Rehearsing actors

Hi, I posted a longer post under the "Directing" category, but hoped for more responses. I understand, for everything, the answer is "whatever it takes to get to your vision", but I'm hoping for something a bit more concrete to work from. So, to the directors out there, how do you handle rehearsal? I'm wondering about:

-How much / what method of script analysis might you use to prepare for rehearsal? What rehearsal goals do you have ahead of time?
-What order of 'things' do you do in rehearsal? How much time do you spend discussing the script? Is it horrendous to run through each scene again and again, while trying different things, or will this bore the actor?
-Your best tips!

Thanks everyone.
 
How much / what method of script analysis might you use to prepare for rehearsal?

How much depends on the script. Do you understand the script? Do you have any questions? If so, continue reading, researching and talking with the writer.

There is a big difference between character driven stories and plot driven stories. You'll need to work more with the actors, with deeper characters. It'll also depend on the quality of your actors, where you are as a director and where everyone needs to be for the production.

What rehearsal goals do you have ahead of time?

Once again, it depends on the script and who you're working with.

Directing and acting are very people orientated jobs. Relying upon one rigid process can make you unable to work with particular people.

My goals tend to be to establish trust (both ways), get everyone on the same page, if need be (and time permits) experiment to enhance the characters and/or story. Lay out and practice blocking. The goal is to get the best result you can possibly get with the allocated resources.

What order of 'things' do you do in rehearsal?

This is really a "How long is a piece of string" question. There are so many variables. Budget and time restraints are just some of those.

How much time do you spend discussing the script?

How much time do you have? You cannot go over that amount of time. Do you need more questions answered? No need to continue. It will really depend on the script. A short film is going to be different from a feature film. A deep, multi-layered script with lots of subtext are going to require more discussion than say a no budget, 2 dimensional action flick.

Is it horrendous to run through each scene again and again, while trying different things, or will this bore the actor?

Depends on the context. Is this for your benefit or your actors benefit? If it's for your benefit, it'll probably annoy your talent. You may come across as someone who doesn't know what they want. You know, one of those people without a vision.

If it's because your actors want to experiment, go wild. You may get some great surprises come from it. Once again, it'll depend on the resources available.

Your best tips

Know your stuff. Be adaptable. Be professional. Be prepared (though it doesn't always work out how you want, so you need to know your stuff as well as you can)

Take for instance, last night, I had a shoot pretty much go pear shaped... in this case, pear shaped is a bad thing. About 2 or 3 shots in, the person who was the director of this 3 hour action shoot with stunts, turns to me and says, "I'm not a director. You are. You do it". At that point in time, I was cursing myself, "I really should have paid more attention to what the plan was." I had never directed a stunt shoot before, and here I was, no shot list, no real idea what we were shooting, short on crew, unfamiliar with all the cast and crew except for one actor and less than 3 hours to go. Ideal right? The only option I saw was to ask direct questions and move as fast as possible. With most of the rough cut complete today, it's worse than I hoped, but better than the disaster I expected. Running short on time, I missed a lot of coverage I wanted (that will hurt), and some stunts the producer had hoped to capture. It was still fun and a good experience.

Sometimes you just have to make do with what you have a figure it out.

I'm sorry but these answers probably aren't the answers you're looking for. There's a lot more to do with directing than picking a particular process to use. As I said on that other thread, you do need to find what works best for you.
 
-How much / what method of script analysis might you use to prepare for rehearsal? What rehearsal goals do you have ahead of time?
-What order of 'things' do you do in rehearsal? How much time do you spend discussing the script? Is it horrendous to run through each scene again and again, while trying different things, or will this bore the actor?
-Your best tips!

Thanks everyone.

Whose script is it? If it's your script, then... I mean you can go ahead and analyse it all you want, but if it's your script, then you know the story you want to tell, right? So discuss until you know that the actors are on the same page as you on their characters. They might even add their own personalities to the characters you wrote, and that's sometimes even better.

And if it's not your script, then write your own shooting script version, so that you can at least make it your own, in your head. So that way, a whole lot more analysis may not be necessary, as you already understand the story inside out.

