Transcripts
1. Introduction: Directing actors freaked me out. I had no idea what
to say to them. I went to film school for
four years and they didn't teach me anything about
how to talk to actors. So I just winged it, which is definitely not a
great way to make a movie. My name is Dean Peterson and I'm a filmmaker in
Brooklyn, New York. Over the course of my career, I've made three low
budget feature films which have played a dozens of
festivals around the world. Idp, another film that
premiered at Tribeca, and I edited another that premiered at
South by Southwest. I've also made a bunch of
short films along the way. In today's class, I'm
going to teach you how to talk to you and direct actors. If you're a filmmaker, there's probably been
a time when you've been freaked out
by actors during a shoot and actor
asked you a question and you had no idea
how to respond. So you panicked and maybe you made something
up on the spot, or maybe you've tried
to give an actor or a piece of direction only to have them look at you as if you're speaking ancient Greek. If so, then this
class is for you. I will give you the skills that you need to be able
to get through to actors and effectively in
part to them what you need. We're gonna go through some
situations that are maybe familiar to you and talk
about some common mistakes, then I'm going to offer you
tools that any filmmaker can take with them and use
on their next project. Directing actors doesn't
have to be scary. Once you understand
how actors think and what they need from
you as a director. And once you've got a couple of secret weapons in your arsenal, your films will not
only turn out better, but you'll have more
fun making them. Working with actors is my
favorite part of filmmaking. And after this class, I hope it will be yours as well. This class is geared towards not only filmmakers but
directors of all kinds. These tips will apply
whether you're shooting a short student film of big-budget Hollywood
film or a play, all you'll need is some paper
and a pen to take notes. If you're currently
working on a script, grab that two together. We'll talk through how
to break it down and mark it up to best
communicate with your actors. So let's put our director's
hat on and get started.
2. Talking to Actors: There are a bunch of
different approaches that actors utilize. Some you may have
heard of before, Stanislavski, Meissner,
method, etcetera, regardless of which
approach and actor uses or doesn't use, your job as a director
is to make sure that they have what they
need to do their job. It might help for you to
have a basic understanding of these different methods. But in all likelihood, even if an actor is trained in a specific school of acting, it will probably never come up. I, for instance,
have never discussed a specific school of acting with any actor I've ever worked with. Whatever process
and actor uses is mostly internal
and just for them, it's a tool that helps
them to do their job. Part of their job is to take the script and your direction and to translate
it into something that they can work
with internally. Actors are masters of this. So don't worry too
much about tailoring your direction to this or
that technique that said, there are some things
that you can do or think about that can make
their job easier. Often, you'll wanna do more
than one take of something. If this is the case, your
actors will probably be wondering why when you say cut, okay, That was great. Let's go again. Your actors will probably
want some direction, something to try or
something to do differently. Give them something
if the focus was off and you want to do
it again for camera, tell them if their performance
isn't quite there yet. Work with them. Don't
just do five takes without giving your actors
anything different to do. Actors don't want to just be swinging blindly in the dark. Let me give you an example. I once had a job
as a video editor. When I would submit a cut
of a video to my boss, they would tell me the
music isn't really working. So I asked them, Okay, What about
it isn't working? And they wouldn't have
an answer for me. They just told me to
try something else. So I would try
something different which also didn't seem
to work for them. This was incredibly frustrating. I had no problem trying
different song options. I just wanted
something to aim at, something with no marimba, slower song track
that is more minimal. Similarly, you need to give your actors something to work with. If you're just having them doing the same thing over and over, then you need to ask yourself why you need to do more takes. Another thing that you
should try to do is to say something to them
after every take. Actors are often like
Olympic gymnast. They do their routine
and then they look toward the judges to
see what their score was. Actors are usually
focused on the scene and not necessarily watching
their performance. So they're relying on you to give them feedback
on how it was. So even if you got
what you need and are moving on, say
something to them. Even as something as simple as that was
wonderful. Thank you. This will show that you're
paying attention and let them know that they don't have to
watch their own performance. Sometimes though, a performance
isn't working for you. In the next lesson,
we'll talk about what to say the actor is
when this happens
3. Correcting Performance: Sometimes it actors performance isn't quite where you
want it to be at. In that instance, you need to communicate to them what
