You could call it a..

New start? Big change? time to get the hell off my ass and prove myself?

All of the above? Ya.

So new start; I have no day job anymore! Yay!(holy crap). It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, even though it’s a risk to not have that guaranteed income I personally think it’s worth the chance.

I’ve gotten to a point where I want to focus more and more on acting. 100% on acting. To the extent that, honestly, having no recurring pay check each week, as much as that scares the hell out of me in some ways, has no hold over the choices I’m going to make. I’ve had people wishing me luck, people looking at me like I’m a fool for even thinking I can do it. But you know what, I don’t need other peoples opinions or feeling on what I’m about to do. I know the risks, I’ve heard the horror stories and the ruined dreams, and the only thing that keeps going through my head is the simple fact that this is the only thing I’ve ever felt so connected with. Am i any good? Hell if I know. Do I want to be great? Hell yes. What’s the point in having a dream if you’re not gunna see what the real things actually like and aim to do it better than those before you? Imagination can only take us so far (ironic from someone wanting to be an actor).

So I left, and in the week (exactly 1) since I left my safety net I’ve got onto Spotlight, joined equity, and even had to change my name. Never expected having to do the last of those three, I thought my name, surname at least, was easily rare enough. But alas, no guna happen. So you are now looking at Daniel S. Thrace. Or at least you will be if you ever get to see any of my work. I won’t bore you with details of why, but it holds meaning to me, metaphor, and I like the sound of it. What else do you need!?

On top of all that, a short film I had the pleasure of being a part of, Containment, has made the short list of the Horror channels shortcutstohell film competition. http://shortcutstohell.com/?page_id=540. So guess who’s mug you’re guna get the chance to see on your television screen (as long as you have sky at least). The short itself is about a trio of quarantined scientists will be burnt alive unless they can expose and extract a deadly alien parasite that could be hiding inside anyone of them. Tense stuff ;).

It was such a pleasure to film with Glass Cannon (http://www.glasscannonfilm.co.uk/, https://www.facebook.com/GlassCannonFilm?fref=ts) again. Please go check out their work, and give the Facebook page a like. There have some serious talent between them, and they were nice enough to ask me back again, having shot two short films with them now. Keep an eye on this one, big plan’s a’ comin’. To see our collaboration take a look at Hólmganga, as yet unreleased as we’re taking it to the festivals. But do keep an eye on that one too. It’s a dark, visually stunning piece, that’s a based on Viking society and their beliefs. It also contains my first little fight scene not put together by myself or done as a background fighter. In addition to this I have two more brilliant projects lined up with Glass Cannon that I cannot wait to get into, but for now that’s all I’m giving away.

As well as those I manage to find myself with a great opportunity working with some old friends and people I had the honour of working with on a little feature film called The Eschatrilogy: Book of the Dead. They asked me to come and 1st AD for them on a new feature, and their first person one, they’re putting together called Play Judas. A crime thriller set in the uk. I won’t go to far into the details, but I’ve read the script, already know and have got to see some of the actors, and this film is already shouting good things to me. Not that I’m bias in the slightest!..

So that is a touch of whats going on in my professional life at least, I’m sure I’ve missed a few things, but I’ll get them next time. Needless to say life hasn’t exactly let up even during all of this! Rude. But who ever said it was gunna, that’d be too easy and kinda boring right.

No philosophical stuff today, but I will leave this post on a thought. No matter what you’re doing, no matter how much you love or hate it, make sure you give yourself to the task. The second you let it go a bit, the moment you let a fear or a lack of desire kill an experience for you, you’re only missing out on something you could have had the chance to truly understand be inspired by. Remember inspiration and drive can come at any moment, whether you expect it or want it. So why miss anything when everything has something new to see, and really you just gotta look.

Enjoy your evenings.

What’s the problem?/A little method.

