Getting options for editing

Gohanto

Gohanto

Veteran
Just finished a film and I'm confident that i got everything I set out for on it performance wise, but talking with my actors later one of them mentioned he would've liked more takes on some scenes to have given me some options while editing.

Thinking about it more, I know a lot of director's have talked about how great some actors are by giving different tweaks on a performance as options in editing.

The question that leads me to is once I get a take I really like, what would you say to an actor that would give them some freedom on further takes to play around a bit for different options and just try out some of their own idea?

My difficulty is finding a way to say that without sounding like "I'm happy and could move onto the next shot, but I just want to kill some time now instead"
 
I simply give them a few takes at doing whatever they want. I call it improv time. Or I will give one of the actors a direction without telling the other actor(s) what is going to happen just to see what develops. Most actors enjoy letting things go a bit off script and you never know what you might receive back. But you have to know when to end it. Time is money!
 
Sometimes I say "do one for variety" I don't like saying "for safety" as I've heard it annoys some actors and crew people...
 
Gohanto said:
My difficulty is finding a way to say that without sounding like "I'm happy and could move onto the next shot, but I just want to kill some time now instead"
Click to expand...

I think your attitude belittles the whole idea. Kill some time? why kill time? move onto the next set up then! I'll ask an actor if they want to try something different, if they have any ideas they want to try, lets do it, I'm happy but if you got something you want to try...
 
I didn't say I wanted to kill time, I just don't want it to appear like that's my goal (which it isn't).

Asking the actor if they want to try something else puts a lot of pressure on them as then it's THEIR choice if we're moving on or not and even if they have another idea, they may just get intimidated out of saying so. Wouldn't affect every actor naturally, but certainly some.

I actually like Brandon's idea of "do one for variety" the best. Gives the actor permission to try something new, and doesn't sound like the director is wasting time from the crew's pov.
 
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