Douglas MacHugh
Fall 2006 Evaluation
Gary:
A work in progress: A very fine, kind, compassionate and compelling young actor.
Need to continue to work on your craft, but all the human elements are in place. I appreciate your boldness and your courage. You dive into the material, you make strong choices and you stick with them. I want you to work on reining it in this spring. Slow down. Calm down. Don’t work so hard. Film is about being, not acting. It is about who you are, not about the words. You have multi-levels of experience, which will come across if you just let them be…don’t push, don’t project; trust. Trust that you are interesting. Fall away from your pre-conceptions of what you think a scene is until you are in it. Make your partners emotion as much if not more important than how you want to say it. Listen. Listen harder. Soften up. Allow us the privilege of seeing you without any pretense or bravado. Let’s find the gentle, vulnerable side of Gary that I see when we get down to what matters. Work this spring on male scenes and love lost materials.
Submitted on 1/5/2007
Spring 2007 Evaluation
Lot of good work this spring, Gary. Better and better.
As I said to you earlier in the semester, when I saw you do the umpire play I was very impressed: A strong presence, commitment and a contagious sense of fun. You have a lot of juice. You have to learn to trust the juice. At times it can be too much. Familiarize yourself with the limitations of the form. The camera requires nothing more than your choices and your ability to trust. It’s about feelings, not about presentation. It’s about letting it go and not trying to control where it’s going. Free falling.
My biggest complaint regarding your work was that you worked too hard. Learn to tether your physical being. You don’t have to worry about us seeing what you’re doing, just do it. The camera picks up everything; you can run, but you can’t hide from the lens.
Work on “American Graffiti” was first rate. Whispering was a huge help. You had a strong connection with Stef and the stakes were very high. So the scene works.
I recommend that you continue to study different venues. Work with teachers that will push you into new areas of discovery. Work with the goal of trusting your instrument more. You have a big personality, which is great, but you need to become more confident and comfortable within that framework.
I was sorry to hear that people were behaving badly during the screening. I spent most of the time in the booth and was unaware of bad behavior. I am hopeful that by trimming the herd this year, I will eliminate the numbers which should help me to be a little more particular.
Thank you Gary, for your integrity and enthusiasm.
Douglas
Submitted on 6/7/2007
Personal Evaluation
With experience came comfort – in front of the camera. Due to the nature of the class structure, 2 hours once a week, it took me a long time to get into a rhythm. I do believe wish I had the opportunity to work with Doug twice a week for half a semester instead of once a week. In the beginning I didn’t understand how to communicate when acting for a camera. My live performance experience stepped in and caused a variety of frustrations.
Toward the end of the spring semester with Doug’s assistance and a short conversation with Rob Decina something very important finally clicked – speak as loud as is needed to reach the person in the scene. If they’re next to you it is very different than if they’re across the street. Like figuring out the algebra equation it clicked.
Voila. Maybe I’ll have a chance to take this class again but I think it will be after I graduate. Heck, that may make it even better.