*

*
1. A LEADER. - Makes it clear who is in-charge.
2. A COMMUNICATOR. – Should know what he/she wants and
be able to communicate that.

3. A PEOPLE PERSON. – Treats ALL – cast & crew – with respect.

Genuinely interested in people.
4. A firm DECISION-MAKER.
5. A good STORY-TELLER.
6. A COLLABORATOR.

*
 A MOVIE or FILM is a story told in images,
moving images.

* The smallest unit is the SHOT.

* Shots edited together make the SCENE.
* Scenes when put together become the FILM.

*
 The SCRIPT is the ‘Bible’ of the production.

• A Director should have a specific VISION for the

script and firm ideas about how to realize that
vision.
• Respect what’s on the PAGE....
but – BE OBJECTIVE.
• Use what works ONLY. WORK on the script
until it becomes ‘your own’.

*
Breaking down...
Understanding...
Memorizing...
Absorbing...
Living...the SCRIPT.

*
SCRIPT ANALYSIS :
• KNOW the storyline, the characters, the central theme,
the dramatic arc...and all the BEATS that make up the whole.

BEAT – A single unit of action. A scene may comprise one or more

beats.
BEAT CHANGE - The point during a scene where a new action
begins. It occurs when a new piece of information is introduced or
an event takes place over which the character has not control and
which by its very nature must change what the actor is doing.

* Be aware of how specific dramatic moments fit into the whole

film.

*
• The Director then converts the script to a
VISUAL PLAN.

• The Director translates the MOVIE in his/her

MIND in paper through...

*
 7 Basic Steps the Director follows to arrive at a
Shooting Plan:

1. Know the script.

2. Know the characters. Develop a history of the
main characters.
3. Breakdown each scene for dramatic beats.
4. Determine a visual style for the story.
5. Settle on pacing and tone.
6. Create floor plans and storyboards.
7. Make a shotlist.

*
 Remember : The film audience requires not
too much information (dialogues, narration)
but drama (heart).

* Tell the STORY through IMAGES.

* The work of the DIRECTOR is the work of

constructing the SHOT LIST from the script,
and translating them from PAGE to SCREEN.
“Directing is 90% casting.”

“Never settle for less!”

 Audition requirements...

*
* The DIRECTOR prepares!
• Reads and re-reads the scenes to be shot.
• Leads pre-production meetings.
• Does location hunt, approves locations, set, props,
costumes, hair & make-up & other prod.
requirements.
• Approves casting.
• Rehearses actors.
• Make shot list.

*
*
“All you have to do on the set is :

• Stay awake
• Follow your plans
• Help the actors be SIMPLE...and
• Keep your sense of humor.
The film is directed in the making of the SHOT LIST.
The work on the set is simply to record what has been
chosen to be recorded. It is the plan that makes the
movie.”
-- David Mamet

*
*“What is the scene about?”

*“What do i tell the actors?”

*“Where do i put the camera?”

*
If one understands what the scene means, and stages
that, then the director is doing his job for both the
writer and the audience.

The unit with which the director should concern himself

is the SCENE. HOW?

1. “Let’s follow the actors around.”

* What’s the most interesting place to put the camera

to film this scene?

2. The MONTAGE : A succession of images juxtaposed

so that the contrast between those images moves the
story forward in the mind of the audience.

*
Think FILM. Think IMAGES.

*Tell the story in CUTS – through a

juxtaposition of images.

*Listen when people tell stories. They tell

them CINEMATICALLY – they jump from one
thing to the next, and the story is moved
along by the juxtaposition of images -- by
the cut.

-- What you heard is already a SHOT LIST!

“A film must have a beginning, middle and end -
but not necessarily in that order.”
-Jean-Luc Godard

* It is our nature to want to make sense of things

– we can’t help it. The human mind would
make sense of them even if they were random
juxtaposition.

 Audience interest in a film comes from this :

the desire to find out what happens next.

*
* If you understand the scene, you understand the
movie. When the problem posited by the scene is
over – the scene is OVER.

A lot of times in movies, you want to get out of the

scene before the problem is over and have it
answered in the next scene. Why so? So that the
audience will follow you.

* They want to know what happens next.

*
• On set, in the heat of production, changes,
additions, alterations and compromises are
made.
• Only a Director who KNOWS the material
(script) - inside and out - will be able to guide
the production through troubled waters and
still come out with a well-told story.

• A Director must be FLEXIBLE.

*
*
*
WHAT TO TELL ACTORS :

*To give direction to the actor, you do

the same thing you do when you give
direction to the cameraman : you refer
to the objective of the scene.

*Tell the actor to perform the physical

motions called for by the script as
SIMPLY as possible.

*Do not “help the film along.”

*The actor doesn’t have to do the action
with meaning. The script is doing THAT
work.

*Now, if you’re telling the story in pictures,

then the dialogue is the gloss on what’s
happening. The story is being carried by
the shots.

