Professional Toolkit- Directing Actors Workshop

We have just reached the end of our directing actors workshop, a two day workshop that taught us how to efficiently direct actors on set, and helped us understand how to cast actors as well. This workshop was incredibly useful and dynamic and allowed me to think differently about the collaboration of actors and directors.

During the first day we covered:

-Framing/Shot Types
-Directing/Acting Language
-Actions
-Casting

On the second day we covered:

-Breaking down a scene into actions/activities
-Status changes throughout a scene
-Giving direction to actors
-Collaborating with actors on set.

Day 1- On the first day we were introduced to one of the actors we would be working with over the next couple of days. Nigel went through the idea of language and sharing a common vocabulary with actors. He went through what he considers to be each shot type (Close-Up etc) as these can vary from director to director. Then he went through some vocabulary that film actors and stage actors use and showed how that can be confusing, and you may end up with a miscommunication problem, so it's key to go through some things with your actor first to allow you to share some common ground on set; making the flow of the production more efficient from the start.

We also went through the concept of 'actions' in acting and directing. Nigel described how some actions you give an actor may or may not be 'playable'. Playable actions consist of verbs, or something which can be described using one word. E.g. Challenge, Dazzle etc. are playable actions. It appears that the communication you have with an actor has to be concise as your rehearsal time may be minimal or nonexistent depending on what you're shooting, and if this is the case then you need to be able to communicate exactly what you want from an actor in a short space of time; Choosing your words carefully could mean the difference between a great take or not, as we saw in the examples Nigel gave of 'Heat' and 'LA Takedown'.

Finally, Nigel went through casting with us. He said that casting gave us a chance as a director to see if you can direct the actors and whether there are any problems with the script that the actor may have picked up on, if you asked them what they thought of it. Time is money in this situation, and so you have to be welcoming with an actor, but not ask them open ended questions that may lead to time wasting. The next thing you need to do is ask them to read or act out (if a non-speaking role) a pre-agreed piece, and then after they have finished you can give them a note (a piece of direction) to see how they react to your direction and see if you have a common language.

Day 2- On the second day we were introduced to the other actor we would be working with, and were asked to read through a script the day before. Nigel started by getting us to do some acting exercises. The second one we did was interesting because it showed us how acting as if we are in a situation is different to actually being in that situation. He wanted to highlight how acting is fairly close to what you do in real life, but not quite. The actor has to play the actions according to the shot e.g. exaggerating facial movements in a close-up. He showed us through the actors and the scene we were asked to read, how giving different direction and using different words to describe an action can completely change a scene.

The other main thing we looked at was power in a scene, between characters. This is called 'Status' and in a scene you should be able to see the status fluctuate between characters as a scene progresses. The actors showed us how you see status change between characters in the scene we were previously working on. By assigning someone a number from 1-10, you can easily communicate where the power shifts need to happen, and who has more status than whom. This can provide the actor with more information on how to play the scene, and make the scene a lot better.

Over the two days, I learnt some really valuable things about direction, from a practical point of view which really made it clear to me how working with an actor needs to be approached. I am confident that if I used the tips in this workshop then I will be able to create an efficient relationship between the actor and director.