Confidence

April 28, 2006 by Dennis Baker 

I was watching Bravo today when a blurb came on for the season finale of “Blow Out”. What I know from the show is from the few episodes I have seen with my wife and the constant onslaught of commercials Bravo runs for their original shows. In the blurb I saw the hair stylist who the show is about (his name escapes me) said that he was not the best in the business, but he did not know anyone better.

A few months ago I was talking with a photographer who had taken pictures of lots of celebrities for various magazines. He said what makes them stand out in a photo is that they have confidence. I have been thinking of late when does this confidence come? Are they born with it, or does it come as they are famous? It is much like what came first, the chicken or the egg? There are arguments for both.

One could argue that because of their confidence, it helped their rise to become a celebrity. But one could also argue that when one is a celebrity, it helps their confidence because they have proven themselves. But then again one can read stories of celebrities who behind the scenes were not confident and often terrified about their careers.

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Filed under: Acting, Auditioning, Los Angeles
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Alabama Shakespeare Festival

April 24, 2006 by Dennis Baker 

I was called by ASF on Good Friday. They were interested in me and wanted to fly me out to see the theatre. When I auditioned for them they said contact them once offers come in and they would let me know if they were interested. When I was talking with Rutgers, Iowa, and Indiana I emailed ASF to let them know I needed an offer. That was a month before they called me.

I wanted to relook at ASF before I called and told them I had accepted another school. The good things about ASF is that it is a two year program, which is paid for with a stipend. The degree is through University of Alabama, but all the work is done at the professional theatre. There were no Children’s Hospitals in the nearby area. I knew this was not going to happen. If they would have contacted me a month earlier, I would have seriously considered it. My last thought was that ASF would be a great program if I wanted to go off and act in professional regional theatre full time. With the realization that we will move back to LA after graduate school, Rutgers is a better education for film and television, knowing that I can do some theatre in the area.

So with all that in mind, I called ASF and thanked them, but declined the offer. I expressed regret that they had not contacted me earlier. The response I got was that they had dropped the ball on their end with the organization of contacting students.

Filed under: Acting, Auditioning, Graduate School
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Creative vs. Business (aka ADR Session)

April 13, 2006 by Dennis Baker 

I had my ADR session for the feature film HYPERLINK (formally called Nostalgia). For those who don’t know, an ADR session is when an actor dubbs his lines because there were not clear. The hard part is that you have to time it so that what you are saying matches the movement of the mouth. The odd part is ADRing myself breathing. There were parts where I would sigh, and the sound did not pick it up. So I had to record myself inhaling and exhaling. It is odd when breathing becomes technical.

My session ended right before lunch, so I had the opportunity to hang out and chat with the producer and director. We got into an interesting conversation regarding the struggle of the creative vs. business when in comes in film making. The obvious reason for ADR is so that there is clean sound and all is heard. The problem with ADR is that sometimes the performance suffers. When one is recording their lines in a small booth, while watching a TV to make sure they are in synch, sometimes the passion of the moment is lost in the performance. The director wants clean sound, but how much is he willing to sacrifice in the area of performance. Plus the ADR session is $200 an hour.

Filed under: Acting, Film, Los Angeles
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Europe and New Jersey

April 4, 2006 by Dennis Baker 

We are back from Europe! We had a great time and I will post more with pictures, but right now we are in New Jersey for six days visiting Rutgers University. I sat in on my first day of classes (Speech, Movement, and Dance). The students are great, and it is a fun atmosphere. It seems like a good fit.

P.S. I am having some cell phone issues and I am switching providers. My old number is not switched over and I am stuck with a temporary number for the time being. If you want it, go ahead and email me as I don’t want to post it here.

Filed under: Acting, Graduate School, Rutgers, Travel
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