My rehearsal goal is to figure out if the character motivations discussed earlier is translated in the acting, and if I don't see it, then I mention what I think should change. I had a camera with me during the last rehearsals, and I showed the actors what they were doing, and what part I would ideally like them to change.

There are different kinds of actors (and directors and crew members). Try to pick ones you can easily get along with and not easily offended. It makes for an easier and fun time :). Because at some point, you have to not take your cue on rehearsals and performances from other people. You have to make sure that YOU like it. Otherwise you will be always trying to make sure that everybody else likes it, and that's a waste of time. Everybody else doesn't count. It's YOUR movie. You're making it for reasons unknown to me, but very well understood by you. So own the movie. Own the performance to the point, that you know in your gut, when it's not what you want, until you like what you see.

Cheers :)
 
I had a camera with me during the last rehearsals, and I showed the actors what they were doing, and what part I would ideally like them to change.
Interesting, I read somewhere not to do this, that it feeds the actors' insecurities and they begin to judge their own performance and direct themselves, and no longer can stay inside the character's thoughts/experiences.
Maybe it's worth a shot, though. Thanks.
 
What does it mean to establish trust, and how do you do it?

It's kind of an odd question, but I'll do my best to answer it.

The actors need to be able to trust that you have their best intentions at heart. They need to be relaxed. They need to feel comfortable that they can fail and you'll catch (direct) them to a great performance. Sometimes the talent need to experiment in an attempt to get the performance you need.

You need to be able to trust that the talent have your films best intentions at heart, after all, this film is your baby. You need to feel that the talent will trust your judgement, that the adjustments you request are required, no matter how strange, odd or unnatural it feels.

A lot of this won't happen if there isn't trust. The trust has to be both ways.

How to establish trust. That's a good question. It'll depend on who you are and who your talent are. Quickly establishing trust isn't easy. You may be a natural at it or it may take you a long time to learn. It could be somewhere in the middle.

A lot of it is communication. Clear communication. In the form that both sides can understand.

Corporates spend lots of money on trust and teamwork retreats. It may be worth considering going to one if you get the opportunity.

I read somewhere not to do this, that it feeds the actors' insecurities and they begin to judge their own performance and direct themselves, and no longer can stay inside the character's thoughts/experiences.

Everything depends on the people involved and how it's handled.

While it's slightly different, when it comes to positioning on the screen, sometimes its just simpler to turn the directors monitor so the actor can see it so speed up the correction process if they're not quite "getting" your adjustment instructions.

Trust can also help with their insecurities.
 
What does it mean to establish trust, and how do you do it?

If you know what you're doing, and more importantly, if the people working with you feel/believe that you know what you're doing, trust in you will follow. If you pay people, you don't need their trust. I'll do your bidding, because you're paying me. If you don't pay me, I need to know that giving you my time for free will be worth it in some way shape or form. And then I'll have to trust in your abilities.

Interesting, I read somewhere not to do this, that it feeds the actors' insecurities and they begin to judge their own performance and direct themselves, and no longer can stay inside the character's thoughts/experiences.
Maybe it's worth a shot, though. Thanks.

As Sweetie said, everything depends on how it's handled. From my experience, I find it to be an extremely useful tool. Actors sometimes cannot visualize exactly what they're doing. So when you show them what they're doing, they might decide, it's just right, or they might decide that they want something else. But I find it to be extremely effective. Also, actors are pretty hard on themselves too, the good ones. I might say "Oh that was great," and they'll say "really? you liked that? I wanna do another one." (those are my favorite actors by the way :) )

And also, many actors and crew members, like yourself, will have their own ideas based on experience, or reading books, or sites like this one. But if they feel you know what you're doing, then for the moment that they're with you, they'll forego some of their thoughts and follow you. Directing is a people skill game. Rehearsing is about making sure that everybody is on the same page as you, before the day of the shoot. Rehearsing is also an opportunity for you to check to see if the lines on the page work when spoken by an actual person in the way you want it to. If it doesn't, then it's an opportunity to make corrections before the shoot.
 
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