So I'm in Phase 2, which is scripting and recording and starting on the website...
...and I just did my first test recording. After tweaking it and having it in fairly servicable shape, I downloaded it onto my iPod...
As nice as my external mic is for Skype, it simply doesn't pass the test for the business. There's a lot of noise in the background and it occasionally sounds as if I'm at the bottom of a well. So either this means that I will have to invest in some studio time and/or a nicer, noise-reducing microphone.
Ick. Not what I had in mind. Then again, I never expected this process to be flawless. There were bound to problems that would arise and this wasn't one that I wasn't necessarily anticipating.
It's been a busy few weeks for me, which is abnormal, mostly involving acting and its related commitments.
Last week, on Tuesday and Wednesday I was an extra on a commercial shoot for Sun dishwasher soap - I worked 12 and 13 hours respectively, those two days. I've decided that any time I work on film stuff I will always bring my laptop with me, since I'll inevitably have a lot of downtime and thus time to work on my business.
Then on Sunday, I got paid quite a bit of money (around $1000) to sit around for some 12 hours, mostly. The money was intended as a buyout on my voice and face, but they decided that my accent wasn't British enough... Why they chose me in the first place knowing full well I'm American is a different question.
And thus my voice will not be used and I acted for all of 1 hour total, probably. But that had me stick around in case I was needed again. But I wasn't.
Thankfully, I brought along my Czech homework and my business work and other distractions. I ended up talking with the producers quite a bit - mostly about world affairs and not really about the production.
I'm moving flats again at the turn of the month - I would be prone to say finally, but I was never terribly aggressive in locating a new place and this one came about only because a friend of mine is moving in with her boyfriend, and I'm thus going to be taking her room.
I'll be in the States from the 14th of Dec through until the 3rd of January. The first two weeks, roughly, will be in Indiana and the last week in Minnesota. Book your Iain time now!
I don't know about you, but I feel as if an enormous cloud has lifted. Heh.
I thought I would stay up following the returns last night and it fell through. At 1:30 I took an hour and a half nap, before waking up for about 45 minutes. I then took another nap that lasted until daylight.
I'm gonna go take another nap.
I went to a house-warming party last night - it was a Czech student party, meaning a lot of young students sitting around. I was the only non-Czech in attendance and it was interesting.
They had a pumpkin and they started talking about carving a jack-o-lantern. It took them a few moments to realize there was an American in attendance, but once they did they latched onto me as the go-to jack-o-lantern guy.
So I made a jack-o-lantern last night. I also baked the pumpkin seeds which most everybody enjoyed. A little piece of home...
As I was walking back to my flat from the bus stop, I looked at the partially cloudy sky and the clouds had this color to them and I thought to myself, "It's going to snow tonight"...
It snowed for the first time last night. It's not very deep, but it's hanging around. Every form of pavement is clear without the use of plows or snowblowers.
I may be moving somewhere more central, thank goodness. I'll know by next week.
Well, I hypothetically have a part in the anti-smoking UK PSA I talked about in my last post.
It is not a part that would require me to smoke, so that alleviates the concern I had.
But I won't consider this part fully mine until I'm actually called in for a costume fitting. I've been unknowingly cut from productions before.
This one, assuming they do call me in for a costume fitting, would actually have me speaking... with a Bri'ish accent.