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Monday, October 3, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
YouTube Tuesday: A visit with Sir Paul
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Not being a Cubs fan, I’m not often interested or involved with what’s going at Wrigley Field, even though I live in the neighborhood. However, having been a huge Beatles fan in my youth I was excited by Paul McCartney’s recent visit to the stadium.
Although I couldn’t afford tickets, I did enjoy listening to him live, from on the street outside the ballpark, on Sunday and Monday night.
Like thousands of others, I took a walk each night around the stadium, enjoying the neighborhood party and Paul’s performances of 1985, Let em in, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, A Day in the Life/All You Need is Love and other tunes. (And thanks for the fireworks, sir Paul!)
In honor of his visit, for today’s YouTube Tuesday, I offer the following video selections of some of Sir Paul’s more recent live performances:
> Magical Mystery Tour
> Birthday
> Helter Skelter
> Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End
Enjoy.
.
Not being a Cubs fan, I’m not often interested or involved with what’s going at Wrigley Field, even though I live in the neighborhood. However, having been a huge Beatles fan in my youth I was excited by Paul McCartney’s recent visit to the stadium.
Although I couldn’t afford tickets, I did enjoy listening to him live, from on the street outside the ballpark, on Sunday and Monday night.
Like thousands of others, I took a walk each night around the stadium, enjoying the neighborhood party and Paul’s performances of 1985, Let em in, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, A Day in the Life/All You Need is Love and other tunes. (And thanks for the fireworks, sir Paul!)
In honor of his visit, for today’s YouTube Tuesday, I offer the following video selections of some of Sir Paul’s more recent live performances:
> Magical Mystery Tour
> Birthday
> Helter Skelter
> Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End
Enjoy.
.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Exit Mordy
.
This past Monday evening I found myself back in Deerfield, Illinois on my last shoot date for Marc Morgan and Jeremy Turkin’s independent feature, “Mordy to the Max.” I say “back” because the date had originally been set for a Tuesday night last month, but when we arrived at the location a sudden violent storm knocked out the power and forced us to reschedule.
This time around the weather was perfect. When Marc and I arrived the sky was clear and blue and the temperature and humidity pleasingly dry and comfortable. The only potentially discouraging circumstance was the shrill buzz of cicadas that greeted us as we got out of Marc’s truck, which might have made recording sound rather problematic. Happily for us, by the time the equipment was set up for the shot, the sun had gone down and the cicadas had silenced themselves.
The scene itself was short, easy and fun to do. Prior to the shoot I had given some thought as to how my character would show his six championship rings on camera - a comedic bit which had been carried out in a variety of different hand gestures in all of his previous scenes. Since in this scene, he would be in the comfort of his own home late at night and called to answer his front door, it seemed plausible that he might appear with a drink in hand. Marc liked the idea and then built upon it: “Why don’t you try doing the scene slightly inebriated?”
I did, and from what I saw in the playback, the result was pretty good. (Marc's note to play the scene with "lazy eyes" was especially helpful.)
After recording a few takes of that, all that remained for me to do was a little ADR work (Automated Dialogue Replacement, more familiarly known as “dubbing”) which Marc had been saving for our last session together. He needed several lines of my character, Coach Bishop, shouting into his telephone, for a couple of scenes where the Coach could be heard from off camera, behind the closed door to his office.
Marc and I went into his special recording studio (hint: it was parked in the driveway and we had to roll the windows up so that we wouldn’t disturb the neighbors). Since the script only indicated that the coach could be heard yelling in the background, and did not provide actual dialogue, my lines were to be improvised. Marc suggested several scenarios for various phone conversations -- such as the coach having an argument with an administrator about questionable expenditures for his athletes, another conversation in which the coach demands that one of his recruiters secure a hot prospect, and so forth. Although I was to rant and rave, being both intimidating and sarcastic in the manner of someone castigating an underling, I was not to resort to obscenities -- at least not to the really nasty ones.
We did four or five audio takes. In the first few, I was “in my head“ thinking too much about the circumstances of each conversation rather than fully diving into my character. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I must have been tense. I think I was holding my breath a lot and I suddenly found myself experiencing an uncomfortable bout of heartburn. Fortunately, by the third or fourth take I relaxed and somehow got past thinking about what I was going to say, to simply being the character, reacting in the moment. And it wasn’t until then that we got some good spontaneous stuff on tape. (I really must get back to practicing improv regularly, I was definitely a little rusty on Monday night.)
So that was my last bit of work in “Mordy to the Max.” All in all, it has been a very good experience; I am looking forward to seeing the completed film, and I appreciate having been asked to appear in it. Thank you Marc. I hope we’ll have the opportunity of working together again in the future. Till then, good luck in LA!
.
This past Monday evening I found myself back in Deerfield, Illinois on my last shoot date for Marc Morgan and Jeremy Turkin’s independent feature, “Mordy to the Max.” I say “back” because the date had originally been set for a Tuesday night last month, but when we arrived at the location a sudden violent storm knocked out the power and forced us to reschedule.
This time around the weather was perfect. When Marc and I arrived the sky was clear and blue and the temperature and humidity pleasingly dry and comfortable. The only potentially discouraging circumstance was the shrill buzz of cicadas that greeted us as we got out of Marc’s truck, which might have made recording sound rather problematic. Happily for us, by the time the equipment was set up for the shot, the sun had gone down and the cicadas had silenced themselves.
