Transcript

Paul Cram: I’m Paul Cram wanted to chat just share some of my thoughts on the book by D.W. Brown “You Can Act On Camera” I actually came across this book because of another book i had read several years ago directing actors by judith weston which is an amazing piece of information and writing so the publisher that published directing actors i was looking at some of their other other works and you can act on camera was one that stood out to me i appreciate that it’s it’s uh to the point and fairly quick to read there are

it’s 138 page book if you only go up to the glossary though it’s 124 pages it’s a it’s a quick read

i didn’t know much about dw brown obviously since reading the book i know a little bit more about him uh he’s an acting teacher and he has a long list of actors he’s worked with and he also wrote a book before this called you can act a complete guide for actors so yeah the pieces that i earmarked in the book are just a couple of things that i kind of wanted to touch on as i’ve been reading the book and just pondering it and thinking about it there’s a lot of really good principles and tips and insights that i appreciate a lot towards the end he actually interviews directors producers writers and asks them sort of a series of similar questions which i found really insightful uh but even before then in the book just a lot of really good information a lot of good approaches um i probably would benefit from reading his his book you can act a complete guide for actors as well so i’ll have to i’ll have to check that out uh so where i’m at right now in acting and performing and things like that there these are the pieces that stood out to me i would highly recommend this book by the way if you can’t tell already i definitely would recommend it i would say even seasoned actors like myself could benefit from it um i mean i there’s so much there’s always so much to learn it’s like you you learn one thing and then you level up and then you know all of these different things you can go back to and adjust and change so always good to be learning i find uh some other things in here

i don’t know let me see if i can find one specifically

there was a i can’t think of any off the top in my head specifically but there was i think there was just a couple of times where i was just like oh that’s cool i know that oftentimes with acting it’s like what works for one person doesn’t work for another um like for myself i love love loved in here he references um possibly utilizing like scent like smell um as a bit of a trigger when you’re performing and i love that because i love scent i love aroma i love fragrance i love perfume cologne and you know all of those things and being able to utilize that in a performance oh it’s so good like i have a monologue that i’m working on right now and i’ve been trying it with different um different emotions and things like that and utilizing sort of a sentiment scent memory with that and i’m like wow this is really fun it’s really adding some different color into things so that was that was a insight in here that i really liked uh which leans somewhat towards a

i would say sort of a method method type approach which doesn’t work for everyone this i know there’s certain method stuff that some actors have done over time including myself and it can be really it just could not work for some people but that that specific one i love it i’m looking forward to like exploring that more um

but he goes through several different things in here meaning he starts with like the 32 principles on you know approaching and dissecting and a pro uh mindset just different things 32 it’s a lot you know it’s pages of of these uh like an example of one is go simpler whenever you’re doing it do it simpler be ruthless about stripping one more layer away getting even closer contact with the world express yourself in a still planar way uh so there’s there’s just things like that which are it’s great advice then uh he does an essay on getting your best performance recorded on the day of some of this stuff is where i really was starting to be like yep yep that’s really helpful and beneficial to me i have found myself on many film sets where things have gotten too much in my psyche or you know there’s this thing’s happening but i really appreciate what he drives that throughout the entire book on that topic of gratitude and being grateful we’re here we’re going to do good work we’re going to explore we’re going to try things and sort of making space and taking the space that you need as a performer uh i love this this i’m earmarked one part in here and he’s talking about getting feedback and how sometimes we as actors are so you know we’re artists and we are creative and we put ourselves out there and we’re looking for affirmation affirmation affirmation and i like he just mentions he’s like he’s like literally he’s like sometimes when you when you’re performing on set and you’re doing it and you’re getting dejected feeling because it’s like oh my gosh you know the sound guy isn’t really paying attention or the the grip the lighting guy and what he references and it made me laugh is he’s like yeah that they’re doing their job like an electrician’s job is not to affirm you as an actor and to give you feedback on your performance their job is to work with the cables work with lighting to make sure that electricity is working and things like that like literally looking for any sort of affirmation from them

might not be the best way to go uh yeah which is which was beneficial for me i know that for myself i definitely love feedback give me positive affirmation so that was that was a good thing just to keep in my mind but to expound on that even more you know me as an actor similar to an electrician i have a job to do i have a duty to fill i have a you know trade like an electrician he’s a tradesman he’s and me as an actor i have a trade i have a job to do on this set

