OddballGreg - A Day Of Acting

A fairly (un)related header image for the topic no? I'd have put something actually related in if they weren't all thoroughly unsuitable.

Yesterday, I got to go be in an extra in a new Afrikaans TV production called "Bloedbroers", wear a guard uniform, wear a prisoner uniform and make a bunch of experienced actors laugh at my strange personality. Lets talk about that!

Depending on how long you've been reading the TCSA, (or previously, OddballGreg), blog, you may know that I used to do a weekly segment called "Thespian Thursday" in which I discussed various things regarding my history in acting and some of the theory behind the art. (I'm not going to link to any of those articles because they were some of the first that I wrote and are fairly terrible. If curiosity is burning in your soul, feel free to peruse the archive via the bar on the left.)

Suffice to say, I thoroughly enjoy acting, and was quite happy to go and spend a day in the middle of Johannesburg being a 1930's "Tronkwag" (Prisonguard) for the typically insubstantial amount of money you would expect a nameless extra to be paid.

It was quite a funny experience to say the least, considering I had only be asked to fill the position 2 days prior by a casting agent who had somehow found my cellphone number. (I'm still somewhat tempted to ask where precisely, but I suppose when you blog online and post your face all over the internet, privacy starts to become something of a moot point.)

In any case, so I went to constitution hill, expecting to be fairly lost in the midst of the Afrikaans speaking masses while I waited to do what they needed me to and then leave. Perhaps in a note of blessing, nobody forced me to speak Afrikaans myself and were more than happy to communicate in English; though my mind was hard at work trying to pull up whatever modicum of understanding of the language I had just to better work with everyone.

Following a cup of coffee and a chat with a friendly looking older gentleman whom later ended up being my fellow extra and conversational partner between scenes, I found myself in the wardrobe department getting used to crew and eventually being given my guard uniform. I will point out that the boots were a size too small and made me extremely happy to be wearing my own shoes once the day was over. 

It seems to be that I am in my element when wearing smart and formal clothing, or uniforms... Also, I've just shown how silly you look when you blink in a photo. (Teehee)

Following a good few hours of waiting and a fair number of meetings with various other extra's whom I would mention by name had I thought to ask for permission, as well as some more experienced and well known actors from Afrikaans movies and series. (Admittedly, I had never heard of any of them, but I think that's more due to my own ignorance than anything else. In any case, many of them have tweeted and been tweeted about in the production, and you can find their associated Twitter accounts here.)

That aside, I got to speak to a lot of cast and crews from the sound, lighting, editing, make-up and wardrobe crews and had a genuinely fun and interesting time seeing how the whole process happens first hand. I also got to physically throw the main actor through a door for one scene, and inadvertently ended up landing another role as an prisoner extra when they realized the only person on set small enough to fit in their costume happened to be me. (This led to a good few jokes about what happens to guards who assist the prisoners. Teehee) 15 minutes later I had gone from respectable guard to scruffy victim of the law, and got to pretend to urinate for one of their scenes. (Which is rather hilariously awkward thing to state in hindsight, but it wasn't really that bad.)

In any case, that was the end of my work after that, and I was soon on my way home after a long, and interesting day. I think I would quite enjoy doing that again should the opportunity arise once again, but I suppose that's not entirely up to me.

In any case, do be sure to keep watch for new Afrikaans drama BloedBroers if you are a Mnet/Kyknet/Tv channel watcher, (I have no idea when and where it will be on.), if you want to see OddballGreg chuck a guy through a doorway. Other than that, if you wish to ask anything or simply mention how I sound like such a noob, feel free to do so down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear from you. Also, feel free to share this post with any friends you think may be interested in my laughable account of the movie recording from yesterday. Of course, if you would like to read any more articles like this, do consider liking the official TCSA Facebook page and/or following us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts, as they're published. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had and absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Happy movie watching my friends.

Thespian Thursday - Knowledge Makes The Actor

Hello and welcome to another Thespian Thursday; the day of the week where I ask an interesting question about the theory behind acting, and then share an interesting insight about it.

Books. BOOKS! I just realized I've made no mention of books in over 30 days of blogging. Shocking. If you want me to do so, let me know in the comments. Don't be shy.

Have you ever wondered at the intelligence of actors? How smart do you have to be to accurately portray a role in a believable way? Is it as simple as monkey see, monkey do, or can the knowledge of the actor make a significant impact as well? Let's talk about it.

