Week nine. Working with actors. Test Scenes review. Workshop.

TODAY’S CLASS Workshop – data management, working with monitors Review the three test scenes Working with actors Some tools to help you prepare for rehearsals and with working with actors on set Individual group production meetings

WORKING WITH ACTORS Firstly, the director prepares For each scene: What has happened for each character just before the scene begins? What does each character want? What are they doing to get it? In the overall story, what is the goal of this scene? What is the central event? (remember, a story is a series of unfolding events)

WORKING WITH ACTORS In rehearsal Let the actors find the characters themselves, and be open to learning new things about each character from your actors. Move away from “results orientated” direction. Instead of saying “be seductive”, help the actor identify what the character wants, then question what the character could DO to get that. She wants the job. OK. Could she try seducing him? This is now a verb, not a result (which is open to wild interpretation). It’s a doing word. You are giving your actor a playable action. EMPOWER YOUR ACTOR TO OWN THE CHARACTER

WORKING WITH ACTORS In rehearsal and when shooting Focus on getting your actors to DO something, rather than BE something. This way your actors can focus on the doing and be in the moment, creating more natural behaviour

WORKING WITH ACTORS Result direction disempowers actors “Can you make it more quirky?” The actor does not know what your definition of “quirky” is, and so they start guessing “Can you take it down?” Or, “can you give it more energy” Too vague, too general, they may end up giving more “energy” to the last thing you want them to.

WORKING WITH ACTORS Result direction disempowers actors Line read: “More like: YOU always say that.” Instead talk about the meaning of the line, rather than the inflection or the result. You risk having them repeat your bad acting, with no life, and no truth. “I think Jo is disappointed” As soon as an actor tries to have a feeling, they look like an actor. Instead, you want them to to be in the moment, and experience the true feeling, as it happens. Think, what does the character want? What are they doing to get it?

WORKING WITH ACTORS Tools Use VERBS – doing words, specifically, ones that require ACTION Demand, convince, flirt, goad, pry, accuse, challenge, seduce We are what we do Verbs are specific and not general, and they focus the actor on the other person in the scene, and on what their character WANTS

WORKING WITH ACTORS Tools Use FACTS – they speak for themselves She wrote a letter to her mother every day of her honeymoon Is a fact that is much better to use than a description of the character like; she’s really attached to her mother Two types of facts. Actual facts that exist in the script, and backstory facts. Both are valid. Instead of describing a character as a “bitch”, use a backstory fact: “she poured paint on the windshield of her ex-lover’s car”

WORKING WITH ACTORS Tools Use FACTS – they speak for themselves Imaginative backstory facts are called adjustments and directors should prepare several for each character for each scene These usually start with “what if” Example: An actress is playing a boss who is firing someone over the phone, it’s flat, so try an adjustment: “what if her own father had been fired from his job when she was a child”

WORKING WITH ACTORS Tools Use IMAGES – they evoke senses, memories, feelings. Let’s use a scene from Whiteous: When Richard is thrown out of the Tuakana group, instead of saying: “be more angry”, we can try and invoke a memory of a time in the actor’s life when he was excluded from a group.

WORKING WITH ACTORS Tools Use IMAGES – to create adjustments You want the actor to feel repelled by the other character. “Play it as if they have bad breath” You want them to be more formal. “Play it as if it is a business deal”

WORKING WITH ACTORS Tools Use PHYSICAL TASKS – you want actors to stop thinking about the lines, and be in the moment. Giving an actor a physical task can allow them to be less self-conscious, and can allow the lines to come out of the task. Instead of having them stand in the kitchen and tell them they know their partner is cheating, have them do the dishes while they tell them – it’ll be a lot more interesting, and real, and truthful. The emotion will pour into and out of the task.

WORKING WITH ACTORS Tools Use QUESTIONS – they utterly empower an actor and they stop actors from giving themselves result direction. “You want it seductive?” I can do seductive” Try answering with a question: what does she want? What is she doing to get it? Are first. But then: how do you think she normally gets what she wants? How do you think she feels about her body? Do you think she views X as a mate or a conquest? Questions give the power to the actor, and empowered actors create fresh, unguarded, emotionally honest work

TEST SCENES discuss strengths and weaknesses look for tweaks and developments What have we learned that we can carry forward?

GROUP MEETINGS I’ll start with Group 1 The other groups prep for their shoot Remember to add rehearsals into your schedule And TWO edit meetings with me and the editor/director (minimum)