The Film Genius

As an actress that has done everything from improv and sketch comedy to stage and film…..there is one constant. The actors’ preparation for a role.

Preparation includes the creation of a back story for the character, including their physical and emotional needs and obstacles, as well as their relationships with the other characters. In-depth character development is necessary for strong and truthful performances.

Stage plays offer the wonderful opportunity for solid rehearsals, on average five days a week for a month, and usually on the stage where the play will take place.

There is a shared discovery amongst your fellow cast mates during this process as you watch the story come to life week after week. And, there is a shared experience between the actors and the live audience during the performances.

Plays also take place in real time with a beginning, middle and end, as the scenes are done in sequence. This is beneficial to the actor because the previous scene gives them the necessary events to create the emotions required for the next scene.

Hence, the film acting difference. Actors do not have this advantage during a film shoot because films are shot out of sequence. This is for the purpose of time, location, and budget.

For instance, if you’re shooting numerous scenes throughout a film in a restaurant, production would schedule all those scenes back to back until every scene in the restaurant was shot.

That means the actor may shoot the last scene on the first day! They don’t have the advantage of relying on the previous scene for emotional impetus. On a film shoot, the previous scene must take place in the actors’ imagination. Being fully prepared allows the actor to tap into thoseemotions, giving way to an honest and truthful performance necessary for the present scene.

Both stage and film are wonderful mediums, but very different in many ways. Stage gives us something fresh and new with every performance.Film gives us movie magic. The wonder we experience when it all comes together during the final edit as we watch it on the big screen.

Bio:

Mimi Sagadin studied improv in Chicago during the 90’s at the Players Workshop of the Second City and performed children’s shows on the main stage at the infamous Second City. She co-founded the improv and the sketch troupe, Mission IMPROVable, a ‘clean comedy’ troupe that performed shows in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana for eight years. Mimi’s most treasured role was portraying the well-known Dutch hero of the Holocaust, Corrie Ten Boom. She was cast opposite Emmy-nominated John Rhys-Davies in “Return To The Hiding Place.”

mimisagadin@gmail.com

www.imdb.me/mimisagadin