Casting interview

So today i traveled to Santa Monica to have an interview for a casting position for a few new pilots (pilots are new shows that are pitched to a network to be on TV) for the Syfy chancel. I have a decent resume in the reality casting field such as:

• ABC, Dating in the Dark
• VH1, Tough Love Couples
• NBC, Minute to Win it
• CMT, Singing Bee
• Comcast, Baggage
• MTV, The Dean's List

(To see full casting resume you can go to my IMDb page http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2750301/)

I had a great interview and I was even told right before leaving i have a really good chance at the job; however, the only concern was the fact i am an actress. Reason being an actor is a concern for most jobs is because when auditions come up. You find out about auditions either the night before or the same day and an employer doesn't want their employees leaving their job all the time to audition for another job that they would want more. Which makes a lot of sense.

To be honest the only thing i truly want to do is act. I have so much fun doing it when i am on set and it makes me so happy. The only issue i am having with acting is being able to get into the door and audition for TV shows and films. I just have to figure out how to get my foot into the door and start auditioning all of the time!!!!

After my casting interview was done, i was told i would get a phone call before 8pm if i was going to be offered the job to start tomorrow and go for two weeks; however, right now it is 8:30pm so i am guessing i didn't get the job. Honestly i DID want the job, it would of been nice money and it was only for 2 weeks, but i guess it wasn't meant to be. Thinking about it, it does work out that i didn't get it right now because i was invited to go to Chapman University in Orange County for a scene study class tomorrow and my brother and his girlfriend are coming out to visit me next week and it would of been a bummer to work when they were in town.


Now i think i am off to memorizing my lines for tomorrows scene study class that's in The OC and curl up next to Gizmo watching a movie before falling a sleep.

48 hour Go Green Film Festival and taping

Last night was the screening of the film that i took part in for the 48 hour Go Green Film Festival (past blog that explains about the festival http://jahnnarandall.blogspot.com/2011/02/shooting-in-orange-county-for-48-hour.html) Our film is called "We should be Swimming" and once i get a copy of it i will upload it to my blog. A few of us that were involved with "We should be Swimming" met up at the Laemmle Threatre in Encino to watch our screening and the other film makers and actors in their movies for the 48 hour Film Project. There were some great films that participated and was very inspirational to watch their ideas and thoughts on their projects. All and all the screening had a lot of creative minds. I took a few snap shots when i was at the screening.

Outside the theatre before going in

Thought it was cool the 48 Go Green sign was next to all of the other films showing at the theatre

Our screening was in #4

Getting ready to watch all the films and ours!!!

Today i had another taping session (past blog that explains taping session http://jahnnarandall.blogspot.com/2011/02/audition-news-taping-workshop-film.html). I auditioned for two different roles Amber and Lizzy. Amber is a snobby girl who is head of a sorority and dating a popular fraternity boy. Amber is having a conversation with one of her girlfriends about her spending too much time with her boyfriend. Lizzy on the other hand, is a girl who needs medication from her psychiatrist to escape her present problems. All she needs to do is face her past to make the pain go away but she won't. So her Doctor decides to cut her off and not prescribe anymore pills for her.

Gizmos Video Shoot and my photo shoot

Gizmo took part in filming for a new dog toy. However, the toy was a little too big for him. He enjoyed prancing (he doesn't run he prances) around the set mingling with everyone and eating the treats. Once i get the video of Gizmo when the project is finished i will make sure to post it. However, the director told me it might be about 3 weeks, but that is how it goes in the film industry it takes awhile to get everything put together.