So recently my family got some pretty bad news, on top of a whole lot of other stuff going on in and around mine, my families, and those closest to my life. At times, and anyone reading this will understand, you get to a point on days when you can’t react because you don’t know exactly how you will, or you react simply because you don’t know how you will and you have to say something or you might spontaneously combust. It seems when you’re in a state of fear, worry, any of that kinda thing you lose an aspect of control of your inhibitions. It’s why people lash out, shout, cry, any of the things they wouldn’t normally react with.

I work in a Co-op, we’re a customer facing business, so I get to see a lot of people. I’m also an actor (getting there at least), I think in a way that attempts to go past the face value of people, to look for the hidden tension to understand why they are the way they are (here’s the important bit) in that moment.

Everyone has a personality, and part of that is having an ideal side, the side of you you like and want people to see, and a reactionary side, the part of you that responds to the events and people around you in the moment. Sometimes, in differing amounts for different people, your ideal side is the one in control. You react well to anything that comes your way and no matter what you’re calm, level headed, understanding and generally react well to unfolding events. If you aren’t you ideal, or normal, self, you’re react differently. Patience becomes irritation, calmness becomes volatility and understanding becomes judgement. Everyone does this, no matter who you are. Those days where you want to shout about the little things people around you do, they nag at your mind and you have to let people know. One thing I will say is we all need those days, they’re important.

What I’m getting at though is how we react to people having those days. It’s easy to ignore whats in front of you, call the person a t!&t cos they’re acting that way, and let what they did then affect you in a way that can mimic exactly how they were acting, and yes that can then make you start acting like a t!&t too, it’s too easy to a lot of the time. Working in the Co-op there are loads of times I’ve done this, oh the hypocrisy. When confronted with, in the words of the’ judge’, misery, ignorance, anger, arrogance and anything like it, we instantly put a barrier up and inside our heads call the other person out for their fault, ignore any other reasoning and react accordingly. I think though, and try to do, we shouldn’t be using what’s in front of us to make judgement. Don’t get me wrong, if someone is acting like this, don’t adhere to it. Call them out if you can, but do it with reason, and understand that they’re probably like that because they have a life beyond that moment. We believe they’re acting up and we’re just reacting in the only way feasible with such an ignorant attitude, when really we are just empowering any ignorance or stupidity by basically responding to them in the exact way we are condemning them for acting like in the first place. We can end up so consumed by the moment and we forget there’s a whole other life in the background that we have no idea what’s going on in.

When you walk down the street what do you see? People going places? What about everywhere they’ve just been and why they’ve been there. Isn’t that a more poignant thing to understand (or at least try to)? We can never know what someone is REALLY going through, we don’t know their circumstances, and as importantly we don’t know how their ideal self views the world. Ask yourself, who is that person, where are they going and why are they doing it? Even if you make up every aspect, because you don’t know them, it’ll lead you naturally to considering the fact they have a life and a reason. Such a simple thought, but one in my experience that means you can’t not appreciate there’s probably something else going on and that maybe if you allow your ideal self to react instead of other side, you might not only get a good response from them, but you will enrich both of your days and possibly anyone else’s who are linked to either you or that person because of the good affect that you made.

 

For the sake of any actors reading, and more importantly myself as I want to use this blog to explore my thoughts on acting, thinking this way is just like considering tactics and objectives. Something I was introduced to recently in my training, and have then gone on to read about when researching Stanislavski. When you do anything like what I’ve been talking about, you’re looking for the objectives and tactics in those around you. The reasons for why they say things the way they do. You’re opening up your own thoughts and considering the bigger unseen picture of a person, the exact same thing we’re trying to recreate when we form characters. When you act, you want to be as realistic as possible, even when you’re in a fantasy, that is our goal. So use the tools that are sat in front of you, the lives of every person you come across is another character to consider and more reasons to use when creating your own tactics and objectives for a character you’re going to play. Everyone IS different, which also means everyone has a new way of seeing things, and this is something you can utilise everyday, you don’t have to be reading from a script to practice.

Make some waves.

