Life of a Quiet Mind

Life has a mysterious way of making one reflect upon the path they’re on. We all have our share of struggles, some more than others. Sometimes we become so focused on certain aspects of our life that we lose sight of what’s going on around us. We lose sight of the intentions of those we’ve allowed into our lives. Some surprise us for the better, others the worse.

For six years I’ve buried myself so far into work that my awareness became clouded. I always listen, but I don’t always hear. I see but yet I’m blind. Life has a funny way of making one aware, perhaps when they need it the most. Sometimes we come across roadblocks in life. They can be devastating and painful. While I don’t know if they happen for a reason, I do believe we can find reason in them. In my case things came to a halt. I became lost without my work but it forced me to take some time to reflect upon those I’ve allowed into my life. Have I learned from the lessons of my past, or was I still repeating them because of the single-mindedness of what my work meant to me?

My grandfather had an old saying that your best friend was your back pocket. In essence people are there when you have something they want, in his example it was referencing a wallet, and when it’s gone you’re left with silence. I’ve allowed people like that into my life in the past, particularly with relationships. I thought I had learned my lesson. Apparently I had not.

It’s odd how when one has the time to examine one’s life, the different dynamics they begin to notice. You begin to see who adds to your life, or journeys along side you as you both grew. I’ve always believed in that, that people could do more when working together and they shared the journey of growth. You also begin to notice those who only seem to be there when the pursuit benefits only them and how quickly they move on. I’ve had far to many of these in my life, and I guess it was my time to examine this once again. It is neither good nor bad, merely lessons upon our path.

It is time to cut bonds and for others to strengthen, to bring a renewed appreciation for those whose generosity surprised me even if only in words alone. That’s the interesting part of life. Kind words or deeds sometimes come from those we least expect it from, and sometimes those we expect very little from cannot achieve even that. Those perhaps are the relationships we should examine the most heavily. In the end it’s our choice. But the best way for each of us to find enlightenment and our life’s purpose is to journey alongside those whose beliefs most closely match our own, and who treat us as we would treat them.

Life of a Quiet Mind

Acting"s Like Great Sex

Yes, I said it. I also meant it. Acting is a lot like great sex and vice versa. I guess I could have said it’s also like being in the zone or having a runners high. I don’t think that headline would have gotten as much attention though. Regardless, all three are very similar when you’re “On”. It’s a complete feeling of freedom and yet an awareness. Time seems to fly by so quickly you may not even remember it. Most importantly, you’re completely immersed in the moment.

Since people seem to struggle more with acting than sex, let me explain it from the later point of view. It’s my belief that great sex happens when there’s very little thought. It could last for hours but you may barely remember it when it’s over. It’s not because it was forgettable, but because you weren’t thinking about it. You were in the moment. It’s like those moments when we’re enjoying something so much that time seems to fly by.

While great sex does involve a lack of thought or analyzing, there’s also an awareness that comes with it. We’re so in the moment that we may notice how a certain touch makes the other’s body quiver, or a kiss placed in a peculiar area draws a gasp of breath. We may play to that, tease and move away, only to come back to that spot later on. The catch is, it’s not preplanned. There’s no thought other than pleasuring the other person. Thinking about it too much only makes it unnatural and boring.

There’s no fear when you’re in that frame of mind. It’s merely playing and finding out what makes each other tick. It could be said that there’s a childlike curiosity to it. Fear, like thinking, causes an odd feeling that something’s off. You take yourself out of that moment and place yourself in your head. It’s a terrible state to be in for sex, just as it’s a terrible state to be in when performing on stage or in front of a camera. It could be said that great sex is about making yourself completely vulnerable to the other person, and them making themselves completely vulnerable to you. It’s a state of complete trust and playing off of one another.

