Fire Chief & Prosecutor
Sometimes, something completely unexpected occurs. I received a call from a Producer that I had acted for a year ago, requesting another appearance on this year’s TV production. Just think – a chance to work for money without auditioning. Needless to say, I moved around my calendar to make myself free.
It was an identical gig to 2013’s appearance: The company makes Television Docudrama’s, where a voice over is placed over the action being acted on set. This brings up it’s own challenges. As time and speed is of the utmost importance, I remember last year being directed immediately prior to ‘Action!’ with enough instructions to fill three minutes, even though only a few seconds would probably be used for the final film. Without a script, and with no back story available, I remember being so shocked that I simply went with it, making up details as I went along live on camera. It obviously worked well, so I knew what to expect this time.
Working over two days, with two different scenes from two different episodes featuring two different characters, I armed myself with a script, some online investigations of the crime stories being dramatized, and completely made up histories and motivations, I was lucky enough to perform my court scenes as the Crown Prosecutor in one take, plus some inserts based on my own performance – I found out later that, according to the Director and producer, that skill is just as important to them as an ‘acting talent’.
The opening scenes as the Fire Chief were in a burnt out building on the set, that was filled with smoke to portray an Arson scene that had only just occurred. Three actors, two special effect guys, and two ‘Steadi-Cam’ operators made for a challenge in concentration, but definitely would prepare me better for any future movie scenes filmed, with larger budgets, and, perhaps, more at stake for me and the Producer.
I worked with some great people over these two days, had an enjoyable time, and earned some money so, all in all, a fantastic time. More importantly for me, I added some skills to my on camera performance that I didn’t particularly recognise that I had: To retain three or four character ideas in my head, connected to direction given to me at the time of shooting, with not only a sense of a relationship with other actors, and keeping the story moving forward, but also the relaxation required to do it in a limited amount of takes. Perhaps this, more than any other skills, really mean Movie acting.
My Photo choice of the two roles was the Fire Chief, even though the suit and tie combination for the Court scenes was flamboyant enough to give me a whole different ‘take’ on the staid Crown Prosecutor.
