we did it before, not re-heating that old work, but instead, just create afresh, using the same analysis to support and enable that. My feeling is, that once we’ve broken the seal as it were, the creative energy within us will be unlocked, and something new will emerge. Cobwebs will be blown away, then that sense of the old work still hanging around will dissipate.

Well, that’s the theory. Either way, we’ll find out soon enough.

Thursday 21 February 2013

The Great Actin Blog: "Fear Of Failure"

Commitment is a tricky thing. At the moment just before we need to commit, our minds suggest all kinds of alternatives as preferable to the thing we are about to commit to. One of the reasons commitment is so hard, is because we are putting our good opinion of ourselves on the line: if it all goes wrong then there are no excuses, and it hurts. Note how distraught elite sportspeople get when,  despite giving absolutely everything, they lose a big match. Rarely do we see them shrug during such a moment, they would only shrug if they  didn’t care, and hadn’t spent themselves. However, when we fear failure, we don’t give  a proper effort or we don’t try at all, so as to avoid the pain failure may bring. The trouble with this approach is, the failure becomes self-fulfilling, because our lack of effort ensured, from the outset, that we would fail.

Creative endeavours are rarely, if ever, as cut and dry as the sports field, and, in acting, the symptoms of fear of failure take very, very subtle forms, so subtle infact, that sometimes they may even be mistaken for great acting. What I’m talking about here is undercutting the scene with a cutesy bit of humour, or with some “characterization”, or a bit of emotion, or even something oh-so ironic. This usually happens when something unforeseen moves the actor internally, something rears itself which had not been part of the actor’s cosy, little plan for playing the scene. What was this terrible unforeseen horror? Why, it was the truth of the moment of course. The courageous actor, doesn’t flinch from that moment, instead, he grapples with it no matter how unnerved by it he may be, he sticks to his task ruthlessly, and does the best he can. The phoney actor denies the truth of the moment, he tries to defuse the potential of the unplanned, he tries to suffocate it,  for he must always be seen to be in control, superior to the scene, superior to the audience, and cannot bear anything which threatens that control, threatens that feeling of superiority. He tries to masque the truth with a lie, he tries to render the truth imperceptible. But this phoney bit of behaviour, often extorts a moment of admiration from the audience, and well it might, for that was it’s original intention, that is, the actor uses a bit of cleverness to distract the audience from the fact that he is not flawless.This actor is scared, scared of criticism,  scared of being hurt, and protects himself with empty trickery. The truthful actor is like the sportsman, he gives everything even though he knows that by the end, exhausted and drenched in sweat, he may still come up short.

 

The truthful actor commits fully despite his fear. This is called courage.

Wednesday 20 February 2013

The Great Actin Blog: "Fear Of Failure"

Commitment is a tricky thing. At the moment just before we need to commit, our minds suggest all kinds of alternatives as preferable to the thing we are about to commit to. One of the reasons commitment is so hard, is because we are putting our good opinion of ourselves on the line: if it all goes wrong then there are no excuses, and it hurts. Note how distraught elite sportspeople get when,  despite giving absolutely everything, they lose a big match. Rarely do we see them shrug during such a moment, they would only shrug if they  didn’t care, and hadn’t spent themselves. However, when we fear failure, we don’t give  a proper effort or we don’t try at all, so as to avoid the pain failure may bring. The trouble with this approach is, the failure becomes self-fulfilling, because our lack of effort ensured, from the outset, that we would fail.

Creative endeavours are rarely, if ever, as cut and dry as the sports field, and, in acting, the symptoms of fear of failure take very, very subtle forms, so subtle infact, that sometimes they may even be mistaken for great acting. What I’m talking about here is undercutting the scene with a cutesy bit of humour, or with some “characterization”, or a bit of emotion, or even something oh-so ironic. This usually happens when something unforeseen moves the actor internally, something rears itself which had not been part of the actor’s cosy, little plan for playing the scene. What was this terrible unforeseen horror? Why, it was the truth of the moment of course. The courageous actor, doesn’t flinch from that moment, instead, he grapples with it no matter how unnerved by it he may be, he sticks to his task ruthlessly, and does the best he can. The phoney actor denies the truth of the moment, he tries to defuse the potential of the unplanned, he tries to suffocate it,  for he must always be seen to be in control, superior to the scene, superior to the audience, and cannot bear anything which threatens that control, threatens that feeling of superiority. He tries to masque the truth with a lie, he tries to render the truth imperceptible. But this phoney bit of behaviour, often extorts a moment of admiration from the audience, and well it might, for that was it’s original intention, that is, the actor uses a bit of cleverness to distract the audience from the fact that he is not flawless.This actor is scared, scared of criticism,  scared of being hurt, and protects himself with empty trickery. The truthful actor is like the sportsman, he gives everything even though he knows that by the end, exhausted and drenched in sweat, he may still come up short.

