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actor Archives - S-Films

Jun 28
Love1
Commercial Studio Shoot

National Commercial Shoot- The Quick Turnaround

By Corporate Video Production, Tips/Techniques, Video Production

Sometimes, your client needs a quick turnaround on a commercial shoot.  How can you plan and prepare for a tight deadline?  In today’s blog, we go through some tips, tricks and techniques to successfully deliver a national spot in a week or less.  And how do you deliver on such a tight turnaround while maintaining quality and effectiveness?  The number one key to turning around a video production in a short time is Decisiveness.  You won’t have the luxury of time to go back and forth.  And even though we are a Dallas based production company, our commercial shoots take us all around the company. The Normal National Spot For a normal national spot, it can take months.  Usually, the creatives (at our production house, the agency, the client) get together and come up with concepts.  Then maybe storyboards (whether…

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May 27
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Shooting actor demos

Demo Reels for Actors

By Seminars

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…

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Mar 08
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Theatrical Truth

Theatrical Truth

By Seminars

(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. …

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Mar 01
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In the audition room

One Director’s Biggest Advice for Local Actors

By Seminars, Tips/Techniques

If I could say one thing to local actors to immediately help their performance in film and give them a much better chance for landing that role in auditions, I would say this: Big is Bad. My advice to feature film and television actors is to bring it down.  In some cases… way down.  Now this advice is not without controversy.  I’ve had one agent tell they think I’ve got it wrong… that it’s better to be too big than too small… that a director can bring a performance down to the right level more easily than bringing it up.  Not in this director’s experience. You see, in the audition room, using a 0-9 scale on “bigness”, I have many local actors coming in at 7, 8 or 9.  I’m looking for 1.5.  Now we have to go from an…

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Feb 27
Love0

Is Screenfighting Workshop for Children Actors?

By Seminars

I’ve been surprised at how many people have asked this.  For background– we’re offering a one of a kind workshop on March 24-25 where Day 1 has two classes on handling weapons as an actor and Day 2 is about how to fight and work around special effects.  4 classes– 2 days.  To register, go to the SFilms store. Can my child attend this workshop? For ages under pre-teen, I don’t think Day One (Weapon Handling) is a good idea.  What we’re talking about is learning skills for upcoming auditions and roles, that will give you an edge as an actor.  There just aren’t that many roles for a gun-wielding 8 year old.  (I could be wrong, but there you go.)  For teens, especially older teens, yeah maybe.  It’s a skill and you can add it to your headshot/resume. I…

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Feb 17
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dallas video production company

Screenfighting Workshop now March 24-25

By Seminars

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…

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Feb 12
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Serendipitous Films

Screenfighting Workshop – Saving Time on the Set

By Seminars

(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…

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Jan 23
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actor auditions rising stars

Credits on your Actor Headshot Resume

By Seminars

Director to Actor I like to address the most common questions I get in the seminars and workshops.  This past Saturday, we had the Acting: A Director’s POV Child/Teen acting class, and while talking about the headshot and resume, I had a couple of recurring questions.  If you find this useful, please feel free to retweet or facebook forward this page. Extra Work Do I post all the extra work I’ve done or should I leave it off?  Does this turn off a director? Generally speaking, when I flip over the headshot to look at the resume and it’s chock full of extra listings, I mentally downgrade you at that point.  You haven’t been able to land any real roles.  And I know it’s the easiest thing in the world to be an extra on a film.  So as a…

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Jan 05
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New Demo Shoot

New Demo Shoot

By Seminars

Actor Demo Reel FEB 21 We are tentatively scheduling a new actor demo scene shoot for Tuesday Feb 21.  We usually shoot in the afternoon and evening (to allow for those who can’t get out of work or school).  Go to the store to register.  We need to have a minimum for the shoot to take place.  The cost is $350 per person.  But brand new– if you do two, we will give a $50 discount (use coupon code “doubledemo”) so that 2 is $650 and not $700. Go to Store. Here’s how it works: You register I contact you for headshots and to discuss your demo reel needs. I write a short scene, pairing you up with another actor who has signed up.  I try to give you 20 to 40 solid seconds and same for the other actor…

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Jan 04
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Ron Gonzalez Headshots

The Actor Headshot

By Seminars

Yesterday we discussed the resume (read it here).  If you’re coming to the Acting: A Director’s POV for Child/Teen actors on Jan 21, bring your headshot and resume and we’ll discuss it right there and then.  To register, go to the store. The Headshot As the director, the majority of headshots will come to me in the audition room.  Yes, throughout the year, people will hand them to me.  At church.  At industry events.  At my house unannounced and uninvited.  To my wife when I’m not there.  The truth is that outside the audition room, I don’t have a system for collecting headshots.  It might go in a folder that I forget all about.  Your best bet is to cozy up to casting directors. So you’ve appropriately handed me your headshot as you walked into the audition room (or the…

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