Here is my progress reel after finishing class 4 - Introduction to Acting... The lectures during this term were incredible (as always)!!! Focusing on the fundamentals of acting and ways of developing unique character traits / personalities. We worked on two shots - first being a pantomime performance of our choosing and second being a monologue shot, using dialogue from a film, TV series, or radio broadcast... Both needing to show an emotional beat change. Needless to say, these shots were a lot of FUN and a lot of work.
My pantomime assignment is titled, "Sweet Decision" and consist of a character at the baked goods aisle in a super market, trying to decide if he wants to buy the cookies or the brownies... but he better hurry up and decide because there is a BIG sale and the sweets are going fast!
The dialogue I chose for my monologue is Will Ferrell in "Blades of Glory"... I chose this particular dialogue because it was very appealing (funny), it contained a nice emotional shift (from confident, to insecure, and then back to confident), and it had some "animation goodies", like pauses and "effort noises" ... ANIMATION CHEDDAR !!! AND cheddar makes it better - always :) The staging I had in mind for this dialogue is to have the character saying it as his vows to his love at their wedding... Obviously, not at all the ideal phrases you would consider romantic, but that's what makes it SO FUNNY... at least that's the irony I'm going for. Keep in mind while viewing this assignment that it is a work in progress... we will work on the facial animation starting next term. We were only able to animate the jaw and the eye blinks, so what you see right now is what we call "Muppet mouth" :) Also keep in mind that the lighting is not at all finaled... the version your seeing now just has a quick pass, it will have a finished look when I turn in my final work on the assignment.
I really hope you enjoy my new shots... This course was my favorite so far, being that it was all about acting and the language of film. Great notes, great reference to very resourceful books, AWESOME mentor (again), AND lots of AWESOME FUN !!! Have to send a BIG THANK YOU to Nicole "the Doctor" Herr for being such an awesome mentor !! You gave valuable feedback during critiques and REALLY great notes during class !!! YOU ROCK :)
also, in case anyone was wondering why I give my mentors nicknames, it is because they are COOL and deserve a distinguished alias... I take from the name of a film or character they have worked on... Nicole is "the Doctor" because she worked on Dr. Manhattan in "Watchmen". Morgan Kelly is "the Beez Neez" cause he worked on "Bee Movie"... you probably get the idea, so what more can I say except, "I'm a dork" :)
I am really excited about this film, for so many reasons. First, it's ILM's first full-length animated, feature film (and what a film it will be). Second, it stars Johnny Depp (we all love Mr. Depp), and third, it gives a nod to the late, but very great, Hunter S. Thompson (i.e., Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Gonzo Journalist, author)... This still from the film's trailer proves it - That is Hunter driving the famous Caddy convertible, with his infamous big yellow tinted Ray-Bans, the hat and the Hawaiian shirt (AWESOME)!! Thank you ILM for creating this film; I am a HUGE fan of the beloved Mr. Thompson as well as a HUGE fan of ILM !! This is a killer combo and I will be anxiously awaiting for this film to hit theaters!
