"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.

The Great Acting Blog: "The Performance In Your Head Doesn't Count"

Will It Stop Raining In Summer is now complete

 

 

It's always a surprise when I first see my own performance on screen, because I had the image in my mind of what I thought it was, and then, upon seeing the film, I see what the performance actually is. That is not to say that the actual performance is any better or worse than my imagined performance, it's just that it's different. When I first work on the script, of course I am trying to work-out what is happening in the scene and therefore how I might play it, certainly I will give myself some creative choices, raw materials, something to aim at. So, I have this sense in my mind of what the performance might be, and this sense is hard to shake off. When first seeing the actual performance on the screen then, there is a feeling of shock, because it does not conform to this imaginary performance. Of course, the imaginary performance is bunkum, the only performance that actually exists, is the one on the screen. 

Anyway, the film is now complete and I am delighted to be sharing it with you here. It's a strange, ironic thriller, about Roger and Beryl, whose illicit love affair is ruined by Beryl's amiable husband, Maurice, who, oblivious to his wife's affair, co-incidentally turns up whenever the lovers meet. 

Our next film is shaping up to be a mysterious, film-noir-thriller, about a writer who receives an unusual proposition from somebody who claims to have been his school friend, but of whom the writer has no recollection. I will be posting updates on that here.

I hope you enjoy the film. James.

 

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