Something To Do: Making of a short film. Part 5

The fifth day of filming was a good one, but the lead up to it was a little stressful.  When you make a film with no budget, you're sometimes at the mercy of good deeds, and people outside your creative circle.  Actors are generally up for anything.  It's hard for us artistic people to get our heads around the fact that not everyone wants to help your cause.

case in point:

The building across the street from my home is a set piece that the film had to have.  The character I play spies on his neighbor Mr. Jones.  It's a big part of the story.  It's the sub-plot that the kids are involved in.  In my head, I would simple go across the street and re-introduce myself, smile, charm the nice couple that live there and tell them I'm making a movie.  My internal story concluded with them being thrilled I asked, and of course I could use the inside of their home for an hour to make the film.  Well, all people are not interested in your creativity.  I know, I know, I was shocked as well.  Some people just want to be left alone.

About a week before we started shooting, I went across the street and re-introduced myself to (I'll call her Lisa) Lisa.  Lisa and her husband (I'll call him ...Zack) Zack have a new baby.  Zack has a real job type job and goes to work in the morning and comes back after five.  I don't have a job like that, and most of my days are wide open.  Kelly and I bonded with Lisa a  few months back after our street sweeper hit a tree and started shooting propane (or what ever it was.  I don't know what street sweepers run on okay!) out of the top and catching a tree on fire.  The cops and fire department came!  We had to evacuate for like twenty minutes!  It was sort of a scene.  Anyway, we met Lisa then and made small talk.  So in my head, I was like, "hey remember how we bonded?"  "Can I use your house?"  She told me that she had to talk with her husband and get back to me.  I suggested we exchange phone numbers and text each other and figures it out.  So we did.  I waited for three days for her to speak with her husband and then have Zack get back to me.  Three days!!!  Long story short.  People aren't the same.  Sometimes people don't want to be bothered.  Sometimes people just don't want to have extra stuff injected into their world.  Sometimes you just don't need a small movie crew invading you're home, and your new born baby life.  I get it.  I understand.

But I'm persistent.

Via text, I assured him that it would be a minimal pain in the ass, and I would greatly appreciate it.  I left it at that.  I'm persistent, but I'm not a jerk.  No reply.  I left it alone.  I tried.  I had to figure something out because this was not going to happen, and we were about to start shooting day 1.   I assured Kate that we could use our next door neighbors house, and at least that would be something and it would work as far as story line goes.

So we pressed on.

But internally, I was mad at Zack.  What?  He didn't like the arts?  He can't open up his home to a bunch of strangers for an hour to make our film work?!  It irked me so much that I made up a character, with a voice that I provided, of a guy devoid of any interest in things outside of an office job and golf.  A guy that played it safe and never risked.  It was funny to me.  Kelly thought I was being an ass.  She did laugh though.  I got over it and moved on.

..then i got a text.  bring on the humble pie.

Zack decided it would be okay.  I somehow persuaded Zack to open up his home to us, and let us film an important piece of the movie in his home.  In the end, I think he likes movies.  I also think that I didn't have any walls up.  I was showing all my cards.  I needed something and I wasn't trying to hide it.  I was clear and honest with what I was doing.  And as strange as it sounds, I don't think he was used to people doing that.  He let me use his house.  And you know what?  Now we wave to each other from across the street.  Life.  Shake it up.

..what was I talking about?

DAY FIVE OF THE MOVIE!

Now with the location settled, we had to get back to the job at hand.  The big scene between Mr. Jones and Mike.  The face off!  If you've been reading this blog, then you know that Mr. Jones is played by the one and only Robert Riechel.  Robert is an intense guy.  He brings a lot to the set as far as working with,  and that's a good thing.  At this point in the blog I would like to share an opinion that actors might agree with or might not.  It's just my opinion.  I might be a lazy actor.  I don't know.  I went to a class one time in Hollywood.  The students were asked to cry.  Think of something sad and cry.  A friend dying, or something that has brought you pain.  Re-live that and really feel that, then cry.  Sounds logical.   My only problem with that is the emotions one might be trying to conjure up have already happened, and so you're trying to force yourself into a false state of feeling something.

My thinking is that the audience have come to watch your film or your play.  It's not that hard to say the lines, be true to what's being said, listen and react to the other actors you're working with and let the audience do the work for you.  Meaning, the audience wants to believe what's going on, so just don't screw that up.  My only problem with this statement is that I consider Marlon Brando the best actor to ever breath life into a script, and he would punch me in the face if I said that to him.  Brando was THE method actor.  Robert and I are due to go for a couple of beers soon, and I'm sure we'll talk more about this.  Until then,...

Here I go...

Robert likes to ask questions, make sure he's understanding what's being asked of him.  Trying to figure out the character.  Would the character really do this?  ALL VALID.

Because really, I ask myself how come I'm not asking those questions?

My way is....say the words, believe what you're saying, and look at the other actor in the eyes, and let the audience believe...job done.  That's the craft of acting.  And there is no wrong way or right way, it's just your way.

..side note.

How I approach my craft is a combination of both "the method", and my lazy way.  Should we call it "melazy".?

Let me paint a picture.

