As I mentioned in class on Wednesday, I am a big theatre dweeb. So of course, when Les Miserables hit theaters this past December, I had to see it. As much as I love theater and film, I have never been a fan of when the two are blended together. For example, I'm not the biggest fan of RENT which hit Broadway in 1996 and movie theaters in 2005. Why? Well, I could go on for a while for a lot of different reasons. But one of the biggest reasons, which I know many will disagree, is that casting Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp was a mistake. As we discussed in class, theatre acting and film acting are two very different things. I think that Pascal and Rapp are phenomenal actors on stage and on film, but being thrown together with the rest of the broadway cast makes the film more "broadway" and not "film"- making the story seem fake and pieced together.
But back to where I was before, I think Les Mis was one of the BEST films I have seen that has been based on a musical. What stood out to me was the audio. There was no lip syncing which was impressive for the performer and the audio crew as well. The sound was crystal clear. I remember watching a scene where it was raining, and I felt like I could hear every single rain drop hit the ground perfectly. Not to mention that since there was no lip syncing, it made the story feel that much more real.
Also, I need to talk about Anne Hathaway. By far- one of the most compelling performances I have ever scene from an actress. Her dramatic 25 pound weight loss to fit the role was only step one of her commitment to the role of Fantine. Her emotional portrayal, particularly in "I Dreamed a Dream", was one of the most beautiful performances I have ever seen. She nailed it.
Needless to say, I saw Les Mis twice, and wish I had time to see it again.
Have you ever been online and were completely bored? My guess: Absolutely. Whenever I get caught in this situation, I tend to decide to go to the gym, or do homework, or do something reasonable with my life, but finals are fast approaching and my ambition is slowly declining. So, I spent some time on youtube, and watched some trailers for several films that will be released over the next few months.
I never really considered the importance of a good trailer before, yet it is the very foundation for building an audience. When we go to the movie theater as a family, my dad always makes us go about ten minutes late so that we don't have to sit through the previews. When I go by myself, or with friends, I try to get there early because I secretly love the previews. Not all previews, but the ones that are the most intriguing. It's like opening presents at Christmas. I love the feeling of finding the next great movie to go see.
What makes a great trailer? The music, the cuts, and the parts of the general plot that is chosen to be shown, all come together to entice people to go see the film. Most of all, the trailers that really strike me are the ones that leave me asking, "Wait! What's going to happen next?" or ones that leave me spinning through a "new world" or ones that have me sitting on the edge of my seat, tied down with suspense. Trailers that are not so successful are ones that make me say, "What's happening?" or are completely too realistic. Of course, it is a preference that varies between audiences and people, but overall a good trailer leaves people wanting to know more.
There is nothing worse than seeing an amazing trailer, going to the movie, and walking out completely disappointed. Most of the time I find that the trailer drew me in because they used their best scenes in the trailer. This has happened to me too many times to count. The biggest disappointment that I had was last year when I saw the new adaptation of The Three Musketeers. Talk about being disappointed. This has always been one of my favorite stories, and this ruined it. The acting wasn't the best and the plot just left a lot to be desired. Another film that disappointed me was Snow White and the Huntsman. It was alright up to a point, but again I wasn't really impressed with the plot or the acting as much as I was with the graphics and animation. With the exception of the Queen (whose character was played brilliantly by), I had been expecting so much more. The winner in disappointments was definitely the movie Eragon that came out a few years ago. The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini is a great one, and this movie did not do it justice. Nothing really matched up character, setting, or plot wise, and left me feeling like I had entered a completely different world than the one I expected.
I'm hopeful that the trailers for these next films are in-line with what the actual movies will present. Here are some of the trailers (they are good ones!) for movies I'm really looking forward to:
The Hobbit
City of Bones
So, youtube is not letting me upload the others, but you should definitely check out The Host, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Les Miserables. ~Amber Capogrossi
Well, it is nearing that part of the semester where everything falls apart... luckily, I still manage to find time to relax a little bit to some fun, comedy TV. My latest hook has been on a show called "Hot in Cleveland," created by Suzanne Martin, that airs on TV Land. This wonderful comedy is about four older women, originally from L.A., who try to find a new life in Cleveland. Between midlife crisis and the men that fall in and out of their lives, these woman keep you constantly laughing. The four main actresses are Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and (drum roll) Betty White!
