It all came clear!!




In the last few weeks , we've been talking about the character background and character objectives, and how to pick the right word for the character objective, and we've heard the sentence active and not passive soooo many times by our lecturer , when choosing the objectives.

and it was an annoying exercise for me personally to find the right word really i though one or two objectives are ok , and the actor will get it from there NO BIGGIE.

until the lovely actress Rhoda Lopez gave us a visit last Monday , and she read and acted the script we were working on for the last two weeks with us . and there it was; everything came clear to me!

The actor have to know:

•  Exactly what's going on in the scene.the director have to give clear directions and not about every single tiny detail in the shot , otherwise he wont be giving the actor a space to act. 
• The character objectives.they have to be specific and not general, to help the actor understand the character more.
• Character background and the relationship between the characters, which helps him get more into the mood,so they know how to act/react in the scene.   
• How he did  perform after every single shot, which make him give more or perform better in the later shots.
• He should always get told what is going on set, or in the shot, and get asked if he was ready or not, if it wasn't form the director ,it should be from the 1st Ad.

Directors should know:

• That no one know or can see their vision except them, so when giving direction they have to describe it as close as possible to their vision , so they can get what they want.
• That no one can work with an uptight person, what if it a boss for a whole crew, stressing the actors over small details in the scene , will make them forget their lines, not work properly, waste time, and work with the director again.the director have to be openminded.
• That the actors cannot see themselves on camera, therefore he has make sure he/she inform how they did even if it was good.
• That if an actor gave a suggestion about a shot(the way of shooting it, adding a prop…etc) and it made absolutely no sense to the story  , make sure you don't shut them down and say it was horrible!! 
• Never ever rush an actor!  

At the end  i want to thank Rhoda Lopez for coming,  because what she thinks was another day of acting, was an incredible lesson for us.



That's all for tonight ………………. ciao 

                       Director's Statement
what is it?
well a director's statement is a document that the director should give to the producer(s) after reading the script.
why?
so they would know what the final product would look like.
what does it include?
basically the director's vision of the film,how it is going to look like,concept statement. he needs a treatment, background work and a directional approach to the project.
it can be broken down to :

1. story:how does he like to deliver it, who is the target market,the genre, the period of the story,any changes that he likes to add or subtract.
2. themes:film theme 
3. vision: which is everything that has to with what we are going to see on the screen(performance,vfx,cinematography, post sound, editing,…..etc) 

How do we differentiate a good from a bad statement?


Good statement   :       

1. is the one that has visual references in it.               
2. has a reasonable length.
3. shows that you've done some research before you've written it.
4. cover all sides of the film in it.

Bad statement:

1. if it was bad written(that will take a lot of credits from it).
2. if it has too many references(then there is no originality to your film)
3. if it was very long(then no one is going to read it) or too short ,(that shows that you are not into it).
4. if you haven't done any research before writing it, which your statement will be a bunch of opinions, because there is no facts to prove it.

im looking forward to write my own statement but let's wait and see which film it is going to be!

That's all for this week……………………….AU REVOIR!

                                     
                                  Cast


Choosing the right cast: how and what to do?


Choosing the right cast is very important, because as Joseph Ashton told us last week  "they are the show" so if you don't have the right cast "you don't have a show."




I am doing stage managing atm at the camelot cinema, and when i am backstage after i checked that all the actors are ok i start watching the play from backstage.  sometimes when things go wrong,for example forgetting a line , saying the wrong line, getting out of the wrong door, holding the wrong thing, actors are able to fix it straight away without anyone noticing.for example adding a complete new line and it looks and sounds completely natural because they know their character very well.


that's a sign that you have the right actor out there on stage.




But how do you  know that you have the right one before hiring him/her?


CASTING is the word. it all starts there and it all ends there.


the director is the person who does it, he has to be open minded about it, and take all his time with the person to make sure he is the one , at the end it is an investment! sometimes an actor get called twice and three times until he gets the role.


The director have to test all the actor's ability and strength,

•  which means his intelligence , if  he discusses the script with him, if there is anything about the character he doesn't get.
• he needs to check his acting skills of course , and to do that he needs to give him the space, another actor to read the script with him, otherwise he wont feel it and then wont be in the mood of acting.
• check their physical ability, and it should always be recorded and get different angles as well. because what we think of some people  are photogenic, sometimes  on camera they look the complete opposite.
• the need to perform , check their resume,what they've done before,if they can do it or not.

you have to cast the relationship as well as the role, and the ability if you personally  as a director can work with him/her or not. this could be done over a cup of coffee.you can discover a lot about the person because most  of the stress would be gone because they don't feel as if it is a job interview anymore and they can open up, and you can see the real them, and you can evaluate whether they are the right one or not.

you have to know though that on the casting day they are going to be very nervous so the very couple of minutes might not give their best or you might say that's the one. but you must offer them water , chat a bit with them to make them comfortable just to loosen up a bit.

and as i said before directors have to be open minded on the day and not expect actors to do exactly what they've imagined in their heads.at the end it's all about creativity!

That's all for tonight...........................................Au revoir