I'll never forget the day my Grandma died.  I lived in Hollywood at the time.  Kelly and I weren't married yet, but we lived together.  My grandmother was in the hospital.  She was old, and life ends.  I should have been there, but I wasn't.  I loved my Grandma like all kids love their Grandmas.  They're magical.  They love you no matter what.  It's a very special relationship.  I was on the phone with my Mom.  It's her Mom that we're talking about.  The other line "clicks" and she answers it.  A few moments later my Mom comes back and she says, "She gone.  She just died...I have to go, I'll call you back."  My mom hangs up.  I put the phone down.  I walk in to the kitchen.  Kelly is washing the dishes.  She has no idea what has just happened.  Life is normal for a few more seconds, until  I collapse on the kitchen table and repeat, out loud, several times, "She's died, she's died. My grandmother had died."  Kelly rushes to me and holds me as I cry uncontrollably .

What does this have to do with acting?  A lot really.  I could never imagine trying to recreate those exact feeling again in the exact same way, because I've already experienced them when they really happened.  So I don't try to recreate them,  but they certainly influence me.  I embrace the emotions because they point you in the right direction.

...I'm aware that the last few paragraphs might have made zero sense, and i'm okay with that.

I've been looking forward to working with Robert for a long time.  And on this day we finally had our scene together.  It was great!  It's sort of like two fighters figuring out what the other guy's fighting style is, then you can form a little give and take and then let the scene play out.  I can't tell you what this particular scene is about, cause then I'll be giving the story away.  I will tell you this though.  It was a thrill to work with Robert.  I am so grateful for his time and talent.  I can't wait to work with him again.

Something To Do: Making of a short film Part 4

For anybody who's been reading this diary of the making of a short film, my apologies.  The last three days have been fast and crazy, difficult and at times stressful.  Sometimes there's just not enough time in the day.  So now I have the daunting task of trying to catch up on this blog.  I have the next two days off from shooting, so I know I can do it!

Day 4, day 4.....what the hell happened on day 4?  Oh, yeah.  Day 4 was the day the wonderful Kirsten Gronfield came to Santa Barbara to shoot the scenes we had together.  Kirsten plays my wife Jennifer in the film.  I was excited and nervous about this day.  I had only met Kirsten once before, and had never acted with her.  It was the first day that I really got to do some acting.  Working with the kids was great, but I was looking forward to working opposite another actor.  This was also the first time I would work with Kate as director and actor, and really dig into a scene.  And for that matter, working with our DP Sheba Legend.  So you get the idea.  First, big day on many levels.  Anyway, Kirsten is a very funny, talented actor.  Take a look.

See what I mean.  

I thought our scenes went well together.  We practiced our lines while the crew set up the shots, we talked a little between shots to get to know each other better, and we shot the scene a few times.  You'll have to ask her, but I thought it went well.  I think the thing about actors is that you really don't have personal walls up with other actors when your working on a project together.  You sort of automatically become best friends.  There's a trust thing that happens almost instantly because it has to in order to make the relationship your seeing in the finished product feel real.  It's actually one of the best things about acting.  Being real with people right from the get go is a pretty amazing thing.  It makes life easier and interesting.  That and red wine.  The scene we shot, I think, is the most important scene in the film.  The night before, my daughter helped me memorize my lines.  I had to take my producer hat off and work on the script.  I wasn't about to show up the next day, and not have my lines memorized.  Kate would have kicked my ass, Sheba would start to wonder why she flew across the country to work on this project and Kirsten would have thought I was a hack!


a lot of pressure.


So Logan had to help me.  Memorizing lines isn't hard.  When I do a play I work on them for months.  They have time to germinate in my mind.  As I keep working on film, I'll have to not take for granted that I'm only working with a few lines for that particular scene.  While working with Logan, I kept forgetting one of the sentences in a chunk of dialogue I had to say.  "What am I supposed to be doing?" is the line.  That's the question the whole story is asking!  I wrote it down and pinned it to my wall.  Once I had that to anchor the rest of the words around, I had it pretty well ingrained in my mind.  Thanks Logan!!!


Working with Kate has been a great experience.  Working on film is much different than working on stage.  I normally use my hands a lot when I talk.  I feel like I'm just normally very animated when I'm trying to make a point or telling a story.  It's my opinion, that is a useful visual for the stage when you need the audience to see what you're feeling cause they really can't see your face.  On film, the opposite is true.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard Kate tell me, "You're over gesturing".  On film, you never want to be caught "acting".  That's the kiss of death.  Being aware you're doing it and practice is really the only remedy.  Kate doesn't let me get away with any of that nonsense, so I can tweak it when I have to as we go along.  Don't ever feel you've learned everything about your chosen art.  I would like to think that is impossible.  That sounds unchallenging and boring.  That sounds like hell.  Art has no end! Boom that just happened. I'm trademarking "Art Has No End". I just blew my own mind.

...day 4, day 4, Oh yeah.  Kirsten and I had one other scene that day.  We had a quick scene with the kids.  Logan, Bracken and Henry enjoyed meeting their movie mom and we didn't take very long to nail that scene.  This scene is a set up for the big "open house" scene.  More on that later.  We've been finishing up days ahead of schedule, and this day was no different.  It was time for Kirsten to go back home.  She was a pleasure to work with, and a real professional.  Thank you Kirsten!