Here are some photos I took of Gizzy being on set:

Crew setting up while Gizmo's face is in the treats

This is the toy for the video

Gizmo leaving the set to go back to the treats

Gizmo hanging with Todd. Gizmo and Todd worked on another project together a short film in December called "Clark at the End"

Prancing again

Concentrating really hard

Giz is wrapped and eating his good job treat/lunch

I had a photo shoot for new headshots today. I have lots of different headshots since i have shot with over 20 different photographers throughout my time of trying to break into this industry; however, i just haven't captured the right shot that represents me yet. My agent and I both agree that we should market me as super sweet, wholesome, girl next door type (until i break into the industry). A head shot in the acting industry is crucial and a must have. The photo also has to be great quality, have good lighting, and have the actor stand out in the picture. If you don't have an amazing head shot then you have no chance getting your foot in the door unless you know the casting director personally or they have seen you act. As for me, i don't have those types of connections yet, so my head shot is my only ticket, which means it has to be fabulous and really represent who i am trying to portray. Even if you have a super great head shot but it looks nothing like you, then that is not good either. There are so many factors you need to put into getting the right shot and research. I needed to find the right colors that look good on me that will pop out my eyes, a good make up artist and a photographer that is fantastic but also that i am comfortable to be around. People need to get to know the photographer by talking with them before the shoot to see if you both can work together because if you are uncomfortable that will show up in the photos. If an actor doesn't have a great head shot it makes the actor look unprofessional and you don't want to do that in this business if you want it as your full time career.

View of downtown from the shoot

This was the make-up and the shirt my agent and I picked.

Shooting in Orange County for the 48 hour LA Film Project

I got a message last night at about 9:30 pm from a former crew member (From a short film i did in December called Clark at the End), the message was asking if i wanted to be the lead actress in a film that would be for the 48 hour LA Film Project. I took part in the 48 hour MN Film Project back in 2009 which was actually one of my first acting projects i took part in. The 48 Hour Film Project is a wild and sleepless weekend in which you and a team make a movie—write, shoot, edit and score it—in just 48 hours. On Friday night, you get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. 48 hours later, the movie must be complete. Then it will show at a local theater, usually in the next week. In 2010, nearly 40,000 filmmakers made 3,000 films in 80 cities on five continents.
For this film project our prop was a camera, line of dialogue we had to use was "That's not the way i remember it," character name had to be T. Dupont an Artist and our genre/theme was saving the water. I got up at 7am this morning to drive out to the OC where we filmed it and just got back now. It was a long day but it didn't feel like it at all. I was actually not ready to go when we shot the last scene and wrapped. This is why i want to be an actress because i enjoy it so much that time just fly's by and i don't even realize it. Our screening will be this coming Thursday at the Laemmle's Town Center 5 Theatre in Encino California. The awards for the Film Project are: Best use of character, best use of prop, best use of line of dialogue, best costumes, best special effects, best graphics, best sound design, best musical score, best cinematography, best editing, best acting, best writing, best directions, and best film. Hopefully we win a few awards!

Couple Shots on set that i took, will add more pictures when i get the official photos

Here is the MN 48 Film Project i took part in 2009. Now don't judge my acting since this film was one of my first films i acted in and i was a little inexperienced to the whole thing.

But i figured i would share it to anyone who is unfamiliar with what a 48 Film Project short looks like.

For the MN Film Project our genre was "Holiday Movie", it had to have a character who was an expert, name Kevin or Kathleen Schnabel, there had to be a sandwich as a prop, and had to include the line "I hope they decide soon."

More information about the 48 hour Film Project can be found here
http://www.48hourfilm.com/

Taping session, more pics from Freebie short, and Gizmo getting an acting gig

Gizmo and i went for a walk today, well he rode comfortably in my backpack like a little star, around our neighborhood before my taping session (past blog that explains taping session http://jahnnarandall.blogspot.com/2011/02/audition-news-taping-workshop-film.html)

 

Today for the taping session i read two different scenes. One was Lena who is a little insecure and has a problem with her boyfriend seeing other girls. The second scene is with Amber, who was super popular but dies and becomes a ghost, she isn't the nicest girl out there. The Amber scene is the same one that i read for the acting coach to evaluate my acting ability for a potential manager (past blog that explains going in to meet with the acting coach for this scene http://jahnnarandall.blogspot.com/2011/02/downtown-los-angeles-then-to-ocean.html)

I got some more pictures today from the short i did called Freebie List (Past post that explains about the short http://jahnnarandall.blogspot.com/2011/02/fimling-short-websites-and-valentines.html)

