7/25/2018: AWS Advanced Class Recap: Breaking Class!

Greetings!

Another film night on Wednesday evening, as we set some Breaking Bad scenes to film.

We began class with a reading of the Coach's Notes, welcoming the newest coach to the AWS staff, local award-winning actress and coach Yolanda Franklin. We also acknowledged those among us who have booked jobs of late.

Next, we watched the Group Therapy scenes from last week, discussing what we saw. I asked each of you that were featured in the clips to talk about what you were seeing, in as neutral and objective a way as possible, setting aside the tendency to be overly harsh on yourselves. I think we can all agree that everyone had some great moments, and some moments that showed where we need to focus our continued craft work. Again, I don't expect you all to be winning Oscars for this class work - my goal is for the workshop to be a safe, fun place to experiment, to film, to learn, to try things and see if they work.

My hope was that we would each be able to discuss our work in the Group Therapy scenes, and then use what we saw to help craft a game-plan for the work ahead, on the Breaking Bad scenes we were going to be doing later that night. It's one thing to discuss theory - it's another thing to try stuff and see the result. Sometimes the best coaching is what you see yourself, with your own eyes, up on the screen.

Of course, once you perform and it's captured on film, it's out of your hands, and into the hands of that unsung hero, the Editor. As editor of these in-class clips, I can say that some of you had shots that were great, but I couldn't use them for one reason or another: The focus was off, the footage was too shaky, the sound was poor, etc. Those types of issues can't be avoided, so you shouldn't worry about them. Your job is to give the editor a good variety of solid takes to choose from, and then let it go...

As much as I enjoy the filming (and I know many of you do as well), I think three weeks in a row was too taxing for some of us. So we'll take a week or two and revisit technique, exercises and group activity. We'll review Stanislavsky and Chekhov, and introduce the Group Theater, getting our feet wet in Meisner before before diving into the "This Is Us" scenes I have next for us. Those scenes are super-rich scenes for you to sink your craft teeth into, and I want to make sure you're all primed, rested and ready. When we film those... look out...

Of the five Breaking Bad scenes I was ready to film on Wednesday, a couple of key "no-shows" meant we had to modify our plans on the fly. We got all the footage for three of the scenes, had to eject out of the fourth, and scrapped the fifth completely. But that's the nature of the business - learning to come prepared, but also be ready to modify plans on the fly if needed. Shrug your shoulders, take a breath, and roll with it. I was very proud of the way you all handled the evening.

I've imported all of the footage and sound into my editing program, and have begun preliminary review of the footage and sound files. I hope to get the edited clips up onto YouTube over the weekend. When they're done, I will embed them here, at the bottom of this post. Then we'll lead class next week by reviewing and discussing the footage.

Calling All Writers!

Towards the end of class, we discussed the idea of generating some original content within the class itself. If any of you wish to write scenes - or even short films - that we can cast and film in class, that would be a great way for some of you to try your hand at more aspects of the craft of story-telling via film-making. It won't be mandatory, of course - those of you that wish to stay focused on the acting craft can certainly keep your focus there. But my thinking is that it can only benefit you, as an actor, to have a better understanding of the entire film-making process, from concept to finished product.

I've been trying to get better at sound editing - I talked to a profession sound editor today, and he detailed to me a bit of his process, and it truly made my head swim. To get it right requires near godlike levels of skill and patience. I think soundcraft (for lack of a better word) isn't appreciated for how important and necessary it is. I know I didn't really appreciate it until I tried doing it myself...

We also discussed the benefits and perils of being "in your head" while performing (yes, there are benefits), and I ended class by putting out a general request: Tell me one or two of your favorite characters from TV/Film, and we'll take a look at one each week, as far as what the actor/actress did to prepare/perform the role. And I also asked you to make a short list of scenes from TV/Film that made a strong impact on you, emotionally. We'll also pick one each week to watch in class and discuss, trying to identify, from an acting craft stand-point, why that scene worked, and impacted you as an audience member. And how can we pull tools and techniques from it to try ourselves in class.

Here's an example, from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Get a tissue ready...



Look for the finished Breaking Bad clips here soon.

See you all next week!

David Wagner
AWS Staff

----------------------------------------

Here's the first one. K. and A.



Here's video 2, with J. and M.



Here's the final video, with J. and S.

7/18/2018: AWS Advanced Class Recap: Continuity and Group Therapy!

Greetings, Advanced Ones! (And greetings to whomever else might be lurking here!)

We had an interesting and unusual class on Wednesday! Unusual, in that we experimented - and I think it was a success!

We began class by watching the three completed scene videos from last week's Boardwalk Empire class shoot. We watched the videos, and discussed them at some length. As is to be expected with actors, those of you in the scenes were far harder on yourselves than was realistic... everyone else loved them! But, a certain amount of perfectionism is par for the course....