 

The truthful actor commits fully despite his fear. This is called courage.

Friday 15 February 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "Anyone Can Act In The Same Way Anyone Can Write A Poem"

Study voice and movement – learn the difference between the beautiful and the attractive. Learn to analyze a script the way a director should and almost none can…Make yourself the expert…Your friends will tell you you are making yourself foolish and no-one will appreciate the finer points in any case. And that is exactly what bad actors say to devoted actors.” – David Mamet
As an actor, you’ve only got yourself to commit to – people enter the arena casually, and leave casually, because there is apparently no investment, no capital outlay, there are, apparently, no tools of the trade, there are no material necessities. Filmmakers have their cameras, musicians have their instruments, even writers, at the very least, have a pencil and paper, but actors require no such material objects, anyone might get up from their armchair, and declare that they can walk proficiently, that they can talk proficiently, ergo they can act proficiently, and so put themselves out there, vying for work. Further, it is easy to walk away from the business (and re-enter again), because it is just a question of ceasing to use yourself, which is very different to, say, somebody who sets out to become a pianist – if they walk away, they will forever have their piano in the corner of the room as an aching reminder of their failure.

All that an actor possesses is himself; his body, his personality, his imagination. But what would happen to one who set out to become a filmmaker but failed to learn about light? Or one who set out to become a playwright but failed to learn about dramatic construction? Certainly they would not reach a level of excellence that would suffice for  an audience to pay to experience their work. Why should somebody think that they could be an effective actor without a sustained  focus on practicing and improving their craft? “Ah”, I hear you say, “what about the Hollywood star, paid millions, but has problems with articulation such that, in some scenes, we cannot make out what he is saying? Is this not akin to watching a film where the camera is, at times, out of focus, or the instrument out of tune? And what about the genius “non-actor”, plucked from some street corner to star in the role of a life-time?” These are valid points, and they certainly do happen. But I say, so what? These things should not be used as an excuse to not strive for excellence, to not work hard, to not acknowledge that acting is an ancient and important craft and that one must learn to serve it. Acting then, becomes an investment not in material goods, but an investment in the self. The usual howl of derision will go up as it always does, that actors are narcissistic and selfish and self-obsessed* – but nobody complains about the filmmaker obsessed with his camera, they say he is dedicated, and it would be absurd to criticise the pianist for ensuring his piano is in tune.

That anyone can act, is true in the same way that anyone can write a poem.

*I would aver that the number of actors who possess these qualities, is proportionate to the population at large who possess these qualities.

The Great Acting Blog: "Anyone Can Act In The Same Way Anyone Can Write A Poem"

Study voice and movement – learn the difference between the beautiful and the attractive. Learn to analyze a script the way a director should and almost none can…Make yourself the expert…Your friends will tell you you are making yourself foolish and no-one will appreciate the finer points in any case. And that is exactly what bad actors say to devoted actors.” – David Mamet
As an actor, you’ve only got yourself to commit to – people enter the arena casually, and leave casually, because there is apparently no investment, no capital outlay, there are, apparently, no tools of the trade, there are no material necessities. Filmmakers have their cameras, musicians have their instruments, even writers, at the very least, have a pencil and paper, but actors require no such material objects, anyone might get up from their armchair, and declare that they can walk proficiently, that they can talk proficiently, ergo they can act proficiently, and so put themselves out there, vying for work. Further, it is easy to walk away from the business (and re-enter again), because it is just a question of ceasing to use yourself, which is very different to, say, somebody who sets out to become a pianist – if they walk away, they will forever have their piano in the corner of the room as an aching reminder of their failure.

All that an actor possesses is himself; his body, his personality, his imagination. But what would happen to one who set out to become a filmmaker but failed to learn about light? Or one who set out to become a playwright but failed to learn about dramatic construction? Certainly they would not reach a level of excellence that would suffice for  an audience to pay to experience their work. Why should somebody think that they could be an effective actor without a sustained  focus on practicing and improving their craft? “Ah”, I hear you say, “what about the Hollywood star, paid millions, but has problems with articulation such that, in some scenes, we cannot make out what he is saying? Is this not akin to watching a film where the camera is, at times, out of focus, or the instrument out of tune? And what about the genius “non-actor”, plucked from some street corner to star in the role of a life-time?” These are valid points, and they certainly do happen. But I say, so what? These things should not be used as an excuse to not strive for excellence, to not work hard, to not acknowledge that acting is an ancient and important craft and that one must learn to serve it. Acting then, becomes an investment not in material goods, but an investment in the self. The usual howl of derision will go up as it always does, that actors are narcissistic and selfish and self-obsessed* – but nobody complains about the filmmaker obsessed with his camera, they say he is dedicated, and it would be absurd to criticise the pianist for ensuring his piano is in tune.

