Positive thoughts, positive results

Well, yesterday was a very good day- and one of those days that makes you truly believei n destiny.

I spent five hours building a prop for my acting scene the night before. I prefer to build my props so that hey give me more behavior for my character (in terms of my acting) and it is fun and inspires further creativity. So I built a giant ferris wheel out of 120 colored popsickle sticks and hot glue.



source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnl2vC8Qcl5hCzjXQ3YAwe2OA1gHboukDkRkUHzLHweEfj-m-MsFEj6-ZGQkHOA31korGt1uBG1FVV-Bta08sJkMNUWmAcmlxO73Mv0Ju5RgBsgPIuqQCamzN6WgZSuMDRES_IYdbgxU/s1600/ferris_wheel_img_1048.jpg

I was on the 1 train when a lady commented on the ferris wheel that I constructed. I thanked her for the compliment and continued to focus on the day ahead. But, she continued to express her interest with the ingenuity of the ferris wheel and my overall creativity. That lady just so happens to be a graduate professor of psychology at my school, Fordham. We exchanged information and she said she will forward my information (I sent her my headshot and resume) to a friend of hers who is a formally trained actress, is writing her dissertation on improvisation (which I am trained in) and has some sort of key role with an improvisation group- the world works in mysterious ways, or does it- when you send positive thoughts into the universe, you receive positive results. Oh, and the lady on train, the doctor of psychology told me that a creative person like me belongs pursuing an artistic career and doesn't belong in law school- I felt as if she was reading my mind or at least my positive thoughts were materializing.

Then, in acting class, a fellow student commented on my ferris wheel- he asked how long it took me to construct. When I stated that the ferris wheel took five hours to construct another student asked me, "why," meaning why would I spend so much time constructing a prop for acting class. The next thing I heard was my teacher responded to her question with one word, "commitment." That was a nice thing to hear!

In reference to my scene the teacher said I did "really good" which is also great to hear! There were messups with the delivery of some lines, but that is to be expected when you are working on your feet with the scene for the first time. He said we merely need to pick up the pace of the delivery so that the scene doesn't bog down, but he liked it!

THE PITCH!

So, tomorrow the scriptwriter that I am working with, Caroline Coxon, is meeting with a Director, Roderick Fenske at the Groucho Club in Soho, London- a place that has exclusive membership including many notable artists. She is delivering a pitch for 'The Colour of Her Scream'. It is an exciting moment for the project and hopefully it will result in a giant leap forward for the project. It would be amazing to work with Mr. Fenske- working with Mr. Fenske would take this project to a whole new level- fingers crossed! The following excerpt about Mr. Fenske (along with the picture) was taken from http://aafreno.com/page/3/

"Fenske’s style can best be described as performance-based humour mixed with the surreal and absurd. Fenske is a man who has traveled many paths. After growing up in Reno and holding several jobs, Fenske fell into the business of advertising. Fenske took a job in the mailroom of agency giant McCann-Erickson, San Francisco and worked his way up to a copywriting position. After stints at Ketchum and Saatchi & Saatchi, Roderick moved to New York to work at Ogilvy & Mather and JWT. In 2000, Fenske moved to London where he started directing music videos and commercials while working as a creative director at agencies such as HHCL, St. Luke’s and TBWA.
After achieving notoriety with his special brand of humor (and several awards) with commercials for Sony Playstation 2, FCUK and Channel 5 — that Fenske both wrote and directed — he was invited to join the Swedish film collective Acne. Three years later, having directed internationally for the likes of Honda, Alfa-Romeo, Sprint and Coca-Cola, Fenske joined Hungry Man. He has been with Hungry Man since 2007 and has won several international awards including a Eurobest Gold, The British D&AD, and recently a Bronze Lion in the Cannes International Festival 2010. Fenske has also created two short films that have been getting some notoriety on the independent film circuit. Careful Carl, which has been recognized at both the Palm Springs International Film Festival and BAFTA, will be screened at the Power Lunch. His most recent short film is Future Dave and it is currently doing well on the festival circuit."

Roderick Fenske

Acting videos

I felt it was time to add a few videos. The first video is the video of a monologue I will be using for auditions. The other videos consists of monologues that I did in my acting class. These aren't exactly evidence of my best work, but I really wanted to post something at the moment. My character adjustments need to be worked on, they seem to come and go a bit in these videos. The deafness could be more clear in the second video and the southern accent in the third video needs to be more defined in terms of the region and it has to be executed properly all the way through. I didn't dress up for these monologues, as I did for my class. I am fairly happy with the videos though. BTW, the author of "Spoon River Anthology" is Edgar Lee Masters NOT Edgar Allen Lee. Somehow, I created a cross between Master and Poe.

So close... Yet, so far..

Well, I didn't get the part for the first film that I had an audition and a callback for. This is what the director emailed me, "Ugh, this is my least favourite e-mail I've written in a long time. You did great at the callback, and Ellpetha and I were both impressed and also taken with you as a person. In the end, it was between you and one other person, but in the end we had to go with what we felt would best serve the story."

It is nice to know I did well at the audition. I finally felt amazing after an audtion as if I had finally put all my talent and technique to the test. But, it hurts when you don't get the part, especially when you are so close. I don't take rejection well and I don't know if I ever will. And that is not good considering the field I am in.

I gave up my Spring Break for the other student film. I took a leap of faith and gave up a ticket to Florida, not knowing if I will even get the part. I have yet to get a call or email about the casting and the film shoots in a week from today. I suppose it is safe to say I did not get the part.

I am hoping that this feeling I have will  not be a feeling I come to know exclusively throughout the next yr and a half that I am taking off of school.