* Basically, the perfect movie doesn’t have any

dialogue.
* You should always be striving to make a silent
movie.
* The more the actor tries to make each physical
action carry the meaning of the “scene” or the
“film”, the more that actor is ruining your movie!

ACTOR : What do i do in this scene?

DIRECTOR : Walk down the hall.
ACTOR : How?
DIRECTOR : Quickly. (or fairly slowly or
determinedly.)
Just use SIMPLE ADVERBS.

DON’T OVER-MOTIVATE!
* Actors will ask you a lot of questions:
“What am i thinking here?”
“What’s my motivation?”
“Where did I just come from?”

Answer : It doesn’t matter – because you

CANNOT act on those things.
If you can’t act on it, why think
about it?
* Just tell the actor to do his simple physical
actions as SIMPLY as possible.
* Movies are made out of very simple ideas.
The good actor will perform each small piece
as COMPLETELY and as SIMPLY as possible.

* Most actors try to use their intellectuality to

portray the idea of the movie.
That’s NOT their job!

* Their job is to accomplish, beat by beat, as

simply as possible, the specific action set out
for them by the script and the director.

*
• Why do directors shoot so many takes?
Because they don’t know exactly what they
want.
And they’re frightened.
* If you don’t know what you want, how do
you know when you’re done?
• If you know what you want, shoot it and sit
down.

*
*
*The crew will ask you again and again :
“Where do we put the camera?”

*The answer : “What’s the shot of?”

*Apply K.I.S.S. Rule.

*“Capture the moment, DON’T distract it!”

The DIRECTOR chooses the SHOT.
Your choice of the shots are all you have.
It’s what the movie is going to be made up of.

You can’t make it more interesting when you

get to the editing room.

You can’t rely on the actors to “make it more

interesting”. That’s not their job.
*“If you’re correct on the small things, the
smallest of which in this case is the choice
of a single uninflected SHOT, then you will
be correct in the larger things. And then
your film will be as correct and as ordered
and as well-intentioned as you are.
UNDERSTAND the scene.
• RESPECT what’s on the page.
• Anticipate the effect of the scene to an
audience member.

• Be SENSITIVE.

NEVER manipulate the scene, the shot,

the moment – for effect!

*
1. The K.I.S.S. Rule :
-- Keep it simple, s_____ !

2. LESS is MORE !

*
*
Elia Kazan :
“Of course, the film director should know
acting...and its techniques. The more he knows
about acting, the more at ease he will be with
actors.
He should force himself on stage or before the
camera so he knows this experientially, too.

Some directors, and very famous ones, still fear

actors instead of embracing them as comrades in
a task. The director must know how to
stimulate, even inspire an actor.”
“...He must also know how to make an actor
seem not to act, how to put him or her at
ease, bring them to that state of relaxation
where their faculties are released...

All in all, he must know enough in all these

areas so his actors trust him completely.”
*
*Work on ONLY those things within your
control.
Devote your time and energy to developing
measurable skills such as :
• Your voice
• Your body
• Your ability to analyze a script correctly
• Your ability to concentrate.

*
* As an actor, you should never concern yourself
with “talent”. Talent is completely out of your
control. Whatever talent might be, you either
have it or you don’t, so why waste energy
worrying about it?
* The only talent you need to work on is a talent
for working – in learning the skills that make up
the craft of acting.
* ANYONE can act if he has the WILL to do so.

*
ACTING is a craft with a definite
set of skills and tools. By
assiduously applying your will to
acquiring those skills and tools,
you will eventually make them
habitual. Once your skills
become habitual, you need no
longer concentrate on your
technique, the craft you have
developed will work for you and
allow you to act freely.

“The difficult will become easy and

the easy habitual, so that the
habitual may become beautiful.”
-- Constantin Stanislavski

*
1. A strong, clear voice
2. Good clear speech
3. A strong, supple body
4. The ability to analyze a scene correctly
5. Memorization by rote
6. The ability to work off the other person
7. The ability to act before you think
(i.e., on your impulses)
8. The ability to concentrate
9. Bravery
10. Common sense

*
*
* ACTING is NOT pretending.
* ACTING is NOT performing.
* ACTING is NOT thinking how to act or react.
* ACTING is NOT indicating.
* ACTING is NOT faking.
* ACTING is NOT planning.
* ACTING is NOT preparing an emotion and
trying to hit THAT.

*
 Remember ACTORS: Emotion is beyond your
control, so don’t worry about it. Ever !
* There is NO such thing as a correct emotion for
a given scene.
* Analyze and understand the scene. Just do the
action required.
* Every action will give rise to an emotional
condition; you won’t have to work for it.
 DON’T aim and work for an emotional result.

*
* A technique based on emotion is utterly
undependable.
• Because you cannot control what you feel,
your emotions can desert you anytime.

• Contrary to popular belief, you need never

gear up emotionally for a scene!

