It is time to get struck. This is the Electric Secrets variety podcast.

All of us, especially artists, have little random moments and bits of wisdom that strike us as genuine and authentic. And that stuff sticks with us our whole lives. We use these moments and lessons to help us in our chosen craft, whether we're having a creative block or we need something to validate a creative choice. And that's what this segment is about.

Each episode is an unfiltered discussion about something that struck us artistically, burrowed its way into our souls and lives there even now. From the Bucyrus Tap House in Bucyrus, Ohio, this is Struck to the Soul, with me, Scott Leon Smith, your host, and my marketing guru, Abbey Kanellakis. We sincerely hope you enjoy listening to us yak about stuff. So here we go.

Okay, so I am all about the little things that I saw when I was a kid in the movies or heard in music that just amped me up out of nowhere. And it made me want to go play outside, or maybe want to draw something, or maybe want to punch my pillows or use my pillows against my cousins and smack them upside their head with them. And I just want to talk about those little things, those little physical things in movies that actors do that cause you to get up and run around the house.

Just movies?

Yeah, just movies, just movies.

I mean, we might get into something else, but the impetus for it is Harrison Ford's song,

especially from Wagonville Lost Ark. The Big Chasing which is the best chase ever filmed. They are in the desert, chasing the art on the truck with the Nazis, and he's driving, and they shoot him in the arm, and they kick him, and they go under the truck with the whip. He finally comes back, and he gets in the cab with the Nazi and grabs him by his head. He's got to snarl on his face. Every time I see him, I’m like “get him, get him!”

Boom, boom, boom.

He throws him out the window, and it's just like that snarl makes my, and you see him. Harrison Ford do it in a lot. It's not like he did in Raiders, but he's got that signature look on his face, that look of rage and contempt at the same time that I am about to whoop your ass. It's coming.

Yes, exactly. You knew it was coming. You know it every time. And it's no matter how many times I see that movie, every time I see that snarl.

It's like a buddy of mine. The same thing happens to him when the Emperor is torturing Luke Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi with the lightning and you're watching when they re-release them in theaters in the early 2000s when we saw him in the college. I remember sitting next to them in the theater, and the moment comes when the Emperor's got a new name and Vader comes up behind him and picks him up. Right?

My friend visibly goes, yes!

It's like how many times have we both seen this movie? And it's still ill. And it's just like what is that?

What is it about those moments that, I mean, just grab you and make you want to, you know, make you want to fight somebody.

Right?

It really does happen to the human psyche of like building up to a climax. So you are watching those movies. You are going through, you notice that almost every single one of these examples so far, you're into the movie already.

Oh yeah.

So you've lived this journey with this character, and so you've gone through, you're in the emotional ringer as well.

Yes.

And now it's just all polemenates, whether it's a snarl, whether it's a … 

So you're saying it's a cute catharsis?

Could we call it acute catharsis?

Acute.

Copyright. Scott Smith. Acute catharsis. I made it up.

That's a verbal copyright you can't do.

And it's being grabbed like that. We all know what catharsis is, and we all know that that's what drama's supposed to do. But it's just like being so invested and so focused in on what's happening. That there's that moment to just grab your heart and propels you into the mind of the character.

Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

I go through a lot of that with horror movies.

Mm-hmm.

It's the, you know, the kids get off on it now because they call it jump scares. But it's like you are so absorbed, almost leaning into the television as you are watching this. And then all of a sudden, you know it's coming.

Yeah. But it's just like whoa, the adrenaline of it. And you're all of your muscles, tense from your head to your neck to your shoulders and you're like, WOAH! We might need to do this as a video podcast.

Oh yeah.

So what can you give me an example of something like in a movie?

