When I arrived at my hair salon last Thursday, I was surprised to see the place invaded with lights and cameras. They were shooting an episode of M�tamorphose, a Montreal produced makeover type of tv show.
I am used to crews taking over when they film on location, so I wasn’t too excited about having them around . Let’s just say that with all the noise they made, they ruined my relaxing head massage experience. The whole thing was making the hairdressers a little more nervous than usual – even though they were trying to act cool and detached, it is a hip salon, after all – and people on the street would stop to look in, probably hoping to catch sight of a famous personality.
My hairdresser is a guy in his early twenties with a strong appreciation of male models (he often shows me the hottest shots from magazines), who watches tons of movies on video and a fair bit of tv. We started talking about M�tamorphose and he said that he was surprised to see how fake the whole thing is. They had forced the featured hairdresser to say lines like « how do you like it? » while turning the chair to reveal the new haircut to the woman getting the makeover. « I’m sure they don’t stage things like that in What not to Wear, it’s so much more natural », he said. Even though I admitted that the hosts tend to be a lot more « natural » on these big American productions, I know everybody is just faking it.
It still amazes me how television can be good at pretending to be natural and how most people won’t notice the difference between a true « cin�ma v�rit� » technique and a staged shot or a heavily edited sequence. Hell, even « cin�ma v�rit� », by the sole presence of the camera, interfered with reality and influenced the course of events. Bring a camera somewhere and it becomes the focus of all the attention. People who are usually spontaneous start acting strange and self-consciousness kicks in big time.
My first tv job brought me both behind and in front of the camera (as a reporter and co-host). While it is still somewhat painful to see myself on tv, the first few times were by far the toughest. I thought I just needed to be myself to appear likeable and not phony. Ha! Was I wrong! My voice hardly registered in the microphone and I looked so serious I should have been reading the news (but only the bad ones). I sounded and looked like someone who wanted to excuse herself for being there. I had to learn to project my voice (like in theater, but only a bit less), I had to learn to smile even when it had no connection to what I was saying (just don’t smile too much) and I had to learn to stare at the camera as if it were some kind of lover I was trying to convince of something. All of this for a tv show about technology!
I felt ridiculous and very artificial at first, like the kind of girls I hated in high school. After the takes, I would ask: « Wasn’t this a bit much? ». The director answered: « No, that was it. You got it. » We would view the take together and I would be surprised to see how normal I sounded, even though I felt like I was doing too much during the shoot. The camera takes who you are and makes it very very flat and bland, while adding a few pounds in the process. You have to be yourself, yes, but also bigger, perkier and with a little more makeup, to be an interesting tv personality. I’m still not quite there and that’s why I tend to be happier behind the camera.
It is the biggest paradox about television but it’s true: it takes very good actors to make things look natural. Most tv show hosts that you see and appreciate have a bit of that actor in them, which allows them to look friendly and close to the viewers. That’s why a lot of them are annoying in real life, where they can’t seem to get back to their non-performing selves…