Directing the Actors
Now that you’ve bought your new video camera and you are ready to venture into the vast world of movie making you will need to know how to direct the actors. Directing actors is a strange process as you expect so much from them and yet you do not know them as people, at least not in the beginning. It is imperative to meet them one on one as soon as possible in order to feel comfortable around each other. Start by telling each other the truth and beginning the process of explaining the subtext, and fitting the uniqueness of the actor into the character. A lot of work is needed, even for very little dialogue, but the care of every detail is the essence of filmmaking. By concentrating on getting the mind of the actor focused, and getting the best of every line is the start of potentially good work.
The mind body connection is focussing on behaviour and letting the body guide the mind. Good acting is based on experience in life; to emulate past rejection, love, aggression, greed, and lust. Each time we portray the character we take from our past history. Becoming a character means building a past history, and using this as a motivation to behaviour. When we are in character we can access our own history, but from the viewpoint of the character. It is when the actor literally becomes a character that the audience slips from reality. The behaviour is the key to the character and the cue to the dialogue. “To interpret is to bring out the meaning by artistic representation, and can be a very personal thing.”† It is when actors trust that they are willing to be vulnerable – trust themselves, their character and the director.
The techniques and skills needed by a director when working with an actor or actress are considerable.
Kinesics is the study of significant connection between physical behaviour and the spoken language. Body movements can be understood like a language. And are strong indicators of how one feels. Body movements, gestures, the posture of someone, facial expressions, and most importantly eye contact. Actors spend a lot of time understanding how their body language appear to an audience, and in doing so learn to manipulate this language to their benefit. All cinematic dialogue must have a motivation, as all actions do. Why would someone say that, how would they say it, what emotions are they feeling and what is their relationship with the person they are talking to. By analysing the motivations, the behaviour will make sense and the dialogue will follow naturally. With a script, the director must know the motivations of how his characters behave so he can translate this subtext to the actors.
Certain actions can be used to stimulate emotional memory, putting the actor immediately into character. Anthony Hopkins in ‘The Remains Of The Day’ held a certain posture that is indefinable because it was a combination of subservience and aristocracy. I imagine him slowly becoming his character as he puts on his costumes and makeup – slowly coaxing him, and assuming slight mannerisms. Like all great actors it is a question of intense concentration “using their work to purge themselves of their inner demons”.†
It is a complex process assuming the role of another person. The character allows the actor a place to go to in their mind, and also allows them to be less self-conscious as they maintain focus by actually doing what their characters would do. “Uncovering a character’s identity is far simpler than uncovering ones’ own. Some of the most provocative moments of self discovery comes from the observation of others.” † It is not only the lines it is the subtext, blocking, camera movements, how the character moves, vocal characteristics, and vocal interference. The only way is for the actor to completely understand and focus; then the complexity melts and he performs with truth. The way to do this is to guide the actor into a rhythm of behaviour cued by emotional memory. To act with a behaviour so that the lines become natural. The whole process is a collaboration of talent and inspiration that lets a filmmaker create “an image of man in his many aspects”. †
Rabiger. Chapter 29 – Directing the actors – page 381
• †Internet Resource
• Mental focus leads to overall relaxation of mind and body, which leads to more realistic acting.
• Watch actors for any sort of body language that tells you they are tense
• When tense reassure and re-direct their attention.
• An emotional memory is a task that will jar the actor back into character.
• The body expresses the mind; no inner state exists without outward evidence.
• When the mind is occupied – unconsciously the body will express what his character feels. “Directing is then arriving at a characters true state of mind, and helping the actor develop the actions that accompany it.”†
• Explore what the characters will do in their circumstances. Small behaviours and actions are incredibly important. A simple gesture can effectively be the whole subtext of a scene.
• A tear, a look, a movement of the hand.
• Insecurity, fear, moods on the day, and circumstances can lead to a loss of focus. Redirect their attention, reassure, get them to focus on something small and real.
• Every real emotion is visible, so covering up an emotion is also visible. Intense focus on the character will take care of self-consciousness. Improvisation and rehearsals breakdown these barriers. Encourage the actors to find their own solutions never show them how to act (this takes away the uniqueness of the actor). Focus your actor on the character, never say be yourself, avoid negative instruction of any kind, be clever, use suggestions and guidance.
• Create a small bubble where the crew does not exist. Never let them look at the camera.
• Unfamiliar circumstances like filming cause people to fall back on their conditioning. If this happens, use an emotional memory and behaviour to guide the actor back into character.
†Rabiger
Stripping the psychological obstacles away.
Ambiguity breeds imagination, it lets everyone make up the story, fill in the gaps, and reach their own conclusions. To tell a story with the least amount of dialogue is the secret of a good director. Behaviour and actions is the guidance of a good actor. We as filmmakers, and visualists, want to tell stories, using images – with dialogue indicating directions but the images themselves telling the story. It is for this reason that writing or finding a script of any value is so difficult. “Directors employ a great deal of their ideology and history in a selection of scripts for production” Seager et al (1994). To portray a subtext of depth with simplicity and meaning is what filming is about. Why overcomplicate if you can communicate with simple beautiful images. Harold Aurman noted that the process of actively rehearsing actors, digging into the collective subconscious from which substantial subtexts are derived, is eventually absorbed into the production. Once you have a subtext for a script that you believe in, the role of casing is facilitated in that you are now searching for a character in amongst the actors. The director’s task is to strip away the psychological obstacles that prevent the actors from being.
As a director you must believe in the writing and acting before you even have a chance of creating something worthwhile. “The collaboration between the director, performers and crew is at its most personal when its creators and receivers are challenged to question the collage of character elements present.”† When the actor becomes the character, and move about his space, his mind will simply follow his actions and become one. The director guides him into the role. This oneness of actor, director, and character is when the film becomes timeless and we are immersed in the make-believe. When a director and actor let the audience feel a pure emotion, through a character, they expose themselves and their vulnerabilities. The audience can sense this, a shared social response, and in this response the director has succeeded.
†Rabiger
“There can be no true act without living”. Stanislavski
The artist uses his work as a distorted mirror image of himself, and in doing so clarify aspects of their own existence. The director, as artist, guides actors into the interpretation of the story. The director chooses actors that reflect his inner vision of the character, which in essence is he. The actor, as artist, uses his interpretation of the character to reflect a part of his identity. This focus and concentration of creating a character is the most important part in the relationship of the director and actor. For it removes the layers of protection, lets the mind flow naturally, and removes the barrier of self-consciousness. The mind and the body becomes one.
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