Timing pauses between lines

Basically, it comes down to this... When you have an actor who's sole line is "Do you wanna mask", make sure that Jack... err... the actor is actually thinking about what he's saying and really connecting with the material. :beer:
 
Since I never work with anyone I would consider a "real" actor, I normally know how I want something to be said so I can give them almost exactly what I want it to sound like, then let them run with that. Works extremely well lol.

- Kyle
 
yeah that's how people work with kids sometimes too, but if you do work with a "real" actor that's considered to be somewhat or incredibly insulting depending on the actor ... just FYI for anyone reading this.

If you have to do this as a last resort for a "real" actor the way to do it is to ask their permission and apologize for not being able to communicate it another way, i.e. blame your directing "I'm sorry, I am just not finding a good way to explain this, and that has nothing to do with you I'm just not as articulate today as I would like to be. Would you please endulge me and let me give you a line reading?" "Sure I guess so." "Oh thank you so much."

One director I worked with / studied under even suggested whistling the line for the actor as a second to last resort before giving a line reading. That may seem silly, but I mention it mostly to put a fine point on how out of bounds some actors consider this.

If you just tell a real actor "how to say it" you may get "That's great, why don't you just play the part" as a response.

Not coming down on you Kyle, just this is a grain of salt for others to take your light hearted post with, in the event that they work with pros.
 
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Jack - you should be applauded for making these points. You're exactly right.

"Directors are the guardian of the story but the actor is the guardian of the emotion".

If you want to steer the emotion you have to talk to the character NOT the actor.
 
Talk to the character?? Is that supposed to be figuritive? I think directors have a lot of emotion to work with.

As one type of actor I don't mind being instructed upon one line of dialogue with the exact inflection.. so long as it was some important way that the director envisioned it. If he tried to lead me along on a string I would definitely start with the condescending comments.
 
Yeah he means talk about the given circumstances that the character finds him or herself in.

The actors I'm referring to taking offense at line readings have lot's of professional training and or experience. If you are working with a bunch of people who know each other and it's more or less like a garage band vibe then sure anything goes. But trained actors are told in their training, and rightly so, that a director giving a line reading is stepping over their bounds. That's what you are up against as a director once you get to the point where you are working with highly trained actors.

Also this is like the whole pause discussion we've been having. You will never get results as honest and immediate if you say pause for 3 seconds as you will giving the actor direction like "remember how hard this next part of the line would be to say because of X,Y and Z".

Here is an example from Stu Mascwitz's book the DV Rebel's Guide.

He talks about an acting class he was in where the teacher asked an actor to sneak from one end of the rehearsal room to the other.

The actor did a sort of hamburgler, sneaky tip toe spy walk. Completely fulfilling an external goal of how it should look. The class tittered.

Then the teacher asked the actor to go back across the room without making any noise. The floor was wooden and presented a few challenges in that it creaked. Now the actor was testing each board before placing his full wait on it. It was interesting and engaging and idiosyncratic to that actor doing that thing at that time. It was also 1000X's more real.

So sure you may get passable results saying "say it like this" or "pause this long" but if you really want to get to the highest most believable level of performance you get the actor to try to get something from the other character or out of a situation rather than playing an external goal.

Now you must take all of this with grain of salt.

There are times when the scene calls for tears or rage or a pause or whatever and the actor must deliver and should be working in consort with the director. At such times it may be entirely necessary and appropriate to say "you have to cry here because the other character's line is 'please stop weaping'. If you don't cry she has no reason to say the line or to shoot you when you refuse to stop."

But here is how various actors at various stages of training may interpret emotive directing.

UNTRAINED ACTOR
DIRECTOR: You have to just be screaming at her here. Get really angry.
ACTOR: OK.
Chances are they force something that's not believable. But maybe they are a genius and can tap into something.

ACTOR WITH JUST ENOUGH TRAINING TO BE DANGEROUS
DIRECTOR: You have to just be screaming at her here. Get really angry.
ACTOR: I can't play "to be angry". What is that. Why would my character do that? What's going on in this scene? And they may think you don't know what you are doing and regard everything else you ask of them with suspicion.

ACTOR WHOSE BEEN AROUND
DIRECTOR: You have to just be screaming at her here. Get really angry.
ACTOR: OK.
They have learned to translate what they consider to be bad directing into directing they can use. So they take the external result you've asked for and then maybe ask for a few moments to reconstruct the way they were thinking about what the character is dealing with in that scene to get to a screaming angry place. Depending on the circumstances you've asked for the result, they may think you don't know what you are doing and regard everything you say suspiciously for the rest of the project.

Those are extreme examples. And I do tend to be result oriented at times with actors. But the more intense the emotional place they have to go, the better it is to try to get what you want by addressing the given circumstances of the scene rather than just saying "do this".

Now it is not this cut and dry. You might say "Do you think you would be so composed here?" "Do you thing that might make you really angry when the other character does that to you?" But even then with just a subtle shift, you have put the request within the circumstances of the character. You have basically just asked them to be angry, but you have referenced some trigger in the scene.

I am not saying you can never say "be angrier" "be more scared". But unless you have a familiarity with an actor or it is a lighter scene it's best to avoid it if you can.

One way is to talk about the shape of the scene and energy a lot.

"I think this is a really still moment." For example. It's not as direct as telling them what to feel. Just what kind of moment it is.
 
Knoxworth said:
Talk to the character?? Is that supposed to be figuritive? I think directors have a lot of emotion to work with.

As one type of actor I don't mind being instructed upon one line of dialogue with the exact inflection.. so long as it was some important way that the director envisioned it. If he tried to lead me along on a string I would definitely start with the condescending comments.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I think Jack is being very gracious by not simply saying. Any actor who "wants" the director to give him a line read is an indication that a BAD casting choice was made. I'm not saying that it's a bad actor but possibly a "lazy" one. Usually if there's a line that is not working and you pull the actor to the side step one is to explore. I look for an actor that wants to find the meaning of the line so that it's delivered not by simply a pre-conceived notion of the director but from the emotional moment that the character finds himself. Then both the actor and the directer find what's best for not only the line but for the character and ultimatly for the story.

In the end, if I find myself having to give a trained actor a line read then either I'm stuck on something that maybe I need to reconsider or the actor has lost all faith in my ability to motivate him.
 
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