The scene itself was short, easy and fun to do. Prior to the shoot I had given some thought as to how my character would show his six championship rings on camera - a comedic bit which had been carried out in a variety of different hand gestures in all of his previous scenes. Since in this scene, he would be in the comfort of his own home late at night and called to answer his front door, it seemed plausible that he might appear with a drink in hand. Marc liked the idea and then built upon it: “Why don’t you try doing the scene slightly inebriated?”
I did, and from what I saw in the playback, the result was pretty good. (Marc's note to play the scene with "lazy eyes" was especially helpful.)
After recording a few takes of that, all that remained for me to do was a little ADR work (Automated Dialogue Replacement, more familiarly known as “dubbing”) which Marc had been saving for our last session together. He needed several lines of my character, Coach Bishop, shouting into his telephone, for a couple of scenes where the Coach could be heard from off camera, behind the closed door to his office.
Marc and I went into his special recording studio (hint: it was parked in the driveway and we had to roll the windows up so that we wouldn’t disturb the neighbors). Since the script only indicated that the coach could be heard yelling in the background, and did not provide actual dialogue, my lines were to be improvised. Marc suggested several scenarios for various phone conversations -- such as the coach having an argument with an administrator about questionable expenditures for his athletes, another conversation in which the coach demands that one of his recruiters secure a hot prospect, and so forth. Although I was to rant and rave, being both intimidating and sarcastic in the manner of someone castigating an underling, I was not to resort to obscenities -- at least not to the really nasty ones.
We did four or five audio takes. In the first few, I was “in my head“ thinking too much about the circumstances of each conversation rather than fully diving into my character. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I must have been tense. I think I was holding my breath a lot and I suddenly found myself experiencing an uncomfortable bout of heartburn. Fortunately, by the third or fourth take I relaxed and somehow got past thinking about what I was going to say, to simply being the character, reacting in the moment. And it wasn’t until then that we got some good spontaneous stuff on tape. (I really must get back to practicing improv regularly, I was definitely a little rusty on Monday night.)
So that was my last bit of work in “Mordy to the Max.” All in all, it has been a very good experience; I am looking forward to seeing the completed film, and I appreciate having been asked to appear in it. Thank you Marc. I hope we’ll have the opportunity of working together again in the future. Till then, good luck in LA!
.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Going through doors
.
Tonight’s my last night of shooting for “Mordy to the Max” and I’m looking forward to it with the same sense of bittersweet anticipation that I’ve always experienced on the last night of my favorite stage productions. As with those, I’ve enjoyed being a part of this project, I am pleased with the quality of the production, and I know that I’m going to miss working with Marc and his crew. So I will savor my last moments acting in "Mordy".
Though my bit tonight is short, it’s one of my favorite things to do as an actor -- starting the scene by opening a door. There’s something special about opening a door to step from one world to another. It's a transformative moment with a decidedly visceral kick, best exemplified on the big screen in the instant when Dorothy stepped the from the dull, black and white interior of her battered farmhouse into the vivid color of the land of Oz and proclaimed, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
In my very first experience onstage in community theater, I had the pleasure of beginning each of my performances by opening a door and ushering my wife into a cocktail party in “Everything in the Garden,” by Edward Albee. I’ll never forget the night of our final dress rehearsal, when I was so shocked at that moment by the sudden realization of “Here I am onstage!” that I quickly got befuddled and went up in my lines.
Happily, I survived the experience and went on to my all time favorite production my very next time onstage, as Petey in “The Birthday Party” by Harold Pinter. Every night the play began with me opening a door and walking into the front parlor of a rundown seaside boarding house. There was some wonderful atmospheric pre-show music to that production and it was always a delicious thrill for me to stand on the stoop, just outside the door, visualizing the elements, taking in the sea air, as it were. After listening for the squawking sea gulls at the end of the final track, I’d open the door and go inside. “Is that you, Petey?” And we were off . . .
I’m looking forward to such a moment tonight, as brief as it might be.
.
Tonight’s my last night of shooting for “Mordy to the Max” and I’m looking forward to it with the same sense of bittersweet anticipation that I’ve always experienced on the last night of my favorite stage productions. As with those, I’ve enjoyed being a part of this project, I am pleased with the quality of the production, and I know that I’m going to miss working with Marc and his crew. So I will savor my last moments acting in "Mordy".
Though my bit tonight is short, it’s one of my favorite things to do as an actor -- starting the scene by opening a door. There’s something special about opening a door to step from one world to another. It's a transformative moment with a decidedly visceral kick, best exemplified on the big screen in the instant when Dorothy stepped the from the dull, black and white interior of her battered farmhouse into the vivid color of the land of Oz and proclaimed, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
In my very first experience onstage in community theater, I had the pleasure of beginning each of my performances by opening a door and ushering my wife into a cocktail party in “Everything in the Garden,” by Edward Albee. I’ll never forget the night of our final dress rehearsal, when I was so shocked at that moment by the sudden realization of “Here I am onstage!” that I quickly got befuddled and went up in my lines.
Happily, I survived the experience and went on to my all time favorite production my very next time onstage, as Petey in “The Birthday Party” by Harold Pinter. Every night the play began with me opening a door and walking into the front parlor of a rundown seaside boarding house. There was some wonderful atmospheric pre-show music to that production and it was always a delicious thrill for me to stand on the stoop, just outside the door, visualizing the elements, taking in the sea air, as it were. After listening for the squawking sea gulls at the end of the final track, I’d open the door and go inside. “Is that you, Petey?” And we were off . . .
I’m looking forward to such a moment tonight, as brief as it might be.
.
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