All four women are fantastic actresses. I'm still astonished at how hard and how much Betty White works, but I'm so thankful because she is so talented! This show is really helping me keep a smile during this hard time of finals. The most interesting aspect of this show though, is that it is filmed in front of a live studio audience. In some of my acting classes, the difference in acting between shows that are just filmed for TV and those that are filmed in front of a live audience may seem subtle but is actually very different. When I first started watching this show, I was slightly thrown off by the theatrical hint in the acting. Then I noticed in the introduction that they mentioned that it was filmed in front of a audience. After that, it all made sense. It is almost like a different "dialect" of acting. It has to be more theatrical based on the fact that there is a live audience. I think shows like this would be fun to do; a combination of both a theatrical and film styles. Who would have known that acting and filming could be so diverse?!
Over the last week, we have spoken a lot about acting in class. This art has a special place in my heart, and my pursuit of this career has already taken six years of my life. Through workshops with casting directors, like Paul Weber from Weber Casting, and working with an acting coach out in L.A., I have learned much in those six years. Yet, I have found there is always some new tip or rule to the art. It is a constant learning process that is mostly acquired through experience, especially since theatre acting truly is a completely different concept than film acting.
So what happens when technology changes and the way films can be made reaches a new climax? Do actor's have to reshape how they perform their craft? Answer: Not at all.
When motion capture was first starting to be used, I remember hearing how worried professional actors had become. Would this new technology replace "the actor" in film, losing the face as well as the performance? Would this technology make acting even harder than it can already be? Again, I think everyone was amazed with the answer, especially when it went beyond motion capture and into performance capture. This new, amazing technology has been seen in so many recent films including The Lord of the Rings, King Kong,Avatar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
It started out very new in The Lord of the Rings through Andy Serkis' performance of Gollum. This was an amazing development in film: allowing actors to even become the most different of creatures without all of the make-up and prosthetics that can sometimes come across as very fake. What a freeing experience!
The technology itself is astounding as well. Through the use of a body suit, dots and many, many cameras, an actor's performance can be converted over into a completed CGI character. This character then embodies the soul of the actor that performs the role, even down to facial characteristics.
At the time of Lord of the Rings, I was so entranced with this concept of motion capture/performance capture that I didn't think it could get any better. I was really wrong. Andy Serkis then appeared in both King Kong and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, using this similar technology. His performances were stunning, and the characters truly took on a life of their own. Something about motion capture/performance capture brings a real life to these characters that creates an emotional draw as an audience member. I truly believe it has to do with the fact that there is a real person behind the CGI, a mind that can understand and convey the depth of the character it portrays.
I can't imagine the amount of time Andy Serkis had to spend studying ape behavior to get the facial and body movements to the point where they are so believable. This is another aspect of performance capture that is so exciting. It takes a lot of work to learn the behaviors and movements of other creatures. Sometimes actors even have to take months of "classes" just learning how to perform their characters for performance capture. Take it from the cast of Avatar directed by James Cameron.
I absolutely love this movie. I still remember sitting in the theatre, completely drawn into the film in awestruck wonder at how "real" the Na'vi of Pandora seemed. I know Avatar creates a mix of emotions regarding plot, but one thing no one can argue about is how revolutionizing this film truly is in just how a movie can be filmed. Not only did they use performance capture for the acting, but they literally created the world of Pandora as they went along. This extended even to the point where they made a special camera for James Cameron to use that allowed him to see a rough outline of the CGI world even though it was just an actor in a motion capture suit and a set of boxes around him. When I watched the behind the scenes sections for avatar, I couldn't help but be both amazed and excited about all the possibilities that performance capture offers. After seeing all of Andy Serkis' performances, and now all of the actors on Avatar, this technology have the ability to allow a greater opportunity to both actors and filmmakers in the future. Having minimal, but acting experience nonetheless, I can have nothing but a great admiration and excitement for actors who have been able to be a part of this new style of filming.
~Amber Capogrossi