There was a fourth video, which I couldn't complete and post, due to some serious continuity issues. I'll take the hit on that - I should have caught it during filming. The body positioning between the master shots and the singles was so radically different, it looked weird cutting back and forth.

But it gave us an opportunity to discuss the topic of continuity - which is something that we actors need to keep in mind. As I do more film-making and editing, I'm realizing how important continuity is. It's one thing to craft a solid performance which feels natural and believable - but if you cross your arms in the master shot, and uncross them in the single shot (for example) then as the film cuts back and forth, it looks odd, as your arms cross and uncross repeatedly.

Even sitting back in a chair and leaning forward again needs to be repeated similarly on each take, to allow the editor the ability to best craft the final shot.

Other continuity issues include: bottles/glasses with varying levels of liquid in them; random objects in the background mysteriously moving around; cigarettes that magically grow longer as the scenes progress, etc. Even the pros have trouble with continuity, so don't feel too badly...

Group Therapy

Once we finished that topic, we passed out an ensemble scene, so that everyone in class could be in the same scene together. There were ten of us, and I gave you each a part in a large group therapy themed scene I cobbled together from scenes from: Breaking Bad, The Fault in our Stars, The Punisher and 28 Days. I combined them all into one large scene, and assigned roles of various lengths to each of you, giving you about a half-hour to get off book.

We then sat in the big circle, rehearsed once or twice, then we filmed! We spent the bulk of the rest of the class getting master shots, close-ups of everyone, and floating shots. I have all the footage in my editing software, along with the sound we got with my field recorder. I'll be editing the footage together and posting it here when it's finished.

[Quick Note: In reviewing the sound files, I noticed that every time one of y'all shuffled your script pages, it came through loud and clear! Something else to keep in mind, for future reference...]

Here are the scenes I pulled dialog from, if you'd like to see how the pros did it... First, the Breaking Bad scene (Aaron Paul)...



And here's the Punisher monologue (Jon Bernthal)...



And here's the scene from 28 Days (2002 dir. B. Thomas)...



When I find a copy of the scene from The Fault in our Stars that's a decent resolution, I'll post it as well. Until then THIS is the best I can find...

---------------------------------

I then passed out scenes from Breaking Bad for next week. We will film those as well! Filming three weeks in a row! We may even extend the streak by passing out scenes from my current favorite show "This Is Us," which has incredibly good writing.

It seemed to me that everyone enjoyed the Group Therapy filming. I look forward to next week's class.

Look for the edited class footage below, when it's ready. Gimme a couple days, eh!

----------------------

EDIT: 7/24/18 Been working on the clips every night. The rough-cut came together well, and I've been working on the sound. It's a big step in the right direction, sound-wise, but still plenty of room for improvement. Individual clips are sounding good, but they still don't sound like a seamless audio track - you can still notice the difference as the clips roll one into the other. Anyways, I'll need another day. I think you'll like the results. We'll debut the final clip in class on Wednesday, before we start filming the Breaking Bad scenes. /EDIT

Dave Wagner
AWS Staff

Here is the initial cut!

7/11/2018: AWS Advanced Class Recap: On Lying and Running

Greetings, y'all!

Had such a fun time last class filming with you all - I hope you enjoyed it as well. Here's a recap of what happened...

We began class (as is our custom) by reviewing the Coach's Notes, and acknowledging those among us who are working on projects of late. We also briefly covered the fact that AWS is evolving as a studio - those who have been with us for a while have noticed some of the changes - there are more on the way! As students, your feedback is important to us. Leave a comment (or email/call directly) with your thoughts on what you like and dislike. We're striving to make your learning experience with AWS as productive and enjoyable as possible.

We segued into our topic for the evening: The Art of Lying

Is Honesty Really the Best Policy?

As actors, we pretend for a living. We get paid to take someone else's words/experiences and present them as our own, as convincingly as possible. The more genuine and honest (and present) we seem, the more effective we are in our performance. But make no mistake - Heath Ledger was NOT actually the Joker in the film The Dark Knight! That performance was a lie, in the clearest sense of the word - and a very effective one. That was not who Heath was in "real life"... he was lying!

We discussed the Art of the Lie in class, as it pertains to the acting craft - but we also discussed the numerous examples of lying in our day-to-day lives. Depending on which people we are around (friends/family/coworkers/strangers/etc) We modify our behavior, our demeanor, our words to fit the situation of the moment - usually motivated (without our being aware of it) by our objective at that moment. At any given moment during the day, we want something. And we go get it, however we need to. And often, just as we subconsciously craft a version of ourselves to fit the person/situation, we also craft a version of the truth that fits the moment - to obtain our objectives! Sometimes we tweak the truth just a bit, other times we outright lie.