A while ago, (A long while to be precise, 2 years back.), I found this interesting infographic which talks about some of the people with the highest IQ's. Interestingly enough, the last person the graphic mentions is the actor James Wood, who, according to the infographic, has an IQ of 180. While I didn't think much about it when I first found the image, (considering I saw it 2 years ago), I remembered it when the thought of today's topic occurred to me a few days ago. (At random yes. I seem to be under an endless barrage of thoughts at the best of times, not that it's necessarily a bad thing.)

So here's the question, does intelligence play much of a role in acting, or even simply performing as a whole. My guess: Yes. When acting, there are a few things which play a role in how believable your portrayal of the character is. As I mentioned in an earlier Thespian Thursday, understanding is key to a believable casting. In acting, knowing what you're talking about is about as necessary as it is for actually being an expert on the subject. Casting someone who struggles with language as a linguistics professor is about as sensible as letting a janitor oversee a nuclear power plant. On that basic level, it's a good idea for the actor to have the knowledge, (or to find it, quickly), of whatever they're portraying, lest their inexperience with subject show through and ruin the suspension of disbelief.

However, it's not merely as simple as knowing about the subjects the character knows, it's also about having the intelligence to understand more about the character and his interactions both within and outside of the 4th wall. In my personal opinion, the subjects of psychology and acting are very closely related in the necessity for understanding the pathos of the characters. To use another analogy, a mechanic can be good at putting engines together, but to properly ensure it functions as intended requires a fundamental knowledge of the parts and what they do. Similarly, how can a character be accurately portrayed if you only know what he does, but do not understand why he does this; a subject I also mentioned in the aforementioned post.

There is also, of course, the need to know how your actions on the stage, as well as the pacing and tone of the story, can influence your audience, much like a book. There are a multitude of things which have an interesting effect upon the audience as they witness it, and the manipulation of these factors are often the difference between a good production and a fantastic one. A fantastic example of this in personal experience, was during my portrayal of the character "Shadow" in one of my old school productions. The character was designed somewhat around the shock value of a completely black individual who enjoyed the suffering of the play's victim, and was often mainly the characterization of her inner thoughts. As such, one such "factor" as I called them earlier, was the facile guise of humor and friendliness that I portrayed as it slowly dissolved into anger and hatred, much as you would expect of the inner thoughts of someone who has been through a traumatic incident. While never originally part of the script, this allowed the story to lull the audience into believing that perhaps the character was not as black as his appearance portrayed, (teehee, see what I did there), eventually adding an additional angle of betrayal to the production as the girls own thoughts seemingly turned against her. (The ending was strangely poetic that her eventual suicide was characterized by her own thoughts murdering her.)

Thus, my manipulation of appearances allowed the play to become that much more enriched in it's frightening development. As much as it sounds like bragging, someone that did not understand how people identified with first impressions and the words someone uses, would not have been able to pull that off.

Which effectively answers the earlier question, does intelligence play a role in acting? Most certainly, for without it, accurate portrayals of characters and the manipulation of the audience in order to create a more impact experience would be the work of chance of luck and serendipity alone, rather than acting skill.

And thus, this interesting Thespian Thursday discussion draws to a close. I hope that you have found this post interesting and insightful, and perhaps even useful in your own pursuits. Do you have anything to add to the discussion, or perhaps have a suggestion for next week's Thespian Thursday? Please leave it in the comments section below. Also, if you enjoyed this post, perhaps consider sharing it with other people who enjoy the theory behind acting. If you especially enjoyed this post and would like to see more like it, consider liking my Facebook page and/or following me on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the right so that you can get the newest posts, when they happen. Of course, regardless of what you do, I thank you for reading and hope that you have/had a FANTASTIC day.

Until next time.

Thespian Thursday - Method Acting (And Philosophical Thoughts)

Hello and welcome to Thespian Thursday; that day of the week where I share some interesting stuff I found while perusing the boundless indices of the internet, and then point out why I still have much to learn, especially about myself.

Black and white faces on a black and white background? This could be the edgiest thing I've ever put on this blog...

Did you know that there are multiple schools of thought in how acting should be done? I didn't until today. If you're an acting enthusiast or simply enjoy the theory of things, then this may prove to be of interest to you. (It certainly was for me for a few reasons.)

Seven days ago, I wrote a blog post about some handy tips to know if you're looking to be a better actor. As it turns out, today, I learned two things. Firstly, what I spoke about was essentially some of exercises used in what is referred to as "Method Acting", which is interesting. The other thing though is, admittedly, that it did technically make me wrong. I remember writing that post in the mindset that the advice I was giving was part of the way to be a better actor. While I may not have been wrong, my tone is incorrect in that there actually are multiple possible methods for achieving thespian excellence, so my apologies in that regard.