i can think of times when you know unfortunately you know not maybe given enough time to prepare for like an emotional moment or something in a scene and it’s really rattled my cage so to speak uh and i think in retrospect i used to view that as like oh my gosh they didn’t they didn’t let me do my best work and it’s like i need to sometimes take the space to do my best work just like an electrician when they’re working on something i don’t understand everything that they’re doing or needing to do to prepare or to make all that stuff work so the director may not always know everything that i need the crew may not know everything that i need to do a good job and i need to be slightly um he uses the word egomaniac but at first i was very turned off by that which is my minnesota background but he uses it really well he’s like you know be a empathetic egomaniac who is you know there to who shows up and i love that sort of an idea where it’s like i want to do my job and i want to do my job well and if that means that i need to do some sort of a ritual some sort of like i’m gonna walk in a circle or walk backwards through whatever whatever it is that i need to do i need to do it need to get there so that i can perform and yeah that was it was just good i like where he was going with sort of that tradesman mentality that’s at least where i was what i was taking away from it um for anybody that follows me on social media i’ve also posted a couple of these as well um john is it chris christ john grise he’s a director he’s an actor napoleon dynamite and some of those but he mentioned something in here and i was like that’s just really cool and i like the approach like he he just talks about you know oftentimes with we as actors we are told what to do and he talks about like oh he’ll get a call he’s like okay well we’ll have you come on set because you film on the 10th so we’ll have you fly in on the eighth we’ll do your wardrobe putting on the ninth and then you’ll be on set on the 10th and he just mentioned he’s like oftentimes what he asks for is he’s like hey instead of me flying out on the uh on the eighth wardrobe on the ninth and working on the 10th can i fly out on the 5th so that i’ll have the 6th and the 7th to be on set and to be absorbing the energy and to be able to observe what people are doing and really get a sense of what’s happening and what’s going on and then i’ll do wardrobe and then i’ll come on set and i know that that always isn’t possible i know that not every film set is going to be able to accommodate that in you know in that way but i really liked it because i was like that is i feel like a good example of you know obviously have to be a little flexible with that ask yet getting into that zone so to speak uh or flow as he talks about in the book that’s beautiful and brilliant and having having that that kind of uh again i’m going to call it a luxury i know that not every film budget can do that but yeah yeah it’s something that i was like mentally making a note of for me where it’s like if i could come in even a day sooner just to be around set the cast and just to absorb it be great

uh there was one other thing i want to mention and then i’ll i’ll bump off of this but uh in all of the interviews that he does he he talks with um like i said the directors writers producers and he asks them you know aside from acting skills what are the most important traits that will make a director producer want to hire an actor again which i think is a really good question because we all want to work but peter mcnichol he just mentions he’s like a director wants to remember an actor as someone who did the job professionally on time and ready to work they want someone who brings light and life to the part instead of moodiness and neediness need need and that’s something that it just kicked me kicked me kind of in the gut because i was like

i want to do good work obviously i think every actor does i definitely am guilty though oof i am guilty of bringing moodiness on set sometimes um not all the time but there’s just a few instances where things did not go well with production and it made me so moody and

i like what he’s driving at in this though just with approaching it like no like this i need to have gratitude that i’m even here and able to do this which is cool some of those production pieces are definitely not going to be perfect oh my gosh and you know for me i obviously it’s like there’s certain teas that need to be crossed and eyes that need to be dotted with the back end production piece once those are done though i mean if i could if there’s one thing i know is that something will go wrong on set it’s that is just life that is how that’s what happens on sets so having a little bit more grace with that and always walking into it with uh what he’s talking about where it’s like i’m here to work i’m here trying to bring a really great attitude i know that we’re all human i know that i’m not going to be perfect in all of that uh every single moment of my entire life that’s just not it’s not we’re flawed human beings and sometimes it gets messy but striving to do to to bring uh light and energy and ah a bit of empathy to towards what’s happening with all the other people that are working on this movie too yeah so it makes me excited it gets me energized uh to to be on set again and to

be working yeah i know i said that was one more thing but i have one other thought the he talks a little bit with the director that had worked with amy adams and with um

oh good grief oh my gosh my brain i’m totally blanking um i was gonna say melanie griffith it’s not melanie griffith it’s um oh gosh why am i blanking on this i can see her in my mind’s eye very clearly um

one moment here because i meryl streep yes i know i know i forgot meryl streep’s name good grief uh meryl streep amy adams they were working together on set and sort of along the lines of what i was mentioning with that that reference of like being on set a few days early in this instance amy adams and meryl streep uh oftentimes they would stay on set together and knit you know and they would just be on set as things were going things were happening around them and the director he just observed them and he just noticed he was like oh they’re absorbing they’re taking it all in they’re they’re a part of this they’re not in their trailers just away from it all but they’re absorbing it while being quiet or just talking and relating

and he mentioned like amy adams is one of those actors who is very i would i would use the term um extroverted because she is one of the performers where she can just pick up the pick up the pick up the character right away like she’ll be chatting with crew and stuff and then oh it’s oh i have to be on set and turn around walk on set and boom do this amazing crying like raw and then drop it go back to what she was doing and meryl streep was not that and i don’t know that meryl streep is this per se at least in this specific case she was not meryl streep actually was very much more focused and kind of held character throughout even when they would call cut she was just a little bit more focused in on what she was trying to maintain and it was just an interesting like one isn’t better than the other he actually says that working with amy adams is technically more fun to do you know because you have this bubbly person who then goes you know it’s i can see that too i don’t know that i am the amy adams i think um i think i have some of that i need to focus i need to focus here uh i don’t know we’ll see how some of that goes but overall i highly recommend the book there’s things there’s things to learn curious if anybody else that’s listening or or watching has has read the book if you have i’m curious what your take is on it and i’m always looking for good recommendations on books so uh if you have something like an acting related book that you have read and found insightful you know write a comment let me know uh and even just a good book in general let me know i’m always curious all right i hope that everybody continues to be kind to each other