Trouble shooting for directing Actors for FVS 442

1. FVS 442 – WEEK FOUR:
ACTING/and LOCATIONS
DIRECTING ACTORS – LOCATION CHECKLIST

2. REVIEW FROM TUESDAY: ACTORS ACTIONS
 SUPER OBJECTIVE –

3. REVIEW FROM TUESDAY: ACTORS ACTIONS
 SUPER OBJECTIVE – What the character (any character) wants overall in the story.
 SCENE OBJECTIVE -

4. REVIEW FROM TUESDAY: ACTORS ACTIONS
 SUPER OBJECTIVE – What the character (any character) wants overall in the story.
 SCENE OBJECTIVE – What the character wants in the scene
 TACTICS -

5. REVIEW FROM TUESDAY: ACTOR’S ACTIONS
 SUPER OBJECTIVE – What the character (any character) wants overall in the story.
 SCENE OBJECTIVE – What the character wants in the scene
 TACTICS – Within a scene, the differing choices of action a character makes to move closer to
getting what she/he wants in the scene.
THIS IS HOW AN ACTOR BREAKS DOWN THEIR SCRIPT.
THEY MAY DO THIS INTELLECTUALLY…
THEY MAY DO THIS INSTINCTUALLY…
USUALLY A COMBINATION OF BOTH.

6. HOW DO I TALK TO THE ACTORS….
 THE INTELLECTUAL (OUTSIDE/IN): Their approach Is from the OUTSIDE to the INSIDE as they map out their
character’s appearance, gestures, voice, every line intention or TACTIC, they say each line exactly as written, move
exactly as blocked, and if things deviate, they can get flustered.
 THE EMOTIONAL (or INSIDE/OUT): This actor prefers to fly more intellectually blind and feel their way through the
scene based on what the other character makes them do. Intellectually they may need to be reminded of ”the
moment before” the scene starts and what they are trying to do in the scene, and that’s about it.
 THE COMBO (WHATEVER WORKS): This is my favorite actor to work with both as director and an actor as they have
the most awareness of their craft as well as the storytelling craft, and will do whatever ‘technique’ is needed at any
given moment to get to where they need to go as actors.
DEPENDS ON THE ACTOR AS AN INDIVIDUAL – One size does not fit all as there are as many
ways to act as there are individuals. Without diving in too deep re: techniques,
most actors fall into one of three camps:

7. MY DEFINITION OF ACTING:
The actor must do genuinely meaningful actions while in responsive relationship to others
under the structure of the imaginary circumstances of the story in order to help tell that story.

8. Genuinely Meaningful Actions:
A look inside the actor and ‘The Magic If’
 A Genuinely Meaningful Action is the actor’s personal relationship to what the character is trying
to do.
 The father of psychologically real or ‘method’ acting, Constantin Stanislavsky said that no one can
be anyone else but who they really are. However, if an actor asks themselves supposition
questions about their character… their ‘lie’ or ‘play pretend’ becomes infused with who they are,
creating a kind of fusion of fiction and truth.
 The supposition question is this: ‘What if’….I were this other person. I know that I’m not, but ‘what
if’ I were… how do I behave ‘as if’ I were this person? In this story, scene, moment?

9. THE RESPONSIVE RELATIONSHIP ACTION
 Talk to the character… not the actor.
 But first, pull the actors aside and say: “Hey, let’s play a little game here to prep us for the scene.”
 “I’m going to interrogate you a bit as the character regarding your feelings about yourself, the other character(s) in the scene, etc. I’ll only
call you by the character name for the next few minutes, you’ll answer as the character and we’ll see where that takes us until I call you by
your real name and then we stop.
 Think of my voice as a voice inside the head of the character asking questions, and you answering these questions out loud, okay?
 If they’re game, proceed to ask question to the character about their relationship, feelings, thoughts about the other character.
 Have the actors look at one another, and to not drop eye contact. Have them sit or stand close to one another, comfortably so.
 Ask each character what they love or at very least admire, respect like about the other. Have them tell the other character.
 Ask them what they hate about this other character, or bothers you the character the most and keeps the relationship from being what you
want it to be? In your view, what is “THEIR PROBLEM?” Have them tell the other character this ie: ‘Your problem is that you are so…etc.”
 Now that you’ve identified their ‘PROBLEM’ as you the character sees it… you’ve located something vital: THE RESPONSIVE RELATIONSHIP
ACTION.
 Now pull the actor privately aside, addressing them as themselves, and whisper to them: “I want you to change them from their Problem to
its Opposite. In other words: It is their greed which keeps them from giving you a raise – MAKE THEM CHARITABLE.

10. IMAGINARY GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES
 Where does the scene take place?
 Who is in the scene?
 What do they want in the scene?
 Why do they want it?
 How will they go about getting what they want?
 What time of day/night is the scene taking place?

11. LET’S ANALYZE A SCENE LIKE AN ACTOR
 EVERYONE SEND ME THE MOST CURRENT VERSION OF THEIR SCIRPT
 SELECT A SCENE FROM YOUR SCRIPT
 ANALYZE IT FROM THE ACTOR’S POV: Super Objective, Scene Objective, Tactics

12. 6 THINGS A DIRECTOR MUST KNOW ON
SET
 WHAT IS THE ESSENTIAL THING THIS SCENE IS ABOUT?
 WHAT DOES EACH CHARACTER WANT IN THE SCENE?
 WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO GET WHAT THEY WANT?
 HOW DOES THIS SCENE PICK UP FROM THE LAST SCENE?
 HOW DOES THIS SCENE MOVE THE STORY FORWARD?
 WHAT IS THE ESSENTIAL THING I MUST CAPTURE IN THIS SCENE FOR MY STORY TO WORK?