Moving past apologies and onto the interesting things, (lest you begin mimicking my headdesking habits in frustration.), here is a link to a rather well explained list of acting methods as written by "wrenfrost56" written in April 2013 on a website called Hubpages that I've never heard of before.. (I did attempt to see if I could find further information on this person to better credit them, but the most I found was an inactive twitter account under the name of Karen Edwards) 

In any case; the article explains, in far less confusing terms than the associated Wikipedia articles on the same disciplines, (Which I am loathe to link to due to Wikipedia's inherent proclivity towards incorrect changes and subjective opinions), the origins and constituent practices of these different acting methods. Beside some non-developed/named methods for things like Shakespearean acting, Wrenfrost56 makes mention of most acting methods, although does not make mention of classical acting. I highly suggest checking out that article for a bit more insight into the ways that actors portray their roles. Perhaps you will even find something of use.

The interest in all this information for me, however, does not come solely from the existence of those acting methods; but instead in Philosophical terms of my unfounded belief that I was correct. In a discussion which perhaps would have been at home in tomorrow's blog post for Philosophical Friday as well as today's; I find it interesting that based off of my apparent successes as an actor, I immediately believed that the means which I used to act so effectively "must" have been the best or most correct.

To disconnect the concept from the subject, I subconsciously decided that since what I was doing was clearly so effective, there could not be any other effective methods of acting. Of course, having disproved that myself, it is now interesting to think; why is it that I, or perhaps other people, would so quickly dismiss the possibility of other effective strategies? Is it one of the strange differences in my thinking which I so often find contrast that of other people, or are humans as a whole possess an inherent proclivity towards a "Not broken, don't fix it." belief with regards to methods that work in completing tasks. Since I also just said I don't think like normal people, I'd probably say it's an issue only people like myself suffer from, but there's no way for me to effectively answer such a question. Regardless, it is still interesting to notice the ways our minds work, and thereby correct errors in our own judgement and thinking with that insight.

In any case, thus ends today's blog post before I find myself pasting this into tomorrow's post instead. I hope you've found something of interest  or use here, and don't forget to leave a comment below if you have something to add, or simply which to tell me that I'm weird. If you have a friend looking to improve his acting skills, I would appreciate you sharing this post so that they may find information which could help them decide how they want to go about that. If you find my writing interesting, entertaining or informative, perhaps consider liking my Facebook page or following me on Twitter using the associated button on the bar to the right. As always, I hope that you have/had an AWESOME day, and I will see you tomorrow.

Beannacht mo chara.

Thespian Thursday - Tips on Being a Better Actor

Hello and welcome to Thespian Thursday; the day where I pass on some tips to help you be a better actor, and maybe tell you about some the ridiculous things I've done as an actor.

There was a joke here about my future being so bright that I needed to wear sunglasses inside...
I didn't anticipate actual blinding glare on the camera lens...

So you want to be an actor eh? Or at least a better one at any rate. I think I've got some tips that might prove handy if you're interested. I've had a fair degree of success in acting (In theater performance at any rate, I'm working towards expanding into media.) As an actor I've had to perform roles ranging from the mentally deranged, to the cowardly and weak, to a figment of someone's mind. There was also a pirate somewhere in there as well. (Although he was mostly famous for an incredibly well drawn beard and ear piercings.)

Out of these performances, I found that I had something of a natural talent for acting.
Last Thespian Thursday I spoke about some of my successes as a result. (I didn't mention the superman slides though. *Sad face* How on earth could I forget those.) In any case, I can say with fair accuracy, at least as far as I'm concerned, that talent is not everything. What I'm going to tell you about in this post can be learnt with some work. Talent is by no means some magical thing you're born with, it's merely the luck of being good at the right things for a task, and in this case, you can learn the right things. (Maybe you'll even become famous one day. It'll take some work though.)

The most important piece of advice I can give you is this: 

Don't act words and actions, act thoughts and emotions.

This is something I tell pretty much anyone who's struggling with a particular role. If you're trying to portray a character, portray a character, now the things they do. The most believable actors spend weeks and even months "getting into character". They sit and think in the way their character would, consider things from their perspective, and most importantly, learn their emotional reactions to things. You will typically find that as you sit and learn about the character you're portraying, you will slowly begin to grow a better understanding of them and thus be able to more accurately act as them. How can you express the outrage of a businessman who's been robbed if you do not understand how important his money was to him, or how hard he had worked for it. Motivations are key to a believable portrayal. One of the greatest exercises I was ever made to do was when the director of my first play lined the cast up and began demanding us to answer questions about the character that were meaningless to the play and unanswered by the script. 

