“tipping the Velvet” is First Alternative Lifestyle Film With an Educational Message – Part 1

mo | Blog | May 28, 2010

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Tipping the Velvet – 4 Stars (Excellent)

“Tipping the Velvet” is what some viewers would consider a terrible film about a sinful, raunchy lifestyle, and what I would consider an excellent film despite any apparent raunchiness.

After writing 135 reviews, including what I would consider 8 alternative lifestyle films, Tipping the Velvet is the absolute best film and only the second film among the 8 in this genre that I would recommend seeing.

Here are the films I considered terrible and the reasons why. I gave a “1 Star – Terrible Rating” to these 6 films:

“Boys Don’t Cry” which won Hilary Swank a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Brandon Teena, a transgendered teen who was born a woman named Teena Brandon who preferred life as a male and lived as a male until it was discovered that “he” was born female. This film had a very tragic ending.

“Ed Wood” which was the real life story of Ed Wood, known as the worst film director in Hollywood history. He liked to dress in women’s clothes while directing low-budget, absolutely terrible films.

“Imagine Me & You” shows a bride at the altar simply looking at another woman and starting an awakening that leads to the destruction of her marriage and living happily ever after with her new lesbian partner.

“Myra Breckenridge” is Gore Vidal’s controversial film about Myron Breckenridge, a man who goes to Europe for a sex change operation and comes back as Myra Breckenridge, a man-hating woman.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” finds a newly engaged couple whose car breaks down and they seek help from a Transylvanian transvestite involved in a bizarre lifestyle.

This was one of Susan Sarandon’s early films; she would later earn 4 Academy Award nominations for Best Actress, and an Oscar for her role in “Dead Man Walking”.

“Transamerica” which won Felicity Huffman a Best Actress Oscar nomination and a Best Actress Golden Globe Award for her performance as Bree, a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual who takes an unexpected journey from Los Angeles to New York when she learns that she fathered a son earlier in life.

Receiving my “2 Star – Average Rating” were:

“The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” which has two drag queens and a transsexual driving a lavender bus named Priscilla across the Australian desert to a gig at an isolated resort.

“Breakfast on Pluto” is a gender preference movie about a boy who really wants to be a girl, and settles for being a transvestite trying to find a place in a world that curses his very existence.

The best of these 8 films is Breakfast on Pluto, which has Irish actor Cillian Murphy in the role of Patrick “Kitten” Braden. I recommend seeing Breakfast on Pluto as it is far better than the other 7 films, and Cillian Murphy proves passable as a woman and gives a great performance.

All of these films are controversial due to their subject matter.

It is very difficult to make a great film.

It is difficult to make a good film.

It is almost impossible to make a good film when the subject matter is not even on the radar acceptance screen of the average viewer.

Alternative lifestyle films do not win awards even if the actors involved get an Oscar (as Hilary Swank did in Boys Don’t Cry), get nominated for an Oscar (as Felicity Huffman did in Transamerica) or get nominated for a Golden Globe (as Cillian Murphy did in Breakfast on Pluto).

The typical moviegoer does not want to talk about alternative lifestyles much less see them. We are uncomfortable with what we do not know or understand.

There will be no great acceptance for alternative films now or in the distant future. Hollywood is OK with accepting alternative lifestyles, but Hollywood is generally far more liberal, permissive and self-absorbed than mainstream America.

A big part of the acceptance problem is the Hollywood filmmakers. Producers of alternative lifestyle films have millions of moviegoers glued to their presentation, but they continually fail to deliver an important message involving understanding and knowledge.

With a laser beam on sensationalism and the cash register, Hollywood filmmakers would have us believe that it is impossible to tell a good alternative lifestyle story with significant meaning without using intensely brutal rape scenes, sexuality, filthy language, drug usage and murder.

All of these aforementioned events only reinforce all of the stereotypes, prejudices, bigotry, stupidity and transphobia already present in our society and culture.

I am not sure what the phobia is for transgendered people so I simply created transphobia because homophobia means an extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people, which is not what we are talking about here.

And then there is Tipping the Velvet which does exactly that: tell a good alternative lifestyle story with significant meaning.

Just as Breakfast on Pluto is a good film made in Ireland, Tipping the Velvet is an excellent film produced in England for the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) by Sally Head Production.

