Consider Sandra’s lecture “Directing Actors” and describe at least a couple of points that you took away from it (even if you’re not the director).

Casting

Firstly, cast well, take your time and don’t say yes to the first person you remotely feel good about. Give them a scene to do and watch them act as dialogue often makes the best auditions as they allow you to hear them speak and think the thoughts of the character.

Rehearsal Period

Keep the rehearsal period brief and don’t get over entangled with all the other technical aspects of the film. Actors need to think about what’s on the page and you should influence them in a way that they think they think it – the way you talk to actors should make them think from the inside out. Ask them a lot of questions, for example what do you think the story is about?

If you don’t have a dialogue heavy script, use the camera and try to do the scene as it would be done on location. Dialogue gives actors movement and more action, so if you don’t have this you’re better off physically doing the scene and getting the aesthetic of how it would be shot.

Production Side

Find a way in which to cut scenes in order to decide what can go come 6pm at night and you run out of time, therefore have B-scenes. To have something opposed to nothing is really important.

If you’re shooting out of order, playback emotion for actors will keep continuity. Experienced actors will have their head around where they are emotionally in a scene, but it can help to constantly walk around with a script and note how an actor acted scenes before the scene you’re about to shoot, how did they exit that scene? Have those transitions in place to help you remember when shooting out of sequence. Two questions to ask yourself: A. What was the camera doing, how did we shoot the scene? and B. What emotion was the actor feeling?

Actors on set

The director shouldn’t talk extensively to actors on set, that should be done in rehearsal, on the day it’s about everything else. As a director the best way to interact with actors is with honesty. You need to be delicate and articulate things simply, for example ‘I just need you to be a little happier’ – it’s about saying the right words but not too many words. Actors sense when the director isn’t happy, most of the time it isn’t their fault but simply not as the director envisioned and it is you who will have to change the approach.

Costume/Production Design

It’s the little things that help the film look better. Put your effort into lighting the scene and identifying the elements that make it look aesthetically pleasing. If you have to merge scenes think about how to incorporate the essence of one scene into another.

Actor/Director and Director/Camera

Relationships are the most important on set. Even though the camera dominates the set the director needs to be able to split the focus, it helps if you get the actors to do work beforehand so your attention can be put towards other priorities on the day.