About Me

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Welcome to my page! Thank you so much for reading! I'm in my twenties, and this is my little blog about my acting and working experiences! Please enjoy, follow and leave a comment if it interests you! Thanks again for reading!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Nominations!

So recently two of the projects I have been involved in have been nominated for two different awards!

"Cuckoo", originally created for RTE storyland competition is nominated for a Webby award! Squeeeeeeee! How Exciting!! Isn't that great!  and we were nominated in the Best Online Drama category. The Judges (including David Bowie, and internet inventor Vint Cerf!!) will choose a winner and the public also had the opportunity to vote for who they felt deserved the award.

Voting has closed but the winners will be announced on Tuesday! Woohoo! So fingers crossed as the ceremony takes place in New York. I can't attend sadly because I'm broke! But thats exciting! We are in the same category as an online web series starring Tom Hanks, and also The Walking Dead's web series.






Also a short I'm in called Romantic Hideaway is currently up for 'film of the month' and you can still vote! You can vote easily through facebook so please please, if you have a second I'd really appreciate if you could help me out! x
here is the link!

http://www.facebook.com/MyFirstJobInFilm?sk=app_162850930432266

Please vote from a computer as the site doesn't recognize a mobile device just yet!!

I hope you guys are doing well and of course I'd love to hear some of your stories so feel free to comment and let me know what you're up to!

Please vote if you have a chance! x

Thanks as always for reading!

Peach Out!
x


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Extra work again

Hey guys, 

So I was offered extra work again yesterday for Fair City and of course as you know with any filming, I can't tell you what it was about. My I can share my experience all the same. 

Firstly, everyone I met was lovely on set, including the 'stars' of the show. The crew were all really nice, which is great when you're an extra but they don't make you feel like you're just furniture. It's always nice when they remember that you're actually human! 

We even got thanked by the director at the end of the scene, which was the first time I think I've been thanked as an extra. Could be wrong... possibly the first time thanked as an extra by a director.. yeah maybe that's more accurate. 

anyway, how did I get this? Easy! Just sign up to movieextras.ie and upload a few photos and they will send you for work! This is also how I go work on the Jimi Hendrix film. So It's always worth a try, and every time I've signed up to movie extras I've always made my money back, from filming. 

However, it is VERY BORING! I was brought in at 12 and wasn't used until 3.30, so I, along with many others, had to wait in the green room to be called, so my best advice is to bring a book or bring some work that you can do in that time. They do have a tv on normally which is nice, and of course people get chatting anyway which is also lovely. But there is a lot of waiting so do always bring a book or ipod or something to keep you occupied. 

Also, after every scene you've done, if they change scene, that means you must change clothes if you're going to be in the next scene. (They usually tell you to change anyway so don't worry about if you're uncertain whether you have to change or not)

What I normally do is bring several different tops that make up a totally new look. Or two pairs of pants and two tops and a jacket so that I can look different in very many ways! Also the whole, hair up and hair down thing is a great way to 'switch it up' too! Ha! 

Make-up, I've always gone with a more natural look but there is no specification on the make up as far as I'm aware. You can always bring make up with you and judge by looking at the others in the room. 

Anyway thanks for reading this quick lil post!

I'm on twitter, for any of those who want to follow me or ask me any questions, I'll definitely do my best to answer them or find the answers for you, by contacting casting directors or my agent!  @appeleyes2 

Have you guys done any extra work? What has been your worst/best experience? Feel free to tweet me the answers or comment below!! Thanks pals! 

Peach out! 

x

Monday, April 22, 2013

"I couldn't cry"

So when reviewing some of my older posts I came across the post entitled "Shite", and basically described how I felt my performance was rubbish because 'I couldn't cry'...

Ok so I've come a long way since then! and I have learned a great little piece of advice that will stay with me forever and I actually remember that is was George Clooney who said it, on his Inside the Actors Studio interview. And the advice was, in my words, not Clooney's, It's not about being able to cry. That isn't what defines a good performance. Because, if you think about it, most people, being self-conscious human beings, try NOT TO CRY.

So if you go back and watch the very sad scene in The Descendants, where George's character is beside is wife's bedside, he is actually trying his hardest, NOT TO CRY, which makes him well up. YOU see?

Crazy right? So That is definitely something I will always try. If I don't feel the emotion to cry in the scene, then I will play it as if i'm trying not to cry which will probably make me cry.

Also a great piece of advice, comes from a great book called "The Actor and The Target" by Declan Donnellan, and it goes something like this 'trying to make yourself feel something is like trying to shit from your ear'..

this is gold where I'm concerned now. whenever I am acting now, and I don't feel something, then I'm going to play what I feel, rather than 'trying to cry' or trying to 'be angry', because I'm sure the text will convey whatever the emotion of my character is, without me trying to over-do it by over acting and trying to force myself to feel something on stage.