The BBC brought this controversial movie to a 5-millon strong mainstream television audience. An American filmmaker has not yet been able to produce a quality alternative lifestyle film for television. Tipping the Velvet is really three stories in one as it was originally aired in three parts and runs 2 hours and 57 minutes.

(Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 of a 2-Part Review. )

Discover the Secrets of Method Acting – Part 4

mo | Blog | May 18, 2010

Breakfast is the first drink of sense memory exercise.

The Breakfast Drink The purpose of this exercise is to experience and fix in memory the reliving of all the sensory aspects of the breakfast drink. Choose what you habitually drink in the morning (e. g. a cold fruit juice or a hot drink like tea or coffee). Take the cup or glass in both hands and concentrate on your five senses one at a time. Breathe in the smell. Concentrate on the aroma. Allow yourself to feel the heat, steam or cold of the cup. Explore the cup with your hands. Note the weight and texture of it. Be aware of the patterns or decorations on the cup. Note any cracks, nicks or flaws. Listen to the liquid as you stir it or swirl it. See the color, size and shape of the cup. Taste the liquid. Be aware of the temperature, texture and flavor. Also pay attention to the cup against you mouth.

This whole procedure should be done slowly. Deeply explore all of the sensations. The more time to devote to exploration, the more beneficial the exercise becomes. The idea is to be entirely focused and completely concentrated on the breakfast drink.

Now set the container down, turn away and repeat the entire procedure without the breakfast drink.

If you feel you are not able to experience some of the excitement with the real cup or glass in hand, recently returned to the physical object itself and explore it again. Focus on weak sensory aspects as you’re not working with the container (for example, if you can live, smell the return for the drink and concentrate on smell in particular). Drink Through this exchange between real and imaginary reliving the drink can be weak sensory aspects to be strengthened.

The goal of this exercise is to improve concentration, but specifically this is an attempt to determine how many of your senses are working.

The “breakfast drink” refers to coffee. Coffee has a distinct smell. As you have learned, smell is an important trigger for memory recall. Using a cup of coffee as the breakfast drink will make the exercise easier. However, the exercise is called the breakfast drink so that any cup and liquid may be used.

Discover the Secrets of Method Acting – Part 3

mo | Blog | May 6, 2010

Sense memory is the most important method of operation.

Sense Memory Sense memory is re-living sensations that were experienced through the five senses. Strasberg stressed the term re-living and not just remembering. The difference lies between knowing something and truly recreating it. That difference is substantiated by psychology.

Have you heard of psychosomatic illness and hypochondria. The mind can do to manifest symptoms and reactions of the body is sick. This applies even if the body is not sick. Sense memory exercises are designed to train him to be, because the body’s response focusing on stimuli associated with the experience of the situation.

Sense memory is using your memory of real objects to create sensory objects on stage. You need a great deal on concentration to create a sensory object. When you can create a sensory object, you can invoke a “real” response. You will be re-living a sensory experience and not demonstrating an experience. From this stimulus that you know isn’t real, suddenly all the other false things become real and you start behaving truthfully. The audience will believe the performance is real because the actor believes it is real. Sense memory creates great truth performance, which is the actors “ability to experience”.

For example, do you know the smell of movie theatre popcorn? When you think of it, do you recall the last movie you saw in the theatre? Does the memory of the smell help trigger other memories? By concentration on the smell, can you recall other aspects of your trip to the theatre? Does concentrating on the smell remind you of the sights and sounds of the theatre? Do the sense memories you recall help you remember the movie, the date and other details? You have recalled the sense memory of the smell of popcorn to re-live the experience of going to the movies.

Smell is the sense most closely associated with memory. It has been shown that smell helps triggers memory recall. Smells become associated with vivid memories.

You must concentrate on the sensory object and it’s stimuli. Do not concentrate on trying to elicit an emotion. Through practice you will learn what sensory objects produce the desired emotional response. Then you must simple devote your focus to produce the sensory object without regard for the emotion. The emotional response will follow naturally.

Again, the choice of the sensory object for a scene is up to you. Ideally, you should choose an object that you have practiced with and you know will provide the appropiate emotional response. If possible, make your choice relevant to the scene as well. The more sensory objects you have practiced, and the more scenes you work, the more skilled you will become. Dozens of scenes are waiting for you to use at the website below. You can download them instantly.

