How to direct actors?

rishi851

rishi851

Hey,

I had made an account here a month or so ago but due to being busy(and procrastinating) never got around to posting. I have so many things to learn, so much to ask and share.

I am already assisting on TV shows here in my home country and would be making my own feature pretty soon. I have a scriptwriting degree from Canada and someday I want to produce my own content. I like to believe that I have a good enough knowledge on all aspects of cinema.

My one major problem while assisting on big shows, and when I made my own short was.....what to tell actors?
I observe in feature films how everything comes together-the slightest nuances, the gestures, the feel. While directing I had a lot of problem convincing my thoughts to the actors and it showed in the final reel. They have their own style....and in television(at least here in India) its theatrical-over the top. I much prefer subtlety and grace. In fact I sometimes feel like only I would want to act out certain roles that I really want people to see,because the other actor will never understand.

How do you sit with actors and tell them this is what I want. This is where you look on the other side, this is where you pause. I let them improvise.
 
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By Judith Weston
 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqb14acaA2Q

Every scene has to have a conflict, or has to have an emotional event, or it's not complete, and needs more work?

Everybody here agrees with this sentiment?

I'm just curious.
 
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trueindie said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqb14acaA2Q

Every scene has to have a conflict, or has to have an emotional event, or it's not complete, and needs more work?

Everybody here agrees with this sentiment?

I'm just curious.
Click to expand...

For directing actors, yes I agree with that.

It doesn't apply to EVERY scene though - for example if you're doing a kevin hart movie, you just need him to be funny. You say hey dude here is the situation, you're on a tennis court pretending it's a prison yard. Now go fuck with will ferrell!
 
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rishi851 said:
While directing I had a lot of problem convincing my thoughts to the actors and it showed in the final reel.
Click to expand...

For me this was the key line. BTW, I think that you mean "conveying" your thoughts. That's okay, I'm sure that English is a second language for you. Now you have to learn the language of actors. And then adapt it to each individual actor. I'm not a film director, but I've been a musical director, and working with musicians is a real adventure - and I've got plenty of my own quirks. But the basics are the same. You, a quirky creative type, have to communicate your desires to a bunch of quirky creative types.

A part of communicating with your talent is understanding your material. You have to know it inside out and have thought it all the way through. However, you want to allow the talent some freedom, which can lead to some wonderful results. It can also be a disaster. Striking just the right balance is tough. You can lessen this issue with thorough preproduction and perhaps a few rehearsals.

Maybe a few acting classes/seminars? It helped me as a dialog editor and as a Foley artist.
 
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trueindie said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqb14acaA2Q

Everybody here agrees with this sentiment?

I'm just curious.
Click to expand...

I sort of don't want it to be true because if it is, that seems really hard, and daunting. But, and this is coming from someone who's not a real filmmaker, it has the ring of truth. Doesn't it? Anyway, she's quite persuasive.

Since hearing this from her, and perhaps from others, it's actually been a bit of a bug up my butt. I think about it now and then.

I find it kind of annoying because, for one thing, it doesn't seem realistic. That is, I don't think this sort of conflict or dynamic is always there, always at play in real life, in every interaction we have ourselves in our day to day lives.

On the other hand, I'm inclined to think she's right about it in film because film is not real, every day life. At the very least, drama in film (and I would think too in theater) is hyper-real, as well as other things.

Anyway, I suspect she's entirely correct that the requirements of drama in a film demand at least the striving towards what she says is essential.

So yes, I think I'm a believer. Even though it seems like it would be really hard to pull off all of the time...even annoying. But I suppose what is worthwhile is often not easy.
 
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I think a lot of people over-think this. And take it from a very "traditional" American way of making movies.

The OP was all about how to direct actors. I come at it from the other side of the fence as an actor and let me tell you know, the better the actor you have, the less you need to direct them. A good actor will have worked ALL of this out in their mind before appearing on set. And a good actor will not ask the director for EMOTIONAL direction.

No, a good actor will want to know where they come into the scene, where to walk, where to finish, etc, etc.

Do that once and then refine the actor. Tell them they were too loud, not angry enough, too soft, too emotional, etc, etc.

This is IMHO the way the best films are made.
 
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Giving a greater context of the setting or vision for the scene always helps, and you could try asking questions of the actors, see what they come up with or where they're coming from. Also, sometimes it's just hard to pull a specific performance out of an actor that you had in your head (they aren't exactly puppets), so sometimes you just gotta clear out what you had in mind and use the actor to create something new right there, that you coax out of them and look at it with a sense of discovery instead of frustration at not getting the "thing" you had in your head. I guesssss
 
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