Been a while

So, been a while since I got on with this blog. Time to get it going again methinks!

What’s brought this around, aside from a load of stuff going on, and my general need to talk nothin’ at no one, seemed like a good time. 

Let start with yesterday. A good day. For those of you who don’t know, I act. No I’m not a professional yet, but I’m workin’ on it (aren’t we all). Getting to meet and learn from actors and actresses who have proved their colours is a great opportunity for anyone and yesterday I Had my very first masterclass with Act Up North, being taken by Suranne Jones and set up by Peter Hunt, the man who makes Act Up North and classes like this one possible (thank you!). She turns out to be exactly what you want when you meet anyone in ‘the business’, attentive, insightful and generally came across brilliantly. Getting everyone to lie on the floor and taking us through a method exercise right off the bat was definitely a good way to help everyone relax, and will be something I keep in mind for any future endeavors. Following up with a great session, using a mixture of scripts for groups and individuals to tackle everyone got a challenge. I got a monologue, always a challenge when you first get one, no time to practice particularly and no partners to work off. But still a great piece of text, that got me a lovely compliment from the lady herself after my read. Head swelling? Maybe a little, but hell if not now then when? Although can’t say I didn’t wish I’d got the Dr Who script, chance to read for the Doctor when the TARDIS is in the room, dreams can almost come true ;).

Today! Good start. Finished the concept fight choreography for my upcoming short Daken (that’s wolverines son for those of you who don’t do extended marvel universe), and you know what… I’m pretty pleased with this one. 1 vs 3, making use of the skills I’ve learn over the past few years in screen combat and martial arts, lots of potential, now for a good execution. 

Next up! Aside from a couple of bits and piece of paid stuff (the more the better), we have a few shorts to finish. Working with a mix of Team Beard and Canny Pictures and a few filmmakers from around York, there’s the upcoming Which Weapon? zombie short, the final scenes from The Night Witch to get finished, and two feature films coming up in the summer, it’s guna be a busy few months.

Soon to be here tho is the Short Holmganga, a short film set in the time of the Vikings I shot with the seriously talented Glass Cannon (http://www.glasscannonfilm.co.uk/). I play Frey, the son of a clan leader, who’s rash choices put his and his fathers honor in question. The teaser trailer for which has just been released; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH436IjghRY&feature=youtu.be – go check it out! 

Anyway, that’s all for now. More always to come. Hope you’re well x

What are you thinking?

Today I spent the day writing every thought I had. Great fun! Seriously, some of the random crap that goes on in our heads is really enough to get you through a shift at work.

The idea is exactly what it seems; write every thought you have down. Now granted you’re gunna miss some, there no way you can write every thought, but if you keep the writing short you can suprise yourself with what actually goes on up there.

Some of my favorites:

From the creative –
Thought in the voice of Sir David Attenborough – “Contrary to it’s name the Micro Chip is actually very average in size. Deriving from the Mc’Cain variety it inhabits a card box tat jumps from microwave to microwave, hense ‘Micro’ chip”

to the shocked
Thought when seeing the price of a beach HUT, with no electricity or water – “126,000 are you kidding me!?”

The impressed
When putting my jeans on over my work trousers to ride to work, using a plastic bag to make sure they slip on easier – “Jean/Bag trick… (high pitched) Genius!”

to the angry
Relevant to an earlier post on here – “Look me in the eye!”

and of course the profound
James Morrison comes on the radio – “You’re right James, we do only have one life and we’ve got to live it.”

Anyway there were shed loads, I filled 50 pages of a little notebook I have, and that was missing out hours at a time because I was busy and couldn’t stop to write at work. They covered so many topics it’s unbelievable really, you HAVE to try it. If nothing but insightful into who you are by the things you think about most, is actually fun as.. Keeps your good thoughts in mind and get the bad ones on paper. Give it a try, you’ll love it by the end of the day.

Goodnight.

