How to be on camera

I volunteered to make a goodbye video for one of the many departing executives at my soon-to-be-former company. I don't have that much to do these days and thought it would be fun. I videotaped about 20 people saying how much they'll miss him or what he meant to them. As someone who has been on camera quite a bit and also spent time on the other side, I noticed a number of basic "mistakes" that these people made on camera. Because we're in a digital age, more and more people will find themselves in front of a camera without any special training. Come to think of it, more people will also find themselves behind a camera without any special training. So I thought I'd make a quick list of helpful things to know:

1) Find your light. The best light for shooting is outside on an overcast day. The clouds naturally diffuse the light so there are no harsh shadows and no squinting. Avoid standing in overhead light as it casts very unflattering shadows, or being half in the sun, half out. Just be conscious of where the light is coming from, you can feel it on your face and adjust accordingly. On one really bright day, I had people stand in the shade and used a bounce board (in this case a white piece of poster board) to bounce light from the sun, back onto the subject.

2) Close your mouth and open your eyes. People tend to hold their breath until they're ready, because they're nervous, and then just before speaking take a huge breath. It looks really weird and it makes for an awkward cut. Almost everyone started speaking with their mouth wide open and their eyes closed. There's no hurry here. Take a deep breath. Release it. Close your mouth, make eye contact and then start speaking.

3) Wait for "action!" People think that just because the camera is pointed at them that the camera person is taping and ready. Not so. I need to adjust my framing, look at the lighting, and check a number of things before I'm ready. I know it's uncomfortable to have a camera pointed at you but just take your breaths and be patient. Wait to hear "when you're ready" and then take a beat before starting. I missed a number of lines because people were already talking by the time I hit "record" or I had to start a cut with their mouth wide open.

4) Don't run away. By the same token, please don't be in such a hurry to leave. Again, I know people don't like to be on camera but being uncomfortable only makes it worse, the camera sees everything. When you're done talking, close your mouth and make eye contact and just breath until the camera person cues you to leave. It makes for difficult cuts when people immediately turn their head and walk away or close their eyes, look down, etc. One person actually put their hand in front of their face at the end of the take!

5) Do two takes. Everyone is better the second time. Most professional actors don't hit it on the first take, why do you think you will? Again, people are uncomfortable and want to get it over with as soon as possible but the hitch is, the video lasts forever and your thirty seconds of gaping mouth, closed eyes, hurried gestures and half finished sentences are captured for everyone to see. It won't kill you to do it again and I guarantee it will be 100% better. My voiceover coach used to say "you never want to say the words for the first time in the booth." In other words, practice. Practice a few times before being on camera, and then do it on camera at least twice.

6) Speak up. Most amateur video is recorded with an in-camera mic. If the camera is pointed at you, so is the microphone but it always helps to speak a little louder than normal. Don't shout, just speak clearly and confidently. Also keep in mind that the mic is recording any other sounds coming from your direction - foot tapping, pen clicking, paper rustling or any other nervous tic. There will be this hideous noise running over your dialogue that can't be removed because it's on the same track as your audio. Stay calm.

7) Get unnaturally close. I like to fill the frame with my subject and have them slightly off to the side. But if there are more than one person in the frame, they need to stand close together, closer than you would normally. You can overlap your bodies so one person stands slightly in front of the other but you seriously have to huddle for three or more people. The camera puts a lot of space in between you so even though you're closer than normal, you'll look normal on camera. In fact, three people standing comfortably together don't even fit on camera and look like they're miles apart me. Trust me.

8) Ask how you were. You probably think it will sound vain to ask the camera person how you did but it will be so appreciated. When people are this uncomfortable in front of the camera, it's hard to ask them to do different things and try it again. Asking lets me know that you're willing to make adjustments. If I can direct people, they'll be ten times better but most people aren't willing to be directed. That stubbornness will come across on camera. Everyone can look good if they want to.

A place worth fighting for

I've been asked by so many people since I've moved here why I gave up acting. They ask the question as if talking about something I loved to do and got to do all the time but just grew tired of, like drawing. In Los Angeles, no one asks you why you're giving up acting, and I doubt any really believes you until you move away. See, it's not ACTING that anyone gives up, it's the PURSUIT of acting, which is really a completely different animal.

The pursuit of acting is like gambling. It requires a huge investment, over a long period of time with very poor odds that it will ever pay out. The more money and support an actor has from their family (and you'd be surprised to learn how many are being supported by husbands, wives and parents) the better their chances. They can make more bets, bigger bets and can afford to stay in the game longer. But that doesn't take into account the enormous emotional toll being in the game takes.

Some don't have the courage to play at all and just sit on the sidelines waiting for someone to discover them, or for the right moment. Those who do throw in their chips, eventually win but the wins are usually small and only justify the playing. If you gamble $50 in an hour but win $5 back, you keep playing because you've proven that you CAN win. I remember thinking it was funny when I first met someone in L.A. who described herself as a recovering actress. I had no idea what she meant.

People who haven't lived it find it to be funny and I guess it is in an ironic sort of way. At its best, it's exhilarating. An entire town of people with stars in their eyes, singing, dancing and acting their hearts out day after day, hoping to hit the jackpot. At it's worst, it's a town of junkies so desperate for a fix that they'll do anything to get it. So surrounded by their own kind that they don't notice their condition. The masses of those who accomplish nothing are so thick that a couple of lines on a little watched TV show for a few hundred bucks are enough to garner great accolades and envy from one's friends.

I "quit acting" because I couldn't afford to play any more. It just wasn't fun. Those little victories, a few bucks after a year of gambling for two lines on a TV show, were depressing instead of thrilling. And the promise of bigger fortune seemed more and more like the bright lights, air conditioning and lack of windows at the casinos in Vegas that keep you gambling all night because you lose track of time. How much time was I willing to lose for this jackpot?

So around the same time that I was fielding this question from well-meaning new friends, I read an article in National Geographic. I love that magazine for publishing an article around Christmas about what a disaster Bethlehem is and about how few Christians are left in the birthplace of Jesus. One family that's leaving has been there since before the birth of Christ and can trace their ancestors to the Bible! The ones that have stayed describe themselves as punching bags in between Israel and Palestine.

The Israelis talk about their children tucking their legs under them on the bus to keep from being blown off like a school friend of theirs, or finding their teenagers bludgeoned to death in a cave. The Palestinians complain of a twenty foot wall that divides their city, and of two-three hours lines they must wait in to be allowed to get to the other side and tend their own land. Encroachment, violence, bankruptcy, and more violence and yet when asked why they don't leave, they say "because I love it," or "because this is where I belong."

It's amazing to me that "place" can have such a draw. I couldn't help but make the comparison to Hollywood. I know it's not the same, I know actors aren't getting their legs blown off in Hollywood and yet, despite so many perils, so many obvious reasons to leave, to go somewhere else, to do something else, they don't. Thousands of people from all over the world move to Hollywood every day to pursue their dream and while some of them eventually leave, many never leave. They just can't. No matter what humiliation or poverty they suffer, no matter how they are taken advantage of, they still love it. Even celebrities, the lottery winners, who can afford to leave - Gene Hackman lives a secluded life in New Mexico, Clint Eastwood runs a ranch in Carmel - still, overwhelmingly stay in L.A. They're as much a part of the game as anyone. They just high-rollers now - the stakes are higher and they're treated a hell of a lot better while they're winning.