Struggles of ‘Being an Actor’.

Struggles of ‘Being an Actor’

In which field there are no struggles? Without any struggle, there won’t be any kind of adventure during your work life. Have you ever wondered about the people you see on-screen, about what kind of struggles they have to face off-screen. No, I am not talking about the struggles of ‘becoming an actor’, but the struggles of ‘being an actor’. As far as I have experienced there is one very common kind of struggle which an actor faces is ‘faking emotions' in front of the camera. This is a very vital part for an actor, as through your acting you make the audience believe in the story. For an actor to ‘fake’ emotions, such as crying it’s a very challenging part surely. If an actor is crying the motive is to make the audience to do so as well. Sometimes an actor also faces problems in delivering a particular kind of emotion during the shoot, because of several kinds of reason. If we consider an actor’s personal life, getting into details, for example, if an actor’s mood isn’t very good, but he has to portray the character of a jolly person, he/she will have to learn how to overcome this. We can plan the shooting script accordingly what the director wants, but we can never plan the actor’s mood regarding his/her personal’s life.  Hence overcoming those kinds of problems is one very important thing which an actor has to learn for sure, so that his ‘fake’ emotions would look ‘real’ on-screen. Anyways, these are very basic kinds of example, which are also understood by almost all of you. The other kind of struggle which an actor faces is the ‘diction’ problem. If our actor is a Muslim, but have to portray the character of a South-Indian, you all might imagine how challenging it might be for him/her to get into the character. It’s also very important for an actor to know how to divide both his/her personal and professional life, like if he/she would be uncomfortable with his/her co-star, that as well will also have to overcome. One more very common fear which an actor has is the ‘fear of failure’. This might distract the actor’s concentration while working as if he/she will see the final cut of the film there might be a thought that a particular part could have been much better, or there might be another competitor out there who could have performed that particular scene in a much better way.

The film is somewhere also dependent on an actor; as if he/she will not be able to connect with the audience then it will make the film look flat. This is just a synopsis of the struggles ‘being an actor’, but there are also many more in the list. An actor has to be focused, bold, strong, moody, active and most importantly prepared during the shoot. Being an actor is not very easy. Facing millions of public is actually a job which makes also all of us consciousness. But yes, at the end of the day it’s worth struggling so much as you are loved by those public who watches you, and sometimes you also become an inspiration to them.

Personal Vs. Professional

Personal Vs. Professional

This is one of the most basic struggles a film maker faces trust me. We can obviously not be loved by everyone. We all might either have a person which we do not have very good terms with, or a person who is very close to us in our life. As far as my experience, yes I have faced this stage of struggle as well. Sometimes we have to work with the person who might be very bad in nature, but his/her way of working will suit the way of making a particular kind of film. As a beginner, this kind of struggle will help the very natural behavior of a human being to overcome (like anger or frustration). Even the positive part is that we learn how to adjust with different kind of people. As a director if your terms aren’t very well with the cinematographer, so he/she should know how to avoid mixing up the professional life with the personnel one. Sometimes we have to go against what we want, and learn how to work with the people we never even wish to sit with, as if his/her work will benefit you, the sacrifices can be worth it as well. For a professional film maker this now also won’t be a ‘struggle’ but for a learner as me it is a kind of phase of life which is tough at start like the other struggles, but will later on will help us be more understanding, calm, and also teach how to adjust and tackle in such situations as well.

