Films

  "We deal in illusion".  A camera operator on the film "The Midnight Man" told me after removing a false wall to get a shot from a different direction in a scene.  Some movies are shot in less than a month.  You can usually tell, because the quality of the films isn't very good.  The ones I did took at least two months or more.

 A movie is obviously quite different from a play.  When doing a play, there is a lot of rehearsal time spread out over weeks.  The reasoning behind a long rehearsal is that you are going to do the play live, and you don't have the ability to stop a scene because somebody messed up.  In a film, the rehearsal time is much shorter.  Maybe even just before shooting the scene.  If someone messes up, like Halle Berry did in a scene for "The Program" (22 takes), the director can stop filming and reset the scene.  

 There is also a lot of waiting around while doing a movie.  The cameras and lighting have to be set just right.  They have to test the microphones before the actors arrive.  It is a very laborious process.  So, what do the actors do while waiting to film a scene?  Some study their lines. Some sit around and tell stories about previous films they had done.  Some take naps.  It can actually be quite boring in between shots.  "Hurry up and wait" is the mantra in film production.

 The movies I did were not reliant on special effects.  There were stunts that had to be choreographed so no one would get hurt, but realism was very important.  No computer-generated effects.  The only unusual special effect that was used in "The Program" was a camera mounted on the inside of a football helmet to have the audience see what the runner was seeing in a game.  They said that was the first time that had ever been done on film. 

 An actor has no control as to how a film will turn out.  That is the job of the editor.  You might think might have been in the best movie of your career, but then it comes out, and it stinks.  Some of your best work ends up on the cutting room floor.  I was in two good scenes in "Chattahoochee" that didn't make it into the film.  That's just the way it goes.  Sometimes, those scenes are put back in the "director's cut" on DVD but not always.  

 All in all, a good movie is a joy to work on with very professional people (for the most part).  There needs to be more independent films made without the big budgets.  Money often times do not produce quality films.  As an actor, I would much prefer to work with great actors and small budgets than terrible actors with huge budgets.  I have been fortunate to do the former than the latter.

Cars

  I loved everyone in our youth group at Kilbourne Park Baptist Church.  During the summer of 1970, we took a trip to Six Flags Over Georgia outside Atlanta.  Our youth leader wanted us to pair off so no one would get lost.  So, Craig and I paired off with Pam and Gail.  We were going to do everything together.  

 When we got to one ride, Craig and I thought we would get sick on it, so we told Pam and Gail that we would meet them at the exit.  We got over to that spot, but we missed them getting off of the ride.  We looked around for them, but they were nowhere to be seen.  A little panic set in.  Where were they?  We had waited for them.  

 So, Craig and I set out on a quest to find them.  We walked all around the park with no success.  We passed up on a lot of rides looking for them.  After we got lunch, we looked for them some more.  All of a sudden, we passed by a ride made up of cars on a track, and we saw them in one of those cars.  We yelled out to them, and they waved back.  We waited at the exit of that ride and reconnected with the girls.  

 As we were talking to them about where they had been, it turned out that they had been looking for us going around in circles in the park.  At one point, we had reversed our course to see if we would run into them.  They had done the same thing, so we were just following one another around the park.  They got tired of doing that and went on the ride.

 By the time we got back together, it was time to leave the park.  We didn't go on many rides, but our walking gave us a map in our brains where everything was.  If we had stayed in one place, we probably would have run into one another sooner.  Oh well.

Stage

  My first taste of working in a play was in kindergarten, where I played a wise man in a Christmas pageant.  I was very shy and really didn't like being in front of people.  As I got older, I learned to love the stage.  The applause was like taking a drug.  It made me feel incredibly high.  If I got a standing ovation, I was over the moon.  I have already written about my God-given talent for acting, so I wanted to write about the stage.

 I was trained to be an actor without a microphone.  I could project my voice to the last row of a theatre without seeming like I was shouting.  It was a lot easier in a more intimate setting like having the audience surround you and a theater with only a hundred seats, but the basic skills were the same.  When I started acting with a microphone, I found it to be a lot more difficult.  I had been using my voice in a broader way, and now it could be more subtle.  That was hard to get used to.

 One thing I was good at was developing a character.  You are given a script and some lines, but the rest of the development is up to you.  Who is the person you are portraying?  What are his likes and dislikes?  Where did he grow up?  Who were his parents?  Where did he go to school, if he went?  What part of the world did he grow up?  Is he married?  If so, to whom?  There are a lot of questions about a character that are not written in a script.  The job of the actor is to make the character believable to the audience.  Maybe that character is someone that the audience can identify with.  The main thing you have to do in character development is to find something in that person that the actor can identify with.  A memory or emotion from your past that can give depth to the character.  

 One thing I was not so good at was memorizing lines in the script.  If the character has been fleshed out, the words can come a little easier.  I found the best way for me to memorize lines was to repeat them over and over again until they came more natural for my character.  If I flubbed a line on stage, I learned to cover it.  I used to tell students not to freeze up, because then the audience would know you made a mistake.  Stay focused on the character and say something the character would say in the moment, until you found your way back to the script.  The key here is that the audience probably does not have a copy of the script in front of them, so the lines could briefly be your own.

 Now we come to nerves.  I admit that I have terrible stage fright.  I always have.  The anticipation of going on stage is incredibly scary for me.  It is all about my shyness.  Some people say that you are only as good as your last role.  What if the audience doesn't like me?  What if I forget my lines?  What if I hear crickets in the audience?  What if I have to throw up (which I have done) before going on stage? There are couple of things I have done before going on stage.  The first is to get the nervousness out of my body by doing exercises.  It could be yoga or jumping around or muscle relaxation. Whatever is needed at the time to get my energy in the right place.  The second thing I do is meditation.  I would find an empty room offstage and make it as dark as possible.  I would think about my first line that I needed to present.  I would clear my head of negative thoughts and say a prayer.  "Lord, give me the strength to do a good job.  Give me courage to go out onto the stage.  Give me clarity of thought and mind. Thank you for giving me this talent that I am about to use, and may someone receive a blessing from my work. Amen".  After saying that prayer, I know that I will do my best.  When I get out on stage, and say my first line, all of the nerves go away.  I turn nervousness into energy.

 Here are a couple tricks of the trade.  If you have a mirror onstage, put hair spray on the glass.  The spotlights won't reflect in the glass and blind the actors or the audience.  Another is to put a fine layer of water in an ashtray.  If someone is putting out a cigarette onstage, the water will keep it from having residual smoke rising from the ashtray and be distracting to the audience. 

 Stage work can be very hard.  You are in front of an audience without a net.  No second takes.  Not all actors can be good on the stage.  Just like not all stage actors can be good in other mediums like film or TV.  It just takes practice.  I have had a lot of practice.