The Corporate Video Spokesperson In corporate video, sometimes it’s beneficial to have a person talk directly to the audience. They look right at the lens to tell the story. This is called being a corporate video spokesperson. In today’s article, we talk about the skills necessary for a spokesperson on camera for your corporate video. In decades past, most people were unaccustomed to performing in front of the camera, looking directly at the camera. But thanks to today’s selfie culture, there’s quite a few budding “spokespeople” at every company. The Non-Professional and the Professional Actor However, this article is not limited to just non-professional actors (company employees). The professional actor can benefit from a review of proper tips and techniques of being a spokesperson. The non-professional actor is one defined as working for the company, has not had acting lessons,…
Actor Auditions from the Director’s POV As a director, I have sat through some really powerful actor auditions. And we’ve discussed important things to do when auditioning, whether for a feature film, corporate video or a commercial. But today, I’m going to mention five things you should never do when auditioning. I could play you some pretty incredible audition videos, but I don’t think I could ever get the talent releases. 5 Worst Actor Auditions Face Covered By Sides – I have one audition tape where the whole time, the actor is covering up. I don’t know if it was his first time, but I hope so. An egregious error like this from someone with any kind of training is a hope killer for new work. Trouble Reading – A real painful to watch audition, is the one where the…
Acting Tips from a Movie Director There are many acting tips from actors to actors. Not much from directors to actors. I have directed five feature films and have worked with hundreds of actors. (My first film “The Keyman” starring Adam Baldwin is available on iTunes and Amazon Prime). Some of them famous, many of them local to the locations and cities we shot the film in. But there are a couple of things I wish every actor knew on the set. Things that could save me time and money in production. Time and money allows me to spend more on areas I need it to tell the story. Director’s Job First of all, let me tell you what my job is as film director: Guardian of the Story. Every decision I make should go through this filer– does it help…
“After the third time this actor approached me, I decided I would never cast him again.” “I got a real inside peek into what this actor was really thinking. She forgot she was still mic’d and I was wearing my headsets.” “This actor was extremely talented. But he hosed me in post with his performance.” These are thoughts of a working film director. You can learn to save time, money and heartache in post, while cementing your reputation as a seasoned, veteran actor. Announcing a new workshop for Acting: A Director’s POV! Join us Saturday April 12, 2014 for a 3 1/2 hours, hands-on workshop, from a director to an actor. Register here. Daniel Millican, writer/director for five feature films has worked with Adam Baldwin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Sean Patrick Flanery, Joey Lauren Adams, Mimi Rogers and more. On casting…
Next demo reel shoot is June 5, Tuesday, with afternoon and evening times available. Go to the SFilms store to register. The actor demo reel has become extremely important for getting auditions and landing roles. Often times, actors work for little or nothing to get the resume credit and to get a scene or something they can drop into their reel. But time and time again, actors would talk with me about not being able to get the filmmaker to send them the scene to use. The filmmaker just wouldn’t have time or resource. So at that point, I decided to help out the actors– what if we could do an original scene that looked as if ripped straight from an indie film and featured the actor the way they wanted to be featured? Of course there’s some serious cost…
(This is for all my actor friends… one film director to actors. I see a lot actor to actor, but very little from directors to actor. BTW– we’ve got the screenfighting workshop coming up in a few weeks– click here to make sure you get your seat.) The Quest Constantin Stanislavski– often referred to as the father of modern acting, defined acting as the quest for theatrical truth. I believe this is a great starting place for the craft you’re working in. It all boils down to this– is your performance as close as possible to theatrical truth? Personally, I believe that truth cannot be achieved in a theatrical performance (you’re performing, pretending– it’s not truth, but theatrical truth). Does your performance ring true with the audience? Sure, many factors go into you achieving theatrical truth in a film role. …
Due to several factors, we’ve moved the Screenfighting Workshop to March 24-25 (after spring break for most people). Doug Williams will be teaching weapons on Saturday March 24 and Steve Krieger will be teaching the fighting and special effects on Sunday March 25. If you’d like to register, go to the SFilms store by clicking here. If you plan on coming, please do register as soon as possible. At this workshop, you will learn how to handle weapons like a professional, adding value to your performance on the set. You’ll also learn some fight basics and learn to perform in the midst of special effects– what can be costly and how to be safe. You can take one class or all four over the two days. And if you’d like to experience a squib hit at the end of the…
(We’ve got a workshop for screenfighting coming March 24-25. Register at the SFilms Store). Experienced & Trained Actors Save Time & Money Early in my directing career, I was casting a day player speaking role on one of my films. I auditioned the part with some sides that included her lines. I looked at whether she could pull off the part as an actor. But I made a mistake. On the day of the shoot, it was required that she get roughed up a bit– not really a stunt situation– but needed to move a bit and the actor I cast was extremely stiff. It showed. It was not pretty. The lesson I took moving forward was not to be so tunneled-vision in the audition. If the part requires the person to take a punch, I might want to see how…
As a working film director, I’ve had lots of opportunities to work with children and teen actors. And it seems to me that most of the training is actor to actor– so here’s some information to children and teen actors and their parents from a director to actor. I’ll be teaching a class in Fort Worth on January 21 on this subject. You can register at the store. There’s a morning session and an afternoon– you just need to pick one– they’re identical. First of all, the child actor needs to look and play younger. The younger the better. This goes against what almost every child is seeking– to be grown up. So as you shoot headshots, assemble demo footage, go to auditions– keep that in mind. You want to look and play younger. Why? Two simple reasons. The more…
LATEST NEWS!! Taking registrations for slots on FEB 7 to shoot actor demos. CLICK HERE to register. When I was casting Rising Stars, I came to realize that local actors have some serious challenges to overcome in landing roles. The biggest is a bias towards LA/NYC actors. Another, is that a lot of local actors just don’t have any good material for demo reels. One problem is that often the micro budget indie that they get to act in– they get promised a DVD but in actuality rarely ever get one. The filmmaker gets too busy and just can’t or won’t pop out the discs for their actors. Another problem is that they just don’t have anything that can showcase their skills in front of a camera. I decided to offer a service– I would write an original little scene,…