Day 2: I awoke at 4:30 am with a bitch of a stomach ache. This caused me to be about 20 minutes late to the call, and everyone was already leaving as I got there. I rode to the only location we had that day with Sergey. The location was a bar, one that I had never been to, but a quick look inside the place had me interested.
We immediately went back to look at costumes, though I was certain I wouldn't be needing one for at least 2 or 3 hours. After suiting up, Woody, Eric and I mostly hung out at the bar, wiling away the time talking the the manager and sitting in for ourselves. For the first time, I actually saw some character being thrown in the lighting. A red gel to give a neon glow and a smoke machine that would inevitably make life hell for some editor.
We started rehearsing the scene around nine. I entered halfway through the scene, and it seemed awkward, but I wasn't getting any direction so I continued to do the same thing. We started shooting and I got a few blocking changes, but no real word on the acting. We broke so they could set up my close up and the director pulled me aside out to the outdoor bar where we had privacy.
It may have seemed like he was getting good one on one time with an actor to him, but to me it seemed like I was being scolded. He was at a loss for what to tell me, which I assumed just meant 'act better' so I started probing. It turned out that he wanted a stronger entrance. This wasn't a huge surprise, since I felt that the blocking was awkward, so I told him I hit the entrance harder and see what happened. He apparently didn't believe me, because he began to see how we could ensure this. He asked me what my acting method was, I'm not an actor so I don't claim a method as my own, but I told him Meisner, because the actors I've learned from are Meisner actors. He asked me what method that was, and I tried not to judge him while explaining it. It was difficult, because as a director you should know your acting methods cold.
We finished our little reverse-pep-talk and headed back out to do the scene. I faked it, and got a great response. I faked it a few more times, and we moved on to the next shot. I wasn't really in this one, so I didn't have to fake much more, which was good, because faking it is really tiring. The next shot finished the scene and at that point it was nearly time to break for lunch.
Eric and I wandered outside and waited for lunch to start. I was once again very hungry because I had gotten no breakfast. We ate outside and enjoyed the reprieve from the previous day's sun. With a full stomach and pleasantly warm, my two days of very little sleep started to weigh on me. We picked out costumes for the next scene as our stand ins again ....stood in. Thankfully the next scene didn't require much movement of lights or camera and we were ready to rehearse.
This was one of the opening scenes, and it was comedic. It more or less featured my character, and I had been told I could do some ad libbing. They quickly learned that they should never give me that much liberty because I tore the scene apart and put it back together using hookers and umpa loompas. After the first run, the director added the addendum that I could ad lib a little bit.
The stand ins went back in for us and we three actors went outside to rehearse. I decided not to ad lib at all, so it put a huge damper on the energy, but we eventually got it down. When we were done, they were ready for us. We shot the scene and for the first time, I received no direction. They prepared to do an establishing dolly shot and we once again let our stand ins take over. I sat down in a booth and nearly fell asleep.
After a long while (I don't know exactly how long because I probably drifted off for a few minutes) we were called to sit in our seats again. They needed about 15 rehearsals with the dolly, but eventually they shot it.
For the final shots of the day they had to light 2 more closeups of me. The first one was a medium shot of me staring at some girl's hooters, and the second was to be a closeup of my eyes (unfortunately I didn't stick around for the inevitable reverse closeup of the hooters) It wasn't very much dialogue but the position I had to hold was painful. The knocked out the first shot in 2 takes and moved on to the eye close up.
In addition to holding the awkward position for this one I was entirely surrounded by grips, 2 of which holding lights directly in my eyes. I made jokes the entire time they were setting it up, but they all totally ignored me. They fired off this final shot and Eric and I were done for the day once again.
Again, I had been keeping score. Today lit some disturbing holes in the cirriculum at NCSA but I tried not to gloat. At least not in front of anyone.
1) Filmmaking is an art, not a science- There isn't one right way to light a scene or to frame a shot. Creative choices need to be made, and that doesn't always fall to the director. Half the time, the director isn't going to know how to frame a shot as well and most of the crew. The crew is allowed and often expected to make creative decisions. This speaks to my complaint in day one about following rules and not taking chances. Don't 'get the scene lit', light the scene. Don't imitate daylight, spin an entire new direction. Don't just listen to the director, bring new ideas to him(or her).
2) Acting is a major concern of directing- THE major concern, in fact. Truth be told, the DP can probably handle directing production without the director in most cases, but no one but the director, or in rare cases an acting coach, can direct the actors. I received so vague, convoluted direction that if I gave a poor performance I honestly don't blame myself. And this isn't bitterness about singled out, it really isn't. I've been singled out as an actor before, only usually it's because I'm the clueless one, not the crew. I don't know why they aren't teaching these kids in the directing concentration at NCSA proper acting techniques and drilling each one into their craniums, but something really needs to be done about it.
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