Great acting is exactly the same. It deals with being aware of the person you’re on stage with. You breath in their words as they breath in yours. You both must be completely vulnerable to each other and trust each other as the scene plays out. Pre-planning how to say a line, or how to react, creates this odd feeling. It feels fake and off. It’s like watching someone fake an orgasm. You just know something’s not right, even if you’re not sure what it is. If this happens it means you didn’t prepare properly. It also means you’ve taken yourself out of the moment. You’re not allowing the other actor to affect you, and you’ve likely made it that much more difficult for yourself to affect them. It causes in instant wall to grow between the two actors.

Acting should be almost completely about the other person. How are you trying to affect the other person? During sex we may touch a certain spot to get a gasp. We don’t pre-plan it during great sex, we just get a feeling at some point that it feels right. We go with an urge. In acting we are trying to do the same thing. We are saying a line to get a reaction. We’re aware and studying how the other person reacts to that, and as they react back we allow that to affect us before returning it again. There is no point in time though that we pre-plan this. We are merely in the moment reacting and acting based off of what we are seeing and receiving. Acting is like a dance. In this case, it’s like a horizontal dance.

If you want to take your acting to another level then think of it like great sex. There’s no thought but there is an awareness. You should be lost in the moment. Play with the other person and try to get a reaction based off of how they’re responding to you. Allow yourself to be vulnerable, and trust that they too will do the same. Go with your urges without fear. Never, ever pre-plan how to say or do something unless you want to come across as a badly faked orgasm. When one learns to do this with their acting, I can almost guarantee they’ll reach a new level of truthfulness and realism to their performance. And if it don’t there’s always porn…

Acting"s Like Great Sex

Fan Fiction Writing Contest

Fan fiction writing contests are a fun way to get your work seen by others and to get a nice boost in the search engines by using popular stories. It’s also a great way to come up with ideas of your own when your faced with the torturous struggle of writers block. Focusing on a short story for someone else helps me when I start to struggle on my own writings. I believe part of it is because it helps to quiet the mind. Some of the decisions are already made for us because of the writing contest rules. Fan fiction has the same allure. We already know about the characters. We are allowed to place our favorite characters into our own fantasy situations.

When I started writing The Bewitching I had several things in mind. First, I wanted it to be a trilogy where each chapter would make a good movie and appeal to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight fans. My second goal was to write it in a way that there would be multiple ways to turn it into a television show. The way The Bewitching is written it can be made into a Buffy the Vampire like series in the modern time. I also had a second idea in mind. What if it was written in a way that made it easy for fan fiction writers to create their own stories of the characters.

When I was younger I was a fan of the television show Sliders and Quantum Leap. These shows were written in a way that the possibilities were endless in where each show could go. In Sliders the characters would jump to different dimensions, worlds that were only limited by the writer’s imagination. Quantum Leap revolved around the lead character taking over bodies of different people in different time periods. For instance, in one episode he found himself as the body-guard of Marilyn Monroe. In another he found himself in the body of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the famous sex therapist.

I left those possibilities open with The Bewitching in a similar way. There are little bits and pieces of the character’s past lives. While writing about their past lives I researched some of the attire from those periods, what was going on in certain time periods with wars, or the routes people traveled and places they populated. While the first book didn’t go into a lot of detail, the second and third I hope to include more of that research.

I believe there are a lot of possibilities in a fan fiction writing contest for the past lives part of The Bewitching. I’m sure there are ideas I haven’t even thought of with ways to incorporate real history with The Bewitching characters. With some of the stories I’ve seen on Wattpad I’m sure there are those who can come up with some amazing possibilities. So here are the rules for the first ever The Bewitching fan fiction writing contest.

Fan fiction Writing Contest Rules

1. The characters used must either be Dantes, Elyssa, Annette, Alicia, or Tobias in any combination together or by themselves
2. Remember the last time Elyssa and Dantes were together was during the Salem Witch Trials. If your story has both of them after that time period, but before the present, they must not be aware of one another
3. The story must be no shorter than 2,000 words and no longer than 4,000 words.
4. Bonus points if you can incorporate any type of ancient or spiritual symbols that fit your story
5. More bonus points if you can mix the story with an event in history and place the characters in that setting
6. Multiple entries are allowed
7. You can email me your entry on FB at The Bewitching Fan Page or to Martin@TheBewitching.com and put The Bewitching Writing Contest as the subject
8. The contest ends September 30th and fan fiction winners will be posted by October 14th.

