Over the two days of workshops we had with Nigel Bristow he thought us several tips and tricks for when it comes to directing actors.
At the start of the workshops he explained to us the difference between stage acting and screen acting.
In both situation the actor is trying to project there body language to the audience. In stage acting the audience is quite far away from them so the actor has to project and be very broad with there actions. In screen acting the audience is the camera which will only be feet away from them so the actor can try and simulate real life actions. How ever these actions all apear to like like natural real life actions on the screen as there are 2 main factors that dictate the acting
- the size of the frame
- the cut
The size of the frame will determine how the actors body language changes , if the actor is acting for a wide shot they can act quite loose and natural how ever if the actor is acting for a mid shot it will be tighter and half of their body will be out of shot so they will have to act more closed and exaggerated. When watching it in person this seems unnatural and weird but watching it through the screen it seems more realistic.
The cut will determine how the actor changes his body language through the shot. If the scene gose from a wide slowly into a close up the actor will act along with it meaning there action become more closed as well
He also gave us tips how to cast an actor when there is no dialogue in the film . When in the audition you can get the actor to read out a script thats has similar actions as yours has or you can get the actor to improvise and give them similar scenarios, for example if you was casting a man who finds out they have gone to the shops naked you could get the actor to act out that they are on a tv show and have forgoten to wear clothes .
he then gave us 4 key tips to direct an actor around a set
- Status of characters
- weither they walk in straight or curvy lines
- the use of verbs
- direction
Giving a character a status will determine how they interact with each other someone who is a 10 ( important ) will talk differently to a 1 ( unimportant ) than if they are talking to another 10. This will then determine how the actor portrays his tone of voice and body language towards the other person. This can also be applied to objects too for example is a chair is a 10 and you are a 1 you will be scared to sit on it but if it is a 1 and you are a 10 youll be reall confident maybe even put your feet up on it.
The way the character moves around the space can change the way they act too if they can only walk in straight lines the performance will become more ridgid and stiff than if they can walk in curvy lines.
When directing the actor it is best to talk in verbs as it gives the actor something to play off. If you say i want you to say it in this tone you will get quite a flat preference but if you say act it like an excited 5 year old it will give the actor a chance to create there own tones and movemnets but also give you the outcome you want.
putting directions in the walk through after each line will also give the actor some thing to work off and create a pace to the film. for example they say a line then say i am thinking, line , i dont like this when when it comes to actually act it out they will be able to say there lines in the correct way.
Since i am talking about directors and i am the director for our film i thought i would take the time to evaluate what a director actually does.
the director answers to the producer and is responsable for the details, quality, and meaning of the final film. the directors job is to coordinate the crew and inspire them to create a coherent story. during the preproduction process they work with the writer to find the purpose of the film, help with finding locations that advance the film, cast actors, develop the style through various department heads.
during production they have 2 main functions stage the scene for the camera and make the actors performance strong. The first task involves directing the crew around and the other involves working with the actor. This process is made easier if all the cast and crew have done 100% they can do in pre production so the director dosent have to worry and can focus mainly on how it is shaping out.
in post production they help glide the editor to the outcome they want, ending up with a directors cut of the film. They also need to make them self available for distribution and promotion to do things like press talks.
the best directors have a strong scense of leadership and creative vision.
Being a director is a very complicated role, to understand it more i am reading several books, the one i have found most interesting so far is called ' directing: film techniques and asthetics ' by michael rabiger.
No comments:
Post a Comment