Directing Yourself

J

John M

Active member
I feel as though this might be a silly question to ask, because I really don't know how I would go about responding to it if it were asked of me.

There is a chance that I'll be directing a short that I might also be taking the lead role in. The reason I would be taking the role is because I know the character inside and out and I feel that my interpretation of this character is the best one for what the story is about.

My question to anyone reading this is, have you ever had any experience directing yourself as an actor? How do you know if what you just did on a take is working? Is this an area I should avoid completely?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
You don't know unless you have a lot of experience acting. That's why directors exist. I hope you're not assuming that only the other actors need an outside eye. I'd avoid it unless you really do have the experience to do so.
 
People do it all the time....but the best way to take a look is to set up your camera and shoot some scenes of your acting. With today's low cost shooting why not go for it? You can do as many takes as possible. I am planning on it myself on two films I'm writing. Simply spend the time to shoot some test footage. Just set up your camera and shoot the scenes until you know what you need. Nobody ever heard of Billy Bob Thornton until he did Sling Blade right? I knew him as a writer and bit actor before he directed and acted in it...and he pulled it off. Get the script right...then work on the acting. One step at a time. Work it out and you can go from A to Z in one film.
 
haha this reminds me of what my producer just told me today. It's a two producer team and one of the guys is so funny, he's totally like the kid who just loves to have fun but yet is so professional too, and he's like, "You and I have to have cameos in your film, if Ron will allow us," and Ron is the other producer. I said well I don't know, I want YOU to have a cameo because it'll be hilarious, but me? Do you really want me to Hitchcock this? He's like, "Absolutely!" Haha, I have to see if I want to do that, I don't want to give myself a line, I don't think I can act my way out of a wet paperbag ;) But it may be funny to have myself walk through a scene.
 
Thanks for the thoughts folks.

Cassius - I agree with you on the experience thing. More experience means better results

Kess - I love Sling Blade. Every once and awhile my roommate will burst into my room and say "You shouldn't have done that, he's just a boy". It's completely random when he does this. Any time of day really. Oh and I definitely think you're right about putting in as much time as possible. More time put in equals a better product in the end right? [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]Johnathan - Yeah a walk through might be fun. I love it when I'm on IMDB reading trivia or something and I find out that the director was guy X in the coffee shop behind the lead role for a scene. Pretty cool.
 
Do a google for interviews on directors who also starred and see what they said. Add Clint Eastwood to the list...and I am sure there are plenty of lesser-known actor-directors. But as anyone will say...the script has to be great. Without that the greatest actors can't save your film.
 
Oh man, a Google search. Capital idea. I'm pretty embarrassed that I did not do that in the first place actually.
 
GO for it! I do it all the time but then again, I'm an actor. BUT screw that. I'm a person and a person can do anything another person can do. Plus be honest... You want to see yourself up there on the screen huh? Yeah? Come on admit it? The only argument is do you think you'll be good enough. Try it. You'll hate yourself the first take but you'll get better and better and finally... Good enough to make the film.
 
Well to be 100% truthful I definitely would not mind seeing myself on a screen. I best start practicing. Everyone`s been telling me to practice and repeat so I`ll go with that. Thanks for the thoughts folks.
 
People act in their own movies. People like Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood. But its harder. Clint Eastwood can act and he can direct. If thats the case than go for it. Sometimes though, indy directors cast them selves just to save money, which I would advocate against, unless its a very tiny part, which can be kind of neat (IE- Hitchcock's brief appearances in his films).
Overall, if you can act, go for it, but if your just cutting corners, then don't. (-:
Also, if you plan on doing it, I would think shooting digitally would be better so you can review the scene immediatly (you'll be in it, not behind the camera) and not wait for dailys. Just an idea....
 
I started out as an actor years ago. I took a role in the feature I'm producing now, but had the lead actor in the film watch and give notes on my acting. He didn't direct the scene per se, but one thing you cannot do is watch yourself while you act. That is the death of acting. So I had the lead watch me. And being an actor himself for going on 3 decades and a teacher to boot, he was perfectly capable of giving me good notes.

People like Eastwood, Mel Gibson, etc. It's a bit of a different ballgame. They have extremely experienced professional crews around them, so they don't have to worry about the million things a tiny indie filmmaker ALSO has to worry about in addition to directing.

And I'm sure, just as we did on my film, they have people there who can watch their performances. They also have more luxury of time to play back their performances and watch themselves. On small sets, time is usually the thing you never ever have enough of.

Plus, guys like Eastwood have been on screen so long, they just have so much comfort in front of the camera. If you are not an experienced screen actor, you might be in for some trouble trying to act in a movie you're directing.

But the biggest pitfall you will fall into is trying to direct WHILE you act. Death.
 
Excellent tips guys and just as a quick update for any who are interested, I am going to be acting in the upcoming film and as it is primarily a learning experience my level of stress is quite low. Once again, thanks.
 
I do it all the time, but I'm not shooting or doing camera set-ups. I have a DP and let them call action. I work on how I'm going to say lines and since I'm normally also the writer I try to feel how I felt when I wrote the line. How I imagined it being said. Now getting the other actors to do it how I saw it is the challenge. LOL.

The main problem is the pivitol and big moments are always done well, but it's those basic dialogue scenes I want to work on. What's good is some of the people I'll be working with live nearby so I can run lines with them.

-Nate
 
Yeah, I imagine if you were taking care of the setups as well, things would get quite tiresome really quickly.
 
Update:

So I shot the short yesterday and the day before acting in the lead role. Here are my thoughts for anyone who wants to go a similar route:

1) Don't do it if you're also going to be doing camera setups and the like. That was told to me before, but after actually experiencing it I can't reiterate that enough. Don't do it if you're also the cinematographer.

2) Avoid placing yourself in a leading role. It's just too crazy unless you have a lot of people who know what they're doing behind you.

3) Practice your lines. Practice your lines. Practice your lines. Just cause you wrote all the dialogue does not mean you can get away with not practicing. I practiced quite a bit, and what I realized is I should have practiced more.

4) Pre-Visualize. I pre-visualized the entire film and this helped me immensely because I never had any need to worry about what was next.

5) Some people told me not to view myself as we were filming and some people told me to. Ultimately I did view myself and for the most part it improved my performance. The reason: Seeing yourself on screen gives you a more objective view of how bad/good you are. It helped me out, however I don't know if it's for everyone.

So that was my experience. I'm on the fence if I'll do it again or not. I am happy for the experience though. The film should be done in a few months. If I'm not embarrassed with myself I'll throw it up for folks to see.
 
John M said:
3) Practice your lines. Practice your lines. Practice your lines. Just cause you wrote all the dialogue does not mean you can get away with not practicing. I practiced quite a bit, and what I realized is I should have practiced more.
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And run lines with the actual actors anytime you can.

John M said:
4) Pre-Visualize. I pre-visualized the entire film and this helped me immensely because I never had any need to worry about what was next.
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The best scenes in "Wages" were all pre-visualized. I saw them over and over. They were my favorites. Storyboards help here. A lot of indies don't do them but they work. We story boarded a scene that got cut, but the scene itself turned out real nice.

-Nate
 
Cool man, I appreciate the ideas. Yeah, storyboards are pretty much the best. I don't do them nearly as much as I should.
 
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