Okay. So this one just came into my head. But looking at The Conjuring series or whatever, but you look at The Nun and… I don't know why, but here recently. I've watched, for about two years or whatever. I've watched those movies back and forth, and then the chronological order, and then you can do it based on timeline, and there's this underworld. But especially with The Nun. Like there's something about walking down a dark corridor. You see her. She's there. It's something of a thing or whatever. But opening of the mouth, the penetrating glance, like all of a sudden it's right there in your face, and the director nailed it when they articulated that in film.

So that's what I learned.

I mention this because I love it when I find those things in my own work.

Yeah.

So I'm working on this testimonial video for a client. And going through all these testimonials, and they're long, and I'm kind of chopping them up so they all fit in 30 seconds. But I'm finding I had something from everybody, and then a little bit at the end from each person. And this one young woman talking about our client just used the word electrifying. Electifying. And her face just lit up. And the question that was asked her, can you think of two words to describe John? And the first one was electrifying. And the way her face lit up is like that's the money right there. 

That's not the money shot. You were going to say it. I just said I finished it.

Well, you didn't have to say it. But you know it's that moment where you recognize and as an artist you're like okay I'm creating something. There it is. That's the thing that's going to grab somebody. And I know it, I recognize it, and I'm going to use it to its full extent.

Rather than trying to put something together.

You know you put your… That's really putting your soul into it because if you're so obsessed with doing something perfectly or doing the best thing you possibly can do, or to impress somebody, you miss those wonderful little moments that really grab a push. 

And I think so many people don't have the vision of what you are seeing because it's one thing to watch somebody read lines from a script as if whole other one to have someone deliver them or to have someone show what they're saying in their face. To have that almost angelic glow about almost like a hole. And yeah, I think you have an eye for that. And so it really helps you look at what you do when you're day-to-day from a deeper level and makes you effective in your communication strategies.

That was not a plug. That was not a plug.

I'm directing a show coming out.

You're looking for those moments. But it makes you a better artist.

When you see those moments, and you're not trying to recreate them in your work. You can tell an actor I'm looking for Harrison Ford in this moment. 

And they'll do a snarl.

And they’ll do an impression. But it's not going to be real. It's not going to be natural. You let them find their way to those moments.

Right but you can use that still as a part of preparing for a role. But you're not just trying to replicate the snarl. You're trying to replicate what that snarl means and what it's embodying within that person. There are so many times when I'm going about life. Like not even on a stage or anything like that. But it's like I do a move or like I have a facial expression. I can't see myself. I know that I look like this in this moment. And I love using those moments. I also think of The Devil Wears Prada. You know, Meryl Streep. And I have a lot of moments that are “Meyrl Streep Moments.” Where I know I’m doing it. I’m doing the eye roll and I feel like everyone can see it and be like this is what she's doing. But they can't because I'm also intrinsically taking it all by myself. And making it my own and that process.

And it's great that you bring that up because I'm sorry. I don't want to seem like I'm waiting for my turn to talk. But it reminded me that your Meryl Streep moment reminded me of my Meryl Streep moment. In the Deer Hunter.

Have you seen the Deer Hunter?

I have Not.

Watch the Deer Hunter.

It's brutal.

A movie about Vietnam. A Bunch of friends from a Pennsylvania steel town go to Vietnam, and they come back. But she plays Christopher Walken's girlfriend.

I love Walken.

And he gets sucked into Vietnam. Doesn't come back. Nobody knows where he is. And they're having this coming home party for Robert De Niro. And he's trying to avoid the party. He doesn't know how to face everybody. And Meryl Streep is preparing everything for the party. She's talking to all these people. And she plays this character that's very vulnerable. She's got an abusive father. And she's preparing something like a bottle of water in her candle. And she gets this look that crosses her face for just a second. Her face doesn't even move. She looks on her face like she's terrified of what is going to happen when he walks through that door. Because she's kind of in love with him, too. He is a friend. But the camera lingers on her for just a second. And to someone who's not an artist, they'll look at that and go, okay, what was that?

Right.

