From the category archives:

The Acting Blog

Actors Head Shots

An actors head shot is their calling card. And if it doesn’t stand out from the pack then it is well worth the trouble and expense to update to a more dynamic one. An outstanding head shot means work. A bad head shot will get you nowhere.

The standard 10 x 8 inch black and white head shot has been the industry standard for over forty years now, but due to the American influence on the local film industry, the 10 x 8 colour head shot is now in vogue. It has its benefits in-so-much as you can see the colour of the eyes, hair and complexion but colour shots lack the drama of black and white. Even the best of them look more like a studio portrait than a dynamic actor head shot.

The solution? Have one of each and take them both to casting sessions.

In this highly competitive industry I can’t stress enough the importance of having a superior head shot. Head shots are all about the eyes, and the eyes should be the first thing you notice when you look at an actors head shot. It doesn’t matter whether you are smiling or not but it’s important that the shot is a good representation of you. Airbrushed or touched up photographs may make you look pretty stunning but it is not what you look like in reality. A few lines or scars give you character, so as an actor why hide them? Use your imperfections to your advantage – after all they’re your imperfections and in that sense they make you unique.

When shopping around for a good photographer, Google actors head shot photographers Sydney (or whichever city you live in) and have a good look at the sample head shots on their web site. If you recognise any faces from film or television and the quality of the photos are of a high standard, then it’s a good bet that the photographer knows his or her stuff. Look at as many sites as possible before contacting the two or three photographers who look the most promising. Check out the prices they charge and the packages they offer. Overall however price should be the least of your concerns. You get what you pay for, so pay for the best if you can afford it.

When selecting the best shot from the session, don’t ask friends and family for their opinion (unless they are industry professionals.) Select what you consider to be the best 3, 4 or 5 shots and ask your acting tutor, your agent, or other actors for their opinion. Your mum won’t be able to help as the shot  she prefers may look fine as a family picture on the mantelpiece but more than likely it won’t work as a professional head shot.

When I graduated from acting school in 1981, I was recommended to a good photographer who specialised in actors head shots and I paid $300-00 for the session. The fee also included an initial 25 copies of my selected head shot. This is roughly the equivalent of around $1,000-00 today. And if I needed a new head shot tomorrow, then I’d be more than happy to pay a thousand dollars to get what I wanted. A good head shot will pay for itself very quickly whereas a bad one will cost you dearly. I was overjoyed when I delivered my first head shot to the casting agents and received positive feedback as to what a great head shot I had – and by the time I was performing my third small dialogue role a couple of weeks out of acting school, my head shot had well and truly paid for itself.

You can also alter casting directors, producers and directors perception of what roles you are suitable for by changing your head shot and affecting a different look. My first head shot showed a clean cut young man with nicely cut and styled hair, clean shaven and wearing a white shirt. As I mentioned, it got me a lot of work, but it was all “good guy” roles. So a few years later I got a second head shot. My hair was still nicely cut and styled but I had three days growth on my face and I was wearing a black mesh punk T-shirt. Even though the scars of an adventurous youth were clearly visible in my original head shot, my clean cut looks were only perceived as being suitable for “good guy” roles. The new head shot changed everyone’s perception of me and I found myself being cast in “bad guy” roles. From then on, depending upon the role, I would present one or the other of my head shots when at the casting session.

The moral of the story being, get the best head shot you can and damn the expense because in a very short time you will see a positive return on your investment.

{ 0 comments }

Working Within the Frame

The camera can either be an actors best friend or their worst enemy.

The majority of actors are theatre trained and have no idea of camera technique or how to apply it in a practical sense. Directors are constantly tearing their hair out trying to encourage and cajole a camera friendly performance from theatre trained performers.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how good an actor you are, if you lack all important screen technique then your career will wither on the vine.

One aspect of good technique is understanding the performance parameters from shot to shot. The wider the shot the more latitude you have to open up the physical side of the performance and make your gestures slightly bigger. The tighter the shot, the less you do. In a close up you are far better to do nothing and let the audience come to their own conclusions as to what you are thinking and how you are feeling, than to over emote.

The camera magnifies everything you do ten times, so when you over emote it looks ridiculously melodramatic. A lot of energy is needed for comedy: Comedy by nature is over the top. But drama isn’t, and a much more subtle and simpler approach is required to capture the truth of the moment on-screen. On stage, you can give a performance. On camera, you must have an experience.

At the Screen Actors Workshop, I encourage my students to ask questions of relevance when we are rehearsing and recording scenes: The sort of questions a director appreciates. Don’t be afraid to ask, for example, “What is my framing in this shot?” This is an intelligent and legitimate question and it informs the director that you know your stuff, as the shot size and framing will determine how you will play the moment for that particular shot.

Once the director sees that you understand the camera and how to use it in your favour, then they will want to work with you again.

 

{ 0 comments }

Acting with Green Screen SFX

Learning the technique of green screen performance is essential training for any actor. Not only is it an impressive addition to your resume but it is highly lucrative work. And most actors haven’t a clue as to what is required when performing in this area.

Actors who understand the process are highly sought after when casting for high-end effects driven TV commercials and feature films. It doesn’t matter whether the screen is blue (blue screen) or green (green screen.) If there is a lot of blue clothing involved then logically a green screen will be used so that when the background footage is rendered it doesn’t try to key over the blue clothing with the background image.

When working on a green screen set – and I’m talking about a full size performance screen, not a square piece of green screen material tacked to a wall which is only suitable for close-up shots with no physical performance parameters involved – you are working in a vacuum with no reference points other than the space the camera will cover. Unlike a fully dressed set, the green screen set is usually empty but for the actors. Therefore the actors must work within the space and hit their marks precisely. Their eye-lines must also be accurate and directed to the marks indicated and provided by the director.

