Parc Entertainment - A Video Production Company - Birmingham, AL

I had the opportunity yesterday to speak before a group of young actors and share with them some important things about acting in front of the camera. The class was very productive and I think I left them with some valuable information.. So, if you are a young actor, new to the world of film production, allow me to share with you some of the things I shared with the students yesterday.

Getting Started

If you want to work in film and you live in a smaller market, be prepared to work for free. This is especially true if the project is a short film. However, you will gain some great experience and will be able to start building a reel. If you’re looking for paid work, I would suggest getting involved with a local agency. They will help you find commercial work that will pay.

As a young actor, it may be tempting to jump in with both feet when you read the words “Film Auditions.” After all, who doesn’t want to be in a movie? But I would suggest taking the time to find out more about the production company before you get involved. Look at their work. How’s the production quality? Would you be proud to have your name associated with the kind of work they produce? Maintain a sense of pride about yourself and your craft.

Consider being an extra in a production. This will give you valuable on-set experience and will help you get introduced to some important people.

Preparing for the Audition

Always have a headshot ready to go. It should be a single image with your resume stapled to the back. Your resume should be a single sheet and it should be attached so that a casting director can flip the headshot over read your resume. Don’t add on extra photos or extra sheets. Don’t paper clip items together, because your resume could get separated from your headshot. This means a casting director could have your picture without having any idea who you are or how to get in contact with you.

If you pride yourself on being a character actor and can offer a director a wide range of looks, you can always create a composite headshot. The composite would contain your main headshot and then two or three other images (on the same sheet) of you portraying particular character.

Auditioning

Every audition can be a little different, but you need to be prepared for the following:

1. On-camera introduction
2. Cold read
3. Informal interview
4. Improvisation

On-Camera Reminders

When you are on camera shooting a scene, remember that continuity is very important. This means that you have to do the exact same blocking in the exact same way for every take. This is to help the editor match footage together when the film is being assembled.

You also want to think subtle. In the theatre everything is big, because you have to project to the back row. Film is a much more intimate medium. The slightest change in facial expression can be read by the audience. If you play it up too big, you will be over-acting.

Finally, continue acting until the director says, “Cut.” Many directors want their actors to continue the scene and improv additional dialogue and action just to see what happens. Sometimes the best material can be found in these moments. So, don’t break character until you here the “Cut” command.

We went over a lot more material in yesterday’s class, so I might post a series of notes on acting for the camera in the next few days.

I’m currently in development on a docu-drama Christian TV series and am in need of compelling salvation stories for a pilot episode. If you have a testimony that you feel should be featured in this series, please let me know about it. Email your story to clint@ParcEntertainment.com. In your email please provide your contact information, along with a synopsis of your story and the reasons why you feel it should be featured in the series. The subject line of the email should read “Salvation Story.”

I came across a new commercial campaign for Gold’s Gym that I feel is very successful. I’ve seen a lot of commercials for fitness centers and gyms and most of them focus on the equipment: the amount they have, the quality, the brand names, etc. The spots are usually punched up with a lot of quick cutting, tilted camera angles, and up-tempo music. However, this new campaign for Gold’s Gym focuses not on the gym itself, but on personal goals and personal drive. The campaign succeeds because of two things:

1. Its Simplicity - one shot, one take, with titles overlaid that give the viewer insight into what can be accomplished.
2. Its Focus - each campaign focuses on ordinary people and the ambitions that motivate them.

The title of the campaign is “Strength.” Here’s the idea behind the campaign, straight from the Gold’s Gym website (you can also view all four commercials there):

Whether it’s the strength to be a better parent, the strength to climb the corporate ladder or the strength to just say no to that plate of fettuccini alfredo… we recognize that strength comes in many forms. Our job for over 40 years has been to help people find their own inner strength and achieve their goals. At Gold’s Gym, we know that no matter what your fitness level, when you’re committed, anything is possible.

Here’s one of the commercials, entitled “Reps.”

One of the greatest additions to TV football coverage is that little yellow line that tells the viewer where a team has to get to earn a first down. The next question is, “How do they do that?” I came across this brief video the other day that explains it, but it’s more complicated than I thought:

You’ve probably noticed the recent ad campaign by Miller Lite for their High Life beer. It features a team of beer repo men who come in and take back the Miller High Life when it isn’t being utilized properly. It’s a great concept and it’s executed beautifully. The commercials are shot in a documentary, reality-show feel, and they are hilarious. I especially like the latest installment which I first saw about a week ago.

A couple of weeks ago I told you about this year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival’s promotional commercial. I was brought on board as cinematographer. It’s a great concept promoting “10 Years of Independents.” Watch for the commercial on Fox6, Charter, and Brighthouse. Enjoy.

First it was Beta, then VHS, then Laserdisc, then DVD, then HD-DVD. Now it’s Blu-Ray. But are discs doomed? Will the format soon give way to on-demand streaming movies and TV shows from the internet? At least one blogger thinks so. In the wake of a Netflix debacle that has frustrated customers, this article discusses the antiquity of physical media and the need for the internet to provide high-res streaming movie content. It prompts an interesting discussion. I can definitely see the advantages of purchasing or renting movies over the internet, especially if one has access to every movie ever made. That would be quite a perk. But will physical disc media go away? Your thoughts?

