"The label you give yourself cannot impact external forces that are not motivated by your own psychology or influenced by a third party's pre-existing consciousness of you. We are all presented with reasons to struggle which come from completely external forces; to pretend that one is not struggling is either arrogance or an admission of defeat. To admit that one is struggling is a sign and a source of strength." - Evan A. Baker

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Automated Dialogue Replacement

Had to do some ADR for The Haunting of Winchester House yesterday. I was told it'd take about 2 hours, but we did it in about an hour and a half. Oh, what is ADR, you ask? Well, sometimes onset the microphones have issues, or there's construction next door, or a fan blowing on you in your scene, or what have you. Lots of issues can happen where your voice does not get picked up, and after the edit, you're brought into a booth with a huge screen and rerecord your lines. You watch your mouth move a few times, then say your line into the mic as closely as possible. I did a lot of heavy breathing and screaming. Some of my favorite lines to rerecord included "ASSHOLES!" and "They bite your nuts."

This was also the first time I got to see any parts of the film edited together. (Shout-out to Megan Nicoll for having my makeup always look so super awesome.) And I have to say, if you'll let me, and you'll have to, since I can't see any physical cues from you not to as I'm writing this, I look young. I look way young. I look way too young to have a daughter who is only about an inch shorter than me. I look 22. So, there. I'm miscast.

I am miscast.

If it were about a sorority in a scary house, perfect. I'd be a sorority girl. And physically, it'd make sense (just give me a great push up bra!) And don't get me wrong, I'm certainly NOT complaining, but one's suspension of disbelief might have trouble suspending, and that's what I'm worried about.

There's also a part in the end that I watched and I'm just kicking myself because all I could think while watching it was, "Why didn't they KISS THERE?!" And that usually happens when the actors are uncomfortable with each other, and this was during our greenscreen pickup. My costar and I hadn't seen eachother in about a month, and normally, it is tacitly understood, that on any set, it is the lady in the scene who directs how far to go romantically/physically. And that ball on the floor was dropped by me. Bummer.

I also rechecked the Haunting's website on the production companies website. They added a few more stills, but since none are of me and I'm a narcissist, I won't link the page. Oh, I kid, I kid.

So I left the ADR session feeling pretty good about the film. It is decent! YAY! And then I got a call from Coast to Coast that they'd like me to come in and audition for their commercial department. WooHoo! I've been trying to get my foot in their door for YEARS. Happens next Thursday. Am excited.

Yesterday was a nice day to be a struggling actress.

4 comments:

  1. Nice! Well played, Lira, well played...

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  2. I heard Coast to Coast has a wonderful commercial department!! Congrats and let us know what happens (as if I have to tell you that) I was with their print department for a year, but I heard commercial and theatrical is where its at.

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  3. They have a fantastic commercial department... I was with them for a few years and they were always great to work with and very super awesome on the ball.

    Go get 'em, kid.

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  4. Hahaha! I'd love to get paid to say "They bite your nuts!"

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Play nice.