The Day I Understood Directing

M

MacV

I think my most important job as a director, is to try to inspire my actors. I communicate to my actors that I will give clear direction, but how they interpret that direction is up to them. They own the characters and the freedom to creatively make choices. The only goal is honest performances. Honesty, I believe is the best improv device. Honesty triggers small, unplanned emotional events that read like bombshells on screen. Those are the gems that are worth mining.

I remember the first time I felt like I truly understood directing, it was actually my birthday a month ago. I was filming the day before my birthday and it dragged on for so long, we shot well into the next morning. I was frazzled by the chaos of the set, and a little disappointed. I didn't feel like I had gotten the performances I needed. There was no one take that stood out to me.

I had been reading Directing Actors by Judith Weston all year, gearing up for this film. The book is an AMAZING read. I was completely inspired by what I was reading, everything made sense to me. It's 25 bucks, I recommend it. If you have read the book and you probably already think I sound a lot like her, its because she has heavily influenced my directing technique. I reread the book about four times over the summer trying to soak up as much as I could. And when it came time to casting and rehearsing, I tried to apply as much as I could. I gave my actors freedom, we made choices on intent instead of line inflection, we rehearsed like crazy.

But here I was, going home excited (on four redbulls) to see the dailies, but with a bad feeling I couldn't shake. If I got anything amazing, I sure as shit didn't see it on set. I uploaded the dailies nervously with my editor, at 8 am on a Monday before a midterm on my 20th birthday. And after 40 minutes of raw footage, I hadn't laughed so hard, and felt so good, in a long time. It was all I needed to know that we nailed it.

I was right, I did not see this on set. While I was so pre-occupied with blocking extras, fidgeting with lights, and feeling generally overwhelmed, I didn't really catch those unplanned nuggets of performance. No take was perfect, but almost every other take had a small quirk, a completely spontaneous line or emotional event, that sold the character. I shot enough coverage that I could take small parts and pieces of takes and stitch them together into a scene that was alive and real. I finally understood; I had tangibly connected Judith Weston's philosophies to real results.

There are some techniques I want to try out in my next project. Instead of giving action verbs, I want to allow my actors into the process creating action verbs and imagining the different ways a scene could play out. Alexjandra wrote a reply in this post that was really good. I want to ask my actors questions, "What is your first impression of how you would play this line. Ok now, lets think of 2 other action verbs." I want to get my actors actively involved in creating their performance, and I can try to guide them to the best outcome.

FOCUS: What are the biggest lessons you've learned through filming? What has been your biggest influence shaping your development as a director/filmmaker?
 
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I was recently in a play at my University, and I will vouch for this method. We were doing The Visit (a dark tragi-comedy written in the 50s), and our director simply rocked the house. When we were all starting out, people came late to rehearsals, didn't even try, left early etc. A few weeks on stage, and our director straightened us out. Eventually we were spouting out performances we didn't know we had in us, and we gladly came to rehearsals. It is because of this flexibility you speak of. We each brought in our little ideas, and our views of the character onto the stage. I personally think the performance came out phenomenal, and the audience really liked it.

I can't wait to see whatever it is you shot MacV! :)
 
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Congrats on understand directing so early in your career. I’m
envious.

I’ve directed theater all over the country (from high school,
community theater, to national tours), directed over 30 music
videos, over a dozen features and I still don’t understand
directing.

Maybe I should read that book...
 
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My biggest lessons from the set have been from working with non-actors. Keeping the stress level low for the actors is the biggest job of the director. Stressed actors will play nervously and forget lines, act (the bad kind) obviously instead of honestly... etc.

I never say action, I use the Clint Eastwood "whenever you're ready". I have footage of a guest director on a student short who has some TV Production background doing the loud countdown and yelling "ACTION!". You can watch the inexperience actors tense up as he approaches action. The performances left something to be desired as the actors spent lots of their time getting over that stress rather than dealing with the needs of the script (quite indy, needed 5-6 more edits to be remotely acceptable).

You are management on the set, your job is to make sure all the departments ( even if they are embodied in the same people) have what they need. The actors need calm in which to do their work... the set is not a calm place, it's your job to keep those stresses away from them.
 
