"My Place" Film Shoot @ Annandale

I was fortunate enough to have been casted on the set of ABC TV Children’s Drama “My Place” – a 13 part 30 min TV series due to be aired in 2010. Even though I haven’t had formal acting qualifications, I can sure tell you, based on my experience the lingo that you may need to know to make the production experience stress-free. Just as any industry has it’s own lingo, entertainment and acting do to.

ACTION! - The command from the director for the scene to begin. It also means that the camera is rolling.
CALL SHEET - A sheet containing the cast and crew call times for a specific day’s shooting. Scene numbers, the expected day’s total pages, locations, and production needs are also included.
CALL TIME - The actual time an actor is due on the set
CUE - Hand signal by the Stage Manager
CUT! - The verbal cue for the action of the scene to stop. At no time, may an actor call, “cut!”
MARK - The exact position(s) given to an actor on a set to insure that he/she is in the proper light and camera angle; generally marked on the ground with tape or chalk.
OVER-THE-SHOULDER - A shot over the shoulder of one actor, focusing entirely on the face and upper torso of the other actor in a scene; generally shot in pairs so both actors expressions can later be edited together.
REWRITE - Changes in the script, often using color-coded pages to indicate most current version.
Other ones that I was unfamiliar of include:
BLOCKING – which is the same as rehearsing without the camera rolling.

Things I hate:
· I totally hate messing up my lines, after reading it a number of times, you come across an effect called “The Verbal Transformation Effect”. It’s a trippy thing that happens that you kind of end up adding or omitting aspects of your lines due to over practice.
· Film and Television sets can get real hectic to the point that 4 people managing 4 different departments can come up to you and talk to you about changes 10 secs to “Action!” and your responsibility is to understand and not screw up!
· Feeling hungry or thirsty. Make sure you’ve eaten well before because an empty stomach can definitely affect your abilities to coordinate around other actors and the delivery of your lines.
· Mobile phones going off set…even worse, yours! Hasn’t happened as yet. But I could imagine how unprofessional you may feel it this was to happen.
· Bra snapping off – it has happened, but not on set. Happened during the break and once again, thank god it didn’t occur in front of a crew of 20.