Observation - Another key to success

Observation

For becoming a famous film director it’s obviously important for your films to succeed, and for the films to become successful it’s very important for the story, plot, etc. to be well written. But there is one more reason for a film’s success, and that is the ‘connection’ made from your film to the audience. If your film is not being connected with the audience then your viewers won’t be interested in watching the film. But how can you make it possible? As far as I have learnt, and experienced the most vital part for the ‘connection’ to be successful is when the audience will be able to relate the character, or story to himself/herself. The key for making this point possible is dependent on your observation skills. For a director, how much ever qualities he/she would have, being a good observer will also come on the list, as without it you will fail in front of the audience. Creating a character into your mind, and including a very unique story is a talent for sure. But we have to agree that the ‘character’ will surely have the same kind of qualities or behavior some other person may do. Sometimes when we go for a film, and watch a character which is very much like you, then there is also an automatic kind of smile which arouses onto our face, and also helps our film to become more connectable to the audience. We meet many people in our day to day life. But observing them is what a director does. If we observe the things around us it helps our imagination to arouse even more for sure. I am not saying that it is compulsory to observe a stranger you just saw, but in my point of view that will also somewhere help you create one character into your head, for example observing the way he/she would walk or talk. Even sometimes being observant will help you have great dialogues into your film. For example, if we have a person in our life who motivates us whatever he/she says could be also the part of the ‘dialogues’ into our film, but this is also possible if your observant. Being a good observer can also help us to understand the human behavior even more, and it’s a fact a that we even will have the ability to adjust with different kinds of people around us. This point is also the key to success for a director especially. Observation at the end of the day helps you understand human behavior, and also helps your story to be connected to the audience who are watching your film, and can help you become a successful film maker as well.

Comparison- Is it really necessary?

Comparison

Comparison is become a trend now. We live in the world where comparison is become very necessary. Take up any examples, like our parents who compare us with our friends, our teachers comparing us with other students, or even two actors, and movies are being compared with each other. No, I am not saying that it is a crime of comparing, as sometimes it’s important to do so to know what the other person is in front of you, but what if you do not want to be like the other person. Talking about films is it really necessary to be compared?  In my point view I think comparing two movies especially with different genre is actually very unnecessary. I mean, come on can you ever imagine film like ‘Avatar’ being compared with a film like ‘Fast and furious’? (DISCLAIMER:  JUST AN EXAMPLE!)  The matter of fact is that most of the comparisons are made when the movie is released on the same date. Ironic part is that even though both are of the completely different genre, the comparison will never be ended. If we compare ‘Annabelle’ with ‘Conjuring’, or even ‘Iron Man’ with ‘Superman’ that points will actually be valid, won’t it? Comparing a science fiction to another science fiction film will at the end of the day justify your point. Every film is good at it is place, and it’s very obvious that everyone would not like a similar film or a certain genre. If I like romance more that horror, and if I would go for a horror film, it is but obvious that how so ever the film would be but ‘mostly’ my mind is set with the thought that it’s a ‘horror’ film. As a director you cannot expect the whole audience to stand up and clap for your film, but as an audience you also shouldn’t expect a specific type of film to be the way you want it to be. Comparing two films which shouldn’t be compared is actually really very unfair. Yesterday I was just scrolling on my Facebook wall, and I saw something which had left me scandalized, and forced me to write on this particular topic. It was the comparison of the recent released films; ‘Jungle Book’, and the Bollywood film, ‘Fan’.  ‘Jungle book’ is almost all of our favorite history of childhood which is revolved around a fantasy world, whereas coming to ‘Fan’ it’s a drama & thriller film which is also loved by most of the public. Did you notice both of the genres? Both the films are amazing at their own places. I personally found it even more irrelevant comparing both the actors. When the types of film aren’t similar how can you compare the character of the actor?

 Making a film takes a lot of hard. Taking a 45 minutes film it might take two whole days, and making a film more than an hour you can imagine the hard work done by all the people. Comparison isn’t wrong, but comparison of two distinct things is also not correct. 

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Ideas.

Ideas

Thinking of an idea which is out of the box is a job which might take you days, months, weeks, or even a minute. Considering this particular post, it took me just a minute to think about writing it, as I was wondering about what to post in my next blog keeping you guys indulged into reading it. Obviously, a story only develops if you have an ‘idea’ about what your writing about. What is the challenging part then? Well for me, if I start something the stimulating part is the way to complete it. We often hear that a film’s first half is much better than the second half or just vies-versa. Most probably because the idea won’t be strong enough or developed as well. It might have happened to all of you that you might just take an hour, or a day, or even more time for completing to write a story, just because your ‘idea’ is not being developed fully. The most insecure part of this field is that if anyone could steal your idea, without your knowledge. An idea can be born depending on how strong your imagination is, and your imagination can be grown with many different kinds of techniques such as, reading, or even observing.

