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Date Posted: 11:36:36 11/14/12 Wed
Author: Lewis H.
Author Host/IP: adsl-98-85-39-96.mco.bellsouth.net / 98.85.39.96
Subject: Not a drama major or in the business but ...
In reply to: SV 's message, "A few questions for a drama major from a curious party..." on 10:12:50 11/13/12 Tue

back in college as part of my honor studies curriculum I took several classes on film and cinema. All I can give is my opinion based on what I was taught and what I've seen.

1. What makes a good actor? It is the ability to make an audience perceive your performance as reality. A good actor transports the viewer into the place, time and events they are portraying. It is a combination of body language, facial expressions, and rhythmic speaking that makes a performance real as opposed to wooden. A good actor can take what would be a grandiose piece of scenery chewing, such as many of the soliloquies from Richard III and make them feel natural and eloquent. It is above all, professionalism that makes the best actors bring their A game to every role. Olivier, Streep, Sellers always brilliant in everything they did.
The directors main job is to put the right actor into the right role. If they do that, they can just say action and do nothing else. If not then they have a harder job and must be very good at communicating what it is they want to convey and how they want the actor to express it. If they can't get it done in real time, then they must collaborate closely with the editor to see that what comes out in the end is what they want. Mel Brooks once went into detail about how he turned Young Frankenstein from an overwritten, overlong story that would have been a flop to the hilarious masterpiece it is through editing.

2. You cannot just write "whatever you want". There are technical elements that go into good writing. Above all, a good story has a well defined beginning, middle and end. If you don't know what story you are trying to tell and what the final destination is going to be, you will never get there. Lost and Battlestar Galactica had great ideas and excellent actors but it became very clear that the writers and directors hadn't really planned on the conclusion to their stories and when it came time to wrap them up, they disappointed their audiences. Think of your favorite movies. Are they well defined and tightly paced or are they rambling messes with no clear direction? There is nothing wrong with some ambiguity as long as it is planned such as the Usual Suspects or Memento but it has to be well thought out. If YOU don't know what the story is how is your audience going to get it?j

3. Credits and the like have to do with what the various guilds and unions have agreed to and what is in contracts. A credit is sometimes given in lieu of actual money. A lot of what happens in Hollywood and on Broadway comes down to money at the end of the day. Ars Gratia Artis is a nice motto but Ars Gratia Specie is more accurate.

4. Style is a very personal thing. How you film something, pacing, camera angles etc., etc. will make a very different film. You can learn more by actually watching films and taking notes than by reading opinions on line. Watch several films by Welles, Hitchcock, Brooks, and Spielburg. You will begin to note the stylistic differences and choices they each make in their various films. Since you are interested in screenwriting, be aware that ANY script no matter how good is a working paper. That means once you hand it off, it really isn't yours anymore. In fact no film really belongs to one person. Producers have to get the financing so they try to guess what people will want to see. As a writer you can put anything you can conceive on paper but a producer must have a good idea of what is feasable.

Anyone wishing to work in any kind of entertainment has to have a very strong will to survive. You must understand that 99% of everything gets rejected because there are so many people that want to do it. The ones that succeed have two things:

Most importantly they have talent but almost as equally important is that they have perseverance. Read some biographies of people who succeeded in Hollywood and see what they endured before they made it and decide if that is really what you want to do. I wish you well.

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