You can find an example of one of the past lives in chapter 13 of The Bewitching – Memories of a Lost Love. While that chapter deals with a flashback of a past life, for the writing contest feel free to write the story as if it’s actually happening.

I’ll post the top 5 fan fiction stories on both of my websites at MartinDouglas.info, TheBewitching.com, along with several social networks I have set up on the web. If you’re on Wattpad I’ll give you a shout out there so all my followers can find you. For those who haven’t noticed, in the last week alone my followers have gone from around 13 up to over 250+. I have some things I’m working on that should increase that number even more, along with a feature spot that’s been mentioned by the Wattpad managers. That’s a lot of possible followers that will be able to find your work through me.

If you’re up for a fan fiction writing contest then I’m up for checking out all the great stories you can write. I’ll be posting updates for the fan fiction writing contest on The Facebook Bewitching Fan Page and The Google+ Bewitching Fan Page for those who’d like to follow me there. You can also follow on my personal fan page on Facebook at Martin Douglas or on Google+ at Martin Douglas.

For those who may have missed it, besides the writing contest we still have The Bewitching character contest that is still open for entries posted here!

Fan Fiction Writing Contest

Auditioning, Acting Tip

Auditioning can be a tough process. Standing out during your audition is an even bigger challenge. Yet most actors I know attack scenes in almost the same manner, basing their audition on the words on the piece of paper. If the scenes they’re auditioning for consist of two people arguing, they go right into yelling at the other actor. The best advice I’d ever gotten during training was that we should look at life when auditioning, and even after we get the part.

It’s been awhile since I’ve auditioned for anyone else since I’ve focused on writing my own films, or building up knowledge to implement the marketing that will be required to get it out there into the public eye. I did recently though find myself auditioning for a film, and I can use the sides we were given as an example of what I’m referring to about basing auditioning on the words on the paper. The audition was for a movie entitled Sin City Players being made by Michael Mahal. With the audition we were given several choices of sides.

Some of the sides had props within them. I haven’t seen too many auditions go well when someone mimes a prop. You can always ask if there’s an item in the room to use, in this case a cup, but I hate doing that just out of respect for the directors and not wanting to burden them. After narrowing the sides down based on if they had props and the characters in the scene, I chose the scene with a man sitting in a restaurant. In the scene a woman comes over and hits on him quite strongly, to which he rebuts her advances. As the scene ends, the women walks away, and then after a few moments returns as the man apologizes for being lousy at roleplaying the sexual advances of what was actually his wife and not a stranger.

From what I’ve seen in other auditions I’ve gone on in the past, or even playing these types of scenes in class, I think I can confidently say that most people attacked the scene by rebuking the advances completely. They probably read the scene as a guy saying, “No, don’t touch me. I love my wife.” while the women touched and flirted with him. The catch is, if one plays the scene that way the ending makes no sense. Argument scenes are no different. Everyone yells and wants to be the next Al Pacino, but even Al Pacino knows better. As my instructor use to say, when auditioning or reading a part, we should look to life.

If we think about this scene, we have to look at the ending, and how life plays into it. The words don’t matter as much as where the character is coming from. He’s attempting to roleplay with his wife. Obviously his protests of “No” aren’t really what he’s meaning because it’s roleplaying going on between the two of them. With the apology at the end, again we can maybe take that he’s somewhat awkward in the way the scene plays out. There’s conflict in the character. He’s saying one thing, but attempting another. The words don’t matter as much as the emotional state of the character. In this case he’s saying one thing, but the emotional state is likely meant to be a way to turn each other on in this game of theirs. The conflict itself will make the character more interesting to watch, much more so than completely trying to blow his wife off and then out of nowhere saying the opposite at the end.

