Directing Actors Workshop: (1)

Tuesday 11th November 2014
Studio Shoot

Today we had our first Directing actors workshop by Nigel Bristow. he quickly gave us a brief talk about the differences between stage acting and screen acting.

Stage acting is

• Actors are free to move about with limited restriction
• Acting is more similar to real life 

and

Screen acting is

• Actors are constricted to move inside the frame
• Acting is often exaggerated to appear normal on screen

In conclusion, for screen performances the actors are acting for:

1. The Frame 
2. The cut (edit)

Nigel also taked us through how to frame actors to get certain outcomes. Here is a breakdown of the different shots used in terms of framing :

using the Canon XF305 we connected this camera to a tv, so we could switch between the screen acting and stage acting. Nigel brought with him a professional actor Sam where he acted out a scene small scene where he was waiting for his sister and how when watching this on screen and real life it created two different moods on screen the acting seemed normal and when physically watching Sam it seemed over the top and a bit exaggerated. With tom controlling the camera and Nigel directing Sam, he also directed tom in telling him to change the camera positions refering to the images above, for example you get information from viewing a full body shot such as playing with the feet getting the whole body in the shot/frame you get more of an understanding of the mood and tone. whereas the close ups shots the actor has put more of an emphasis on the facial movements.

Nigel also gave us tips on how to cast for an non-speaking  role as he had asked us what each group was planning to film so when tom the director described our film where our actor has a non speaking part, Nigel directed Sam to be a tv Chef, who was in a nightmare on his show. This was a good way present weather or not the actor had comedic timing and any other traits for the role.

This image below show three traits you want two out of the three traits GOOD & FAST or GOOD & CHEAP you never want FAST & CHEAP as this will make a film look really bad.  Nigel had shown us this showing what makes a good film an two you traits you need.


I found this workshop today really helpful and learnt a lot about how to communicate with actors properly and how to direct them to make a good film. and learnt alot how different camera shots such as CU, MCU and ECU  how these simple shots can make a real difference on screen and make the actors acting real and how it can give off different moods and emotions if you apply these shots properly. As i now know how the process of casting works and how this has made me more confident in working with actors myself directly.