They’re NOT going to put me in the movies

 

Monday, July 06, 2009

 

God help me I’m actually rehearsing with the idea that I need to learn how to act in order to make my mini-films better.

Prior to this I got so caught up in the technical stuff – lining up shots or creating special effects – that I gave actual dialogue short shrift.

I basically read the dialogue line by line – filming two or three versions so I could later pick the one that fit best.

I didn’t even really develop character, but added a slight accent or change of tone for each character.

This resulted in stilted performances which really didn’t bother me much until recently.

So I’ve decided I need to rehearse, not only know the lines I’m supposed to give for each shot, but also to figure out how the character should be delivering them.

I’m doing this in anticipation of my remake of The Ghost in Old Mill Tavern – although I’m still in the middle of rewriting that script.

I’ve decided to start small with some of the short monologues I wrote over the years based on people I met when I hung out in local bars.

I started to do this a few months ago, but now I’m serious, and need to have the words committed to memory so that I can worry more about inflection.

No, inflection is the wrong word.

I want everything to sound natural – not acted at all.

This comes at a time when I happen to be reading the original scripts to all the Indiana Jones movies, and noticed how they differ from what actually appears on the screen. (This research is for yet another mini movie).

The process of memorizing lines is a curious one since I am also the writer. So I wind up rewriting lines when I see they clearly do not work as written.

This gives me more than a little insight as to how Shakespeare worked and why his finished pieces were so polished.

 

*************

I was talking to someone today about the letter from DreamWorks I received last week, and how there is truth even in a joke.

When I wrote to Spielberg about being in the next Indiana movie, I WAS joking. But within it was a nugget of fantasy.

I wouldn’t be making my mini movies if I didn’t want to be part of the Spielberg magic, and so I latch on by imitating him with the hope that some of his magic rubs off.

Deep down, we all have silly dreams we can’t possibly realize in reality.

I’ve always wanted to be a rock star, too, but hanging around the musicians I hung out with soon dispelled any notion I might have.

I dared not stand on the same stage as any of them they had so much more talent than I did.

The same would be true in a regular film. I’m just not good enough (by far), which is why I always have to work harder to accomplish anything in my life.

Rejection usually inspires me. I get so peeved that I need to prove everybody wrong.

This doesn’t always work, but it puts me in a creative mode at a higher level than if I was simply doing it for myself.

The letter from DreamWorks stung a little and at first I didn’t know why.

I really WAS joking about being in the movie.

Or was I?

My telling myself I’m not good enough is far different from someone else telling me so.

Which, of course, has pissed me off enough to get me off my butt.

Not to get in a Spielberg movie, but to make my movies so good Spielberg will want to be in one of mine (That’s a joke, son – or is it?)