That anyone can act, is true in the same way that anyone can write a poem.

*I would aver that the number of actors who possess these qualities, is proportionate to the population at large who possess these qualities.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Drifting Clouds Blog: "Delighted that Prelude is now available as an HE quality download"

Prelude can now be downloaded via Mishorts.com here

“This enigmatic thriller opens with Billy asking Jimmy to help him offload some pearls he plans on stealing from his mother. Jimmy is the only person Billy knows who is connected to the underworld. But, Jimmy isn’t so sure it’s a good idea. Or perhaps he has other plans. This is how it all begins…
A prelude to the Noirish Project feature film which will be released later this year.”

Monday 11 February 2013

Great piece on building the film culture you want to see....

"Presently, we are divided and conquered by a system that preys upon our dreams of success, encouraging us to squander collective progress on false hopes of personal enrichment. We follow the herd and only lead reluctantly."

 

Read the full article here 

 

The Face Of Another: "Jean-Pierre Aumont & Annabella in Marcel Carne's Hotel Du Nord"

Dec_hoteldunord

Thursday 7 February 2013

The Great Acting Blog Has Moved!

And Can Now Be Found At:

 

www.jamesdevereaux.com

 

I do hope you will join us there.

 

Regards,

James

The Great Acting Blog: "The Creative Process by Alfie Black"

Noirish Project was always going to be a different experience for me. This is my third film Collaboration with writer/director James Devereaux. For me, having the back story prepared for my role is always a necessity. It is this part of the creative process I enjoy the most, thinking like my character and working out his personality, right down to what he would wear. It may sound strange but I have always given less thought to the actual script. Obviously I would read and memorise the dialogue, but I would approach it with less energy. So when James told me our first rehearsal would consist of a script analysis, I was eager to become the student. Breaking down the scenes gave me a different understanding of what was happening to both the character and the story. We began with the obligatory first few rusty line readings. It always takes a few times to adapt to another actor saying the dialogue that you have only been hearing in your head. Once we were comfortable with the words, we filmed the scenes and watched them back. This was something I’d never really done before, working mainly in theatre I do not get to see my performance at any stage, so I was intrigued to see how this would influence my execution. Watching the playback it became evident I had given my safe, maybe lazy soap opera style acting. It was still honest and had some nice moments and maybe any other Director would have been satisfied with it, but Devereaux wanted to take me out of my comfort zone and delve deeper. To help me realise an action choice for the scene we used improvisations from my own past experiences to create a truth I could mirror within the character. I was confused by this new method at first and tried to fight it going in and out of my safety net, but once I relaxed and didn’t over think, Devereaux’s wax on wax off style training proved to deliver the goods. When we recommenced with the scenes I had a new confidence and began to enjoy saying the dialogue which also enhanced my performance. Why had I not been taught this way before? The difference on screen was incredible, I was already so proud of the film and this was only the rehearsals we were filming, roll on the shoot. Unfortunately due to severe weather conditions the filming had to be postponed. I was so disappointed, never before had I ever felt this ready and prepared for a role. As we were not filming James asked me if I would still like to shoot some footage and make use of our hard work. My first instinct was to play it safe and go back to bed, it was cold outside and I was feeling let down. This moment passed and I began to like the idea, I wanted to learn more about these characters. The first scene was an interior and it involved Billy arranging to meet Jimmy on the phone. The improvisation was a success, we shot it in one take. I was very comfortable with the character of Billy, the words oozed out with ease. I felt I knew everything about him and this was of course due to the intense rehearsal period. We continued to film throughout the day and I enjoyed every minute of it, sometimes with the pressures in the acting world you forget it can be fun. I was glad it snowed that weekend because we would have never created Prelude To Noirish Project. I am so pleased with the result and proud of what we have accomplished so far. I’m looking forward to filming Noirish Project, learning more and developing my craft even further.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "The Creative Process by Alfie Black"

 

