Directing Actors & Performance | Research

Before our shoot week, we had a short tutorial with Simon where we went through any questions we wanted to ask him and we showed him what we had down to prepare. He also gave us some advice in terms of our roles for the shoot days, and he expressed to me that I should research into directing actors & directing their performance. One of the actors we have might be quite hard to direct, from what we saw in their audition and the table read, so this research will help me and give me a few ideas as to how to direct her, and the other actors, effectively.

An director called Adrienne Weiss took part in an interview all about directing actors, and I had a look at her answers to the questions to see if they could give me some tips.

She mentions, when she first went into directing theatre, that a lot of the actors she worked with also worked on films, and they expressed to her that they were put into situations where they felt as if they couldn't do their best work. She said "the director wouldn't direct them at all, or he'd direct them too much; either way, there was this disconnect." From the way Weiss talks about this mishap, it tells me that this is something that needs to be avoided. You need to direct efficiently - not too much but also enough - in order to make the actors feel connected with your vision and keep them interested.

She exclaims that the trickiest things about directing actors is seeing a great performance but not knowing why it's great. She says "If you don't know what makes a great performance great...you have no way of fixing a bad performance" and that's when directors start to give actors mixed and insufficient directions, which can affect the performance seen on screen. 

"Help directors understand what makes performance work. Help them understand the components of a great performance. Once you understand what makes up a good performance, you can work backwards and fix what's wrong or add what's missing."

Weiss tells the audience that the starting point for a good performance is the actor needing be emotionally connected to the character. The second point is the emotional energy needs to be directed toward achieving a goal. If the actor knows their objective in the scene they can overcome their self-consciousness and really invest in the characters emotions.
The third and most critical element is having an honest reaction. Its not structured like one actor needs to say their lines this way and the other actor needs to say their lines that way, it's about setting up an interactive system and setting that system into motion. This then creates spontaneously within the scene, creating a more realistic and honest reaction.

In terms of advice when directing, Weiss says "you never want to say "you're really upset here" and so on" you don't want to direct emotion in that way to the actor as it can appear quite forced. What you should do instead, is give the actors the circumstance and the facts that will help create the emotions naturally. She also says you should never be specific about what you liked and describe that in detail after a take. This can completely kill the actor's ability to be spontaneous which in turn will create a more forced and unrealistic performance.
This advice is really good and I will definitely keep these tips in my mind whilst directing. If I stay away from what she says not to do, and stick with keeping the characters expressions natural and honest, then I think the performance of our actors will be really good, and hopefully that will make the show more humorous and fun to watch.
https://blog.musicbed.com/articles/how-to-direct-actors/82

Here are a few other tips I found through my research which will definitely help me when directing our actors:

• Tell the actors what is really happening in the scene over the dialogue itself, so the subtext of what the character is actually saying.
• Depending on how this is directed, it can create completely different outcomes so you need to be specific enough so they understand but not too detailed so it's forced.
• Never correct an actor's performance loudly in front of other actors and crew members. You can tell the actor if you want it a bit slower of faster, but when it comes to an actor getting ir really wrong, and you need to give detailed direction, get close to the action and say it in a low tone of voice so no one else can overhear, and always be polite and positive.
• This will make the actors feel better about their performance, and it won't make them shy or embarrassed which could affect their performance of the character.
• Don't be too led by the actors opinions and ideas. Of course you are interested in their opinion and can think about it, but overall you have the ultimate responsibility for the movie and if the idea works or not is the directors call.
• With all of the ideas the actors have given us so far I have taken them on board and thought about what that would do to the show. Some of the ideas we will definitely take on board and do, but others just won't work, and as the director I can make this decision.
• During the shoot, if any of the actors have new ideas I will make sure to think about them but not shy away from not going through with them.
• Don't be too indecisive to the point where other people are making the decisions for the director.
• This is definitely something I need to work on and improve on, as I can be quite indecisive about certain things. I will obviously think things through, but ultimately I will be the one making the decision and I can't let anyone else override this role.
• In comparison, don't be afraid to say "I don't know. Let's figure it out.".  No one knows all the answers to the issues that confront them, so the director shouldn't feel as if they need to know all of the answers. If the director acts with confidence and asks for help when working a problem out, the staff working with the director will work with them to solve it.
• In a way, this creates a good relationship between the director and their crew members, making a stronger production, which will be clear on the screen.
• I will definitely be doing this at some point in the shoot week, and any other shoot day, but I know we will have a good group of crew to work with.

http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/how-to-direct.html

http://www.microfilmmaker.com/2013/07/dos_donts_acting/

All of these tips and the advice I have researched into has been really effective when thinking about how I'm going to direct our actors effectively. Most of the pieces of advice I have looked into will be really helpful when creating a good bond with the actors, and having good communication throughout the whole production team. If I can follow these pieces of advice and tips, I think our shoot days we'll be really effective and the environment will be professional and relaxed, which is what I want them to be like.

This will create a good outcome within the actors performance and this will hopefully make the show more entertaining and interesting.