But for Brian De Homa, the director, not Brian De Homa, it was Samina, Michael Samina. He saw it. And saw something going on in her head that was showing on her face. And she wasn't even trying. It wasn't acting. It was her playing the character's anxiety. But not trying to make her face look like it was doing it. And it created that moment that she goes, oh my gosh, she's terrified of it. 

Meryl Streep has so many of those moments across so many, like, say what you love about her. Whether it's, you know, she's been in so much. She's kind of a sellout. I mean, a lot of people have said a lot of things. Well, it's only because they don't know what they're talking about. 

It's exactly. Her caliber of acting goes beyond. And she can do stuff like Mamma Mia!.

Exactly.

She’s paid her damn dues ten times over. She can do Mamma Mia!

But even in that, she just, she delivers so well. We're now the hokey and, you know, everything that you may like about or hate about ABBA, but it's just that she transforms it and she makes her hers. Everything she touches, she brings from a genuine place where she owns it. And then it becomes her.

Yep.

Have you seen Angels in America. 

I've seen pieces of that one.

Where she plays the rabbi?

Yes.

Yeah.

She's absolutely incredible.

She transforms her.

What's that other one with Doubt?

With Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Oh, yes, yes, yes.

That one, I wasn't expecting to get into her character as much as I was. But, oh, you know, Phillip Seymour Hoffman too.  Speaking of geniuses.

Yeah.

The man, like, I can't even put in the words like some of those facial expressions. They're iconic.

Oh, God. Boogie Nights. Yes. When he goes after… It sits in his car. I cry. I cry. I cry. You've had those moments. Yes.

Have you ever been in the middle of one of those moments where you're making an idiot of yourself? And you're, like, reminded of what you look like through cinema?

Yep. Yep. Yep.

Love this place. So, you haven't explained it.

We're over at the Tap House.

Oh, that's right. All that noise you've been listening to for about 14 minutes is the Bucyrus Tap House. And we don't have the copyright to any of these songs that you're listening to.

Nope, none.

We're not selling it.

We're not.

We're not selling the recordings at all.

All right. Now back to the snarl. I wanted to… So that there's a through line to this podcast.

Oh, fair enough. Fair enough.

So, bear with me. There's a… An old Negro League baseball player.

Right.

Who talks about the three sounds, the three perfects, home run, bat sounds. So, the first time you heard it was Babe Ruth. The second time you heard it was Jackie Robinson. And the third time was Bo Jackson.

Okay.

So, we had these three, the perfect hits.

Yeah.

So, I've got two perfect snarls.

I'm waiting on the third one.

We had Harrison Ford, Raiders of the Lost Ark. And I'm amazed that I will admit, especially during the time I saw this film, because I was very much put off by digital effects, especially in terms of making a human face into something else or aging it, or to the aging. Things like that. You know that I was late to the Marvel party. But I got on board. And that moment in the Avengers, when Bruce Banner shows up in the middle of the carnage. And he's walking toward the big alien thing coming at him, and the chef says, you may want to get angry. You know, then he says, that's my secret cap, I'm always angry. And then he turns and he turns into the Hulk as he's snarling. And I'm just like, okay, I will give these movies another chance. 

That one worked. 

Because it spoke to me. And he's like, I'm always angry because I've always had temper problems and things like that. I've always had temper problems. But I mean, yeah, I mean, I loved Lou Ferrigno and the Hulk growing up. Right. I mean, my dad would always watch the Hulk, and I'd watch it with him. And just I'd always loved that character because of the way, and guys who have temper problems love Hulk, you know. And it's just like because he's been embodying that of, you know, trying to control your anger.

And that line to my secret cap, I'm always angry.

Yes.

And then this mural has like, any punches that thing? I was like, that was another ball in my back. Not as much as Indiana Jones.

Right.

But I went, oh, yeah. Yeah. It's the same type of galvanized feeling that I got watching Indiana Jones. It was a different feeling. I was older. I was cynical. And I went. You know what? Maybe there's something to this, and I'll check these movies out.