Noirish Project was always going to be a different experience for me. This is my third film Collaboration with writer/director James Devereaux. For me, having the back story prepared for my role is always a necessity. It is this part of the creative process I enjoy the most, thinking like my character and working out his personality, right down to what he would wear. It may sound strange but I have always given less thought to the actual script. Obviously I would read and memorise the dialogue, but I would approach it with less energy. So when James told me our first rehearsal would consist of a script analysis, I was eager to become the student. Breaking down the scenes gave me a different understanding of what was happening to both the character and the story. We began with the obligatory first few rusty line readings. It always takes a few times to adapt to another actor saying the dialogue that you have only been hearing in your head. Once we were comfortable with the words, we filmed the scenes and watched them back. This was something I’d never really done before, working mainly in theatre I do not get to see my performance at any stage, so I was intrigued to see how this would influence my execution. Watching the playback it became evident I had given my safe, maybe lazy soap opera style acting. It was still honest and had some nice moments and maybe any other Director would have been satisfied with it, but Devereaux wanted to take me out of my comfort zone and delve deeper. To help me realise an action choice for the scene we used improvisations from my own past experiences to create a truth I could mirror within the character. I was confused by this new method at first and tried to fight it going in and out of my safety net, but once I relaxed and didn’t over think, Devereaux’s wax on wax off style training proved to deliver the goods. When we recommenced with the scenes I had a new confidence and began to enjoy saying the dialogue which also enhanced my performance. Why had I not been taught this way before? The difference on screen was incredible, I was already so proud of the film and this was only the rehearsals we were filming, roll on the shoot. Unfortunately due to severe weather conditions the filming had to be postponed. I was so disappointed, never before had I ever felt this ready and prepared for a role. As we were not filming James asked me if I would still like to shoot some footage and make use of our hard work. My first instinct was to play it safe and go back to bed, it was cold outside and I was feeling let down. This moment passed and I began to like the idea, I wanted to learn more about these characters. The first scene was an interior and it involved Billy arranging to meet Jimmy on the phone.  The improvisation was a success, we shot it in one take. I was very comfortable with the character of Billy, the words oozed out with ease. I felt I knew everything about him and this was of course due to the intense rehearsal period. We continued to film throughout the day and I enjoyed every minute of it, sometimes with the pressures in the acting world you forget it can be fun. I was glad it snowed that weekend because we would have never created Prelude To Noirish Project. I am so pleased with the result and proud of what we have accomplished so far. I’m looking forward to filming Noirish Project, learning more and developing my craft even further.

Richard Burton. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.

Friday 1 February 2013

Michel Piccoli In Manoel de Oliveira's I'm Going Home

Im-going-home
I sincerely urge you to watch this little masterpiece from the Portugeese auteur. Michel Piccoli plays a grand old theatre actor. and John Malkovich is wonderful as a TV director.

 

SYNOPSIS

In one of De Oliveira’s crowning achievements, the great Michel Piccoli stars as Gilbert Valence, a In one of De Oliveira’s crowning achievements, the great Michel Piccoli stars as Gilbert Valence, a celebrated actor who loses his daughter and son-in-law in a car crash, and gradually puts the pieces of his life back together. To be specific, we watch as Valence more or less returns to his daily routine of morning coffee at a sidewalk cafe, afternoon shopping expeditions, and the continual search for the next great part, including his casting as Buck Mulligan in a Franco-American co-production of Ulysses directed by John Malkovich! Precisely because Oliveira doesn’t dwell on Valence’s grief, every scene in the film seems somehow shaded by melancholy and the human impulse to carry on—a theme that resonated with uncanny power during the film’s NYFF premiere, mere weeks after the 9/11 attacks. –NYFF

 

489
 actor who loses his daughter and son-in-law in a car crash, and gradually puts the pieces of his life back together. To be specific, we watch as Valence more or less returns to his daily routine of morning coffee at a sidewalk cafe, afternoon shopping expeditions, and the continual search for the next great part, including his casting as Buck Mulligan in a Franco-American co-production of Ulysses directed by John Malkovich! Precisely because Oliveira doesn’t dwell on Valence’s grief, every scene in the film seems somehow shaded by melancholy and the human impulse to carry on—a theme that resonated with uncanny power during the film’s NYFF premiere, mere weeks after the 9/11 attacks. –NYFF

Wednesday 30 January 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "The Short Film Before The Feature Film"

 

 

Prelude is now complete, and I am delighted to be sharing the film with you here. Some of you will already know that this is the short film we made when work on our feature film,Noirish Project, was snowed off. Noirish Project is a noir about Billy, who steals the family jewels and gives them to low-life Jimmy to sell to a Fence. But their problems begin when the jewels turn out to be fake. Prelude, takes place before the robbery, and Billy is trying to convince Jimmy to help him out. I do hope you enjoy the film, and please feel free to leave any feedback in the comments section below.

As of last week, there has been no change in the situation for the feature film shoot: we are awaiting confirmation (or not) of more snowfall. Either way, we will get the production up and running over the next month or so. I have posted all of the blog-posts we have so far, which relate to the film.

 

Improvising

Prelude To Noirish Project [Stills]

Noirish Project Rehearsals

 

Poetic Acting

 

Noirish Project Swings Into Motion

 

Noirish Project - Feature Film Announcement

 

 

Monday 28 January 2013

Prelude To Noirish Project Is Now Complete. Delighted to share the film with you here...