So when attacking a scene like this it doesn’t make sense here, or even in life, for someone to be so strong in saying no. It makes much more sense for the character to want to touch back, maybe even doing so and awkwardly removing his hand. It makes sense for him to gaze at her fondly or with want, and then try to hide it in his lousy attempt at roleplaying. I can almost guarantee few people actually did that though if my past experiences are any indication of how people normally attack a scene.

The very same can be said for scenes that contain arguments for the auditioning. The casting directors are forced to hear 90% of those coming in yelling like Pacino and congratulating themselves on a great job. Likely what happens though is the casting director is tuning you out because you just did what almost every other actor auditioning attempted. It may be a great feeling as an actor when you can accomplish it, but is it true to the scene and the character? More importantly, is it interesting? Like Shrek, characters in our scenes are like onions. They have layers. The casting director has probably seen the same layer over and over throughout the day. Why not show him another layer to the character?

In life, not everyone yells in an argument. Some laugh and take jabs calmly with that underlying hate in their voice. Others may have long pauses, because they want to think of the words they’re about to say to do the most damage to the other character. While auditioning there may not be time to hit all those different levels, but it is possible to hit one or two. Once you have the part, an actor can start layering all those things into one based off of the character in the script. Think of how much more interesting you become when you argue differently than what every other actor has done before you, and you’re still staying true to your character but in a different way. When you walk into the door for an audition this is what you want to be thinking about. In essence, when auditioning try to look at the different ways people may do things in life. As a result your character is more likely to get someones attention.

Auditioning, Acting Tip

Directing Actors, a Film Tip

Directing actors is something that I consider to be a fine line that must be walked by a good director. There’s nothing that drives me more mad than the way I’ve seen some indie films work with actors and the manner they go about directing actors. I don’t know if filmmakers aren’t being taught about the proper way of directing actors in school or if the problem lies more with massive ego and control issues. What I do know is that I wish more directors would take the time to attend some acting classes by knowledgeable instructors, with an emphasize on knowledgeable. There are too many “acting” coaches today who teach how to look good on film, or how to get your best side shown on camera. This is not acting. I’d be surprised if very few of those who attend these types of acting classes ever get past community theatre or college plays.

Directing actors is an art form. It’s having control but also allowing the actor to express his own creativity. They should complement one another, or else you might as well have robots reading the lines back and forth. I was fortunate to train under someone who learned the craft of directing actors at Herbert Berghof Studios in New York back before “the look” became such a big thing in the industry, back when actors were truly actors. My instructor eventually moved on to be somewhat of a big agent in L.A., before retiring and training actors across the country based on Herbert Berghof’s vision of affordable classes. For those who are unaware, Berghof ran a non-profit and attending his classes were cheap. He believed that training people in the arts was more important than making money. Berghof worked with big names in the movie and theatre industry such as Uta Hagen, Al Pacino, William H. Macy, and Robert DeNiro just to name a few.

During my time in this instructors classes I would see students attending who had recently left “big name” instructors in town. These instructors trained actors in the same way many indie filmmakers go about directing actors. Their performances were stiff and lacked any connection to those in the scene with them. In other words, they were robots. It was sometimes said that we may just as well put a podium in front of them because anyone else in the scene didn’t matter. Depending on that actors talent it would take weeks or months to untrain all the bad habits they had been taught and to get them to connect to the person standing on stage with them. Once that was done though, their performances became mesmerizing to watch. They were no longer doing a scene, but were living in a time and place they had created around them.

The culprit in all of this was in their previous instructors telling them how to say a line, or instructing them to break down their lines in a way that they knew how they wanted each line delivered. Many indie film people do the same when directing actors. When watching it though it literally appears as if the actor was giving a speech on a podium. On their own they may have been interesting to listen to, but with another actor in the scene everything came out feeling and looking very rehearsed. Most indie film directors do just this. They instruct their actors on how they want the line said, or which words to emphasize. This is the death of an actor, and is sure to make everyone involved appear amateurish.

What indie film directors don’t seem to understand is that directing actors is similar to selecting shots. You may have a great idea for the framing of a shot in your head, but in actually shooting it there’s something not right about it. Sometimes it means scrapping the shot completely. It’s the same with actors. You may picture a line said in a specific way, but that normally doesn’t play out in the way the scene works.

In life, when people speak it comes from a certain place in the body and the way our mind interprets how we were addressed. The way we speak, and the tone we use, is also dependent upon the way we’re spoken too. If we’re trying to make a scene believable in its dialogue each actor is completely dependent upon the way the other speaks to him. We’re basically reacting to what we’re being given. When someone instructs an actor on how to say a line, no matter how great that line is delivered, there’s usually a tone that’s missing that normally happens when we respond to another person. It makes the line sound scripted or the actors sound off kilter, as if they’re not speaking to the other person at all. An example of this can be seen in the movie Napoleon Dynamite when the tater tots are crushed in his pocket during lunch. If you close your eyes and just listen to the dialogue it sounds completely off and unrealistic. It had me wondering if they were even in the same room together during the scene being shot.

The goal when directing actors is not to tell them how to say a line, or emphasize a word, but to help them get into the emotional state that the character finds himself in. Once you help an actor find that state then ego’s must be set aside to allow the actors to deliver the lines in a realistic manner because they are depending on each other, and completely dependent on how the actor across from him is addressing him in tone and emotion. This brings a scene to life, and makes the characters much more interesting to watch. It brings the audience into the story which is exactly what you want to achieve. The actors actually have a conversation instead of a line read.

If the actor is not able to achieve the emotional state on his own there are little tricks that can be done although I consider them a last resort. Elia Kazan was said to have pulled some of these when directing actors on his own sets. He did so with James Dean during the shooting of East of Eden. The anger Dean was expressing was not to Kazan’s liking so between takes he purposely became somewhat nasty with Dean in an attempt to anger him. The result was exactly what he was hoping Dean would achieve on-screen, with all the underlying anger as he threw ice down the chute. Personally I wouldn’t mind a director doing this to help me if I found myself struggling similarly, although some actors do not handle it well.

Regardless of the approach you take, when directing actors realize that getting the best performance out of them depends on how well you help them communicate to one another, and not on how you specifically want them to deliver a line. Your actors will appreciate it, and you’ll find a your films benefit from them due to better performances too. Directing actors is an art. Each gives up a small bit of control to get the best out of each other.

Directing Actors, a Film Tip

Writers and Wattpad, A Place to Share Your Work

There are things in life I’ve learned that tend to be the complete opposite of what I was taught growing up. What I’ve noticed is it’s not the most talented or skilled people who necessarily find success. Much more often I tend to see that those who find success have a certain level of talent, but their ability to win the popularity contest in life is what puts them in high and respected positions. In many ways life is like high school, but in a larger pond. For writers it is no different.

Whether in film, acting, writing, or any other creative community the same rules of high school popularity apply. You can be the greatest writer that ever lived, and yet you won’t find success off of that alone. A mildly talented writer though, who is known by many, has a greater chance of success. It could even be argued that a lousy writer could find wild success merely because of who they know, or who knows them. That argument has been posed in cases with books like 50 Shades of Grey, and its author who had worked in the television industry and likely had a bit of help from those connections.

If I could do things over again, I’d likely put more effort into the social media or networking parties even though I despise them to a large extent. We’ve all heard the saying, ‘It’s who you know, not what you know.’ The older I get the more I realize and witness the truth in this old quote.

