Calling All Crew Members
At some point over the next 10 years, I'm going to need someone to tell me to watch Liar, Liar.
Why? Because I'm trying to get a career in the film industry, and the one thing that really made me want to do it is the feeling I get whenever I watch a movie that makes me feel something other than mild entertainment. A movie that I look away from the computer for, or that I stop doing homework to watch. When an emotional swell of music erupts from my speakers, or when an actor manages to convince me -- to really make me believe -- that they are their character, that what's happening in the movie's plot is actually happening to them.
Now, you may laugh and say, "But Cassy, that's not what movies are about! They're about entertainment and telling stories!" Well, yes and no. I understand, you haven't asked a question. But I'm answering one anyway, because I think the question lies in the statement you just made, because you obviously don't understand the point of movies if you view them strictly for their entertainment value.
In fact, if that's all you think of movies, then you're telling all the people that work so hard on them that all of their work, their sweat, their tears, their time, their effort, their holidays-away-from-home, their overtime, their intern-scut-work...all of that is for 2 hours of mere entertainment.
That, my friend, is a serious tragedy. While I absolutely believe that paying an actor or actress a million dollars for what they do is absurd and ridiculous, I have to inform you that I think paying anyone a million dollars for what they do is absurd and ridiculous. But my ideas about politics and economics have no place in this post, so we'll bookmark that for later, shall we?
You may think that acting is easy. Sure! Acting is easy. In fact, we do it every day. Everyone who works in retail is an actor. You know how I know? Because even if they're having a shitty day, generally, they're going to walk out onto the sales floor and plaster a smile on and pretend everything's peachy-keen and ask you how they can help you today. Anyone working in the food and beverage industry is an actor. Because they have to smile and nod and listen to customers when they complain, they have to bite their tongues and say things like, "I absolutely agree," when they don't, and they have to "make it right" by the customer, even when everyone involved -- including the customer -- knows that the customer is rarely ever actually right. Teachers, hair dressers, mechanics, husbands, girlfriends, children, parents, siblings, even best friends -- they're all actors.
So yes, acting is easy...
...when you're acting out your own life. But try being someone else for a day. Try putting yourself in their shoes, thinking like them, speaking like them, walking, standing, slouching, dressing, eating, sleeping, breathing like them. Then tell me that it was easy.
Go ahead.
I'll wait.
...
...
...
I bet you can't.
I'll be the first to admit that I am not an actor. I humored myself with the idea of being one once, very long ago, when I was 8 and idealistic and had been in a few church and school plays that had gotten tons of applause because, well, let's face it: Our audience were church members and parents. They're not going to boo. Eventually, as I grew older, I stopped volunteering to be in these things, mostly because I had learned I sucked in a 6th grade production and I did not want a repeat performance, but also because I could feel, even back when I was 8 years old, that I didn't belong on stage...I much preferred the wings.
I noticed, even in non-theatrical circumstances, that I was a wing-woman (and yes, that was a fantastic pun!). In my senior year, I managed to snag the leading role in the Sound of Music. You might be asking yourself, "Why would she do that if she wanted to be a crew member? She said she didn't like the limelight!" Well, you're right. But I'm also apparently a natural go-getter, and also I rise to challenges because other people are too scared to do it.
And while the experience of playing Maria and learning My Favorite Things and Do Re Mi and wearing a traditional Austrian dirndl was very fun, and I earned a lot of praise for the role, it was just the final nail in the coffin. It was amusing, but I was never comfortable being in front of the crowd. I knew, even as I was singing about kittens and brown paper packages, that I wa meant to be the support system. I was meant to be facilitating the amazing performance and not stealing the show.
I lack that wow factor that makes actors and actresses so good at their jobs. If you had seen me in The Sound of Music, you would not have been impressed. It was in no way a believable performance, and I know that. It was an average high school production and I did an ok job. But that was all I was ever going to be able to do, and I know it. I accept it. I want to help other people be better than me.
But I have a confession. I don't know anything about the film industry. I don't know how to be a camera operator. I don't know how to direct, or produce, or score a film. I'm not a great writer -- another thing I do even though I'm not amazing at it -- so I can't be a screenwriter. But I have ideas. Good ideas, in my opinion, but again...that's my opinion. I have strong opinions about movies, ideas to make them better, hopes that we can rekindle the love affair that the world had in cinema's golden age.
Because let's face it: The silver screen is still the best option to watch a movie. Your 50" flatscreen is no match to a 35-foot high screen. Channing Tatum's abs don't look as awesome in 22 Jump Street if you're watching it at home on your TV than in a crowded theater full of drooling 22-year-olds females, do they?
So, 10 years from now, when I'm fighting my way into the business and wondering why the hell I want to deal with all of the stress and annoying people, I want someone to remind me to watch Liar, Liar to restore my faith in this business. To remind me that people used to have great ideas for awesome movies. To laugh to death at Jim Carey's phenomenal acting skills as he fights his own hand to write that a pen isn't blue.