 

 

We made this short film when the shoot for our feature film, Noirish Project, was snowed off. Noirish Project is a noir about Billy, who steals the family jewels and gives them to low-life Jimmy to sell to a Fence. But their problems begin when the jewels turn out to be fake. Prelude, takes place before the robbery, and Billy is trying to convince Jimmy to help him out.

 

Check-out notes about the film...here 

 

Thursday 24 January 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "Improvising"

Check out this quick teaser I put together. We've still some work to do on the sound, but the film will be completed in the next week or so.

I had planned to shoot Noirish Project in two chunks: the first last week, and the second later in the year.  Unfortunately, I had to postpone shooting the first chunk last week because of the snow, obviously this wouldn't have matched with anything we would have shot in the second chunk when in all likelihood there wouldn't have been snow. However, seeing as everything was set up anyway, I thought it would be a waste to not do anything, and so decided to go out and make a short, using the landscape as a snowy backdrop. I wanted the short to still be connected to Noirish Project in some way, and hit upon the idea of the short film being a sort of "backstory" for the feature, where we would learn a little bit more about the characters and how the events in the feature came about, calling the short; Prelude To Noirish Project. 

In the feature film, Billy has stolen his families' heirloom, some pearls, which they have owned "since before the War", and he gives the pearls to the only person he knows who has even a vague connection with the world of crime, Jimmy, to sell to a fence. Prelude takes place before Billy has stolen the pearls, and is structured around a telephone call, i.e. - Billy ringing-up Jimmy to see if he'd be interested in the pearls. The telephone call is then intercut with imagery of Jimmy on his way to meet Billy in the park. This structure lends the film a sort of fantasy quality, where we are not sure whether Billy is imagining the events we are seeing or not. I'm starting to think that the telephone is perhaps my favourite dramatic device of all - it's just so economical, and it creates plenty of scope for the acting, it's always fun to watch actors trying to express themselves through a phone. Also, I think telephones are very strange indeed (far stranger than email or text message, which seem far more natural), and therefore they possess a mystery which is intrinsically dramatic. It also opens up structural possibilities, and in Prelude, often I use the telephone conversation as a voice-over: we hear the characters talking, but we see imagery from another time and place.

There wasn't time to write a script, so I just decided on subject matter and the overall structure of the film, and we improvised the specific dialogue. We had, however, during the preceding weeks, been rehearsing the scripted scenes  we had already scheduled to shoot, and had arrived at performance level. This work had a strong impact on the improvisation, especially in terms of style and rhythm of dialogue. The actual script has repetitive, punchy dialogue, and we found that to be true of the improvisation aswell, as if the rhythms of the script had lodged themselves in our minds. I also found it easy to access my character's (Jimmy) sardonic intent toward the other character (Billy). The net result is that Prelude feels very much a part of the full Noirish Project feature film, it seems part of the universe of the full film, which is a very pleasant result.
I am currently in the process of re-scheduling the scenes we were unable to do, probably for mid- February. Snowfall has been rumoured, but we'll have to wait and see. 

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Trailer for CENTRO HISTORICO, omnibus feature by Aki Kaurismaki, Pedro Costa, Victor Erice & Manoel deOliveira

The Great Acting Blog: "Improvising"

Check out this quick teaser I put together. We've still some work to do on the sound, but the film will be completed in the next week or so.

I had planned to shoot Noirish Project in two chunks: the first last week, and the second later in the year.  Unfortunately, I had to postpone shooting the first chunk last week because of the snow, obviously this wouldn't have matched with anything we would have shot in the second chunk when in all likelihood there wouldn't have been snow. However, seeing as everything was set up anyway, I thought it would be a waste to not do anything, and so decided to go out and make a short, using the landscape as a snowy backdrop. I wanted the short to still be connected to Noirish Project in some way, and hit upon the idea of the short film being a sort of "backstory" for the feature, where we would learn a little bit more about the characters and how the events in the feature came about, calling the short; Prelude To Noirish Project. 

In the feature film, Billy has stolen his families' heirloom, some pearls, which they have owned "since before the War", and he gives the pearls to the only person he knows who has even a vague connection with the world of crime, Jimmy, to sell to a fence. Prelude takes place before Billy has stolen the pearls, and is structured around a telephone call, i.e. - Billy ringing-up Jimmy to see if he'd be interested in the pearls. The telephone call is then intercut with imagery of Jimmy on his way to meet Billy in the park. This structure lends the film a sort of fantasy quality, where we are not sure whether Billy is imagining the events we are seeing or not. I'm starting to think that the telephone is perhaps my favourite dramatic device of all - it's just so economical, and it creates plenty of scope for the acting, it's always fun to watch actors trying to express themselves through a phone. Also, I think telephones are very strange indeed (far stranger than email or text message, which seem far more natural), and therefore they possess a mystery which is intrinsically dramatic. It also opens up structural possibilities, and in Prelude, often I use the telephone conversation as a voice-over: we hear the characters talking, but we see imagery from another time and place.