Discover the Secrets of Method Acting – Part 5

mo | Blog | May 2, 2010

complementary exercÃcios Method Acting

 

The Mirror The mirror exercise is the next sense memory exercise. In this exercise you attempt to create the sensory object of your own image in a mirror. Later, you can add the activity of shaving or putting on makeup.

 

You are trying to determine if you can explore the sensory object of your reflection in a mirror. Are you simply following a habitual sequence and going through the motions of an activity or are you able to create you sensory reflection?

 

The exercise is beneficial in determining your personality. If you are unable to recreate the sensory object of your image, then you most likely have difficulty expressing emotions. It follows that you will have difficulty expression emotion on stage. At this point, you must recognize that you need to work on expressing emotions. Alternatively, if you are able to create the sensory object, then most likely do not having difficulty expressing emotion.

 

Shoes And Socks The next sensory exercise is shoes and socks. In this exercise you try to create the sensory objects of shoes and socks. The exercise is putting on these sensory objects.

 

Getting Undressed The next exercise is getting undressed. You create the sensory objects of underwear and undress.

 

Are you self-conscious or inhibited when performing this exercise?

 

The other sense memory exercises are listed below. These exercises are more advanced and can not all be covered here. Especially “Sunshine” goes beyond physical objects, sense of feeling. In this exercise, you are again the impulse to live in the sunlight on the skin.

 

The breakfast drink The mirror Shoes and socks Getting undressed Three pieces of fabric Sunshine Sharp pain Sharp taste/sharp smell Sound or sight Place Overall Sensations – Bath, Shower, Wind, Rain, Sauna, Extreme Heat, Extreme Cold Personal Object Combinations of two, then three, four Private Moment

DENNIS HOPPER INTERVIEW on JAMES DEAN GEORGE STEVENS PART 1 ON DVD at TVDAYS.com

mo | Blog | May 2, 2010

DENNIS HOPPER (1983)interviewed by John A. Gallagher The original indie maverick talks about working with screen legends James Dean, John Wayne, Nicholas Ray, George Stevens, Sam Peckinpah and Francis Coppola on such films as REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955), GIANT (1956), SONS OF KATIE ELDER (1965), TRUE GRIT (1969), and APOCALYPSE NOW (1977). He discusses directing and starring in his counter-culture classic EASY RIDER (1969) and gives a fascinating demonstration of Method Acting.

Discover the Secrets of Method Acting – Part 2

mo | Blog | April 28, 2010

Concentration is a important piece of the Method Acting puzzle.

Concentration The purpose of the sense memory concentration exercises is to train the actor to create and recreate any object or groups of objects through sheer concentration. This will stimulate an emotional response. You should be able to concentrate on a real object, or on a memory of a real object. An object can be anything, imaginary, physical or fantasy, upon which you have chosen to concentrate.

In life, you generally focus all of you attention on a single task or series of tasks. The task in this case is the object. Your attention may shift from object to object, as required by your goal or because you were interrupted. Likewise, you must focus your attention and concentrate on a single object while acting. As you gain experience and concentration skills, you can begin to focus on multiple objects. Your object may change as the scene progresses but devote all your concentration to the object you have chosen.

When you an acting scene to perform (called a “side”), you must choose the object that you will concentrate on. Try to choose objects relevant to the scene. Otherwise you can choose object irrelevant to the scene just to keep you focus within the scene. The more scene work you perform, the easier it will become for you to choose relevant objects. There are over one hundred sides available for you to download at website below. It is you choice as what object you will use for different scenes, and remember that an object can be anything.

concentrações enough to prevent the scare of this ¡ gio. The personage who você this ¡ to concentrate in a scene of a person or an object. Você must be intent in one same object. If você this ¡ you £o focado in its object, você forgets a audiência. Você in £o can center in the platéia when você this ¡ total focada in the object.

The Fourth Wall The fourth wall is a concentration effort by the actor to create an imaginary wall on stage between yourself and the audience. This removes the audience from your awareness and allows a private and personal scene. An actor who is unaware of the audience will not suffer from stage fright.