So last weekend in Columbus, the cast of LAST OUT totally nailed their “we’re actually a band and this is our debut album” cover shoot.
I mean seriously… check this out!
And while Ohio State did end up trouncing my preferred Fightin’ Irish in the College Football Championship, I can say with all sincerity that the OSU staff treated us amazingly, and our killer cast put forth a powerful performance. Onward to the next tour stop!
Storytelling tip o’ the week
I had my annual eye exam this week, and yes, it was time…
I’m switching to progressive lenses.
The final straw was working that performance in Columbus. As the director, I sit in the booth to help run sound and lights and mics. That means there’s a script open right in front of me (readers distance), a monitor displaying sound cues a little bit further away (computer distance), and the actors way way way far away on the stage.
That’s three different visual fields. The glasses on-glasses off / readers on-readers off hand jive has gotten really tiresome.
I went to the exam thinking I needed bifocals. The doc quickly educated me about progressives—all three distances in one pair of glasses, and no tell-tale visible line in the lens!
Plus the frames I got have the super cool benefit of having shades that magnetically snap on to transform into sunglasses.
But those progressives got me thinking about a foundational piece of storytelling advice that I give to actors and speakers all the time—
CALCULATE THE DISTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
When actors bounce between stage and screen, they are often told to be “bigger” or “smaller.” As in “louder” or “softer.” But that advice misses the point.
The point isn’t really about how big or small or loud or soft you should get. It’s about how far away your audience is.
Think about it this way. If you’re sitting at a table with someone for lunch, you instinctively speak at a volume they can hear, and your gestures naturally fill the space at an appropriate size. You don’t scream in their face or flail about. Well, unless they just said something really awful!
But if you’re trying to talk to someone across the room, or across the street, or across a field, you will instinctively raise your voice and magnify your gestures to communicate.
So, on camera, it’s not about being “smaller.” And since you are also mic’d for camera, it’s not about being “softer.” It’s about understanding the distance of communication.
A camera can get right up in your business. This is why it’s vital to ask what kind of shot you’re in: close up? two shot? waist up? full body?
Knowing your distance of communication—and that is distance to the VIEWER, not to the camera, because, again, that camera can zoom in and zoom out—will help you tune in to the right “size” and “volume” of delivery.
Same for the stage. Because not all stages are created equal, you may find yourself telling your story in an intimate, 99-seat black box theatre, or a mid-sized, 400-seater, or a cavernous 2000-seat touring house.
The rule of thumb I use is to make sure you are communicating to the back corner of the back row. That way you guarantee you are fully covering the entire house.
That also lets you dial in your distance of communication, because “back row / back corner” is a far more accurate measurement than simply “stage voice.”
Just like my forthcoming progressive lenses, you need different levels of clarity at different distances.
This is one of the sneakiest and most powerful tools in your storytelling utility belt. Ask what shot the camera is set up for. Walk your venue and get a sense of what that person in back row-back corner needs from you.
Never worry about big, small, loud, or soft again! Your storytelling muscles will know exactly what to do once you calculate your true distance of communication.
The return of CLOWNS LIKE ME
My dear friend Scott Ehrenpreis is back on stage to perform his award-winning Off-Broadway hit CLOWNS LIKE ME.
We are especially excited about this performance because it is a FREE show open to all local college students. And of course to you!
One of the big reasons I wrote and directed this show is because storytelling can address mental health and dent the stigmas around mental illness with compassion and humor.
And Scottie is truly transcendent in this role, playing himself, telling his own true stories, offering healing and hope.
Click the purple button to learn more about this special presentation and reserve your seat.
The Page&Stage Podcast: Find Your Own Voice
The next episode of the Page&Stage Podcast will land in your inboxes on Monday. And it features Emmy-winning writer Lisa Seidman. Lisa shares how Star Trek inspired her journey into the television industry, writing for popular shows like Dallas and Murder She Wrote. She talks about her unexpected path to learning Russian and how it played a part in her writing a historical soap for Russian television. She also gives insights into the difference between daytime and prime-time writing, and how naming characters after real people in your life can have unexpected consequences.
Thanks as always for reading, and have a great weekend!
Jason “Magnetic Shades” Cannon