There wasn't time to write a script, so I just decided on subject matter and the overall structure of the film, and we improvised the specific dialogue. We had, however, during the preceding weeks, been rehearsing the scripted scenes  we had already scheduled to shoot, and had arrived at performance level. This work had a strong impact on the improvisation, especially in terms of style and rhythm of dialogue. The actual script has repetitive, punchy dialogue, and we found that to be true of the improvisation aswell, as if the rhythms of the script had lodged themselves in our minds. I also found it easy to access my character's (Jimmy) sardonic intent toward the other character (Billy). The net result is that Prelude feels very much a part of the full Noirish Project feature film, it seems part of the universe of the full film, which is a very pleasant result.

I am currently in the process of re-scheduling the scenes we were unable to do, probably for mid- February. Snowfall has been rumoured, but we'll have to wait and see. 

Sunday 20 January 2013

Prelude To Noirish Project [Stills]

We had to postpone some of the filming for Noirish Project proper, due to the snow. So, we went out and made "Prelude To Noirish Project", using the snowy landscape as a backdrop. We created scenes around the original script, scenes which take place before the original script starts, but which are still very much related to the main action. I hope to re-schedule the Noirish Project shoot over the next week or so, and complete post-production for Prelude.

Jimmy02

Billy01
Billy02

Jimmy01

Saturday 19 January 2013

Prelude To Noirish Project [Stills]

We had to postpone some of the filming for Noirish Project proper, due to the snow. So, we went out and made "Prelude To Noirish Project", using the snowy landscape as a backdrop. We created scenes around the original script, scenes which take place before the original script starts, but which are still very much related to the main action. I hope to re-schedule the Noirish Project shoot over the next week or so, and complete post-production for Prelude.

Jimmy02

Billy02

Billy01

Jimmy01

Thursday 17 January 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "Noirish Project Rehearsals"

Billy: What if he, y'know, tries to glass us or something?

Jimmy: Glass us? Dickie? Dickie wouldn't glass us. You don't know him. He's actually a really nice guy.

Billy: I thought you said he was dangerous.

Jimmy: I said he was POTENTIALLY dangerous. 

Billy: That's dangerous enough.

- Some dialogue from the script for Noirish Project.

 

Rehearsals continue apace. The ground-work has been done. The script analysis process which I discussed last week has been gone through, followed by the next stage, which is to find a concrete, exciting action to play for each scene. Then the fun starts, which is to actually start doing the scene with the chosen action. This is where the scene starts to take shape, and the acting begins to fizz because we now have the confidence to commit fully to playing the scene, and working off eachother in the scene, creating afresh each time (rather than deciding in advance how to do the scene, and doing it that way regardless of what the other actor in the scene is doing). I have decided to record the rehearsals this time, and replay the recording each time we do the scene. I have found this to be immensely useful (especially since I am directing aswell as acting in this production), because obviously I can see exactly what we've done and respond accordingly, but it also gives credence to my notes: I can literally point on the monitor to what I am talking about.  Also, as a bonus, I can review all the wonderful, unplanned moments which spin out of doing the action, and which we are not conscious of whilst playing the scene, little physical "tells" emerge, especially when the character is lying. As always, it is important to forget about these moments the next time I do the scene, because if I consciously try to jimmy them in, then they will no longer be organically created with that vital energy, but inferior reproductions.

In my blog, Poetic Acting, I expanded more fully on the style of acting the film will employ. The script is very gentle and slight in places, and so the performances will be mostly made up of small but meaningful moments, with the occasional bouts of drama and comedy. Despite the minimalism, the acting challenge posed by the script is a considerable one. High drama and comedy create an energy, a  momentum, which the actor may "surf" and carry him through the scene, however, this will not really be the case in Noirish Project, where the actor will have to remain focussed through some quiet moments, but then, from a standing start (so to speak), snap-up some energy for other, more intense moments. Absolute attention will have to be paid at all times.

 

 

I will certainly let you know how it goes.

 

 

RELATED

 

Poetic Acting

 

Noirish Project Swings Into Motion

 

Noirish Project - Feature Film Announcement

Wednesday 16 January 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "Noirish Project Rehearsals"

Billy: What if he, y'know, tries to glass us or something?

Jimmy: Glass us? Dickie? Dickie wouldn't glass us. You don't know him. He's actually a really nice guy.

Billy: I thought you said he was dangerous.

Jimmy: I said he was POTENTIALLY dangerous. 

Billy: That's dangerous enough.

- Some dialogue from the script for Noirish Project.