This year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival is rapidly approaching. If you’ve never had the opportunity to attend, I would highly encourage you to do so. The caliber of submissions gets higher every single year, and this year marks Sidewalk’s 10th anniversary (so you know there’s going to be some special stuff).

As always, Sidewalk will soon be airing promotional commercials to garner interest in the festival. What’s special about the promo this year is the fact that I had the opportunity to work on the shoot as Director of Photography. Filament Artists produced. The 30-second spot was filmed with Alabama talent and Alabama crew, right here in Birmingham. Hopefully it will further highlight the talented filmmakers and the growing film production market here in our community.

We shot the commercial with the Panasonic HVX-200 in DVCPro50 format at 24fps. To read more of my insights into this particular camera, check out two previous posts, “First Impressions” and “Some Considerations.” I won’t give away anything about the commercial’s concept. You will just have to wait until it airs. There’s a possibility that the spot will also screen before each film in each venue during the festival. But ultimately that’s a call left up to the good folks in the Sidewalk office. Until then, look for the commercial on WBRC Fox6 and Bright House cable.

Let’s face it - with higher and higher ticket prices, crowds, inconsiderate patrons hitting your seat, people talking, sticky floors, concessions that cost two-week’s salary - wouldn’t everyone be better off investing in a nice home theatre system and watching films in the comfort of their own living room? Recently my dad went and up-rooted his money tree, hauled it off to Circuit City, and proceeded to buy…

1. A 52″ HDTV
2. A 22″ HDTV
3. A new TiVo with 180 hrs. capacity
4. A Playstation 3

Couple that with his amazing surround sound system and dad has his own home theatre (He just became my new best friend). I might find myself visiting good ‘ole mom and dad a little more often.

But this trend is something that theatres and studios are battling. “How do we keep people coming?” I will say that the new digital projectors in many theatres today is an incredible exhibition improvement over the grainy, scratchy prints of just a few years ago. But there can be a downside too. Consider Scott Simmons recent experience watching The Dark Knight, as noted in his blog, The Editblog.

The Dark Knight was a very good film. Amazingly well made and a very complex story to boot. It took quite a while to actually see the film last knight though. We arrived for the 4:15 show at our neighborhood Carmike theatre, they have digital projection and a matinee price that is $6.75 and doesn’t end at 3:00 pm like Regal Cinemas, and I noticed something strange during the trailers. I looked as if the picture was scaled up about 25%. Besides all the noticible film grain, the dead give-away was the trailer for Step Brothers. Will Ferrell’s credit looked like this:

I went out and told the kid taking tickets and he said he would tell someone. So the movie starts and it is the same way. I go back and and tell him again and he seems frustrated they haven’t fixed it and leaves his post to tell the manager. About 10 minutes into the film it is still not fixed so I go out again and he informs me that is the way it is supposed to be. “It was filmed in IMAX so that’s the way it is on a regular screen” he says. I proceed to tell him that the director didn’t intent for his character’s chins and forehead to be cut off and to have framing so poor that one character be half-way off screen when talking in conversation. He says I should talk to the manager. She begins by telling me the same thing and that that is part of digital distribution. When I explain the above reasons to her she finally admits that they have a tech scheduled to look at that projector and we can move to the 5:00 screening, which we did. It was better except for the 2 kids who talked the whole time.

Couple things like this with all of the people who check their brightly-screened cell phones during a movie these days and it is no wonder many people prefer to watch at home in their own home theaters. It’s sad that so much care is taken during the production and post of a big feature film only to have so little care given to the exhibition. When I was in film school we once had a speaker, a retired gentleman who had owned a small theater chain and donated the seating for the schools screening room. He spoke at length about how exhibition was one of the most under-appreciated and misunderstood parts of the filmmaking process. When he owned his theaters he checked the picture and sound quality of his screens on an almost daily basis. But he sold the chain when the costs got too high. Now all that most of these chains care about is selling concessions. That 100-inch LCD can’t come along soon enough!

What do you think? It used to be that people went to the theatres for the experience of a big screen and big sound, sitting with other movie fans. But has the romance worn off, due to today’s home theatre technology? Are theatres worth the price of admission?

The summer months mark the time of year when networks trot out a lot of reality programming and game shows in an effort to keep viewers satisfied until the fall shows premiere. Historically I have found these shows a complete waste of time, but I think ABC scored big with the premiere of Wipeout, a game show that throws contestants through outrageous obstacle courses in an attempt to win $50,000. By no means is Wipeout an intelligent show that will enlighten our culture, but if you like to see people get knocked down, spun around, thrown down, and bounced around, then this show is for you. I laughed so hard through the first six minutes of the premiere that I spit out the chips and salsa I happened to be chewing at the time. The show’s commentators John Anderson (of ESPN) and John Henson (former Talk Soup host) add to the hilarity with their dry-witted comments. My only concern about the show concerns its longevity. Although the hosts promise variety in upcoming obstacles, one must wonder how quickly the newness of this premise will last. But for now, let’s enjoy the ride.