Question: What is acting?
What do actors want
from a director?
- That you know what you want and when you get it
- That you know the script
- Playable direction
- To be challenged
The problem with
result direction
Quick fixes that
don’t work
- Can you make it more funny?
- Say it like this…
- I think the character is angry/annoyed/excited…
- When she tells you she doesn’t have the money, you get angry…
- This character is an idiot
Tools that do work:
- verbs
- facts
- images
- events
- physical tasks
- asking questions
- surprising each other
Be an animal!
Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991)
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (Shadyac, 1994)
What about comedy
directing?
“Don’t try to be funny.” – Martin Scorsese
“Comedy, like drama, is best achieved when actors concern themselves with the moment by moment, rather than the effect.” – Judith Weston
What the motivation
of Buddy the elf in this scene?
Elf (Favreau, 2003)
“If the lines are funny, they come out funnier when the intention is more important than the lines. If the actor’s subtext is “Look how funny this line is,” the fun is gone.” – Judith Weston
Question: What sort
of attitude do you think the director should have?
Task: Look at the
DGA: Directing Comedy 101, find a quote that you think is significant and present it
to the class on this Padlet.