 

Rehearsals continue apace. The ground-work has been done. The script analysis process which I discussed last week has been gone through, followed by the next stage, which is to find a concrete, exciting action to play for each scene. Then the fun starts, which is to actually start doing the scene with the chosen action. This is where the scene starts to take shape, and the acting begins to fizz because we now have the confidence to commit fully to playing the scene, and working off eachother in the scene, creating afresh each time (rather than deciding in advance how to do the scene, and doing it that way regardless of what the other actor in the scene is doing). I have decided to record the rehearsals this time, and replay the recording each time we do the scene. I have found this to be immensely useful (especially since I am directing aswell as acting in this production), because obviously I can see exactly what we've done and respond accordingly, but it also gives credence to my notes: I can literally point on the monitor to what I am talking about.  Also, as a bonus, I can review all the wonderful, unplanned moments which spin out of doing the action, and which we are not conscious of whilst playing the scene, little physical "tells" emerge, especially when the character is lying. As always, it is important to forgot about these moments the next time I do the scene, because if I consciously try to jimmy them in, then they will no longer be organically created and possess that vital energy, but inferior reproductions.

in my blog, Poetic Acting, I expanded more fully on the style of acting the film will employ. The script is very gentle and slight in places, and so the performances will be mostly made up of small but meaningful moments, with the occasional bouts of drama and comedy. Despite the minimalism, the acting challenge posed by the script is a considerable one. High drama and comedy create an energy, a  momentum, which the actor may "surf" and carry him through the scene, however, this will not really be the case in Noirish Project, where the actor will have to remain focussed through some quiet moments, but then, from a standing start (so to speak), snap-up some energy for other, more intense moments. Absolute attention will have to be maintained at all times.


I will certainly let you know how it goes.

 

RELATED

 

Poetic Acting

 

Noirish Project Swings Into Motion

 

Noirish Project - Feature Film Announcement

Richard Burton. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.

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Monday 14 January 2013

Work On Arts Council feature Film, "There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind", Continues....

Photo

 

HSP: There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind is an experimental feature film by Rouzbeh Rashidi, funded by The Arts Council of Ireland and produced by Experimental Film Society.

 

It consists of three medium length instalments of an ongoing film project by Rashidi,Homo Sapiens Project. These instalments, when watched back-to-back, will function as a single film structured in episodes. 

A mysterious loner (James Devereaux), perhaps a poet, journeys through a series of uncanny surrealistic landscapes with an unclear purpose. His adventure is divided into three sections:

1_He wanders and prowls through dream-like landscapes and strange cryptic locations as if searching for something.

2_He encounters vague figures and discusses topics such as art, aesthetics, narration and mundane daily life.

3_The woman he loves, Patricia. He meets up with her from time to time in a haunted house where they play out the rituals of their unusual and obscure relationship. Eventually, she vanishes in the woods one day while they are out strolling together.

The main theme of this experiment is to compare the eerier qualities of different landscapes and interpose the characters within them, elaborating the project’s ongoing preoccupation with extracting sinister moods from ordinary settings. In a way, these can be seen as experimental horror films in which an atmosphere of dread is evoked and sustained without the expected narrative trappings.

Photo

Sunday 13 January 2013

Work On Arts Council Feature Film, "There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind", Continues....

 

Tumblr_inline_mg9y2cpx861qcq7wi

HSP: There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind is an experimental feature film by Rouzbeh Rashidi, funded by The Arts Council of Ireland and produced by Experimental Film Society.

It consists of three medium length instalments of an ongoing film project by Rashidi,Homo Sapiens Project. These instalments, when watched back-to-back, will function as a single film structured in episodes. 

A mysterious loner (James Devereaux), perhaps a poet, journeys through a series of uncanny surrealistic landscapes with an unclear purpose. His adventure is divided into three sections:

1_He wanders and prowls through dream-like landscapes and strange cryptic locations as if searching for something.

2_He encounters vague figures and discusses topics such as art, aesthetics, narration and mundane daily life.

3_The woman he loves, Patricia. He meets up with her from time to time in a haunted house where they play out the rituals of their unusual and obscure relationship. Eventually, she vanishes in the woods one day while they are out strolling together.

The main theme of this experiment is to compare the eerier qualities of different landscapes and interpose the characters within them, elaborating the project’s ongoing preoccupation with extracting sinister moods from ordinary settings. In a way, these can be seen as experimental horror films in which an atmosphere of dread is evoked and sustained without the expected narrative trappings.

 

 

Thursday 10 January 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "Noirish Project Swings Into Action"

Rehearsals for Noirish Project have begun. The film itself is a slice neo-realism masquerading as a film noir: Billy robs some precious pearls from his own family, and gives them to local scheister, Jimmy, to off-load to the local fence. The trouble starts however, when it emerges that the pearls are fake and Jimmy barely escapes from the fence with his life, let alone the pearls. The film effectively functions as a road-movie, as the protagonists set about reclaiming the pearls from the fence, who has suddenly become very elusive. Filming begins next week, and I'm delighted to announce that the super-talented Rouzbeh Rashidi will shoot it for us, as he will be in town working on the next stage of his latest film, There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind. 