you're looking for, which at the end of the
day is what directing is. But when you're
talking to Actors, you need to imagine things
from their perspective. Imagine what it
would be like to be an actor and to receive
that direction. A great rule of thumb
is to give them things that are Actionable. What that means is this. Imagine giving the direction
to an actor to act scary. Acting scary isn't an action
that somebody can do. It's a result that you want. But what does that mean? What do you want
the actor to do? You want them to scream? Do you want them to
flail around wildly? Do you want them to stare
without breaking eye contact? These all could potentially
be construed as Acting scary. This is what's called
result oriented direction. You want the results to
be somebody on screen or on stage who
appears a certain way. But what the audience sees is just a result of
what the actor does. It would be like
telling a chef to make you something delicious. Okay, But do you
want a smoothie? Do you want a steak? Actors are the same way. Give them an action to perform instead of what you
want the outcome to be. If you want them
to rip their shirt off and yell, tell them that. Rip your shirt off and yell is something that an actor can do. What their actions convey. Bravery or sexiness or
boredom will flow from that. A lot of time
inexperienced director is feel that they need to give flowery long direction to an actor in order to seem like they know
what they're doing. I totally get it. I was the same way
when I started. I would blab on and on until even I didn't know what
I was talking about. But more often than not, this ends up with
the director giving conflicting and
confusing directions. You love her, but
you're angry at her. You've never been
happier in your life, but at the same time you're sad that your parents
aren't there to see it. This is going to seriously
confused an actor. Do you want them to
be happy or sad? In real life, humans
are complicated and can experience a plethora of
emotions at one time. But actors can only do
one thing at a time. Try to winnow down what
you want an actor to do and make sure that it's not conflicting when you give vague, unspecific, or
conflicting direction. In addition to generally
being bad direction, it can also be very subjective. Going back to our
previous example, saying you want somebody to act scary could mean
a lot of things. One person might
think that's scary. Behavior is screaming. Another person might think that absolute silence is scary. Those are two very different but equally valid
interpretations of Acting scary. So instead of getting broad,
result oriented direction, give your actors specific
actionable things to do and trust that the
result will come in. Actor can't really
misinterpreted when you tell them
to slam a door. Sure. There are various
ways to slam a door, but it's a whole
lot easier to work with an actor to get
the right door slam. It is to get on the
same page as to what Acting angry means. In the next lesson, we'll
go over a few more ways to avoid giving result
oriented direction
4. Giving Actionable Direction: We as directors want to avoid giving result
oriented direction. And the best way
to do that is to use something called
the action verbs. These are simple, effective, and direct ways to convey the actors what you
want them to do. There's no confusion when
you say slam the door. Slam is an action verb and
these are your friend. Action verbs allow you to be as clear and succinct as possible. Sometimes all you will
need to say to an actor is one word to convey
what you want. If you tell an actor to
wound somebody in a scene, I don't think you could
be any more clear. There is no reason to say
you're mad at your sister for the years of neglect and this is your chance to enact revenge? No. Just say you
want to wound her. The rest is on the page. Give it a try and see how
powerful action verbs can be. Speaking of action verbs, this right here is
your new Bible. It's called actions, the actors, Thesaurus by Marina Calderon
and Maggie Lloyd Williams. Yes, It says that
it's for actors, but you will get just as much
use out of it as they will. In a later lesson,
I'll show you how to go through your
script and break down each scene into action verbs so that you'll have them
at your fingertips. Onset action verbs are
great to direct actors, but what if the scene
is just a bunch of dialogue with no actual
action for the actors to do. Well, give them something to do. This is what I like
to call business. If a character is supposed to
be anxious and frustrated, maybe have them
pick up a bunch of dry spaghetti that's
spilled all over the floor while doing the scene where
if a character is supposed to be distracted or
ignoring somebody, have them actually do
a crossword puzzle. This kind of business gets
texture to a scene and we'll add vibrance and
life to a performance. Actors appreciate
it when they've got something to actually do, instead of just
standing there talking. Of course, action has
to be called for. If it's a courtroom
cross-examination scene, don't have the actor
playing badminton, but maybe they can flex with the clasp on their wristwatch. Action doesn't have to be big. Sometimes the
smaller the better. One last thing that I want to mention here is that no matter what direction you're giving
an actor, keep it succinct. Don't say something
in 100 words. When you can say it in ten. For me, I usually try to