Storyteller Final Shoot

I’m sat on the train on the way back from working with Safehouse Pictures uk. Been a bit of a rough one since the shoot couldn’t go ahead today due to issues with the generator. That and I’ve had to leave today because of shitty day job responsibilities.

It’s especially annoying since yesterday, with about 80 zombies in the fray, we worked like the best oiled machine you’ve ever seen. Saturday was a really important day in the way of the film and with the amount of people we had there, and we took to it like pros. For the crew it was a bit of a proving day again, we’d had a bit of a slow start on Friday and I think we all knew it and wanted to make up for it. So hopefully D and Nikki saw what they wanted to from us all when it really mattered.

Gutted I’m having to leave early, I know I should be there until the end. Tomorrow is a huge day for SHP and hopefully it’ll go without a hitch. Although knowing our luck something’ll crop up! to quote a bit of the film “it’s like I (we) am cursed!” not that that’s ever going to stop us.

Good luck to the rest of you guys tomorrow. I know you’ll easily get it done… Well maybe not easily, you won’t have me running round!(sorry Tim) ;). Much love.

– to see more about Safehouse Pictures and ‘The Eschatrilogy’ check out The Website

The Death of Beauty in Language

Language is something that has become common place, it has been so for thousands of years. It has always had the purpose of communication an description and yet now somehow has become lacking in any style other than that we are influenced to use everyday. While there may be art in writing, whether that writing is to be read personally or heard from another’s speech, the everyday eloquence in our language that was once (hopefully) commonplace, seems to now have fallen on hard times. Where once our speech was of a form that was to be perfected and used to its upmost power and intrigue, words strung together in the tangible poetry of language, has been dulled to it’s simplest of forms. A seemingly endless slur of meaningless noise that replicates the speech of other cultures who made it their own first.

You must see, this is not an attack on colloquialisms, abbreviations or jargon. This is an attempt to point out the mimicry that so many seem to think is originality. Whether that be in music, film or everyday life. Our culture, not our art, seems to have become a mess of so many different influences that there is no longer something that separate us from anything we see in the media, aside from our inherent cynicism toward it. It seems when art imitates life you can see the blatant mash of anything considered vaguely ‘cool’, caused by the arising need of life to to imitate art. Although this is something that has gone on for generations now, it is as if our understanding of that very fact has become a point of manipulation. The very nature of our understanding has transferred into the trends that have come about, the open manipulation of individuals into becoming something approved and expected by people who remain faceless or without true depth and yet somehow hold our attention so profusely we hang on every single word.

Obviously my point divulges greatly from the original title, my reasoning is that language is the gateway to everything. Without it we would have so much less than we do now. Community, art, the media itself would probably never have existed. A world without language wold be very dull indeed. But that is not reason to take what should be a beautiful creation, that allowed  people to come together and express thought and emotion about the things around them. It should not be something so easily ignored (a point for another time), used to cause grief in just about every way imaginable, or to sarcastically undermine another’s love or beliefs. It should be there to support and bring out the best in every person and moment.

Language has the power of cruelty imbued through it in todays world, someone is respected more for their ability to condemn and belittle than to inquire and inculcate. Language should never have become a weapon, it should be a thing of beauty always. So speak when it means the most, listen to every word and be mindful that most peoples language,  even if it comes in droves, are only a minor reflection of their true thoughts and personality. The question left is do they even see it themselves? Sadly most of the time I feel that isn’t true. They believe that to speak is to give true meaning, rather than speaking when they know something is true.

Anywho, hope my point wasn’t too colluded within the rambling, ironic huh. Always in the end, live life and speak true to yourself, not the socially accepted crap that seems to be the norm. Bring beauty back to language.

An Insight Into Loss And Loneliness

Being lonely is a strange thing. Some people feel it when they lose someone, others when they lose something. No matter what each of these are hard, but neither more than the other. Loneliness can be a seriously powerful influence in our lives. For me it began with losing people.

