Saturday, July 2, 2011

Bit Player

Jimmy Stewart TV ShotHe works nights at Colorization Inc., painting the faces of actors long dead. The supervisor praises his work, but is concerned about his low frame counts.
     “Don’t spend so much time on the details,” she says, grabbing his mouse. “Concentrate on the big changes between frames.”
     But still he lingers, worried for the extras that never made it onto the tracking sheet. The handbook tells him not to paint their eyes, but he does. For what is a film without the bit players to hold things together, adding some colour at minimum wage, while the stars take all the credit?

Photo by Walker Dukes on Flickr

12 comments:

  1. hey roy..this is way cool...the painting of the faces of actors long dead..the getting lost because he thinks it is important...and probably it is.. ugh..i always have problems with the details...tend to be so impatient, always try to get the big picture and i adore people who see what others overlook..

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  2. amen. what is life without the 99% to do the bidding of the 1...ok so i took it from screen to political but...nice write..

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  3. The handbook tells him not to paint their eyes, but he does. For what is a film without the bit players to hold things together, adding some colour at minimum wage, while the stars take all the credit?



    this is very mind blowing, I like the way you convey your perception of colors in making films, the whole piece flows naturally like waterfall, it is a perfect and beautiful read.

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  4. Roy, there are so many amazing nuggets in this. Your work and blog fascinate me. I hope to see more of you.

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  5. Aren't we all bit players in the movie?
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  6. "But still he lingers, worried for the extras that never made it onto the tracking sheet. The handbook tells him not to paint their eyes, but he does."

    This is just so profound...pulls me in ~ Love it.

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  7. Fascinating...
    What's life without the Inbetweeners?

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  8. This is very thought-provoking. I especially like "But still he lingers, worried for the extras that never made it onto the tracking sheet.

    Leslie
    abcw team

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