On set picture of Francie making her freebie list of what celebrities she would pick. She only has one person so far on the list...Gerard Butler

Still thinking of more names

Getting miked up for sound

Gizmo took place in a short film called Clark at the end in December and was recommended by one of the crew members for a internet series that is testing out a new dog toy. Gizmo will be styling in his wardrobe and playing with the toy filming this Sunday. Congrats for Gizzy
Soon enough he will be acting in more things then me! :)

Downtown Los Angeles then to the ocean

Got up early this morning to prepare for my scene that was taking place this afternoon. Since i don't have many friends yet in California (actually the main fact that i don't really want to bug/bother people to read over scenes with me) I got creative and i tape record the lines of the other character leaving enough space in between the lines where i would then speak. This technique really helps me memorize the lines and actually listen to the other characters lines; therefore, gets me to memorize all of the lines.

I was preparing a scene for an acting coach that was evaluating my acting for a potential manager (this past blog post explains more about the potential manager http://jahnnarandall.blogspot.com/2011/01/manager-meeting.html) that i met with a few weeks back. The manager wanted me to get my acting evaluated to see what level i am at and then possible point me in a good direction towards some acting managers that may be right for me or want to work with me as a team. The acting coach i met with was in downtown Los Angeles. I was a little early (like i usually am for meetings), so Gizmo and i decided to walk around downtown and take some cool pictures

In traffic, seeing downtown

Getting closer

Finally made it to downtown with time to spare to walk around with Gizmo

Staples Center

Nokia Theatre LA Live

Gizmo and I both in our hoodies, it was sprinkling with a few rain drops

Waiting to go into my meeting, would be nice to have a pool on my roof top

After downtown Gizmo and I decided to head to the beach, even though i did pick the only day out of the year that it was somewhat cloudy/rainy. Once we got to the beach there wasn't any rain which was amazingly wonderful for us! A former Minnesota friend moved into a beach home and wanted Gizmo and I to check it out. No way i can say no to a MN friend nor the beach hehe.
I showed up to the beach home first so i figured Giz and I could occupy ourselves on the beach so we ran around and had some great exercise.

Gizzy is thinking about going into the ocean

Us Chilling at the beach, a little windy today

All in all it was a great day today. I felt like i did my best at the meeting downtown and needed some fun time at the beach just to chill out and relax for a change. But tomorrow will be another day of hustle and getting some work done.

The end of the day, looking pretty good!

Taping and Art Club

Spent a good chunk of the morning/afternoon memorizing two scenes (9 pages each) for today's taping (one of my friends and I get together throughout the week to audition each other like casting directors and video tape it just like how a real audition would be). The first scene was with a girl named Angie, who is a little lost in life and not sure what to do out in California. She decides to audition for an adult content gig. The second scene is about a girl named Amber who was super popular but dies and becomes a ghost, she isn't the nicest girl out there. The scene with Amber i need to prepare for tomorrow for an acting coach. In my previous blog i wrote about meeting a manger who wanted me to contact this acting coach to evaluate my acting to see where i am with it so then the manager can figure out who to pitch me to for acting managers. So fingers crossed and I hope i do a good job on showing the acting coach my capability and chops.

I thought i would share one of my scenes on my blog so then people know what i am talking about when i say taping. This will also give an idea of what happens when people audition and what they have to do. First you slate (your name) and then you just jump into the scene when ready. The casting director or an assistant will then read the other character part with you off camera. So the only person on camera would be the actor. The actor is allowed to bring the sides (lines of the scene) into the audition room just in case they forget their lines or need a refresher to jump them back into the scene. I usually always have my lines memorized when i go in to audition, but i will always bring my sides because you never know if you may blank or even get nervous. So in my mind it is better to have the sides in my hand just in case something happens. Plus with me having them in my hand my nerves are at ease and i feel one hundred percent better because i know i will be okay if i do forget a line or two.

