Fake it Baby

Fake It Baby

I was stalking an actor one day

As you do

Doing a deep dive into their early career, work, etc

Chasing interviews where they discuss their craft in depth

A quote popped up

I have sat with these words for a few years now

Mulling them over

When I first read them

They really jared with me 

But they presented an idea which has continued to raise it’s head

The following is Michael Douglas discussing what he believes to be the greatest myth around screen acting

“When I was younger

Someone told me

If I wasn’t 100% truthful in front of the lens

The camera would pick it up.

Yeah… That really fucked me up for a while”

I love this quote

Why?

Let’s get curious

Like many actors

I spent a lot of time building a negative association with the idea of fakeness

Everything that was sold to me from day one 

Was around the idea of always being real, truthful, honest etc etc

That being fake was a “bad thing”

But let’s look at the real world

Firstly

Humans are designed to survive 

We build public personas to help us get through our lives

Because sometimes

Giving ourselves permission to feel what we are actually feeling

To be 100% honest, real, authentic etc 

Can feel bloody vulnerable, scary or even dangerous

And rightly so

For the vast majority of our Homo Sapien existence 

Rejection from the group resulted in a higher chance of death

(Side note: This is why it’s completely normal to really care what others think. Hundreds of thousands of years of survival doing its job!)

Thus

Faking it goes hand in hand with living and being a human 

Secondly 

Hang in with me here

Let’s say I have a day on set for a show

I have one scene

The scene lasts two minutes

It’s a simple conversation between two people

Let’s say there are two takes on the wide shot

Two takes on my mid, two on theirs 

Two takes on my closeup, and two on theirs

Approximately 10 takes for this 2 minute scene

Now

Let’s sayyyyyyy

Wide Take 1 - I give Fake work between 0:46 - 0:54 & 1:25 - 1:30

Wide Take 2 - I give Fake work between 0:13 - 0:26 

My Mid Take 1 - I give Fake work between 0:00 - 0:05, 0:36-0:38, 1:46 - 1:52

My Mid Take 2 - I give Fake work between 0:52 - 0:56

My Close Up Take 1 - I give Fake work between 1:40 - 1:46

My Close Up Take 2 - I give Fake work between 0:22 - 0:35

Their Mid Take 1 - I give Fake work between 0:45 - 1:23 & 1:45 - 1:47

Etc etc 

See what’s happening? 

Yup

We start to see it from the editors point of view

Over time

We will give enough options

To enable the editor to build something

And the further we get in our careers

The more our skillset grows and we become more consistent

And the gaps of fake work in between the real stuff 

Get smaller

But even then

A fake look in a particular direction

With some sweet editing 

And Bob's your uncle!

Not feeling confident but the character is supposed to be?

Forget about it

The lens is on your face right now

And confidence is reavealed the further we move away from the centre of the body

The camera isn't capturing your feet or hands

So get on with it :)

Trust the editor

Remember

Screen is an editor’s medium 

This is where they step in and build magic 

And what they build is vastly out of my control

I can’t tell you how many moments I stressed over after stepping off set 

Losing sleep because 

“I wasn’t completely in it in that moment!!!!”

Only to watch the scene years later and realise that if I had slowed down, zoomed out and looked at what the scene was actually about

And what the function of my character in the story actually was

I wouldn’t have been surprised to see that while I was saying that particular line 

The editor was zooming deeply into the other actor's eyes 

And playing sad music to illustrate the character’s realisation that they’re going def 

What!? 

You mean it’s not all about me!?

Remember 

We are all on the same team

Everyone is wanting to build a great story 

I remember stepping off set on my last day on The Nightingale

Jennifer Kent said to me

“I take bloody good care of my actor’s in the editing room”

I remember Mel Gibson at the wrap party for Hacksaw Ridge saying to everyone 

“I have no idea what we’ve just made, but it’s got a bloody good heart, so I know we will be able to build something wonderful in the edit”

Ugh

The screen family

Warms my heart 

What’s my point?

Ease off beating yourself up about faking it

It’s okay to fake it baby

Now

Let’s get practical

What can we actually do about this moving forward?

Let’s say we are half way through a take

And we notice

“Oh, I’m not being 100% real right now!”

First things first

We noticed it

Brilliant!

Awareness equals choice

Now we get to choose what to do next

Here’s two possible options

One

Start beating the heck out of yourself

“I’m being fake. That is bad. I’m a bad actor. I suck. Why can’t I be better and get it right?”

Two

Notice it

Take a breath

Keep going with the scene

Mmm

Hope this helps

X 

Sheasby 

——————————

CONTACT

Coaching: www.michaelsheasby.com/coaching 

Articles: www.michaelsheasby.com/articles

Email: info@michaelsheasby.com