It’s weird, one of my first memories is loss. Being sat at my Granda’s funeral. Everyone around me was crying. I specifically remember being sat next to my cousin, tears rolling down her face and not really understanding. I was very young at the time and genuinely didn’t see why everyone was so upset. The mind of a young child right? Naive to the trouble all around him.

For my Nana, I think it was religion and God that got her through it, and whether you believe or not, that’s a pretty beautiful thought. Pure belief giving you the strength to smile. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective) some of us are more logical (or cynical) and cannot rely on an ideal as insubstantial as this.

My Dad is more like this, despite his upbringing, and for him I think it was his family that gave him the support. His Mothers strength and my Mum’s support and the fact he had to be strong for me and my sister.

But what if you don’t have family or belief, or what if that family is too distant physically or emotionally to truly help. What happens if you experience a death, falling out with close friends, or probably sharpest of all the loss or betrayal of a love. In any of these situations the people are most likely one of your closest friends (family and loves included) and the very fact you’ve lost that can change your whole perspective of the world. Suddenly lost you can lose all faith in what you know and feel, even if you’re surrounded by people you care for.

From what I’ve seen there are two general reactions we tend to lean towards (obviously in very different ways). Firstly some of us will find someone or something new and latch on. In different extremities, whether thats to fall quickly in love with someone, or go out on a run of one night stands, or to eat or take intoxicant’s to take our minds away from the thing that hurt us. Each of these is a way to overcome (and sometimes over compensate) for a loss that we cannot comprehend on an emotional level. I mean honestly, it’s not an easy thing to do, and is there really any surprise people turn to easy ways to make up for that sudden hole in their life. For me this is probably the least health of the two reaction, to suddenly force new things on yourself, things that you as your true self would probably consider a pretty weak way of dealing with a bad turn. This is not to say I would ever look down on someone doing these exact things, I’ve been there myself at multiple stages of my life, it’s easy, and it works… for a short time. But when you come rond and look back at yourself and what you did to cover up the real issue it means you have to start again, build yourself back to where you were. It’s a huge step back sometimes, and the last thing any of us should want to do is step back in our life.

The second is when people cut themselves off from the world. The loss, whatever it is, causes a reaction that means we build a sudden defence and block out any potential other negativity in our lives. Now if you still have people around you who do care this is a lot harder to pull off,  as in my opinion, a good friend never sits back as someone important to them is suffering. Even if that person tells you to go f*&k yourself, you stand strong and show them not everyone is like that, and that no matter what there is someone who can be relied on in this world (thats a fucking important thing to show people every day, let alone when someone is in need, you never know the affect it may have). When cut ourselves off we sometimes believe it is because we are strong enough to handle whatever has come our way, and you know what we are. BUT, and its a big but, by cutting yourself off from the world you have around you, however you do that, you really aren’t dealing with the situation, so all your strength is completely misplaced. When we believe we are dealing, really we’re just dodging the real feelings we have and not coming to terms with the fact we’ve lost. Instead of getting on with what we have and once again  finding something new thats just as worthwhile as the thing we thought was important, we’re shutting off the chance to progress in our lives and find something truly pure in the world. Something nothing will take away and something no one has any right to criticise. When you put up walls, you don’t support yourself, you don’t deal and you don’t become a better and stronger version of yourself.

But please if you read this, don’t take what I say as if I feel it is completely fool proof or as if I believe it’s gospel in some way (that’d be a little short minded to say the least). The fact is you know yourself better than anyone, and you know what makes you really feel good about being you. Whether thats a career, hobby or another person. But that’s my point, by dealing with loneliness you don’t need to, and should never go down either of the paths I’ve briefly highlighted (very briefly as this subject really is huge). Be who you are, don’t change in spite of how you feel, change because your life has changed. We are a product of our experience, and it’s down to us to choose how those experiences affect our perception, if at all. What you knew before, you still know now, even if one thing didn’t turn out to be as you thought. Live life the same way you did (hopefully), openly and honestly. Take every chance that comes your way, and make the most of every moment, because every thing we ever experience makes us who we are, so how can they ever be considered a bad thing or bad influence unless we allowed them to be. Love life, experience everything that comes your way, and make the most of every one.