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I really like that, "Whenever you are ready." I remember watching behind the scenes feature of I the Valley of Elah, and there was this very personal scene where Charlize Theron breaks down when she sees this dead girl in a tub. They showed the outtakes for this scene and Charlize is crying and crying and it's very impressive. The director (Paul Haggis), doesn't yell cut. Instead, you see him glide to Charlize silently from the background, lean down and whisper quietly in her ear, quickly step out of the room, and the next take commences.

They say acting rests on the actor's ability to let go of the fact that he is being viewed and judged. He must forget that he is being watched and must focus solely on the situation and the other actor. This is why keeping a quiet non-distracting set would help the actors in this exercise of concentration.
 
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I can honestly say that having been doing more acting lately I feel like I'm becoming much better equipped to direct. The director should really have a decent handle on how to do most of the jobs on set -- not necessarily be GOOD at them, but understand what's necessary to get the job(s) done.. Having a bit of acting experience can only serve to make you a better director.

It's also important to realize that all actors approach their craft differently, so techniques that might work well with some may fail flat with others, so it's a good idea to be prepared and able to try multiple approaches when dealing with actors, particularly actors with whom you've never worked.

What I look for from a director is their idea of what it is I'm out to accomplish in a given scene, and in the event that I have screen (or stage) time that isn't centered around my character, if there is anything in particular that I should or should not be busying myself with; because I don't want to be standing around with nothing to do, nor do I want to be distracting to what's important at that particular time. This is something I've been dealing with in the play I'm currently in.. there are scenes with about 16 of us on stage in small groupings, and the focus moves around between groupings, but we have to be doing something while the focus is not on our group. In this instance it's pretty easily remedied, because most of the cast is kids and we wind up playing a game of "Paper, Rock, Scissors" to occupy our down-time.

And of course, the better quality people you surround yourself with (actors & crew) the easier the job is. :)
 
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The Day I Understood Cinematography

It is very good that you have come to and understanding with directing. The word its self still invokes fear into my heart, fear of failure. In the past few months of working on my film, and shooting my film I was never sure if I was doing the right thing. I have not read the directing actors book yet, but plan to, maybe that is why i do not understand. No one has yet to show me the way.

The thing that I did learn over two months of working on my film was how much at home I felt behind the camera. If I were to go a whole year with out being behind a camera and filming something, something in me would ultimately die.

It is my understanding that the directing position allows for more control over the film and even the cinematographers style. If I want to be a complete flim maker I guess I must mater the directing aspect.

Needless to say I have on this day(or maybe it was last week) I understand cinematography. As stupid as thinking about how a specific visual component has and effect on the narrative of a story, I think its not that bad. It can add to the story, and give a film a complete and polished look. A well composed shot can also make you subconsciously explode in your pants.
 
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TO add on what Will said. This is very true, if you start acting yourself, especially taking classes, or doing theatre, you become a MUCH better director. By understanding the techniques and methods other actors use, it is easier for the director to communicate with them. Because every actor use a different technique
 
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see this is why Im a terrible director..... well im not going to say terrible but when I use actors im never happy with the results.

My favorite work, and the only short that won an award was simply me and my friend who acted every part ourselves but i could act the parts because i could show the emotion and movements that I saw in my head.
Nobody else can seem to do that for me at this point but Im also not working with professional actors of any kind. Just fellow students :grumpy:

Ill just have to wait and see down the road if I can work with actors that share the same chemistry as me so I can balance the acting and my visions. But thats why I like this forum, reading and learning other techniques to calm down my actors instead of putting all the stress on them, like I do. BUT 25 dollars for a premiere account!!!!! come on guys im a broke ass college student......25 bucks is a case of beer for this weekend :D
 
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I'm about to direct my second film at the end of the month and fully realized that you must know acting to direct. The director should guide the actors and assist them to feeling free. I'm a little nervous about my next film, solely because I'm not going to have much time to rehearse. I get one table read and a day of blocking about a day before the shoot. I'm looking into other methods of rehearsing, such as iChat gatherings. I'm gonna check out the book. Great up, MacV.
 
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This is my first post folks so I hope I can add something to such a great thread and from what I've read (which is a lot) a very constructive, mature community.

I'm essentially an actor who had to direct a colleague in a show I was doing. To set the scene, the actor had been very ill and missed many hugely rewarding rehearsals. She hadn't attended a single rehearsal but the director, perhaps unwisely, refused to recast nor secure an understudy. He is a quirky director who comes out with terrific results and they seem to be born from making his actors feel awkward believe it or not.