"What's your favorite colour?" "Why do you enjoy drawing?" "Who were your parents." These questions all served to prompt us into learning who our characters truly were. As such, we were far more capable of portraying them as fully fleshed personalities, as averse to simply a jumble of actions and words. The best part: achieving that level of understanding means that should you by mischance, forget your lines, or a fellow actor forget their, you will be able to far more believably improvise actions and lines in order to maintain the flow of the play. 

So to summarize, I was not good because I was born good, I was able to perform well because of my understanding of my characters perspective and motivations. To portray a someone well, you need to see the things as they would, understand how they would deem things as important or unimportant in helping them achieve their goals, and of course, know why those things would be important or unimportant to them. And you can figure all this out by simply sitting down and considering the life of who you wish to portray. Perhaps even imagine having a conversation with them. How would they react to the things they do. What kind of mannerisms do they have? Does their face have laugh lines or a sunken cheeks and a scowl? Start at the basics, and simply grow to know your character, and I guarantee that you will perform far more believably. 

And if you're still wondering what I meant by superman slides; I found it immensely amusing to jump out at velocity and slide from curtain to curtain of my old school stage. I think most of the bruises and scrapes I accrued were results of that... but to be honest. IT WAS AWESOME. (Teehee)

Anyways, hopefully you've found something here of value in your acting pursuit or perhaps for some other reason. Or maybe you just found my eloquent typing a pleasure to read. Whatever it was, I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a suggestion on other things that may help budding actors or something else you would like to share, feel free to leave a comment below. Perhaps even consider sharing this with any actor friends you have who are struggling and don't forget to like my new Facebook Page by pressing the button underneath the Twitter feed. (That's that gray thing to the right of this post.)

That's enough from me. I hope you guys have/had and AWESOME day, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Later people.

Thespian Thursday - How I became an Actor

Hello and welcome to the first Thespian Thursday. The day where I tell you about Acting and all things related to it.

Today, I figured I'd tell you the story of how I became an actor since.. well since it was almost completely accidental to be honest. (And utterly spontaneous for the most part.)

A couple years back, ironically in Grade 11 at school, (apparently that's the year I did everything.), a friend of mine had suggested I join the backstage crew to help set the stage for performances and shows. Having never done any activities after school before, I had a blast of a time. It was something of an epiphany for me, realizing how much more there was to life than video games. (Before that year, all I ever seemed to do with my days was go to school, sleep and play games. Sounds exciting doesn't it?)

So how did that make me an actor? Well, having been doing backstage work for a few months, I found myself sitting outside the auditions for a play that the school wished to use to compete in the Edenvale Acting and Drama Society's (EADS) One Act Play Festival. (The irony that the first play I was to ever take part in was called "Asylum" is not lost on me.) In any case, the Backstage Crew's Stage Manager, being the fine gentleman who told us what to do and when, was sitting in on the auditions for said play, and I was sitting outside waiting for him to finish up. Suddenly, looking up as I hear the door open, I see his head peak out of the door, look down at me and say in his friendly voice: "Hey buddy, You want to audition?" A turning point in my life if ever there was one. I'm not exactly sure what went through my head at the precise moment... probably nothing which is occasionally possible, even for me; but I did say "Sure." in less than a second.

Next I knew, there was an excerpt from a script in my hand and I was outside trying to be a madman. Ironically not very difficult as was noted by my soon-to-be-director post audition with the humorous comment: "Are you sure you don't actually belong in an Asylum?" 

That play famously went on to be the first production from my school in several years to make it to the EADS finals, netting 3rd place, 1 medal for best actress, and nominations for near all other categories, including 2 nominations for Best Male Actor in a Drama for myself and my friend whom, funnily enough, portrayed the role I originally auditioned for.

Following that, I participated in an additional 3 more productions at my school in the year and a half I had left of being a student. Two Major Productions and another EADS festival in which I was nominated for best supporting actor. I was also the recipient of 2 years worth of cultural full colors from my school. (Okay, I'll stop blowing my trumpet now.)

All in all, those were some of the most amazing experiences of my life, and the first thing in my life for which I grew a burning passion. No other activity made me as excited to get up in the morning to go do. The hours were absolutely horrific, but not once did I ever complain, because, to be honest, there was nothing better to be doing than those acting practices. (Shush, I just got something in my eye. *Sniffle*)

So that's how I discovered what I wanted to do with my life. And, as far as I'm concerned, still am going to do with my life. :D 

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this small insight into my life and what motivates me, and I hope you have an AWESOME day. Don't forget to leave a comment or suggestion if there's something you would like to know more about, and maybe share this if you think that there's someone who wants to know about me for some reason. I dunno. 

That's enough from me. Kuaga Rafiki