quote:

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Originally posted by rjschwarz

Beyond that, acting is a skill, a craft, and a talent. Some are good at it, some stink. Some stink but could become good with proper direction.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

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Thats pretty much nailed it. I shot 8mm stuff 20 years ago with friends. I had a vision of what I wanted and I communicated that to them (non actors) who were appearing in it. It also helps if you have some back story for the characters as this gives your performers something to work with. After that its really about "showing" them what you want and shooting take after take. Obviously this shouldn't apply to serious actors, but it is the de facto approach to non-actors.

In the pro world its apparently a big no no to "act out a secene" in order to show your actor what you want. However, I disagree with this. If you wrote the script or read and understand it in detail, then a director should have the balls to offer a complete insight to an actor, be they experienced or not.

Actors act and Directors direct. The fine line between the two is negociable in the pro and amateur areas.

In the previouse contri hethwheel, you refered to a style of directing called the "de facto approach". I googled de facto to try and try to find out more about it, bt I couldnt get any thing. Can you give me some more info? Cleary.

www.myspace.com/holteendproductions

BTW, you might want to read David Mamet's 'On Directing', because he talks a lot about telling the story with cuts rather than acting, which might help. Though you're still stuck with trying to get convincing dialog if you don't make a silent movie.

quote:

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Originally posted by hethwheel
Actors act and Directors direct. The fine line between the two is negociable in the pro and amateur areas.

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As is shown by the vast amount of actors who also get involved in directing, and vice versa.

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There's daggers in mens' smiles

quote:

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Originally posted by rjschwarz

Not that I know of. Generally if you have unknowns, say friends, you need to write the screenplay with them in mind. What could they do, how do they normally talk, so that they aren't really acting so much. Beyond that, acting is a skill, a craft, and a talent. Some are good at it, some stink. Some stink but could become good with proper direction.

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Yes, as I said, I always write my scripts with my friends in mind. Sometimes they get a bit accentuated as characters though, because I'm used to writing with pretty strong personas and I create a person more diverse and interesting than the real thing.

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

Then what you have to ask your selfis do they actually like the characters you want them to play? just because you have written it for their personality it dosent mean that their going to like the character. People always tend to see them selves differently to how other people see them. It's human nature. Plus you have to take in to account that human nature is lazy (refering to what you said about them not reading all the way through the script). Cleary.

www.myspace.com/holteendproductions

Well, yeah, I actually ask them what they want their character to be like before I write the script to get rid of the possibility that they might not enjoy their persona. One of the guys is all grumpy about it though because he wants to make the other film I wrote because he's army obsessed but everyone else wants to do this one.

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

quote:

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Originally posted by Cleary

In the previouse contri hethwheel, you refered to a style of directing called the "de facto approach". I googled de facto to try and try to find out more about it, bt I couldnt get any thing. Can you give me some more info? Cleary.

www.myspace.com/holteendproductions

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Sorry Cleary. The "de facto approach" is a phrase coined by me personally in relation to directing non-actors. What I mean by this is....Show your friends/actors exactly what you want. Act out the scene as best you can and then ask them to copy that. Then change/modify bits as you get down to directing them. This worked for me many years ago when I was a teenager directing my friends. It is perhaps, a very underrated aspect of directing amateurs. You'll learn someday that inside every Director is an actor waiting to get out and vice versa.

Hope this helps you out.

all my actors are like this.
after 4 monthes of practice however ther getting pretty good.

they do it for free to, so you know, im not capmlining
?:)?

-(Own3d Studios)-

my actors are either my dog or lego lol! anyhow hceck em out from link below

?url?www.youtube.com/rsteenoven?/url?

quote:

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Originally posted by rsteenoven

my actors are either my dog or lego lol! anyhow hceck em out from link below

?url?www.youtube.com/rsteenoven?/url?

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Big budget movie, methinks.

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

you see, i like resident evil the game, and if they wouldve stuck to that story in the masion, it wouldve been creepy as hell. they did ruin resident evil. and dont even get me started on silent hill...

-(Own3d Studios)-

sorry guys wrong thread ?:0?

-(Own3d Studios)-

No worries. It just makes my thread look more popular.

Any more ideas?

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!