Word of the day: dissapointment!

Anticipation

I need to begin auditioning for several films a week that way I don't grow attached to getting a particular role and waiting for the casting regarding the film. I need to grow more detached from the notion of landing a role and more attached to the concept of merely auditioning and treating the process from a business aspect.

I attended a callback and an audition this past Saturday. It is now Thursday and I have not received any response regarding the casting. I am growing impatient : /

I did get an email to audition for a supporting role in a comedy. The audition will be in Brooklyn : / But I want to get work (technically non-paying work for now).

A day of excellent auditions!

HELLO!

Well, today I took risks and pushed myself outside of my comfort zone. Although, my nerves are shot as a result of pushing myself I am extremely pleased- I don't want to remain in my safe, comfort zone. I want to push myself and keep auditioning and get some juicy roles. Anyway, not only did I attend auditions but I attended auditions that were both for silent films (no text)! Thus, my audition consisted of pure improvisation.

My callback at NYU went very well. The director, Felix is awesome. He is unlike any director I have ever seen. He is weird and I mean that in a very good way! I pride myself on being wierd/different. He has a way of making the actor feel so comfortable as if they are not even auditioning. He had me do an acting exercise with the actress who has already been cast and then an improvisation exercise with her as well. For the improv exercise I had to speak Spanish and she spoke only Greek. My objective was to tell her/express to her that I love her. Obviously that is not an easy objective when neither one of you is speaking the same language and do not understand the other person. The director let the exercise go on longer than expected because he said he was interested in what we were doing and didn't want to end it. I suppose that is a good thing. He said the exercise turned out completely different than he expected which pleased him. And the actress said that she felt the emotions were truthful. She was very good if I may say so myself- she studied at the Stratsburg Institute. I would love to work with her and this director- they are very down to earth, knowledgable, and talented. I sat on some impulses during the audition, but overall I am happy with how my audition turned out. The director said I should receive a response very soon- fingers crossed!

Then I had to shoot over from West fourth to East 23rd Street for an audition at the School of Visual Arts. This is the audition I was most nervous for. The director gave me no texts and said to act everything out in silence. Needless to say, I made fairly strong choices and executed them. The director said, "I am impressed." and then said that I did great work. She had me redo what I did, with slight tweaks, three times. She let me continue to act even when she saw what she had asked for because she liked what I was doing emotionally with the scene. She said it was great and that she was happy to have an actor that she didn't have to try and pull things out of. She said that I am very expressive as an actor and that that is a very good thing. She then asked if I will be available for the dates they are filming during. That is a great sign- fingers crossed!

Overall, today was an excellent learning experience. I learned how to open up to the director/person doing the casting. I worked on my improv skills, improved my audition skills overall, and hopefully opened up some doors for work on some student films.

Yesterday's acting class also went very well. I did my "Spoon River" interpretation. I worked on the deaf impediment with my voice and I signed part of the text. The teacher liked it and said that he admires how when I go for something I go all the way. That is a huge compliment from him! He said that I could work on making the deafness more comprehendable for an audience and that the deafness doesn't have to be completely realistic. He felt that emotionally I did well also. Then I did a table read of my scene from "Home Free!" by Lanford Wilson. I didn't feel prepared for the scene (I wasn't expected to do a table read yeasterday). To my dismay, the teacher felt that the read went well and that I wasn't off. In fact, he said it was good. : )

Okay, I am off to shower and then get some well deserved sleep!

Auditions

Where to begin?

I received a callback for the student film that I auditioned for at NYU. The callback is this Saturday at 2:15. I am very nervous. Here's why- the director wants me to come in, and improv a scenario that he gives me. I am going to improv this scenario with the actress who has already been cast. For anyone who is unaware of what improv is, it is when you act on the spot with no script. I am trained in improv yet it still makes me a bit uneasy. The script has no lines so there will be no reading from the script. The director said that I should not be nervous because he has seen that I can do good things and now he just wants to see if those good things are right for this particular film. I just need to think positive- I have a callback!

I also received another audition for a student film on Saturday. I agreed to audition at 5:45 not realizing that the film is not an NYU student film; it is a SVA (School of Visual Arts) student film. NYU is near West 4th and SVA is on 23rd Street, what to do with the time in between? I hope I do not have to cold read at the audition and that they want a monologue. Although, I must admit that cold reading and improv help me develop my skills more as well as push me outside of my comfort zone which is very good.

Today I am acting as "Bert Kessler" in acting class. I spoke to the professor and tonight I have decided that the character is going to be deaf. I watched a documentary called "Through Deaf Eyes" to familiarize myself with deaf culture. I feel that I am able to speak like a deaf person fairly well. I also learned how to sign part of my script for the piece tonight.

In the script I have to be hunting. Thus, I need a rifle. Because I can't bring any realistic looking gun with me to the city, I made my own gun- out of paper! It is made of computer paper, index cards, hot glue, and tape. There is absolutely nothing else that was used to make the gun. The gun looks fairly real. I am going to post a picture.

CALLBACK!

Hello, to my audience of none. I received excellent news at about 11:30 lastt night- I received a callback for the NYU student film that I auditioned for. They would like to make an appointment with me so they could conduct a more in-depth audition and have me read with the actress who has already been cast. I couldn't be more excited. Well, I could- If, no WHEN I get the part.

I played around with my "spoon river;" someone in the class offered me an excellent idea for how to interpret my character. I have decided to run with the interpretation and my teacher has given me permission to do so. I am going to be deaf. It is not nearly as hard as I thought it would be to speak as if I am deaf. I just have to work on ensuring that my words are understandable and do not get lost on the audience.

That's it for now.

Best,

Justin