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Thursday, October 22, 2009

One Last Story Before the Weekend

Yes, it's coming down to the wire now for pre-registration on the seminar and workshop. Could still use a few people more for the workshop, but if we don't get them, it'll be a nice group. Same with the seminar. (To pre-register, go to www.s-films.com/acting .)

We were on the set, nearing the twelve hour mark and hoping we could make the day and wrap pretty soon. We were working a split so it was around midnight. A few people had come down with a bug and everyone just wanted to go home by this time.

Last scene was a juicy dramatic one, full of conflict between two actors. Lots of emoting had to happen for Actor #2. So we went through the scenes and finally shot the last few setups. We were a little over by that that. "Check the gate" was called.

The "gate" had some problems. After five minutes of problem checking, we determined the last four or five setups were not there. We needed to shoot them again. Actor #2 was very deflated-- and I understand, they had just gone to some difficult emotional places. I pulled the actor aside and tried to speak words of encouragement.

I went back over to the camera to direct the setup. I still had my headphones on and Actor #2 forget the mic was still on. The Actor said to someone "It's never better the second time around. It will never be as good."

Well, the Actor is right. With that attitude, it can't be as good. If the Actor had said "I'm sick and tired, but who knows, maybe we'll get something even better this time," the actor would have been right.

I have had to reshoot stuff before and sometimes, the reshoot is MUCH better. But to surrender and "mail it in" does no one any good. It didn't help the film, didn't help the actor.

And you'd be surprised what other things we hear when we leave the headphones on-- those mic's are usually buried in the actor's clothing and quickly forgotten.

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