keep it around one sentence. I know that if I'm
giving direction that's more than one sentence, I tend to ramble. And once you start rambling, You're probably not being clear. If there's a lot of
stuff you want to add or change in a scene. Do it piece by piece. Don't tell an actor. Move over here and do
this a little bit slower, but the next bit faster, and add emphasis on this
word and R4 into the room, but then sneak, that is too much and actor will
get bogged down and we'll be working so hard
to check everything off the list that they won't really
be present in the moment. Give them one thing to try, like stand in his way when
he's trying to leave. If you like it, then
say, That was great. Let's try it again,
but this time, blank. Build it out piece by piece. In the next lesson,
we're gonna go over a few final directing tools
to help round out your kid
5. Directing Tools: Sometimes you're
working on a scene with an actor and you get stumped, their performance isn't working and you just don't know
what to tell them to do or they're asking you a question that you don't
know the answer to. There are a few questions
and things you can discuss with them that will
help you work the scene out. Let's check out a
scene from one of my films that we can analyze. Hey, hey, I came all this way. You can at least by me and
macro room, your weight. Stop. Wait a second. What you actually do
that what the guy said. I don't want to talk about it. Why would you do that? Why would you make pesto regular Tony and then
put it in the cooler here? I don't know. It makes me feel better. Are you? Yeah, I'm fine. This is really, really
uncomfortable for me. So can we just stop
talking about it? Yeah. Okay. Fine. Did
you take the bus here? Yeah. Do you want me to
give you a ride home? I am actually going over to Joe. The first tool that
will utilize is facts. So I'm gonna make a
category that says facts. Facts are a powerful tool when
you're talking to actors. And the best part about them
is that you don't have to figure anything out there already right there on the page. If an actor comes
up to you and says, why would my character do this? You can simply respond by telling them the
facts of the scene. So let's write down some of
the facts from this scene. Kendra just found out
Beth's deepest secret. The weather is freezing. Kendra had to get
dressed and take the bus to go pick up Beth. Kendra is getting
dropped off at Joseph's. These could all be
used to help an actor figure out how to
play the scene, even just the fact that the
weather is freezing could help inform how an actor
might approach it. They might be in more of a rush to get into
the car that way. These also aren't anything
I had to make up. These are just facts of
the script so they're self-evident and can really
help inform a performance. The next one is questions. This is kinda the Socratic
method of directing, where you can help
an act or figure out the scene just by asking
them questions about it. And then they do all
the work for you. So going back to
our example scene, Let's write down some
questions for the actors. Was Kendra in the middle of
something when Beth called? Has Beth ever really relied on anybody to
do something for her? You don't have to do a ton
of these just a few will do. Then if an actor is stuck, you can simply ask them
one of these questions. For instance, if the
actor playing Beth isn't responding the way
that you envisioned, you could just ask
her, has Beth ever been this vulnerable in
front of somebody before? That's a powerful
way into a scene. Go through each scene of
your script and write down some questions you
could ask your actors. The next one is images. This is when you tell an actor something to imagine while doing a scene that can help
inform their performance. Going back to our example scene, I could tell the
actor playing Beth, imagine a time in your life when you were the
most humiliated. That's going to give them a good idea of what the character is experiencing and how
to play it truthfully. If you're giving an
actor this direction, don't ask them what actually is the most
humiliated they've ever been is it's just for them to personally find a
way into the scene. It's something for them
to use internally. Images are effective
directions and they're often only a quick
short sentence. The next one is
what just happened. Similar to stating
the facts of a scene. Stating what just happened to a character or what happened in the previous scene
can help quickly and effectively inform how an
actor should play a scene. You just had a long
exhausting shift at work. You were just standing
in the cold for an hour. You just had a fight at dinner. These are all really great things you can say
to an actor that will help them clarify how
to play a certain scene. And once again, it's not
something you have to make up. The script is doing
all the work for you. The next one is objective. This is one of the
tools that actors use that can seem a bit hippy, dippy to some filmmakers, but a lot of actors
think about it. So you should at least be
prepared to talk about it. In objective is what a character wants or needs in a scene. Sometimes it's simple and explicitly laid out in a script. Frank wants to break up
with an a for example, but sometimes it's
not spelled out and you'll have
to make a choice. It could be something as simple as you need to get validation. The next one is action verbs. Like we talked about before. Action verbs are an incredibly powerful and effective thing to have in your arsenal. Let's go through