Honestly, though, I think that's completely valid. When you watch a movie, like, whether it's Star Wars or Indiana Jones, you know, you're watching the, we are of an age where when they came out, we were much younger, right?

So you didn't have a lifetime of experience. And you really need that experience in order to go back and re-appreciate so many of these things are the movies that you grew up with that are iconic for one reason or another. But you have to look at them through a lens of a deeper appreciation when you're older, because then you can truly see the what the actor’s putting into it. You can truly embody and internalize what they're trying to say to you. And it hits you on a whole different level, a whole new, mature level.

Yes.

I think that's really important to talk about, because yes, the snarl is going to be effective when you are, you know, 12 or 15 or whatever, but it's going to hit a whole lot different when you're 30, 40, whatever.

I'm being, you know, someone who loves studying film and studying theater and things like that. You lose part of that feeling of that moment because now you're thinking about, like, my God look at that shot, look at the stunts, look at the music, John Williams's score for that chase sequence is incredible.

He's like, how everything works together, you're thinking of it like an artist will think of how things are working together. You kind of lose that visceral feeling because you're being academic.

You do, and you did just hit a blog post on this with Jaws. And it was a really cool blog post, especially for the 50th anniversary of the movie.

Are you promoting something?

I am not doing shit.

But you do have these really great blog posts. Let me tell you what.

Subtle.

Yeah. Check them out, monstervox.com.

But what was cool about that one on a few different levels is you got the, I just watched Jaws for the first time when I was younger, or maybe as a, you know, my, as someone who maybe introduced their children to Jaws and now they're afraid to go swimming in the swimming pool. Which is amazing. It's an amazing testament to the effect.

From the time that movie was released and I think I mentioned it in a parenthetical, which means Saturday Night Live made fun of it. Right. It made this whole puppet, the land shark puppet. Because, you know, because the Jaws, the mechanical shark. And it was just like, oh, that's not fair. The shark works really well. And it's awesome to see that it still does with the kids.

And I've seen that a lot in talking about it.

Okay. So maybe not, not the swimming pool was where you can see the bottom because of all the chlorine, but definitely in Lake Erie, you know, they make their sharks in there. Why did they not?

But looking at it from a more mature lens and someone who studies things like videography, did you know that Jaws was the first time that Spielberg or anybody ever used RAC focus? Now do you know what that is?

RAC focus. RAC. RAC focus.

I do not know what that is.

RAC is a an effect that is created when you focus on the subject, and then you are able to expand and zoom out at the same time.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

And that was the first time it was ever used. And it was to create the suspense of like, suspended reality.

Yeah.

And it changed film because that one technique is now used.

I watch movies all the time. Like RAC focus, RAC focus, RAC focus.

Now that is kind of an offshoot of what Hitchcock did, right? In like Vertigo and things like that. It is a different, like, okay, now I recognize.

Because I knew it was different in Jaws. Very different. It was sort of Hitchcock. But not quite.

And, you know, looking at Jaws through that lens of some of the ground beef, whether it is, you know, the products or the cinematography or, you know, some, you are going to need a bigger boat. Yeah. You know, but, you know, those moments that really just stick to you much like the snarl, you can pinpoint those from anywhere.

And Spielberg did that the best capturing actors in really convincing natural domestic communicative moments. I mean, you watch Jaws from the very first scene with Jaws, who wrote it in his family. And she's like, that's my family. And they're talking over each other.

One thing, he's talking about the phone while she's talking to the kid who hurt himself on this way. And, you know, it's a natural family scene.

It's a moment.

And I think that's really important with everything that you're talking about here today is, it's all over the moment. One moment can change everything.

Yeah. And one moment can draw you home so quickly. And so, um, powerfully, and viscerally, and that you can't let those moments get away. You have to be, not ready for them, but know when they happen, you know how to grab them. And your art will be better for it than if you're continually preoccupied about getting the perfect shot or getting the perfect delivery of a line from your actor or delivering a line perfectly.