This taping I am sharing is of the scene with the character Angie:

            

After taping I went to my school Devry University for an art club meeting. One of my professors told me he was going to put together an art club and asked if i wanted to join. Since I am a Multimedia Design and Development major i figured i would fit in just fine with the club. We didn't get to do any art stuff tonight, it was our first meeting so we had to finalize things and make sure we had the right amount of members. But next Tuesday we are going to do a few things with cameras in the manual mode with F stops and then putting the pictures we take into photoshop (graphics editing program). Yes i am a nerd, but i am super excited i can't wait for my art clubs next meeting.

Also here are a couple more pictures i got today from filming this weekend of the short "Freebie List"

Fimling a short, websites, and Valentines Day

This weekend i filmed a short movie called Freebie List. I played the role of Francie which was the girlfriend part, surprise surprise ;) The short is about a couple who have a discussion on what celebrities they could sleep with and it wouldn't be cheating.
Here is the website to learn more about the short http://freebieshort.com/cast

Below are a few pictures that were taking this weekend on set (will add more once i receive them).
I'll also add the short film after post production.

 

Chilling on set with the crew! :)

I created my first website from scratch in Dreamweaver (a web development application) this weekend. It is very basic with a simple CSS (cascading style sheets). I took a screen shot of it and will be creating two more sites within the next few weeks which will be online so i will just post the links once the sites are done. The sites will be better looking then this one that is below. This site was just a basic site that can be created within 20 minutes (after learning the design tools). But was fun to do!

Valentines Day......

Am i the only one??? Or does anyone else just think Valentines day is LAME. Okay maybe i am just a little bitter since i am not spending it with anyone LOL, but Gizmo and I did decide to try to celebrate it; therefore, we went to get chocolate to make some unhealthy delicious dessert...Puppy Chow!
Who says you need to be with someone on Valentines to enjoy the wonderful, amazing, CHOCOLATE :)

Audition news, taping, workshop, film shoot

So i got the phone call on Wednesday morning about the True Blood stand in job and even though it was only down to me and three other girls... i did not get the position. Sadness i know, but the job was just not meant to be mine.

After the phone call i started memorizing my lines for my camera session that one of my friends and I do once a week. We both go onto showfax (a website that has the sides/scripts of all the projects happening in Hollywood) and print off a scene that we believe we would be cast for or we might be  called in to audition for. We then memorize it and put each other on tape (video camera) just like how the casting directors do it in the room. First i will film her and ask her to slate (Name and character she is reading) and then she will do the scene while i read along as the other character just like an actual casting director. Then we switch positions, i read my scene, she tapes and becomes the casting director. It is a great learning lesson and keeps our acting chops up to date. After we tape we then watch the video to see what we look like. It is amazing because when you put yourself on tape you can really see if you have any bad habits. Which could be biting your lips, looking down too much, reading the script too much or what i noticed for me was i moved my eyebrows way way toooooo much.
I started really focusing on actors in movies now and i noticed they are so still. Their faces don't move much and all of their emotions and what they are saying is in the eyes. I'll put up a couple videos that we tape so you all can see what i am talking about on what we do. However i am not putting up the video i just did because my eye brows drive me too crazy and i don't want to share that with the public LOL.

After taping I went into Hollywood to go to a casting workshop (workshops are where casting directors come in and talk about the industry, there's a Q&A, and you get to do a scene in front of them). Workshops are a great way to get seen from casting directors if you can't get into the room to audition. Because if the casting director likes you from  the workshop they will call you in to audition if they have any parts that are right for you. Most of the casting workshops can cost anywhere from $30-$90, so sadly enough i do not go to too many because i am not able to afford them. I like to find the free ones so then i know for sure i can go. The workshop i went to had Steve Maisel, he has casted a bunch of shows for Nickelodeon. I had a great time and got some great information out of being there. I really hope i do get a call from Steve down the road to come in and audition.

 Long day, Gizzy had to get in his PJ's

Yesterday I went into Studio City because i had a small photoshot for the short film i am doing this Saturday. We needed to get some photos of me playing the role of Francie and the boyfriend character Tom.

Here are just a few pictures: