Shakespeare: 26.1.15 Acting for film

Michael Caine

In today's lesson, we filmed Greta and Heta;s scene from Doctors and Max and Jade's scene. We all took part as crew members, observers and actors.

In Greta and Hetas scene Sav and I were crew members for the markers, we taped down 2 marking points each for Greta and Heta and in Max and Jade;s scene I sat as an observer, watching how the camera and boom are operated.

Although I was unfortunately absent from last weeks filming, I can still answer the questions we were given as I have worked in front of a camera before, doing modelling and TV acting work.

How does it feel to work in front of the camera? Since the age of 18 I have worked in front of cameras quite frequently for modelling shoots, and also small TV parts and fashion shows. I really enjoy working in front of the camera, and actually prefer it to theatre acting. I have always preferred it, because I feel more at ease in front of a camera becuase I know if I mess up my lines or do something wrong, there is always more takes, and it takes the pressure out of my mind. Even though filming for TV and film is SUCH a long process, and day shoots can take all day, and only have about 1 minute of a TV show or film completed. But to me it feels good to work in front of the camera and to feel supported by those around me, whereas when I perform on stage, I feel nervous before as you only get one shot and once your on stage, in a way your on your own as you cannot rely on the other actors to help you out if you forget a line! So I really enjoy working in front of the camera and I am really annoyed that I missed out on my chance last week due to an illness, as I have experience with working in front of the camera and would have loved to have done this again!!

What skills did I use? The one thing I have learned from modelling and acting is that its all in your EYES. Eyes are so powerful and can tell a thousand stories, and acting in front of camera is reliant on your eyes and facial expressions to portray your characters emotions. So the main skill I have used when acting for camera previously is using facial expressions. Another skill I have used is maintaining eye contact with the other actors, I feel this really helped me out, as sometimes when filming I have became distracted by what is going on around me and it is so hard to not look at what everyone is doing sometimes! So maintaining eye contact and focus is a great skill, and it also makes you feel at ease with the other actors, as they are in the same boat as you and probably appreciate your eye contact as well!

What skills are different to acting on stage? "Theater acting is an operation with a scalpel, movie acting is an operation with a laser" Michael Caine

Acting for stage and camera are so different, a main difference is the physicality. Acting for stage requires a lot of gestures, movements and choreography, whereas acting for camera is much more subtle(depending on the film) of course if you are starring in a massive action movie, you may be required to be much more physical, but you would almost definitely have a body double for this. But acting on stage is all YOU. Also facial expressions are not as important when acting on stage, as your face may not be very well seen from the back of the theatre, this is why projection and voice is more important in stage acting. But in camera acting your face says EVERYTHING. You cannot get away with just saying the lines with passion and projection, you have to say it through your face and eyes, but on stage this is not very important as your face and eyes may not be seen very well. As Michael Caine has said, the camera sees everything, so every subtle gesture you make with your face, the camera will see it. So it does not require over the top facial expressions, as the camera sees every little gesture or movement you make. Another difference between the two are the durations. The duration of rehearsal an actor will have, the duration of the days of work they will do and performing/filming. Acting of camera, if it is a film, an actor will have a certain period of months, sometimes WEEKS! To learn their lines, and this will not normally be with the other actors, actors are required to go away separately and learn their lines, then return to filming knowing all their lines, and then they will begin to rehearse. If it is camera acting for a soap opera, actors will have very little time to rehearse their scene with the other actors, most of the time they would have only rehearsed the scene a few times before filming the real thing. Whereas acting for stage, actors will have much more time rehearsing together in a group and will generally have more time to rehearse,and then will have to repeat the performance for however many nights/days it is running for, whereas actors for films/tv shows will only have to film the scene ONCE in full, and will always film small parts of their scenes, and this is quite a long process, especially for films.

From watching today's scenes being filmed, I noticed a lot of differences in my class mates acting techniques, as we have always acted in theatre, and never in front of the camera, and I could definitely notice changes in their acting.

What skills were they using? Eye contact, particularly Greta and Heta, facial expressions and using eyes, more subtle movements and gestures, clear projection, always keeping eyes up and not looking down, working with markers, maintaining focus on the scene and not what was going on around them.

What did they do well? All the actors today focused really well and they were all very clear with their voices, projection is not massively important as they had the boom microphone always over their heads, but they still remembered to speak clearly and slowly. The focus was very good and they always stayed focused to the scene and not what was going around them(camera moving, boom moving, crew members talking quietly ect) They all expressed very clear emotions, as the scenes are all about pregnancy and miscarriage, which is quite a sensitive and tricky subject to get right when acting, and I feel they all achieved this. The scenes were very touching and raw, I could definitely feel the emotions in all of their acting.

What was it like working as crew? I really enjoyed working as crew as it allowed me to see what the crew actually have to do, and not just being their to act. It requires a lot of hard work, and team work is essential. I worked with Sav on the mark points for the actors, and helping out with the camera briefly and observing the scenes. I can see now the hard work that goes into preparing for scenes, and these scenes were only 30 seconds long! So I can only imagine the hard work that goes into films that are 3 hours long!

Best boy? A best boy is part of the film crew, and there are TWO types: Best boy electric and Best Boy grip. The best boy is responsible for the day to day operation of the lights and grips. They oversee the the management of the crew and do a lot of organising and hiring for crew members.

Grip? A grip is a lighting and rigging technician in film, their responsibility is to build and maintain all of the equipment needed to support the cameras.