Shooting at the beach

  

Venice beach



Shooting at the beach surely creates one of those magical, unforgettable experiences that simply make you feel great. I was a beach-water child my entire life and remember the joy I felt as soon as I'd smell the salty ocean, play in the waves and cuddle up in a big towel afterwards - one of my heavenly pleasures until this day.

I'm actually not sure if my feelings are sparked by my memories or because beaches actually are pure bliss. This question especially popped into my head when a friend of mine told me he has never seen an ocean until turning 18, and he even then didn't connect with it. I found that such a weird image that I must have stared at him with an open mouth for at least 10 minutes.

I guess it makes me feel close to god. The silence under water helps me focus on my self and shuts the world out. There's humbleness I feel imagining the endless depth of water in front of me, and peacefulness enters my body with the sound of those waves. It's a powerful peace.

You can imagine my bliss when I recently got notice one of my shootings was gonna take place at Venice beach (funny that I never came up with that perfect combination myself). The experience met my expectations and shooting the commercial was amazing: Completely relaxed and improvisational with fresh air rubbing my nose all day; sand under my feet. I was at total ease...



Director Matt Nothelfer & me on set

The project is based on people's passion to live their dreams- something that I really know well being a dreamer my entire life. Somehow reality or "settling on less" were never even an option for me and almost turns me into a crazy person seeking the impossible. I think I have to thank my mother for that. :)



God only knows what an inspiration she has been to me my entire life. I hope to become such a mother one day: Supporting everything my child wants and dreams about the way she did. That's the only way we'll always go for our dreams - even when the expectations seem too high.

And we will get there with humbleness and patience.

Jessica (1986)

Your

DreamerNista



Getting a grip on the "Come up"

Spending a noticeable amount of time on set of a major production last week was quite an experience and gave me a lot to think about… I gotta admit it's a true pleasure watching the stars act right in front of you. It really brought back my excitement that got me into acting in the first place.

I really enjoyed how serious the actors took their job, yet enjoyed being in the moment and having fun. There’s no pressure, no fame, or the scandal seeking press when it comes to the work on set. It’s not about an egotistical validation but about getting a grip on something to portray it- exactly what it should be.

Of course we all have seen great performances but seeing them live is an entirely different experience. The majority of it surely is simply hitting your marks, staying focused and knowing how a set works. But it stood out to me how minimal the actor’s effort seemed to be to achieve believable acting. Of course I've heard things like "Just be in the moment" or "You are enough" before - but what does that truly mean? I probably never understood it until last week...

Tired from 4:30 am call

The discovery is that acting truly means you simply should not act. If I'm entirely in the moment to put my own self to the situation, I'm the most natural. The irony is that it actually relaxes me, even makes it easier. That's what acting is: Naturalness in combination with true commitment to every single second of it. As soon as we start thinking, we hesitate - which manipulates the beauty of a true reaction. If we don't find the person in the script entirely in us, it will show on camera. Only to mention a few traps. Letting ourselves act how we would anyway avoids all of that. Casting should take care of finding the right actor for the part.

I've already experimented with reacting in my most authentic way for the past week and gotta say it feels real good! I discovered my rhythm is much slower yet intense than I used to think. Simply relaxing, reacting and watching what happens is already half the fun! The good thing about our profession is that we can practise it every day. :)

It surely is crazy that we even have to learn to be ourselves in any given moment, but that's truly what it is. It's the same with characters that are very different to us: Yes we’re supposed to be that different person, but it wouldn't be a believable person if it wasn't for our personal relationship to it.

Can't show pics from set unfortunately, but this is the beautiful sunset.

It has been funny to me that some non-actors come off better than actors sometimes and I've been thinking about that. What I came up with is they either don't have a tendency to over think (can also be caused by too much training) or simply have no fear of reacting naturally. So… Let's all ground ourselves to find the truth about how we would truly react. It’s quite an adventure; but feels great!!

Yours HollywoodNista