Directing Actors.doc

7/28/2019 Directing Actors.doc

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Creating meaning in the scene- Before any filming or timeon stage go through your script with your actors, go over their linesand directions. Ask them what they think the character is feeling andthinking and how can they show that. It is always good to ask youractor if your blocking and ideas for the scene is what they feel worksand as if you make an actor do something which they feel isunnatural or not normal, this forcedness and rigidity will show in theirperformance. If they feel your direction doesn't fit ask them what

they would change and see if this can be incorporated. If howeverthere's no way around a certain movement or part of dialogue, workwith your actor to get them deeper into the role as you see it.

Creating Realism- Actors will best respond to verbs and activeverbs at that. Give the actor a means to achieve their goal eg seduce,plead, lie. This gives the actor the opportunity to really think aboutwhat they're doing and contemplate the verisimilitude of theirperformance. This is in contrast to an instruction such as be sexy, cryas you say your lines, or now be patronising, which often creates a

shallow performance as the actors are just doing as they are told andas such begin to work on auto-pilot.

Giving Feedback- When directing it is important to rememberthat actors are often very sensitive about their performances and assuch any criticisms should be carefully phrased. Always ensure thatany feedback is positive, even when you are not getting what youneed. Saying something like No,no no, be more angry, he's about torob you is not as helpful as something like Great, this time let himsee that you are NOT happy about being robbed, in fact if you feel

angry go ahead let him have it!

Getting Actors into role- Actors will give their bestperformances, if they understand their character, or if they are "inrole". But how do you get your actors to understand this? A fun way

to do this is a technique called "hot seating" where you place youractor on a chair, as their character, and ask them questions aboutthemselves, such as "Where were you born?" "What was your


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childhood like?" . This forces your actor to think about theircharacter, weaving together the things that they know, i.e things inthe script, and creating things for themselves such as what theircharacter favourite food is, which they can draw upon whenperforming and allows them to understand where their lines arecoming from.

Directing movement- Movement reveals a lot about a

character, how they move, how quickly and with what posture, canreveal a plethora of things about them such as: their status, theirintentions, their personality and many more things. As such, the wayan actor moves and performs the stage directions in the script ishugely important in a piece. Part of directing movement is aboutyour actor being in mentally in role (see above). However, gettingyour actor physically in role is just as important as them beingmentally in role, eg. An actor with the posture of a slob will not play aconvincing dictator or monarch. A good way to do to this is aftergetting mentally in role get the actor to shake everything on their

body and release all tension. Then get your actor to think about whatpart of their body would lead their character eg. A inquisitive personmight be led by their nose or a confident person by their chest. Followthis with notes on posture, and what little idiosyncrasies you believetheir character would hold. Furthermore show your actor how youenvisage the movement perform it yourself, as this will demonstrateclearly what you desire as a director.

Directing Dialogue-To create a convincing performance it isnecessary that the viewer believe what an actor is saying, but how

can you as a director go about this? Begin by going through the scriptwith your actor/s ensure that they understand every word of theirlines as if this foundation is lacking how can any furtherimprovements be made? After this get your actor to perform theirlines in different ways, such as: whispering, shouting, puttingemphasis on different words etc. This will encourage the actor tothink about the meaning in their lines and how they can convey it.Another thing that people found helpful was giving each of theiractor's lines an intention or a goal to accomplish such as persuasionor seduction, in this way an actor will consider the intention behind

their lines rather than just regurgitate blocks of pre-learnt text.


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Creating meaning in the opening - as our opening issome what complex it is necessary that we createmeaning in everything that happens. We will use theadvice we found on this to do so ensuring that Sarahand all of our other actors know exactly what they'redoing and our Mis en Scene conveys the message thatwe want it to.

Creating Realism- we will use this research to direct

our actors in a more astute manner, such as tellingLuja's mum to be pleased yet anxious about Luja's firstday at school.

Giving Feedback- Using this knowledge we willremember not to become frustrated with our actors,even if they do not perform as we so wish. In this waywe will also know how to better instruct our actors to dowhat we want on the next take.

Getting Actors into role- We intend to use thetechniques that we have learnt to encourage our actorsto better understand their character and create a betterperformance through the actors deeper understandingof the character's motives.

Directing Movement- We intend to use the techniques

that we have learnt to encourage our actors to betterunderstand their characters motions and blocking and

How we can use the above

research


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create a better performance through the actors deeperunderstanding of the character's motives.

Directing Dialogue-We hope to go through our scriptusing the techniques that we have learnt so our maintask can be at the best possible level we as directorscan make it.


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Directing Actors.doc