Ya we're gonna see a movie, starring everybody and me!

Day 38

Well, it actually happened. We started shooting scenes for "The Bard's Bane" today. And let me tell you, nothing makes me feel more like a fail actor then getting up in front of a camera. It's a completely different acting beast. And I realized that going in, but I guess I didn't know the true measure of it until we actually started acting.

We filmed a scene between my character, who is the secretary, and her boss, who owns the theatre. It was just a short, 2 1/2 pg scene, but it took us about 3 hours to film it. Grant it, we did have to basically create an office out of nothing, so that took a while. But there are so many little details that you have to take into consideration. You have to do the scene in sections, depending on camera angles and how much movement is involved in the scene. Then, on top of all that, you get to worry about your acting.

As I've said before, I'm a big, over-the-top actress, so toning stuff down is a little hard for me. I think I did a pretty good job after a while. I learned it's really all about being natural, but really thinking about everything that's going on. It's not like onstage where you can get away with just standing there and looking involved. The camera picks up eeeeeevvvvveeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyyyy little detail, so you can't half-ass your way through it. You have to be constantly listening and reacting. Which, you should probably being doing that in theatre too; but it's much easier to get away with not doing it.

I know I was probably really stiff at first because I had no idea what I was doing. I felt like I was in 7th grade again trying to get up onstage for the first time. But after we rehearsed a couple of times and did a couple of takes, I got more in the groove of everything. I'm interested to see how I look and sound on camera. I always hated watching myself on tape in dance recitals or past performance, so I bet this will be the same. I just pray that I don't suck hard core.