Directors' Resources?

[BrendanLeahy]

I know we all have the internet at our fingertips, but damn it, there's just too much stuff out there sometimes that it's hard to know where to start.

My background is in camera operating, and I actually really enjoy shooting and directing. However, there seems to be a disconnect between what I articulate to the actors and what ends up coming out, and at some point, I just feel like I've exhausted all the words and ideas I can give them.

I want to improve my understanding of direction, and figure out how to better help my actors (and non-actors) hit what I'm aiming for. I know the actors I'm working with aren't bad at what they do, I just think I lack the vocabulary and knowledge of what they need to really bring out solid performances.

If it helps, the shooters-directors I really have always admired are Kubrick and those influenced by him (Nolan, P.T. Anderson, Fincher, etc.). My understanding for Kubrick's background, though, is that he was self-taught and came up through photography.

If anyone has been in a similar situation and has found certain books, lessons, etc. to help, I'd love to hear it!

 

[Dylan Gabriel Edwards]

Would love to hear about what you find!

 

[Phil Holland]

If you can find an opportunity to shadow a Director you respect or find a way to do something else on set so you can observe. I did this for over a decade before I directed anything significant and I learned a great deal through various Director's methods.

Beyond that, I have found a lot of useful experience working with actors by auditing various acting classes over the years. I would do it half a dozen times a year for a bit. I studied psychology for a while and that can help a bit in terms of communicating and getting to the core of something.

If you're really adventurous, I do actually recommend taking an acting class and/or improv class if you have the chance. Understanding things from an actor's POV is extremely powerful when trying to turn words into performance.

 

[David Kiang]

I would recommend watching on Udemy.com: Directing the Actor: A USC course with Nina Foch. George Lucas and Randal Kleiser produced this video lecture series in 2002 with lots of practical critiques and video exercises from students.

Also recommend reading director John Badham's "I'll Be in my Trailer" which covers very practical advice of working with actors on set and not only how to solve problems but also how to avoid creating problems with actors.

Lastly, the books by Judith Weston "Directing Actors" and "The Film Director's Intuition" might be of value. All these books can be purchased on Amazon.com.

I totally agree with Phil's advice about watching other director's you respect work, but if you can't get on set with that caliber of talent, I also highly recommend taking acting classes and learn what it's like to be in the actor's shoes. Also, take the opportunity to work with actors whether you're filming or not. You can learn a lot by directing scenes with actors even without a camera rolling.

 

[Sean Keefe]

In terms of books I would highly recommend, Sidney Lumen's Making Movies!

 

[Joe D'Arcy]

It can be difficult to put into one or two sentences what you want as a director considering your final one or two sentences to the actor come from a complex pool of info: eg;
what is the film about?
what is the scene about?
what does the character want from the situation?
what does the scene mean to you?
what does it mean to the actor?
how do you want to convey this to the audience?
what style/look are you going for?
what does the actor bring to the scene?
what is the level of skill/age of the actor?

You have to be clear with what you want and what and who you are working with before you speak to the actors. Kubrick said that he would always wait and see what the actors brought to the scene before he would add his very clear vision. He worked on the premise that you only get one chance to see what the actor brings to the scene- and that will occur before you speak.

When I worked as an actor, I found that directors often spoke from so many different angles, that the direction was very unclear-usually because they were also unclear. Other directors said nothing at all which was equally not helpful.

Sometimes all the info and complex meaning of the film/scene gets in the way. David Mamet focusses mainly on the action in a series of beats.

The best advice, which has already been given, is to participate in a series of acting classes, to experience the difficulty of making acting look simple, and also to experience the great divide between what a director wants and what the actor needs to achieve it.

The Stanley Kubrick Archives (Alison Castle ED) is a good read on Kubrick's overall approach to the story and also his approach to the actors. The book covers all of his work from his first photography job at Look Magazine through to each one of his films.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

I've never went to any film school. Everything I've learned has been through the passion of not being able to let go of my interest in filmmaking, always pushing me to read everything I can about anything filmmaking-related. I don't care if it's technical, creative, philosophical, pretentious or just for fun. I've read a lot about screenwriting, even if you don't plan to write, learn it anyway, it helps a lot. My main profession has been as an editor and that's also something very much worth learning and getting into. There's nothing worse than a director who don't know anything about editing (which leads to problems from pre-production all the way to post editing).

But for directing, the most important part is that everything can be learned in theory, but the biggest flaw for any mediocre director is if they can't direct actors. Many are scared of them, or don't care about them, but you can shoot on an iphone with a great cast and be a great actors-director and through that create a masterpiece better than most large scale productions. Directing actors means, shut yourself in a room and work things out with them. Get to know their process, don't be afraid to expose yourself as they expose themselves as actors. I would recommend taking whatever camera you have, get a script or write your own and just shoot a short. Don't worry about quality, don't worry about for what purpose the short is for, do it to get experience, do it to explore with the actors and find your "thing" that makes you unique as a director. Every one, dedicated enough for the profession, has that "thing" that makes their creativity special, it just takes hard hard work and a will to find it.