Anyway, he was unable to rehearse anytime she was and, viewing me as a little prodigy of his, he asked me to direct several scenes. We hadn't blocked them because there was only two of us onstage for the entire thing. I'm studying acting at college and I write for screen but this was my first foray into direction of any kind. All I can say is, I have so much more respect for not just directors, but for 'real' actors also.

I take my acting seriously and this show was by no means an easy one (Equus anyone?), but in the four days prior to the rehearsal I entered into the directing world for the first time. It's fair to say that by no means was my work flawless and I'd be a fool to expect it would be. However, WHAT A RUSH! I felt a pride that equalled my pride at acting.

What did I learn and how is this relevent? Well I realised how difficult it is to try and let somebody, especially a slightly proud / egotistical / arty / <insert your feelings here> actor who isn't quite on the same level, to know what you envisage and think would benefit the overall piece. Therefore MacV's point that the most important part is motivating, inspiring notoriously difficult people (and we're not all like that folks), is bang on the money. I also felt that a director should never compromise his / her vision just to make their life easier and yet be open to the talent, ideas and craft of the actor... Haha, easy huh? ;)

My experience of directing a few little scenes in a show has now made me write a screenplay specifically to act in and direct it. Something I'd like to ask is if any of you have experienced acting and directing in the same screenplay and whether you felt the director / other actors relationship was a changed one because you were essentially both. I'm sorry that was a bit of a slog. Thank you for reading.
 
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I couldn't act to save my life, nor do I have any desire to direct (I guess that makes me unique). I'm a "sound guy" - I do audio post production. You know, the guy who cleans up the (usually horrible) production dialog, tries to help inexperienced talent deliver a believable ADR performance, puts in the Foley (footsteps, clothing, punches, body falls, etc.), sound FX (gun shots, car crashes, ambient atmosphere and the like), edits the score & the music and then mixes it all together into a cohesive whole. My job is to enhance the overall film experience sonically.

Many of my first time clients are surprised when I want to talk about the characters - their motivations, emotions and such - the places where they live and why scenes occur in the places that they do. These all have a bearing on the sound design. What truly amazes me is how many of them cannot answer those questions. What is even more amazing is that few of them can even answer the question "what is the film about?", especially when applied to dramas. That question always launches them into telling me the plot, which is not what I want. What I want is just a couple of words that boil a project down to its essence. As an example from a project on which I worked; the feature "Johnny Montana" was boiled down to "it's a film about making choices."

Why is this important to me? Every sound should mean something. I just don't want to cut in any footsteps. If the character is dejected perhaps I'll give her/his footsteps a slightly "dragging" sound. The character is poor? Maybe the car will have a roughly running engine. In "Johnny Montana" it just so happened that the protagonist went through a lot of doors, so when he made a good choice the closing door sound was light and when he made a bad choice the door sound was darker and heavier. No it wasn't blatant, just a subtle touch of which the audience isn't consciously aware but lends itself to the emotion of the moment. I also spent a lot of time on his motorcycle which was an extension of his character.

A film is a directors medium, and the director must be able to communicate his/her vision to every member of the project. What is so special about film is that, if you have chosen the right people and communicated your desires clearly, the cast and crew will step up and present you with things that will exceed your wildest expectations. The DP may come up with a wonderful shot not in the shooting script. An actor may come up with a quirk for a character. Your costumer may find an amazing dress. You get the idea.

So, to sum up, if you thoroughly prep your project, concisely communicate your vision and treat your talent and crew like the pros they (hopefully) are you will end up with something that you can be proud of.
 
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All these stories make me wonder if I'll ever get to direct anything.

Living out in the middle of nowhere and just struggling to get my damn green card together, it's kind of hard to get that whole directing thing going. I'm supposed to be moving this summer, hopefully, and it should be a major city wherever I actually wind up going.

Maybe, it'll be easier for me to start putting things together then.

Great, great story, in any case.
 
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That sounds really exciting what you wrote...I'm not sure whether I'll ever be a person who can say "I know how to direct", but I will definitely try reading that book by Judith Weston!

I only direct short movies for fun, but nevertheless I'm really interested in the business - hopefully this book helps me find my way.

anyway: Thanks for that interesting anecdote!
 
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