the scene and give each character a
few action verbs. So for Beth, I'll write evade, escape, cower, and hide. And for Kendra. Alright, chase, interrogate, pry, and
finally, cover up. These directions. Cut to the heart of what
you want an actor to do without muddied the
waters or confusing them. The next one is adjustments. The final tool to add to
your kit is adjustments. This is where you tell an
actor to do a scene as if play it as if they're
your little nephew. Play it as if the finger
doing is due tomorrow. Play it as if the
person you're talking to is really famous. This is another tool
that can help an actor visualize the performance
that you're aiming for. It's also an opportunity
for you to get a little creative and to think outside the box with
your directing. So as a reminder, here's the list of tools again, for every movie that I make, I go through the
script scene by scene and fill in each of
these categories. It forces me to not only
really think through the script and how I see the movie playing
out in my head. But also look, it gives
you a handy cheat sheet that you can reference anytime
onset with these tools, you'll be better
prepared and ready to answer any question
and actor has. You'll be amazed by
how much more prepared you'll feel once you've
created this document. And it'll spark tons of new ideas and perspectives
you had never thought of. So your assignment
for this lesson is to take these list of tools and go through and analyze whatever script you're working
on or planning to shoot. Go through scene by
scene and break it down, write down some questions, action verbs, adjustments, etc. If you don't have a script
you're currently working on, download the script of one of your favorite movies
and use it to practice. The best way to get a hang of these things is to
actually use them. So it's time to put
them into practice
6. Collaborating On Set: So you've got all
your ducks in a row. You've analyzed every scene of your script and you've made a detailed analysis
document with action verbs, adjustments, and
images ready to go. Then an actor comes up
to you between takes and has a brand new idea
for how to do a scene. What you expect me to just undo all that work I did
and try something new. What do you do in
this situation? You tell them to take a
hike, right? Actually, no. It can be really
scary for filmmakers, especially new ones, to allow themselves to be open
to ideas from others. After all, we're geniuses and
we know what's best, right? Well, sometimes, but I highly encourage you
to check your ego at the door and to
open the process up for actors to
contribute their ideas. Actors often have
incredible new ideas that you may have
never thought of. After all, they've
probably thought about the script more than
anyone, even you. And if you ignore those ideas, you're potentially
missing out on opportunities to make your film is rich and interesting as
it could be in the process. You'll also turn
your actors often make them feel like their
input isn't valued, which can cause them
to stop opening up, which is really the opposite
of what you want them to do. You want to create an
environment on set where actors feel like they can offer
suggestions and feedback. If something isn't
working in a scene, or if they have an idea that could make
it more interesting. You want them to feel
safe coming up to you to express it
that way you've got what you need in the can and the actor feels like you're
actually listening to them. Earning their trust will go
a long way towards having them give their best and
most honest performance, creating an open and
collaborative environment onset does have its limits though. Your cast and crew should
feel like a team who are all contributing and
working together to create something wonderful. But I would make one
little suggestion. Let everybody onset know
that their ideas are welcome and that you'll
consider and try them, but they should give
them to you in private. It can be really
difficult for actors. If while you're trying
to figure out a scene, the sound person says, Hey, you should try this. Maybe, but if it's counter
to what you're going for, then it can really just
confused the actors. If your mom says that you
can go to the sleepover, but your dad says
that you're grounded, you're going to feel pulled in two directions and
not know what to do. Your parents should
get together alone, figure out what
their decision is, and then present it to you. And it's the same way onset
7. Final Thoughts: Actors are not scary. Once you realize how they think and what they
need from you, directing them can be
pretty simple and fun. I hope that this
class demystified the acting process a little bit and gave you the
tools that you need in order to effectively
communicate with actors with a little bit of practice
and the right preparation. It can be incredibly exciting to collaborate with
actors personally, it's my favorite part of the
entire film making process, and I hope going forward, it will be yours as well. If you've got any
more questions or suggestions you'd like to share, please leave them in the
class discussion section. I'd love to hear them and
make sure to share a copy of your script analysis that you wrote down for the
example scene, it'll be fun to see
everyone's different ideas. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you
in the next class.
Dean Peterson, Writer/director/producer