As for tips in directing actors, the best I would say is to never tell them what result you're after. It's unplayable. Keep the direction short, never over-complicate descriptions. Find out, together with them what the characters motivations are in the scene, what drives them and what's in their way at the time. When you find that, start there. Analyze the screenplay, find the subtext and you will find a hint at the motivation.

Think like this... Where did the character come from...? Where's he/she heading...? What does he/she need to do to get there or get it...?
If two characters meet and have opposing goals and each other as obstacles, how do they manipulate, manage their behavior against each other to get there or get what they want?

More complex scenes are the ones where two characters have the same goal and obstacles, when they work together. In that case you would find drama in them having different strategies getting there, then it's not the goal and obstacles that divide them, but how to get there.

If you find out that characters strive for the same thing together, have the same obstacles and they behave the same it just gets boring. This is when you need to change the game, do screenplay rewrites and find new obstacles for the characters.
Just like in screenwriting you need to torture you characters. Find the worst thing that can happen in a moment (that still fits the story).

In a way it's the actors job getting to the goal and it's your job to close all doors, set up traps, manipulate the environment, incept opposing ideas from other characters. If you do that, the actor will have to navigate through it all as the character and that's when the magic happens.

 

[Brendan H. Banks]

I haven't read any of the above posts, but I think that taking an acting class or legitimately trying to act for someone who is directing you is one of the most valuable things you can do. I took an acting class in college and acted in a few stupid internet videos and boy, I think those taught me more about communicating with an actor more than anything else. I understood first hand how great it feels to make the director laugh/react, and just how weird it is when there's a disconnect. It's super helpful.

Also, "shadowing" other directors...but you don't have to become an assistant or even be at set without getting paid. Even something as simple as going about your camera operating as normal, but making it a secret mission of yours to be present and clued into direction being given to talent. I spent my time ACing drawing the lighting diagrams my DP used and listening to the director give direction. Often people are taking breaks during these times sand it's a great way to see/hear what's happening. Heck, when I was PAing on big budget film in NYC, I slowly backed my way into a conversation with Robert Elswit. He was discussing angles and telecine with his 2nd unit director/dp and I apparently got kind of close so he asked me if I was interested, knew what they were talking about, and would like to listen in for the rest. I think he recognized that goal to learn and rewarded it...or at least that's how I felt. Great memory, and interesting stuff I had to write down and google later.

Anyway, those are the two things that have helped me understand more about working with talent....though I'm still primarily pursuing goals in cinematography.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I think there's lots of good advice above. I think the two primary things you can do to become a better director are:

1) rehearse extensively with your actors prior to the shoot so that there is no question about performance, line readings, intent, emotion, character, and all that other stuff. That way, you can have the polite disagreements and/or screaming matches off the set, away from the crew, just between you and the actors.

2) work closely with your DP and AD in advance so that the scene is storyboarded and broken down so that you know exactly where to put the camera and how to shoot it. This can be done weeks before the shoot, even before the actors are hired, so that you'll know the script is going to work visually and logistically with the locations and situations you've planned. That way, you're not overwhelmed with the options of where and how to shoot it, and you're certain you'll get all the coverage you'll need in editing. Even for really cheap films, it's possible to do a previz version to get the timing and angles right.

Almost every time I've seen chaos and confusion on the set -- particularly low-budget indie productions -- it's because one or both of the above wasn't done. Do these two simple things, and it will save you a potentially massive amount of time and money.

 

[BrendanLeahy]

Everyone - thank you so much for all of your advice. This gives me a really good direction to go in both off and on set, and I'm sure I'll have more follow-up questions!

In the meantime, let's keep this thread going! I've no doubt it'll be useful to others!

 

[PatrickFaith]

I find the "behind the scenes" extra's on blu-ray's are excellent. Most of the Pixar extra's are great (Inside Out is extremely good for how character development evolves), also Ridley Scott's films have extra's that are great - he really explains the problems he is having especially through the story board process. I've noticed quite a few directors really put some work into the extra's(which are also available on various itunes purchases) to help fellow film makers.

 

[BrendanLeahy]

I just wanted to thank everyone again for all of these suggestions. I have 4 books now, and though I'm just starting on "Directing Actors", I already have an enormous amount of insight as to what I've been doing wrong, and a starting point for improving myself.

I have a music video that is very much reliant on timing lining up with the lyrics, so it will be a very interesting exercise applying what I'm learning, but I'm definitely up for the challenge.

I'll post my results on here and hopefully get more of a dialogue going!