How can ideas be created? Let’s take a situation. For example, you are sitting in the restaurant all alone waiting for your order to arrive, and then you see a couple. If you are a film maker then definitely there will be an idea which aroused into your mind. Maybe there will be different kinds of stories developed into your head, and a situation might be created as well. It’s also very vital for us who are in the course of film making to get ready as maybe in future if we are asked to create an idea within five minutes we should be well prepared enough to do so. In college once I was asked to write on a topic within that ‘one hour’ class, but unfortunately it took me two days to complete it. The reason for that was because, I wasn’t in that scenario where I write; a peaceful place. These all things should be taken care of in future as well. Personally with me, it has happened many times that while I am travelling I think of many stories, but as I was lazy before I forgot half of them, and could not note down my ‘idea’. This is one of the saddest part we do, that is wasting an idea which you never know could have become famous in future. It’s very obvious that we will share the ideas to the person we trust the most. But the thing about film making is that it is collaboration, so two heads are just better than one. Hence, it’s very important to be careful to whom we are sharing our ideas with, and how do we keep it secure. I think this is one of the toughest parts in film making, as when we will share our idea to someone for just offering to start the film, you never know who may take it away from you. But this challenging part is not always guaranteed, and it depends on you how can you take care of your idea, and make it famous also.

Screenplay –The Visual Writing.

Screenplay –The Visual Writing

A screenplay is basically ‘visual writing.’ It’s the theoretical part of what exactly will be done practically during the shoot. A screenplay is a combination of the script where the dialogues will be involved, and also the shots which will be taken place during the shoot, the locations and time, and also the action of the characters. With the help of a screenplay, it makes the task easier as whatever we want to attribute it practically is already written, and planned as well. There are different kinds of rules to follow during writing a ‘screenplay’. The first and most important rule is to write it in ‘present tense’, and only what the audience can hear and see.  In this type of writing, there are many elements which are considered as well. The first one is the ‘slug line’ where we establish a few things such as if our shoot is indoor then it’s termed as ‘INT.’, and if we shoot it outdoor it’s ‘EXT’. After that we add our location with the description of what the current time is, for example, day or night. It basically looks like this; EXT-HOUSE-DAY.  Extra detail like ‘travelling’ can be added just beside it the same way as well.  One more important thing is that the ‘slug line’ is always written in capital as well. The second element is the action; where we write the exact description of what our character is doing. This is also one of the most straight forward parts of the screenplay writing wise. A character’s name is always written in capital when we write the dialogues which are in the central.  The parenthetical also plays a very important role in the screenplay as it can be used as describing the current emotions of the character while he/she will deliver the dialogue. In my point of view, this also makes it very clear for the actor for what to do in that current situation.  

As far as I have learnt about screenplay one more definition I can give it is the ‘visualization of a director’. In practical terms it’s very obvious that we cannot make the other person think ‘exactly’ what you want, and the way you want it to be done. Well, this job is also done by the help of a screenplay. A director puts all of his imagination into the piece of paper with the help of a ‘screen writer’ to make the impact come out just exactly he/she wants it to be done.  Recently I had read the screenplay of ‘Good will hunting’, and it helped me a lot to improvise as a beginner. Well, this part of film making is actually very tricky but interesting as well, as through this we can look into the mind of the director’s imagination as well, and also it helps the output of the film to come out really well.

Script writing.

Script Writing.

A script is the spine of a film. Without a script it’s very obvious that it’ll be impossible to make a film. It is used for everything we want to shoot just like, YouTube videos, short films, or even monologues. The challenging part is converting the story into a script. Even though the characters, plot, and a story has been created, giving each character what to say is actually a tough job to decide. In the term of film making, the ‘dialogues’ plays the role in the script. If the dialogues are flat then the film will also be as well. Dialogues usually help to spice the film up. It’s very important for it to connect with the audience, as if that ‘connection’ isn’t made, then the film won’t succeed surely. With the help of the dialogues it also helps the message to reach the audience clearly. But this is just not the only thing required. The actor should understand what he/she is going to deliver, and also have the exact knowledge of what character he/she is going to play, so it’s also vital for him/her to know the ‘way’ to deliver the dialogues. Usually over here the ‘diction’ problem arrives. For example, if our actor is a Punjabi, and we ask him/her to play a ‘South-Indian’s’ role, then it would be actually a difficult job, as when the actor will deliver the dialogue he should make the audience believe in what he/she is portraying.  Without a script the actor would also have no clue what to say. It’s not important that he/she will ‘deliver’ the exact words in the script; there is always space for ‘improvisation.’ But the actor should have the idea of what he/she will say during that specific scene.

