DON’T BOGARD THAT LINE, MY FRIEND…
Authoring, in general, and THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859), specifically aside for a moment, the cast of K. Simmons Production of The STATIC Movie Honolulu (https://kspllc.media/the-static-movie) did our first script read-though for this weekend’s filming on location at Lunalilo Home. It’s the last of the “big” (meaning many lines to deliver) scenes after which there will be two more short, but emotionally intense “on street” scenes to film and the movie will be a wrap. As always, our trusty unofficial site photographer/videographer and actress Setsuko Tsuchiya (playing “Edna”) was there taking shots of all of us, while reading her own lines, if you can imagine that kind of dedication. Whether you can or can’t, it’s the kind of dedication that is, in my humble opinion, making The STATIC Movie Honolulu the outstanding movie that it will be. The plan is to put her shots together with videos of the filming which will be posted probably Monday or Tuesday to a variety of sites including my own actor website at https://janik.yolasite.com/actor.php where you can follow the movie’s progress.
While screenwriting is different from authoring, acting is quite different from either. One immediately obvious difference, especially at a script read-though like yesterday, is that, as the read-though progresses, the cast often end up contributing to the script in a sort of evolutionary manner, depending on what each actress or actor brings from her or his life experience, to the reading. I’m often told that the best actresses and actors reach into their world of personal experiences to better portray a character in a similar situation. That was definitely true of yesterday’s read through. In less than an hour, each character’s lines took on the prerequisite, ever-increasing authenticity as they were read and re-read under the Director’s ever watchful eyes, ears and instructions.
In my experience, that doesn’t occur as much in authoring, even during creation of an audiobook version of a book. In the book world, characters take on their richness mainly from and in the reader’s mind. In that sense, an author is like a screenwriter AND director who, like in the movie industry, usually remain invisible “behind-the-scenes.” I wholeheartedly recommend acting or screenwriting to authors to add a new dimension to writing. I know that’s what’s happening for me, as I pen the sequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS tentatively entitled “Prophecy.” While I still create the characters, nowadays I try to let them “rehearse their lines” over and over in my mind as I write, letting them (and of course the reader later) add the requisite richness to the read that elevates a “good” to an “outstanding” one. In the meantime, I’m working equally hard at imbuing my character, Will Gardner, in The STATIC Movie Honolulu with the most authentic richness possible.
https://i.postimg.cc/t4fmhN5P/Edna-Wi...
While screenwriting is different from authoring, acting is quite different from either. One immediately obvious difference, especially at a script read-though like yesterday, is that, as the read-though progresses, the cast often end up contributing to the script in a sort of evolutionary manner, depending on what each actress or actor brings from her or his life experience, to the reading. I’m often told that the best actresses and actors reach into their world of personal experiences to better portray a character in a similar situation. That was definitely true of yesterday’s read through. In less than an hour, each character’s lines took on the prerequisite, ever-increasing authenticity as they were read and re-read under the Director’s ever watchful eyes, ears and instructions.
In my experience, that doesn’t occur as much in authoring, even during creation of an audiobook version of a book. In the book world, characters take on their richness mainly from and in the reader’s mind. In that sense, an author is like a screenwriter AND director who, like in the movie industry, usually remain invisible “behind-the-scenes.” I wholeheartedly recommend acting or screenwriting to authors to add a new dimension to writing. I know that’s what’s happening for me, as I pen the sequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS tentatively entitled “Prophecy.” While I still create the characters, nowadays I try to let them “rehearse their lines” over and over in my mind as I write, letting them (and of course the reader later) add the requisite richness to the read that elevates a “good” to an “outstanding” one. In the meantime, I’m working equally hard at imbuing my character, Will Gardner, in The STATIC Movie Honolulu with the most authentic richness possible.
https://i.postimg.cc/t4fmhN5P/Edna-Wi...
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