I’m usually very uncomfortable being in front of the camera, you can say I really hate the camera looking the camera in the eye, ironic isn’t it?

Today in class we were told to act a scene that was given to us, only this time we were emphasizing on actors and how excellent actors almost go unappreciated for their hard work. Today, I took a step in to their shoes, and realize how truly hard it is to face the cameras with a director that was constantly in argument with her director of photography.

The fact that the director didn’t know what she was directing made it even more difficult for both me and the actress to perform what was being told to us because we didn’t understand what we were supposed to do. Instead of acting, I ended up setting the shots up for them when I wasn’t in frame, which made things a little bit more easier, but still very confusing.

What I can take from this assignment is that we really have to understand what we want to achieve before having to shoot with the actors as it can really effect the confidence of actors towards the director’s vision. Not to be insulting but throughout the shoot, the thought “when can we start rolling” constantly rang in my head as they kept wanting me to be in place, but didn’t have a clue on how to shoot the scene. This not only made me angry, but unwilling to act for them again.

I now appreciate actors a whole lot more knowing the difficulty of having to be patient while providing a professional standard of acting. Being tolerant is key to acting as some directors would want multiple takes of the same scene which can be really draggy for a whole day’s shoot.