Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Acting Reference - Epic "Price is right" Win

This youtube clip of Taylor winning prizes is just fantastic. It has so many great reactions! Watch how he's nervous, unsure, happy, excited, in shock, etc. Watch the clip:



So first, he makes his introduction with his first bid for the scooter. He's anxious, doesn't waste a second to announce his price right after the other guy, then cheers himself on and ends with his arms up. What an introduction. That guys stands out for sure.

Now watch as he wins. The three contestants next to him all shoot around and look at him while he's still looking straight ahead. He has no clue, then does a double take and erupts in cheers.

He then runs up to the stage in a fantastic way, watch that little hop he does at the end. Awesome!

As he gets up there he announces that it's his birthday. Again, watch his mannerisms. He's clearly excited. :)

As the potential price rolls out, he can't believe it. Yes, he does lift his arms a lot, but the fact that gets on his knees is great.

Once they do the commercial for the price, watch the awesome frame entrance of Taylor. He's running towards the car and caressing his "precious".

Ok, now he has to work for it. Watch his hands, how he handles the pressure, the way he grabs his shirt, his pants, etc.

He looks nervously to the audience every now and then, fumbles with this hands, constantly shifts weight. scratches his legs, he just can't stay still. Until the host explains to him what he has to do. For a brief moment he doesn't move and tries to listen to the onslaught of verbal advice.

But of course, given the circumstances, the pressure, the attention span of a 19 year old, he wanders away and the host has to reign him in. It's so great to see how the host tries to explain hings and the kid's mind is already set on figuring out the prices. Watch as the host mentions the dollar bills or the car, how Taylor then exactly looks at those objects.

Even when he says "Six" it's not just him saying the number, there's a great little gesture he does while he says it.

Ahhh. but he was pretty off. Great camera work because you want to see the excitement or disappointed. And Taylor certainly looks a bit more serious here.

Less fidgety now, but still scratches his leg, still shifting weights though. Since he did a mistake he really wants the support from the audience, but they are just yelling. Even Taylor has to smile as he looks at them going "What?"

Now the second number. Again, he's not just saying the number and standing there. Oh no. First the trademark hand swing but then he looks away...

does a little hop and kneels down. If your shot assignment was "Guy guessing number and waits." and you'd do this I would kneel in front of you. :)

Again, great little gesture faced with the good news, then back to the twitchy nature trying to listen to the audience. So he then makes another choice and you know that he will do an arm gesture while saying the number, but as the tension gets bigger so does his gesture. And it's followed by another gesture towards the audience.

And lucky enough, he guesses the exact number and the reaction is AWESOME! Watch as he starts running around! That guy just cracks me up.

Now onto the last number. Yes, he still gestures as he says it, but it's much more contained, he's so excited/nervous, so much in fact that he gets on the ground and looks away. He's topping every anticipation.

And can you believe it, he was right. It's so great to see Drew Carry's reaction first and how happy he is, then Taylor.

But the awesomeness doesn't end there. Now onto the spinning wheel. And he can't just spin it, no, he jumps up and hangs on to it first. Awesome. Whatever a "normal" person would do, he just brings it up a notch. Watch as he gives a shout out to his family, that little kiss and the hair flick. Ahhh, hair flick. You never see that in CG. Anyway. As you can guess, he wins again. :)


By now you can imagine that he's going to win so big, it's just a joy to watch him top himself in terms of gestures and behavior. So remember the first spin? Well, he's topping it with the second one:

And yes, he wins again. Unbelievable. The reaction? Over the top again, even bigger than before with a spin on the floor. There is so much reference material for being happy/excited/in shock.

Now follows an awesome contrast. He's told he could win a huge flag, which is not really exciting and you can tell by Taylor's face that he's acting out the excitement, but even then, it's clear that he doesn't care about the flag. As they continue to explain the showcase, watch how he's suddenly still. Great moment of eye darts and him thinking. As they reveal "Boston" he does a great little gesture (and the hair flick of course):

So they explain the hotel and vacation details, more thinking on Taylor's part, and the prize? ANOTHER car. Taylor is exhausted by now that even this price is too much for him. No huge reaction, he's just anxious to keep going. The next bit is almost a Wallstreet hand sign type of thing. :)

And of course he wins. The reaction is not as big, but how can you after all that. :)

- found @ Dvorak

5 comments:

Alonso said...

Great Post! I love how he climbs up on to his brother(?) during the credits. I think he bangs his head on the mike accidentally at 6:40

Bernie Warman said...

I should quit animation and start going to TV shows...

minomiyabi (ミノミヤビ) said...

can't stop laughing - what a luck!

Dhar said...

Superb analysis. I learned tons, Thank you very, very much.

Jean-Denis Haas said...

No problem Dhar, glad it helps!