Hmm... so I'm definitely not going to worry about 'trying to cry' anymore and I'm sure as hell not gonna try and force myself to feel and emotion on stage, because lets face it, it'll probably just look really fake and horrible anyway!

So are there any golden pieces of advice you guys follow?

Are there any questions you want answered or would like me to research?!

Thanks for reading!

Peach Out! x




Thursday, April 18, 2013

Do it!! Blogilates!

If you guys aren't already doing it, then YOU SHOULD BE!!

Make sure you actors are eating healthy and staying fit, because this industry is cut throat and you don't want someone else to claim the part you were made for simply because they looked after their body more than you do! Which is likely the case in this business!!

So, what I've been doing recently is POP Pilates with Casey Ho on youtube!! Her blog is blogilates.com and you can youtube search 'blogilates' to get her workouts!! She is so energetic and fun and she really makes me love working out!

I'd suggest you sign up for her news letter on her blog, it's free and you get access to her workout calendar, where she composes about an hour's worth of pilates videos for you to do! I'm only a week and half into her calendar as I started late, but honestly I've never felt so good! And I can already see the results!

Make sure you partner her videos with healthy eating and lots of cardio for the quickest and best results!!

Stay focussed and keep up the amazing work!!!

Peach out!!
x




(I don't own that photo, but gee doesn't she look great!)

The Call-back

OK so the callback was just like a regular audition, except this time it was with the director.

I was asked to perform my scenes twice each, once how I had prepared it and the second with some direction...

and well...

I kinda panicked... It didn't go well which is kinda shite since I really really wanted that part! I've heard nothing since then, and it's been a week. A friend of mine was short-listed so perhaps she'll have better luck and get the part!! x


I think what I've learned is, in this industry, 2mins is all you have. It's your one shot to impress and if you fuck up slightly, it's not gonna get you the part. But I've also learned that with mistakes comes a lesson and I have learned from my experience and I feel I will grow from it. It can only go up from here right?!

Anyway, always hold your head high, not getting a part isn't the end of the world, it's just setting you on another path!!

Stay happy, healthy and focused! Because you can do anything!

Peach out!

X

Monday, April 8, 2013

Can you be an actor with no experience?

In short yes! Of Course you can! If you're in the right place at the right time and a casting director wants you, then that could be you set for life! There are so many success stories out there such as Charlize Theron (fellow South Africa), who raged and roared at a bank teller in LA and a talent agent spotted her! And look where she is today!

Now I'm not saying you should go shouting at every bank teller in the hopes of being spotted by a talent agent, but strange things happen, if you're in the right place at the right time, that could be your break if you are just what they are looking for! (Hopefully that 'right place' is a casting)

But also ask yourself this, what are you doing?! Honestly, why don't you have experience when there are so many opportunities to learn? Get in contact with your local drama group or society and see if they or any near-by theaters hold any workshops? There are plenty of freelance trainers and casting directors who host workshops and some for a very reasonable price. It's not paid experience but it's definitely a start!

Also try find some small theatre courses or acting courses that might interest you and that are available at a decent fee. There are also plenty of student films in production that need actors who will work for free!! There are plenty of websites out there for you to make contact with these people and where they can advertise: such as here in Ireland we have the filmmakersnetwork.ie and crooked house theatre have a forum for advertisements. Also it might bode well for you guys out there with no experience to go and join things like Fishpond here in Ireland, run by a casting director and is viewed by many production companies that need irish actors (so why not see if there is an equivalent in your country?). Also Movieextras.ie is a great company, that charge about 60 euro for 6 months, and like 99 for the full year, and they will make your profile available to casting directors who need extras for filming in Ireland. The pay is rubbish but you learn all about what it is like to be on a film set and how everything works!

There are tonnes of ways for you to get experience, so go out and get some!! You can get paid acting work off the back of non-paid acting jobs!! Go and audition for the student films and learn the process of auditioning, get some work and make a showreel!

you can alternatively find some good scenes from films, tv shows or plays and film yourself and make a vimeo page, and upload all of those clips and send that link on to every casting director and director that you can get in contact with!! The work is out there, but if they don't know who you are they can't hire you can they?! (feel free to also write your own material! You never know, it could be your hidden talent and you could end up like Lena Dunham who wrote "Tiny Furniture", and "Girls"!)

So yes you can be an actor with no experience, and in my opinion it's not absolutely necessary to have training either, in schools and what not. It is a massive help of course, and you get to explore and learn so many different things, but it is not absolutely ESSENTIAL in landing you a job!!!

Best of luck! Get Experiencing!!

Peach Out!

xxxx

Sunday, April 7, 2013

filming!

So I said I would post about my filming experience for a local college in Dublin!