Yes.

Well, we will end it with this.

Oh, but I got so much more to say.

Oh, well, we, we, we have the same for another episode.

But here's the thing. I got disappointed with this stuff too. You're talking about kids and the way kids react to movies. And with maturity, you're looking at it through a different lens. The last two times, I'm ashamed to admit this, but I'm not surprised to admit this. The last two times I've watched The Goonies. I've gotten a headache because I'm an adult now. And I'm like, when will those kids shut up? They're always screaming.

Now, when I was a kid in the theater, what do you say in the world?

You love Chunck. You love, you love, you love. Hey, I got a naked picture of your mom, Chunck.

What? Look on his face too. He had great, very natural. 

Beyond his, time.

Beyond his years as an actor. He wasn't putting, he wasn't mugging. He wasn't holding anything on. He was chunk. He was a character.

He was a hero, at the end. But yeah, I mean, I'm just so disappointed. Like, can I watch this again?

Right.

Can I ever watch this, am I always going to get a headache? Listening to the kids hate each other.

Here's the plan. You take pre-emptive Advil, and then you turn it on.

Or cannabis.

Or cannabis. Always important. But you've got to go in prepared. Knowing what to expect. But no, I think you're right on. I think there are so many moments in cinema, particularly where it just, in the world, it just, and that's why it's so popular and that's why it continues to this day because they resonate so deeply.

Some people only watch a movie for a moment. And they will sit through 90 minutes for 30 seconds of gratification because they're waiting for that moment. That's all. And then it's the release. Well, I know this. What's your favorite? Your favorite? It doesn't have to be anything that, like we were talking about, like galvanizes you. That favorite moment that just makes you.

Oh, oh, gosh. It's almost like music to me. I can't, it depends on the mood, but you know what I mean. Like I can't choose a moment because right now I'm thinking of the Breakfast Club.

Okay.

You know, and honestly, I'm thinking of the iconic scene. I mean, because I'm a little bit of a rebellious type myself. And things that I've been doing today have been more rebellious and more kind of scrappy. And I'm seeing it as like, vindication. So I'm identifying the Breakfast Club right now where he has his fist in the air. And you know, and to me it's lethargic. It's just...

I've always loved… I've always thought of that moment as he's scoring a touchdown on his own terms. Just like, I, you know, this isn't football. This is my life and I won.

This is my best job.

I won.

Yeah.

In my own way.

Yes.

I lost some stuff, but I won. So I crossed that goal line, but this is, you know, I define the goal line. I define the playing field.

Casa Blanca. It always gets me. When it's the play it again, which is never really said in the movie, where she asked Sam to play the song. It says play it Sam. And it's one of the most perfect cuts in movie history. As soon as he starts playing the song, you see this look on the face. Where everything comes flooding back. All the memories of them in Paris and everything. You just see it on her face. It's just absolutely the way she's lit.

Yeah.

It's just, it's so hard just to cut her face the way she's lit. Her eyes are just like, you immediately fall in love with her. And you immediately, not only do you immediately fall in love with her, you immediately empathize.

Yeah.

You know that there's something going on. You don't know exactly what it is yet. But you know that… She suffered someone hurt her.

Yes, exactly.

Someone hurt you, Darling. You're going to go to the depths of that well.

Speaking of her, we've got to stop. And that hurts.

That hurts.

I know it hurts you more than it hurts us.

Thanks for listening, everybody.

We always encourage our listeners to have conversations like this about creativity,

creative life, and the artistic things that make you who you are.

Be sure to check out the other segments in the Electric Secrets Variety podcast.

You can find more about those in the Brain Candy menu at the top of our home page, MonsterVoxProductions.com.

Until next time, for Abbey Kanellakis. I'm Scott Leon Smith. Give some love to your soul. You never know when it's going to get struck.

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