Having a script also plans our schedule. One great thing about writing a script is that it also helps us in developing our characters, and gives them a specific voice that will really speak to their fans. One more tough part in writing a script is the action vs. dialogues. Sometimes just actions can speak more than words, so it’s not necessary to just scribble words into the script. The dialogues shouldn’t just look for the sake of using dialogues. Instead of just talking heads sometimes it helps us to be more realistic as well.  So while writing a script balancing both of them together is necessary, and in my personal point of view it’ll take time to learn this, and it will help making the film successful as well.

Time- The leader of our life

Time
Time is the main protagonist of our life.  We are so indulged into preparing the work which we want to present that we forget about the main aspect which will make us reach somewhere, and that is our ‘time’. Now if you are wondering how, let me tell you. Considering my personal experience, once I had prepared a script, choosing the cast for a theater play to be presented in college. After months of preparation, ironically I still couldn’t find the perfect time to present it. This point sometimes makes me feel devastated, but I motivate myself thinking that there would be a 'time' which would be perfect to show the hard work created by my team. One more very important thing is how your time is; good or bad. For example, as a fresher if we would go to a producer to narrate the story which we visualized in our mind, and asking him for the money that supports the budget of the film, no matter how presentable you can be it depends on the ‘time’ which we will be visiting the person. If we get into details, it can also depend if his/her mood is good/bad, or if there are even better projects in the line. On the other hand, if we create a different scenario with the producer being keener and having a free schedule the chances might increase more comparatively to the previous scenario. It  might have happened to almost all of you that, everything is right in your hand, but the perfect ‘time’ to distribute that particular thing might not be found yet. So the better your 'time' is, the more chance you get to reach a particular platform. The word 'time' might be monotonous over here, but the reason for it is to emphasize how vital it is for our life.

  

Our 'time' can take us to the worst situations, and also the best situations of our life. When I will in future walk out of my college with my degree, my work would be on my right hand, and my presentation on my left. But 'my time' is the one which will walk beside me. and decide when I can have the opportunity to become a director. We can control over our talent, we can control over the way we work, and in fact we can also sometimes control over the people we are working with, but your time is the one which will control over you.

The 3 act structure.

3 Act Story Structure

This is one of the most common thing we have heard when we were learning how to write a story. Obviously we all have the idea of the three basic elements; Beginning, Middle, and the End. The 3 act structure is the heart of the film, as if this fails then the movie would also do. In a three act structure of a film, for example, if it’s a two hour movie the first act (Act I) will be about 30 minutes the second act (Act II) will be around 60 minutes, and the last act (Act III) will be approx around 30 minutes.  The first act basically just establishes the characters, the plot where your story revolves, and the time of the story (for example if it’s history or the current century). Usually after the Act one, in the 30 minute mark our protagonist faces a conflict which takes the story to Act two. In between of the act two there will be a dramatic turn in the story which is termed as the ‘turning point’. Well in my point of view, the turning point also attracts the audience attention even while watching a film. The key to success for this is to make the unexpected part to be expected. If your film is predictable, then your viewers will surely get bored, but if your film takes twists, and turns which will make the audience stay on their seats, it will be a success surely.  There is another turning point in between of Act two which considers on how our protagonist deals with the conflicts, which then shifts the story to Act three.  Act three is the resolution of the film. Before writing a story it’s very vital for you to decide how you want to leave your audience; if you want to make them smile or cry. So for making that succeed the level of intensity during Act three until the film is resolved is very important to be interesting as well. .

While I was learning the 3 act structure, at start understanding these points started to get things very complicated for me while writing a story. I had later on then noticed that after keeping the 3 act structure in my mind it made it much easier for me to write the stories, as everything was fixed, and planned.