(This is #2 in a series about my current feature film project. To read #1, click here.)
We have a cast! And we meet next week to read through the screenplay together. So I’m deep in the throws of anxcitement (anxiety + excitement). Why? Because making a film is 
like painting with living paint. Paint that doesn’t stay put, that runs where your brush never went and bleeds into colors you never thought to combine it with.
Who are the “paints” in my palette? Designers and prop builders, cinematographers, composers, gaffers (lighting people). And actors.
Film actors have to live in front of the camera. They can’t pretend to be real. They have to be real. Michael Curtiz, the director of Cassablanca, put it this way: “Don’t act, just 
think–and the camera will see it.” Think. Feel. Be real.
My job is to place my actors in circumstances that allow them to be real, to make audiences forget they’re acting. Because, in a very real sense, they’re not. I want–need–their colors to move in unexpected directions, to bleed into one another.
One of the most exciting things a filmmaker can experience is having their vision run away from them. To see it become something larger, richer, and more real than anything they could ever have created on their own.
Anxciting, isn’t it?
Some of the best art is created when we don’t hang too tightly to the brush. Sounds very exciting. Thanks for updating us. It will be fun to follow your journey.
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Well, I’m not ready to go all Jackson Pollock ;>). But, yes, loose brush is a good analogy.
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Awesome!
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Brilliant post. Yes anxciting. Right word 🙂
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What sort of film are you making? What is your role? I am always impressed by the organisation that goes into filmmaking.
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I’m the writer/director, Sandy. Here’s a little more about the project: https://mitchteemley.com/2016/04/18/a-filmmakers-journal/
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I agree, Mitch…. this is anxciting! As everyone / everything interacts on the set… the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts… and cinematic magical moments ensue. Thanks for the update!
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Wonderful, so much to be excited, anxious about LOL. Glad you are fulfilling new dreams!
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Wow! All the best! Light Camera and action! Whew! 🙂
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Once again I am sorry that I did not get into the drama group in High School. For the last 25 years or more I have had fun doing a one act play using a few folks in the bible. I call myself the booking agent for Peter, Paul (not Mary), John the Baptist and Moses, This last Christmas a church asked if I could bring Joseph, to share his story. I got my inspiration from seeing Dean Jones on a video,( remember love bug guy) do a one act play called “John in Exile”. I know many others have done things like this maybe far better then I but I do have a blast trying to bring these guys to life. If we lived anywhere close boy would I want to keep even more so connected with you.
Glad you are my friend John
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Better late than never. Glad you’re my friend, too, John.
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Pingback: A Filmmaker’s Journal | Mitch Teemley
Following your posts on your project is kinda like being there. Lovin’ it!
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I am anxcited for you! Keep the journal updates coming.
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I love your enthusiasm for this and I wish you all a wonderful journey together.
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Sounds like an interesting journey, Mitch.
I was wondering though, what are your thoughts about method acting and would you recommend your actors to do so?
God Bless!
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I always include it when I teach acting, Abu. I think Stanislavsky’s basic principal–the application of sense memory to create new emotionally-rooted experiences–is demonstrably effective, though more for some actors than others. Inner life and external technique (projection, enunciation, physical characterization, etc.) are both important parts of the craft of acting.
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‘Praying that all the paints on your palette blend together into the glorious masterpiece you (with God’s inspiration) have envisioned. May the creativity flow, the camaraderie unite, and the weather cooperate!
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