Good eye-lines are essential as cutaway shots, FX shots, and CGI will be added later, and the actors eye-lines must perfectly match the indicated marks. Otherwise you are not directly looking at the “monster” or whatever, approaching you.

A good imagination is also essential when working with green screen as you will not see the shots that will be added later. So if the director says that what you are seeing is truly frightening, then your response must be appropriate to what you are “seeing.”

Acting with green screen SFX is a vital part of actor training at the Screen Actors Workshop and those students who have completed the green screen master class have gone on to perform successfully in a wide range of effects driven television commercials and feature films.

So make it a priority to get some green screen training, for if you don’t understand the process then you will be intimidated by it, and your performance will surely suffer.

{ 0 comments }

The Power of Silence

Silence is a very effective tool on screen as it can draw the audience into your performance far greater than dialogue can. Prolonged periods of silence can have the opposite effect on stage though. Because of the distance between audience and stage performer, a prolonged silence can make the audience uncomfortable and their immediate reaction is, “Something has gone wrong” or “Someone’s forgotten their lines.”

This never happens on screen. The camera magnifies everything you do by a factor of ten, so even the slightest change of expression or the passing of a shadow behind your eyes is visible to the audience. Some actors think if they aren’t saying anything then nothing is happening, but nothing could be further from the truth as there is usually a lot happening behind your eyes and on your face – all of which on-screen is visible to the audience.

To test the power of silence and it’s affect on you, try this little exercise: Sit on the couch reading a magazine with the television on. I guarantee as soon as the screen falls silent you will glance at the TV. You’re immediate response will be, “No one is saying anything, so something must be happening.” Screen acting, as opposed to the theatre, is less about the words and far more about the actions. That’s why directors call Action at the commencement of every scene, as opposed to calling Dialogue!

On-screen the audience can see subtle emotional shifts and changes in your facial expression, your body language and your eyes. The eyes are virtually meaningless on stage but of prime importance on camera.

When responding to something that is said or done to you with a thought process, you will draw the audience into your thoughts and they will be expectant as to the outcome. Silence can create tension. Silence can create expectation. On-screen silence is equally as effective as good dialogue and a well delivered line.

As the highly regarded 20th Century film maker Orson Welles stated, “The camera is an amazing instrument, for the camera can pick up thought.”

{ 0 comments }

Screen Acting Technique

A screen actor who lacks technique will never sustain a long term career. A good actor is aware of what their body is doing at all times. They keep their actions simple and precise, thereby embodying their physical performance with real meaning. But the most expressive part of the body is the eyes: the window to the soul. The eyes are a prime form of emotional expression. And eye lines are very important on camera.

Precise eye lines help to create impact on screen and can make your character appear honest and forthright. Good eye lines can also give the character you are playing strength, power and determination, be they protagonist or antagonist. Sloppy eye lines – eyes that are wandering all over the place – make your character appear shifty and untrustworthy. Editors cut along eye lines and there is nothing more annoying or time wasting in the edit suite than an actor with wandering eyes or bad continuity. When cutting scenes with more than two actors, say a dinner party scene, the actors must be aware that through all of the camera set ups used to cover the scene they must use precise eye lines when speaking and responding to the other characters.

But when do you look at someone and when do you look away? To a large extent the moment by moment emotional content of the scene will dictate where to direct your eye lines. With experience little thought is required, as with all technique it becomes intuitive after a while. And once you understand the required technique and its application you can always break it to achieve the opposite effect.

Another annoying habit some actors have is to sigh at the beginning of a line. When you expel breath via a sigh, you are also expelling must needed energy.

Some actors click their tongue making a “tchh” sound before every line. Very annoying when cutting a scene as the editor has to waste valuable time cueing the dialogue after the sound or removing the sound entirely. And if it is done repeatedly, the actor starts to really grate on everyone in the room. Would the director hire this person again? Highly unlikely.

Few acting schools teach technique in their classes. At the Screen Actors Workshop, the theoretical and practical application of good technique goes hand in hand with performance studies. It’s one thing to learn how to act and quite another to understand the importance of seamlessly applying technique to the on-camera performance.

Actors with good technique invariably develop and sustain long term careers.

{ 0 comments }

Maximum Coverage

Maximum coverage involves shooting the scene from different angles, starting with a wide master shot then close ups of each actor in the scene. The footage is then edited together to make up the scene. Continuity of physical performance, eye lines, dialogue and props is vitally important when shooting this type of coverage.

During recording of the master shot the actors should ideally cheat toward the camera slightly so the camera sees more of their face and less of their profile. Cheating in master shots allows the camera to be moved in nice and tight behind the actor who is working with the actor in their close up shot. This allows for seamless shot by shot editing of the recorded material.

Depending upon the size of the set and the available space, furniture can be cheated and moved toward the front or back of the set, or the actors themselves can be cheated for the camera. For example, the director may be shooting a dinner party scene on a small set and decide that it will be far quicker to change the props in the background than to set up and relight on the other side of the table. This can be done simply by moving the actors and their props diametrically across the table, thereby leaving the camera and the lights set up where they were for the previous shot. A single wall in the background then becomes two walls in the same room.

The purpose of shooting maximum coverage is to gather as much material on the scene as possible for the edit. The scene can then be constructed for maximum impact and the rhythm and dynamic of the scene can be manipulated to enhance the actors performances. This gives the director and the editor enough material to shape and define story and character on a scene by scene basis throughout the program.

A stage actor can have a good, bad or mediocre night but a screen actors performance via maximum coverage and the subsequent editing is always far greater than the sum of its parts.

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →