Benedetti Chapter 2 Response

Jazmine Jeffcoat

In this chapter, the text provided a collection of information about film, along with tips as

an actor, rules you should know before walking on a set, and laid out the inner workings of a

film set’s structure.

The first thing I came across that I noticed was interesting was how sometimes you do

not know what is going to be shot until 12 hours in advance. After reading this I was less so

surprised, and more so connecting it to other information I have already learned about the film.

Film is a very fast-paced and ever-changing art, one that requires you to be ready at any notice.

This just happens to contribute to why actors must learn their lines quickly and influences the

kind of preparation an actor must do. Something else that was mentioned in this chapter was a

piece of advice: “shooting out of sequence makes it essential that an actor reviews what’s going

on in relation to the rest of the story, especially the scene prior.” These two concepts go hand in

hand, because of the sporadic shooting schedule and not knowing what the order will be it is

imperative to familiar with the order of the actual script and story. This is unlike stage theatre

where we get to follow the story as it unfolds. In film reviewing the script will probably consume

most of an actor's preparation. It reminds me of how you would prepare for a monologue. You

need to have read the whole play but be familiar with what happened before your monologue

began to best deliver something true to the character and story. Something I think that would

carry over to film just as much as it does stage are the questions you ask yourself about

monologues or standalone scenes. What happened 10 seconds before this scene? What happened

an hour before? What happened the day before? These answers will heavily influence your

performance and how the character is reacting to things in the moment.

Another interesting bit of information I came across while reading this chapter was something

the text pointed out as the “cardinal rule, everyone must wait for the camera, but the camera must

never wait for anyone.” This makes perfect sense in how film is organized and crafted. Such as

how actors will wait in the trailers 45 minutes after a rehearsal before they film anything, but as

soon as they are back it is immediately camera’s rolling. Since the format of film is so fast paced

and schedule driven actors are required to juggle a lot of information at once and be able to stay

keen and focused. The text laid out just some of the things that may be happening in between

takes. Such as the director giving notes on the emotional tone of the scene, while the script

supervisor is reminding you of when you picked up a cup on what line, all while hair, makeup,

and sound are flitting around perfecting everything on your person.

Something I noticed in the text was a practice film does that is also like stage. There are times

that colored pieces of tape are used for certain actors so during a shot they can “hit their mark.”

In staged theatre, we spike things, which is colored tape for set pieces in a show. Now I am not

saying that a film actor and a fake tree are the same, but the concept still stands. In both, we

indicate ahead of time that something or someone needs to be in a specific spot to properly

convey the story we are trying to tell. The difference is if in film a mark is just slightly off then

the camera shot will be ruined and must do so all over again. All while not looking down at the

mark or indicating there is anything there.