Unlike 10 or 20 years ago, there are more options available to people today than having to dress to impress and attending a stuffy party of suits. With social media we can network from our homes, dressed in our pajama’s, and slurping on a drink we really shouldn’t be having on the job. Although do note that you don’t want to post photos of yourself doing this! There’s now no need to worry about having an expensive suit or dress, or that haircut that you really meant to get a few months back but just couldn’t find the time to do with your busy schedule. With social media we only need to do that once, take the pictures, and present yourself that way on the internet for the work you share with others. There’s nothing more fun than being comfortable at home working versus the feeling of being stressed over appearances in public.

When it comes to sharing your work filmmakers have YouTube, Vimeo, and a host of other options to present what they do. Political activists have their usual array of websites like the Huffington Post, and many are finding success on Facebook. Google Plus also has their niche with what appears to be a bunch of network marketers. But what about writers? Where can they go? You can attempt it on Facebook although it’s not set up properly for writers. The same goes for Google Plus. YouTube and Vimeo, while offering a specific way to maybe market a book (Book trailer anyone!) aren’t fit for writers either. Don’t get me wrong, these are great tools for writers to use to help in promoting their work and building an audience, but they’re not built specifically for writers.

One of the great sites I read about was Wattpad.com. I came across it in an article about someone finding a publisher through sharing their work on that website. Wattpad is nice in that it has a whole variety of writers and readers to share your work with. Several writers there have even found publishers due to the popularity of their work within the community. The nice thing is it’s built specifically with writers in mind. Amanda Hocking, a paranormal romance young-adult fiction writer, who has been in the news for finding success as an indie writer on Amazon also happens to have an account their she posts stories to. It’s a perfect place for writers to gather, share their work, and network in an attempt to find their audience.

I’ve met some really great people there, along with reading some nice stories when I’ve found the time. Lindsey Clarke, who goes by LittleCinnamon as a username for instance, has a nice following there with her Dark Sanctuary vampire series which I’ve found to be a really fun read. She was kind enough recently to give me a mention that helped kick up my own readers list, and she writes like a demon! How she can knock out so much so fast is amazing. Many of her followers are talented in their own rights as well.

There are a good number of other sites I’ve also been looking into recently that lean towards different genres or types of writers. I’ll try to share more as I go through them myself. In the meantime you can find my work on Wattpad.com under Martin Douglas of course, or check out Lindsey’s assortment of books on her profile here.

Writers and Wattpad, A Place to Share Your Work

Behind the Scenes Day 3, Hero

Behind the scenes shooting on our third day of working on the indie film Hero took place in Cugino`s Italian Deli & Pizza Restaurant in Las Vegas. Apparently this place has been quite popular over the years with celebrities as a sort of hidden gem in Las Vegas just next to UNLV. The inside walls are packed with picks of celebrities who have stopped in over the years. The owner was kind enough to allow us to use his deli for the shoot, and the food looked mighty tasty. From what I was told he often lets film students use his place for their projects. Here’s the behind the scenes trailer for what we did:

Michael William Johnson and Louie Coruzzolo were on set for their parts. Michael has experience in the music industry has worked around character similar to the one her portrayed. We had a nice sit down afterward as he told us some of the stories from what he’s seen. All I can say is it was brutal.

I was actually really impressed with Louie behind the scenes. Even without having any acting experience that I know of he was a super great kid. Polite, respectful, professional, much more so than others I’ve met who actually are in the industry. I would love to shoot a short with him sometime. I think he’d make a perfect murder, just because his personality is so far removed from being that type of person with any type of mean streak. What a perfect contrast that would be for a film that would be completely against stereotypes.

While he’s still in school, Louie also runs a cinema website with a friend where they do movie removes. Our director Tim Santoro will be doing a podcast for them soon. Anyone that’s interested in checking out his film review website can find it at ChasingCinema.com.

That’s it for the week. I’ve got another behind the scenes short clip to throw together from a desert scene we shot the other day. The footage looks pretty good with the exception of the noise from the wind I may have to play with since I was using the built-in camera mic instead of my shotgun mic. It also has some nice makeup effects done by Maureen E. Durocher for a head wound. Completely gruesome and amazing if I may say so myself.

Behind the Scenes Day 3, Hero