Steve Phipps

Caine had a piece of advice on physical technique that has always stuck with me, with respect to scene partners: Don?t change eyes. Look into one eye, and the eye that is closest to camera. I think finding some kind of actor ?business? -- physical behavior that you can literally do -- is helpful. There?s the line of thinking that that kind of dimension can make your performance and character seem more ?real?, and all that. But I think, also, it keeps you from just ?parking and barking?, which can fall very flat. Also, it can keep you from gesticulating. Then again, I once had to swallow a pill during a scene (a prop pill -- a half-peanut), and was so nervous that I fumbled getting the aspirin bottle open, and even then, couldn?t manage to swallow the peanut once it was in my mouth. The ?pill? was still on my tongue when we hit my cue, and I just started chewing it, as a reflex. :) Oh, and I have another one for you: I was offered a smaller-supporting part by a director friend, and I took the role without having read the play, or knowing much about my role or the cast, or any of that. So I read the play and discover that I am playing the love-interest/fiancé. So, okay. And it?s actually a pretty nice part. So, fine. So, I go to the first rehearsal and discover that the girl I have been cast with is very, very attractive. And as I?m looking through my part again, I realize that we will actually have an on-stage kiss. This acting thing might work out, I think. But the thing was, as we got closer and closer to that kiss -- the whole cast is just going through a table-read, but up on our feet, blocking things out -- I began to get extremely nervous. It began to feel like, it was my actual first kiss. I had something like stage-fright, times-two. And so I?m trying to subdue that, and rationally think my way through it. Be professional. And pages are rolling by at warp speed as we approach the moment. And so we get to the magic page, the line is approaching, I?m getting ready, the director stands up, the blocking is changed and the beat is dropped. Goodbye, kiss. :)

Hi Aaron, Sorry to hear about your experience. There is a story back from 2005 you might be interested in. A crew -- including established, industry professionals -- believed that they were working on a show for HBO. The costume designer spent $3000 of her own money on supplies for the production, for example. In fact, no deal with HBO existed. No one from the crew was paid. If you're a paid subscriber to the LA Times, it's in an August 27, 2005 article: Dreams of Hollywood Disappear Along With Fake 'Real Rome'. Look for it in the paper's online archives. Here's a clip from the article summary: If you're not a paid subscriber to the LA Times, you may still be able to get access to the LA Times archive through your local library. I'm able to access the entire LA Times article through my public library's web site, for example. I heard about it when one of the writers from 'Real Rome' posted about his experience on a different message forum back in 2005. I dug up this, which seems to be a re-post: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpo...amp;postcount=7

Re-uploaded, on request. (The download link was broken. What happens with Rapidshare is that after ninety days of no downloads, a file is deleted. If you find the link is broken and want the file, please send me a PM, and I'll re-upload it.) http://rapidshare.com/files/102894519/7212...procityTest.zip I should have also posted screenshots from the test: Exposure duration of 1/40s: Exposure duration of 60 minutes, with a CC10R filter: Lens is a 50/1.8 AFD Nikon.

I hesitate to post this since (1) it?s wandering a bit off-topic, and (2) I realize that not all members will be able to access the resource. Apologies for that. But I thought of this as similar to a ?in limited release and screening in a theatre near me? recommendation: If you?re interested and able to see it, possibly you might enjoy this. I thought this was a really nice article: alternative processes to Technicolor, in the context of post-war France. Andrew, Dudley. The Postwar Struggle for Color. Cinema Journal, Vol. 18, No. 2. Spring, 1979. pp. 41-52. Alternatives processes discussed in the article are: Rouxcolor, four (R-G-B-Y) images composited on black-and-white thirty-five millimeter; Thomsoncolor, a lenticular process whose mechanics, I have to admit, I still don?t actually understand (or believe!); and the two descendants of Agfacolor, the German wartime three-color, one-strip stock. They?re presented in the context of an analysis of post-war French film: Dudley, if I have understood his thesis, argues that the relatively late adoption of color by the French film industry was a response to the restrictiveness and cost of using Technicolor, and the technical deficiencies of these alternatives (and also attributes it to issues of nationalism, and national cinematic ideology). I thought the article was a nice piece of film scholarship. I was able to read it (for free) through JSTOR ( http://www.jstor.org/ ), courtesy of my public library (USA). The process for me is: I log into my account on my local library?s website, and choose ?Articles and Databases?. JSTOR shows up as a search choice. Anyway, for what it?s worth. I did think it was a nice piece of film scholarship. :)

Two films that I think use a flashback device well are THE PAWNBROKER and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. The latter, obviously, has that awesome pan. I recently saw an episode of the BAND OF BROTHERS television series which used flashback quite a bit. The episode was CROSSROADS, and featured cuts from the protagonist writing an After Action Report to the battlefield event he is writing about, and later, between a personally "haunting experience" from that event and his R&R leave. I thought the episode was nicely constructed. Depending on what you are doing, you also might be interested in the "Who Dunnit" type of flashback. MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS or LAST OF SHEILA, for example. And there is also something like D.O.A. That narrative relies a little bit on flashbacks. :)

The Last Picture Show would certainly be desaturated, with muted colors. Also at the other end (I realize, not exactly what you have asked for, but possibly useful to see how they have used color with an indoor pool), there is the Kieslowski, Blue.

Also, Fat City. And I thought very jarring in that film, because my recollection of the film is that it?s been very character-, performance-driven, and shot with an unobtrusive visual style up to that point. Then you get the freeze-frame and an optical/pan.

Parts of Diarios de motocicleta. I haven't been able to see this, but I remember hearing it looked great and being linked to 16mm: Frankenstein, Pearl, Nispel, Koontz & Shiban.

I did a short film project evaluating the reciprocity and color-shifting characteristics of Kodak 7212 in long exposure. The film shows three sample frames: exposure durations of 1/40s, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes. The 45 and 60 minute exposures evaluate the effect of a Wratten CC10R, which is recommended by Kodak for exposures in the range of both 1 and 10 seconds. If you?re interested, an mpeg and a DVD cover for the project is in a zip package here: http://rapidshare.com/files/47405236/7212_Reciprocity.zip The film is NTSC 720x480, 5 minutes plus a 10-second bars and tone header. The combined files are about 45 megs, zipped, and 110 megs, unpacked.