Because we all know it is, in fact,redblue.
Why? Because I'm trying to get a career in the film industry, and the one thing that really made me want to do it is the feeling I get whenever I watch a movie that makes me feel something other than mild entertainment. A movie that I look away from the computer for, or that I stop doing homework to watch. When an emotional swell of music erupts from my speakers, or when an actor manages to convince me -- to really make me believe -- that they are their character, that what's happening in the movie's plot is actually happening to them.
Now, you may laugh and say, "But Cassy, that's not what movies are about! They're about entertainment and telling stories!" Well, yes and no. I understand, you haven't asked a question. But I'm answering one anyway, because I think the question lies in the statement you just made, because you obviously don't understand the point of movies if you view them strictly for their entertainment value.
In fact, if that's all you think of movies, then you're telling all the people that work so hard on them that all of their work, their sweat, their tears, their time, their effort, their holidays-away-from-home, their overtime, their intern-scut-work...all of that is for 2 hours of mere entertainment.
That, my friend, is a serious tragedy. While I absolutely believe that paying an actor or actress a million dollars for what they do is absurd and ridiculous, I have to inform you that I think paying anyone a million dollars for what they do is absurd and ridiculous. But my ideas about politics and economics have no place in this post, so we'll bookmark that for later, shall we?
You may think that acting is easy. Sure! Acting is easy. In fact, we do it every day. Everyone who works in retail is an actor. You know how I know? Because even if they're having a shitty day, generally, they're going to walk out onto the sales floor and plaster a smile on and pretend everything's peachy-keen and ask you how they can help you today. Anyone working in the food and beverage industry is an actor. Because they have to smile and nod and listen to customers when they complain, they have to bite their tongues and say things like, "I absolutely agree," when they don't, and they have to "make it right" by the customer, even when everyone involved -- including the customer -- knows that the customer is rarely ever actually right. Teachers, hair dressers, mechanics, husbands, girlfriends, children, parents, siblings, even best friends -- they're all actors.
So yes, acting is easy...
...when you're acting out your own life. But try being someone else for a day. Try putting yourself in their shoes, thinking like them, speaking like them, walking, standing, slouching, dressing, eating, sleeping, breathing like them. Then tell me that it was easy.
Go ahead.
I'll wait.
...
...
...
I bet you can't.
I'll be the first to admit that I am not an actor. I humored myself with the idea of being one once, very long ago, when I was 8 and idealistic and had been in a few church and school plays that had gotten tons of applause because, well, let's face it: Our audience were church members and parents. They're not going to boo. Eventually, as I grew older, I stopped volunteering to be in these things, mostly because I had learned I sucked in a 6th grade production and I did not want a repeat performance, but also because I could feel, even back when I was 8 years old, that I didn't belong on stage...I much preferred the wings.
I noticed, even in non-theatrical circumstances, that I was a wing-woman (and yes, that was a fantastic pun!). In my senior year, I managed to snag the leading role in the Sound of Music. You might be asking yourself, "Why would she do that if she wanted to be a crew member? She said she didn't like the limelight!" Well, you're right. But I'm also apparently a natural go-getter, and also I rise to challenges because other people are too scared to do it.
And while the experience of playing Maria and learning My Favorite Things and Do Re Mi and wearing a traditional Austrian dirndl was very fun, and I earned a lot of praise for the role, it was just the final nail in the coffin. It was amusing, but I was never comfortable being in front of the crowd. I knew, even as I was singing about kittens and brown paper packages, that I wa meant to be the support system. I was meant to be facilitating the amazing performance and not stealing the show.
I lack that wow factor that makes actors and actresses so good at their jobs. If you had seen me in The Sound of Music, you would not have been impressed. It was in no way a believable performance, and I know that. It was an average high school production and I did an ok job. But that was all I was ever going to be able to do, and I know it. I accept it. I want to help other people be better than me.
But I have a confession. I don't know anything about the film industry. I don't know how to be a camera operator. I don't know how to direct, or produce, or score a film. I'm not a great writer -- another thing I do even though I'm not amazing at it -- so I can't be a screenwriter. But I have ideas. Good ideas, in my opinion, but again...that's my opinion. I have strong opinions about movies, ideas to make them better, hopes that we can rekindle the love affair that the world had in cinema's golden age.
Because let's face it: The silver screen is still the best option to watch a movie. Your 50" flatscreen is no match to a 35-foot high screen. Channing Tatum's abs don't look as awesome in 22 Jump Street if you're watching it at home on your TV than in a crowded theater full of drooling 22-year-olds females, do they?
So, 10 years from now, when I'm fighting my way into the business and wondering why the hell I want to deal with all of the stress and annoying people, I want someone to remind me to watch Liar, Liar to restore my faith in this business. To remind me that people used to have great ideas for awesome movies. To laugh to death at Jim Carey's phenomenal acting skills as he fights his own hand to write that a pen isn't blue.
Because we all know it is, in fact,
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