This may seem an odd topic to cover in advanced acting class, but I assure you, if you can get a hold of this concept - and see it already at work in your lives - you will better understand how to bring the same dynamics into your acting. You character, itself, is a lie. And what your character does to get what he/she wants is often based on lies...

We discussed POLITICIANS. A politician's "super-objective" is to get elected - so that he/she can be in a position of power, to DO things that will hopefully change society for the better (and/or enrich themselves in the process, lol). Getting elected, by necessity, requires winning votes. To win votes, you need to persuade voters to vote for you. Bottom line, politicians will say whatever they need to in order to win your vote. Becoming all things to all people, modifying their speeches to fit whatever crowd they are in front of, whether it contradicts other speeches or not. Little lies now, to gain a larger truth in the future (getting elected). ("Vote for Pedro, and all your wildest dreams will come true.")

We discussed SPIES - the stakes could not be higher for a spy. In a foreign country, pretending to be someone "normal", trying to obtain information to undermine that country. If they break character, even for a moment, it could cost them their lives. Talk about character creation and high stakes!

We talked about other liars: Criminals, lawyers, stand-up comedians, etc. I tried to get us to strip away the negative connotations of lying that we're all pre-programmed with - not to make you all start actively lying, but to point out that we all do it already - and if you can understand the dynamics, you can apply it to your craft, and elevate your acting game.

We watched a pair of clips. The very first scene from the first episode of the TV show Lie To Me, starring the wonderful Tim Roth.



I hope you all see how useful understanding "micro-expressions" could be in crafting your performances. The camera sees those little details - and so will the audience. It will convince them on a gut, subconscious level. Trust me.

A good book on this topic is called Spy the Lie, by authors P. Houston and M. Floyd.

We also watched a clip from the TV show The Mentalist (starring Patrick Jane), in a "reveal" clip similar to the clip from Gotham we watched in a previous class.

This clip alone provides so much to talk about! That character actor Frederick Koehler is an actor, playing a character (Tommy) who is also playing a character. And Patrick Jane sees the lie (even though Tommy is very convincing - micro-expressions and everything), and calls him on it.

If you want an acting challenge, the next character you craft for a project of any kind, get into that character and go out in public as that character for a few hours. That will show you how good your craft prep work is!

We talked again about the skill you should all focus on developing - when to "be yourself" in a role, when to be a "version" of yourself, and when to be someone else altogether. Again, it depends on the project, the script, the director... if being yourself works, run with it! That's what Felicia Pearson did as Snoop in the awesome TV series The Wire. Here is the clip I wanted to show you in class...



If you watch interview clips with Felicia, you can see that, in this role, she is being herself. Her line delivery, undercurrent, attitude, presentation. That's her. Now, her actions are in the script - she's a psychopath in the show, and a very convincing one. In an excellent show filled to the brim with fantastic characters, she shines. This is a great show to study, as far as craft.

We also talked about Boot Camp, drill instructors, improvising entire plays, and other odds and ends.

All of it was interesting to me. You're actors. You lie for a living.

At this point, we shifted gears, and got to filming our scenes from Boardwalk Empire. This time, I brought some basic LED lights and my H1 field recorder, to up our end results. I also treated our shoots more like an actual set - getting master shots and coverage, to edit the scenes together more like a short film, instead of single long takes. I've imported all of the footage and have begun the editing process. I'll add the clips to the end of this blog post, as soon as they're done.

It will be interesting to learn how to streamline this whole process. We got 4 scenes done in about 90 minutes - that's not fast enough. If we have bigger classes, on film nights, we'll have to hit the ground running at the very beginning, and be able to work as a team (with lights/sound/etc). I enjoy the process so much, and I know many of you did as well. Those that weren't with us filming on set were in the class proper with CJ, working on your monologues, cold reads, and watching a video of Daniel Day Lewis and his character work on There Will Be Blood - but I want to make sure that on film nights, everyone gets their time in front of the camera.

As the weeks progress, we'll fine-tune the process.

Look for the clips from Boardwalk Empire down below very soon.

Until then, thank you all for your participation. Leave a comment with any feedback - including one of your favorite characters from TV/Film! I want to pick one of your favorites each week, and look into the craft choices that were made by the actor/actress in question. As per Adriana's suggestion, first up will be Chris Pratt's work in the show Parks and Recreation.

See you soon!

David Wagner
AWS Staff

----------------------------------

CLASS VIDEOS: While it's a step forward in production, as far as what we've done in the past, there's room for improvement as far as lighting and sound, shot composition and coloring... Please be patient as we work and learn together!

Boardwalk Empire: Scene One:



Here's the second scene. The sound is still choppy, I haven't got the hang of working with the audio yet. Again, it's a step in the right direction. We'll get there.



Here's the third of the four scenes. Again, inconsistent sound. I'm working on it!