Been a while – Some good news

Been too long since I posted up here, so much for dedication!

Had to get on it tho as… The Eschatrilogy is now up on IMDb here! – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2151849/ which is awesome for Safehouse, giving it two feature films in all on the Database.

Check out the full cast and crew link to see yours truly listed as Script Supervisor. This is a first for me so pretty proud right now! Other Safehouse related stuff is we now have an official website – http://www.safehousepicturesuk.co.uk so go check that one out for some pics from the shoots and the teaser trailer. It’s looking great so far. Hope you enjoy!

Eye contact

My day job is working as a store supervisor at the cooperative in a small village local to York.veveryday I’m there I deal with customers throughout the day, as I’d the nature of the job. A lot of people are genuinely lovely people, who I’ve come to respect and like, unfortunately though, and it seems to be something of a given these days for the people of our dreary little country, that even the simplest form of respect or friendliness, whatever you want to call it, is something they really give no thought to.
It really takes no hardship on the part of these people to make eye contact with the person serving them, simply to show you know it’s a PERSON behind the tills serving them, someone who is trying to do their job, and be friendly to the hundreds of people they come into contact with everyday. For some reason though most of the people I see in the shop seem to find it excruciating just to do that simplest of actions. And honestly it’s pretty disheartening when you actually try to be decent to these people. You say hi, ask them how they are and don’t bet more than a grunt from them as the stare blankly st the flops or the till trying their hardest not to make any kind of contact other than cash and receit.
Tis isnt to say they’re all ignorant who do it, although really they kind of are. You may be in a bad mood or have something on that’s taking your attention, but is it really so hard to smile and say hi. We’re not asking for you to become our best mates or anything just give us a little appreciation. This surely goes for every ‘menial’ job on the market. There is a serious lack of respect for anyone who does the mundane work that keeps a country going at its base. All I say to the people out there who are to stupid, lazy or generally selfcentered, is be carefully. You should never fu!@ with the little guy, we have power over parts of your lives you take for granted everyday. So next time you’re in a shop, or a hospital or any place where someone isn’t getting paid what they deserve, show a little respect, some gratitude and I guarantee you’ll for one make them feel better, and I know for a fact they will do the same for you.
On the other hand if the clerk is exactly likeive just described be friendly enough, but if they insist on being a bit of a dick then ignore them, really not worth it.

Fate…

It’s comes to my attention that the idea of fate is probably the coolest, and yet, really not cool concept we humans have come up with. All our destiny’s tied up alongside each other in an unfathomable way that could, potentially, one day be understood to the point of foresight (who knows), but that would mean we would never really have choice when it came to the decisions in life.
I think most people would choose freedom of choice, specifically because we prize it and the culture and symbolism that has grown around it, I know I probably would.
I wonder which way we’d be better off though. Free will and the choice to do whatever pleasures us, or fate, and a world where nothing you ever do is really because you chose to do it.
Although is fate really so restricting, or is a better definition more to do with the cause and effect we see in our everyday lives. You walk into a river, the water parts around you. You walk across the street, you get to the other side. You text while driving, you crash and die (last ones for the journalist out there, who so love the gritty truth…).
Fates one of those ideas that cropped up along the way and seriously changed sh!@. Consider seriously how many concepts we live by have been effected by it. Through understanding fate, disciplines like maths and science could be conceptualised, 1+1=2 therefore, 1+2 must =3, we see heat in this experiment so there must be a connecting factor we don’t understand fully. Religion would be entirely different, would it even exist? No fate, means no godly plan right? And if no plan can be put in place there must be nothing there with divine power to put it there.
It’s a pretty complex stem of our insight into the world around us, one that can reflect a personality and change how you think. Pretty cool right? But kinda not.