2. Introduction Actors are an irrational and baffling other.
Most students graduate from school knowing nothing about techniques
of directing actors. The worst thing about low-budget films is
usually the acting.
3. The Craft of Directing Principles are simple and easy if you
know them. Direction must be objective and usable. Youve got to let
go of doing something right.
4. The Craft of Directing Inexperienced Actors (and Directors)
are looking for results, theyre looking for performance, theyre
looking for the right way to do it to not make a mistake. Mistakes
are not always a bad thing unlike brain surgery. A mistake can be a
blessing in disguise.We need to get excited by mistakes and see
where they lead.
5. MistakesTeach Us! You will make mistakes.We are mistake
making creatures. Your role is to bring creativity and a positive
approach to your mistakes, your own and others. A director who
projects her own insecurities onto his actors is a very bad thing.
I had no choice is not a playable choice or decision.You always
have a choice. Without freedom, there can be no creativity.
6. Opinions are not Intuitions Many people mistake the movie in
their head for intuition or their vision. Opinions are easy to
have: they require no reflection. Intuition is not the first idea
that comes to you it is the idea that lives with you and comes back
to engage you. You need to get below your preconceived ideas and
access your deeper resources and imagination. The purpose of
technique is to prepare the ground for inspiration and
opportunity.
7. Technique Rules! Technique allows you: It gives you
something to fall back on while you are waiting for inspiration. It
makes you think, makes you chose. Learn the Rules and then forget
them. Trying to be commercial is just an excuse for not doing the
hard work of being original.
8. The Actor-Director Relationship Rigorous technique and
careful detail go into such associations. Acting and directing are
two very different jobs. They are two separate skills. Director
asViewer Actor asViewed
9. The Actor The actor is exposed and vulnerable. The success
of her contribution hinges on her ability and willingness to allow
her contribution to be viewed without viewing herself. She must
surrender completely allow feelings, impulses and simple choices
without knowing if they are working or not. Actors can (and will)
hold back until they decide if they can trust their directors
taste, intelligence and knowledge.
10. The Actors Job To surrender, to live truthfully in the
moment by moment structure created by the circumstance of the
material.
11. The Directors Job The responsibility of telling the story
He must find the structure to the script and set up events so they
are surprising and inevitable. You give the actor direction in
order that the actors actions and interpretations illuminate and
create the events on-screen. The actor has a responsibility to
create truthful behavior while following direction and fulfilling
the requirements of the script.
12. ACTOR AND DIRECTOR MUST RESPECT EACH OTHERS CREATIVE
TERRITORY
13. Important Facts We are not dealing with chemistry formulas
here; we are dealing with human beings. Actor and Director work to
unlock the sub-world of the script, making discoveries, going
places. They can work together in rehearsal, in private and
surprise each other.
14. Actors are always at the mercy of the integrity of the
director. Its a leap of faith, and sometimes you leap into the
abyss. Jessica Lange
15. Ive often described it (the actor/ director relationship)
as sexual. Im his concubine. Donald Sutherland
16. What do Actors want? Knowing when to Print (or stop
filming)! The worst sin a director can commit is to be satisfied
with less that than an actor has to offer. Actors must have
confidence that you understand the script, and that the characters
and the events that befall them spring to life in your imagination.
Your understanding must be communicated. Actors need brief,
playable direction.They want to be pushed, to grow and to
learn.
17. The goal is to awaken your powers of suggestibility and
inventionwith love, with passion, with humility Judith Weston