First rehearsals involved script analysis, a process I especially love, not because of any intellectual predilection, or wanting to know "what do oranges symbolise", but because it helps to give a wonderful clarity of thought, and enables me to state in simple, actable terms what is happening in the scene. This eliminates the weird, potentially neurotic elements which can arise, and serve as barriers to work, or excuses not to act - a state I'm sure all actors recognise, if not everyone in the world. Instead, a simple analysis of the scene helps to decide on a simple, concrete action, which I can commit to doing in the scene, freeing me up to create and go for it.  

It goes something like this....

1. What does the character literally do in the scene?
2. What am I going to do in the scene?

Note that what the character is doing in the scene, is not the same thing as what the actor who is playing the character is doing in the scene. That's because the actor can never believe the fiction of the scene, and so he needs take something into the scene which will ground him in truth and make him active: an action, in short. But the action the actor chooses for himself must be in line with the writer's intentions (or as the actor discerns his intentions, if the writer is not present at rehearsals).

Below is a very simple scene from Noirish Project: - 
BILLY
I’m sorry, Jimmy.
JIMMY What for?
BILLY Putting you in jeopardy like that.
JIMMY Don’t be silly.
BILLY I’ve really made a mess of this.
JIMMY Hey, never put yourself down in public.
BILLY
I’ve wasted your time.
JIMMY It happens.
BILLY I’m sorry.
JIMMY Don’t apologise.
BILLY I’m stupid and weak.
It is fairly obvious that what Billy is literally doing is apologising to Jimmy.

But an actor might choose the action; "to beg a friend's forgiveness", to do in the scene. This is do-able, in line with the writer's intentions, and would certainly get me up and working (note; the choice of action, and the wording of an action may vary from actor to actor - each actor needs to find an action which is exciting to himself). 

Rehearsals will continue for the rest of this week and the beginning of next week, then filming will start. I'll post regular updates here.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

The Great Acting Blog: "Noirish Project Swings Into Motion"

Np07

Rehearsals for Noirish Project have begun. The film itself is a slice neo-realism masquerading as a film noir: Billy robs some precious pearls from his own family, and gives them to local scheister, Jimmy, to off-load to the local fence. The trouble starts however, when it emerges that the pearls are fake and Jimmy barely escapes from the fence with his life, let alone the pearls. The film effectively functions as a road-movie, as the protagonists set about reclaiming the pearls from the fence, who has suddenly become very elusive. Filming begins next week, and I'm delighted to announce that the super-talented Rouzbeh Rashidi will shoot it for us, as he will be in town working on the next stage of his latest film, There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind. 

First rehearsals involved script analysis, a process I especially love, not because of any intellectual predilection, or wanting to know "what do oranges symbolise", but because it helps to give a wonderful clarity of thought, and enables me to state in simple, actable terms what is happening in the scene. This eliminates the weird, potentially neurotic elements which can arise, and serve as barriers to work, or excuses not to act - a state I'm sure all actors recognise, if not everyone in the world. Instead, a simple analysis of the scene helps to decide on a simple, concrete action, which I can commit to doing in the scene, freeing me up to create and go for it.  

It goes something like this....

1. What does the character literally do in the scene?
2. What am I going to do in the scene?

Note that what the character is doing in the scene, is not the same thing as what the actor who is playing the character is doing in the scene. That's because the actor can never believe the fiction of the scene, and so he needs take something into the scene which will ground him in truth and make him active: an action, in short. But the action the actor chooses for himself must be in line with the writer's intentions (or as the actor discerns his intentions, if the writer is not present at rehearsals).

Below is a very simple scene from Noirish Project: - 
BILLY
I’m sorry, Jimmy.
JIMMY What for?
BILLY Putting you in jeopardy like that.
JIMMY Don’t be silly.
BILLY I’ve really made a mess of this.
JIMMY Hey, never put yourself down in public.
BILLY
I’ve wasted your time.
JIMMY It happens.
BILLY I’m sorry.
JIMMY Don’t apologise.
BILLY I’m stupid and weak.
It is fairly obvious that what Billy is literally doing is apologising to Jimmy.

But an actor might choose the action; "to beg a friend's forgiveness", to do in the scene. This is do-able, in line with the writer's intentions, and would certainly get me up and working (note; the choice of action, and the wording of an action may vary from actor to actor - each actor needs to find an action which is exciting to himself). 

Rehearsals will continue for the rest of this week and the beginning of next week, then filming will start. I'll post regular updates here.