• DON’T push for emotional result to make the

scene more “dramatic” or “interesting”.

*
“Ang DRAMA –
hindi dina-drama.
Ang COMEDY –
hindi kino-comedy!”

- Sir Elson
*Part of the Actor’s job is to find a way to
LIVE TRUTHFULLY under the imaginary
circumstances of the film or play.

*
Q : How should i act or react?
-------

“I think that if you have a

talent for acting, it is the
talent for listening.”
- Morgan Freeman

*
* Q: During the scene, after i’m done with my
line or action, what should i do or think about
next?
A: NONE!

Living IN THE MOMENT – Reacting impulsively to

what the other actor in a scene does, according
to the dictates of your action.

*
CONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKY said :

“There are 3 types of actors:

• The first actor presents a
ritualized and superficial
version of human behavior,
this version coming from his
observation of other bad
actors.
This actor will give the
audience a stock rendition of
“love”, “anger”, or whatever
emotions seems to be called
for by the text.
• The second actor sits with the script and comes up
with his unique and interesting version of the
behavior supposedly called for by the scene, and he
comes to the set or stage to present that.

• The third actor, called the “ORGANIC ACTOR”,

realizes that no behavior or emotion is called for
by the text – that only action is called for –
And he comes to the set or stage armed only with
his analysis of the scene... and prepared to act
MOMENT-TO-MOMENT, based on what occurs in the
performance...to deny nothing and to invent nothing.”

*
• You must follow the dictates of your common
sense.
 Your greatest gift as an artist :
Your sense of TRUTH.

Stanislavsky once wrote that you could

“play well or badly, but play truly.”

• It’s not up to you whether your performance

will be brilliant. All that is under your control
is your intention.

*
*DON’T intend to manipulate, to show off or
to impress.

*Intend to follow the TRUTH you feel in

yourself.

 MEAN what you do. MEAN what you say.

__________________

“ACTING is basically a simple exercise of

living life TRUTHFULLY under imaginary
circumstances.”
- Bryan Singer, director of
“The Usual Suspects”
The rehearsal is the WORK.

The performance is the RELAXATION.

• DON’T be heady.

*
*
From MICHAEL CAINE :
“The art of cinema acting is
the exact opposite of stage
acting. In the theater you
have to be as big and broad
and loud as possible, even in
the quiet scenes...
Film acting is about standing
six feet from a camera in
blazing light and not letting
the tiniest bit of acting
show. If you are doing it
right you make it look very
easy, but it takes a great deal
of hard work to accomplish.”
“There are some useful tips i’ve picked up
along the way...
• In a close up, choose just one eye of the
actor you’re playing opposite, don’t skip
between the eyes or you will look shifty;

• Choose the eye that brings your face

closest to the camera;

• Don’t blink if you are playing a strong or

menacing character; if you are playing a
weak or ineffectual character, blink as
much as you like.”
“Just because they say
‘ACTION’ doesn’t mean you
have to do anything.”
- Marlon Brando,
reported by Al Pacino

*
 FILM ACTING is more INTERNAL.
* The CLOSE-UP.
* The Actor’s EYES. --- Use IMAGES.
“Film acting is talking soft and thinking loud.”
- Director George Stevens

• The CAMERA doesn’t lie!

• But DON’T be intimidated by the CAMERA.

*
“The best actors are
children and dogs
because they’re not
acting at all.”
- Helen Mirren

*
“Someone told me to stop
acting with a capital ‘A’,
not to perform, not to be
big, not to entertain –
just to be.
And to listen to other
people when they’re
talking.
That was probably the most
important thing I ever
learned.”
- Denniz Franz, “NYPD Blue”
“It took me years to understand
fully why my teacher was right -–
never to plan how I would say a
line...
only to think of the situation
and listen to the other actors...
to go with whatever comes up
from other actors or the
director...
and not to try to force a
repetition of something that
went well before...
The real work of acting is letting
go.”
- Vanessa Redgrave
“Learn the lines and don’t bump into the furniture.”
- Spencer Tracy

* When a performance needs to be repeated and lines

delivered over and over again – in rehearsal or in
coverage – each time they must be spoken as if for
the first time.
• Device tactics to keep the actors from falling into
LINE READINGS - preconceived ways of delivering
the lines.

*
• Hitting the mark. Finding your Light.
• Blocking for the camera. Movement with the cam.
• Acting ON CUE.
• Re-takes. Continuity of action and emotion.
• Acting with props, with animals or children.
• Shooting out of sequence.
• Set distractions.
• Privacy issues.
• The waiting. The heat. The elements.

*
“On the set, Woody Allen
leaves the actors alone, he’s
always about loosening it up,
and I tried to do the same.
I don’t like too much
direction, myself – it stops
me from thinking or feeling...
If somebody talks to me too
much, I clam up.”
- Diane Keaton

*
*