Well, I was filming for two days and the idea of my character, Beth, was that she was a patient at the Bethlam Asylum, but there is something very strange and disturbed about her character when it comes to the new Doctor....

But most importantly.. is she real?!

Anyway, enough mind boggling! Here's what went down! x

As it was a student film there was nothing fancy as everyone was kinda learning on the spot!  (not from scratch or anything but in general, problems would arise and they would need to be dealt with, and so forth!..)
I arrived at 11am at Hatch Hall in Dublin, which was once, I believe, a school, but it is now used as a refugee for Asylum seekers. It's a beautiful building with great corridors and hard wood floors, just a wonderful space. My scenes were with one other actor, and they took place in a very dark large room, which was brilliant! Although the room was in fact 80% windows which all had to be laboriously blacked out with cardboard and bin bags! I changed into my costume and sat while I got my make up done (the make-up would gradually intensify as my scenes progressed and my character became more violent)

We shot from about 12 until 4 and then I was set free until the following day when my call time was a nice 10am! The second day was more intense, as there was a lot of physical action in the two scenes that we were filming, and at this stage my hair and make up were extremely intense, and crazy! (no pun intended), it was amazing fun working with the crew and the other actor, as i hurled myself at him, more than enough times and collapsed on the floor in a 'mauling' fit, ready to rip his skin off! ha!

I had amazing fun! and I think every little helps! So the experience was definitely worth it, and to meet such a lovely team of students who may well become the future of this industry is just fantastic! x


So thanks for reading! Here are some photographs from the set!


          Day 1! Level 1 crazy, make up gets more intense later!




  The director, Ellie and I have some fun on set!





 Sean was the actor I was working opposite, playing Doctor Monroe.. and of course theres me looking bat-shit crazy and like i've just gone and rolled myself in some mud!



What you looking at!?

The crew on set! 


my lovely bedroom is transformed from a dark solitude into a new room! Woohoo! 


Oh and finally, 'suffer for your art'... I finally learned the true meaning of that phrase! 
(from scampering around on my knees in the physical scene! Sigh.. no dresses for me for a while then!)

I promise to post  a link or upload a link to youtube when I get the final result of the filming! 


Thanks for reading!!

Peach out!

Friday, April 5, 2013

my tweet got shown on E! news!

Ha ha! so E! news were doing a segment on Tilda Swinton who is currently sleeping in a glass box in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and they kicked of a 'meme' segment about 'sleeping in weird places'...

And so I tweeted them and BAM! There it is on E! news! Hilarious! Can't believe it made it! This is the cast of the play 'Breathing Corpses' by the way, the show that went to the ISDA festival in Cork! Woohoo!!!


ISDA and auditions!

So I believe I wanted to keep you up to date with ISDA and how all that went down..

Well!... we arrived and set up on the monday evening and then performed our show "Breathing Corpses" on the Tuesday morning at 11am. The judges liked our performance and complemented the acting, the set design and the stage management, but overall kinda hated the text!! Oh well! Not much you can do about that then eh?

I was supposed to stay on in Cork and go to the ISDA award ceremony on Wednesday night when I was notified by my agent that I had an audition on Wednesday morning, and then another audition on Tuesday morning!

Well, I nearly fell over! WTF? I haven't had an audition in absolute ages and now all of a sudden TWO? in the space of TWO DAYS? WTF? ... well hey! I'm not complaining! Just a bit of a shock to the ole system! So I printed the sides and read and learned them, as usual.

But this time I went into the audition room with confidence, wanting to 'play', excited to show them what i can do! And I had fun!! It was the best fun! The first audition was for a comedy series on RTE and I had many lines, and got to play 'a character' which is always craic! So I thoroughly enjoyed my audition, and came out happy that at least I enjoyed myself.

I didn't get the part or a call back for that audition but thats understandable. I'm not gonna get everything, because sometimes its your look that is just unsuitable. No bother! At least I has fun trying!

The next audition was waaaaay harder.... because it was one line! Only one! jeepers how the hell do you audition for a one line part? Well, I soon found out! The casting director had the whole day to audition tonnes of girls for this part. Wow! and I thought my work was cut out for me! I really felt for them because they were gonna have to hear this line over and over! Gees! Anyways, I went in and said the line and found that they added in another line for me to say, i think that was a good call because at least then I could display my accent. (there was a required accent for this particular part, but with one line, that had very little inflection and no words longer than two syllables it was hard to show it!)... but that was it! 5 mins in and out! i performed the scene once and then again with direction....

AND..... I got a callback! Woohoo! I've never had a call back before so I will definitley write a post about that when i get the chance!!

so there you go! thats what has been going on with me lately! Oh yes, and I've just completed filming a short film for Dublin Institute of Technology students! That was soooo much fun! and I will post about that soon with many pictures!!! xxx

Thanks for reading! I will post soon!

Peach Out! x