Voice: The Cinderella of the Film Industry Overview: Voice is little regarded in the film business, either by actors or directors. Sets are dry, smoky, unhealthy places. Unlike theatre, many actors don’t see the need to warm up or cool down for screen. Directors hope to ‘fix it in post’. Yet voice is vital for […]
Category: filmmaking
Because they are talking to themselves… Because they are on learned lines which is highly unnatural… Because they are embarrassed by the script… Because the new lines came under the hotel bedroom door at 3am Because THEY came in the hotel bedroom door at 3am… Because it’s a night shoot – the night after a […]
@MelChurcher – Thinking Like An Actor: It’s not WHAT your characters say; it’s WHY they say it. And the way they say it depends WHO they are, what they WANT and the LIVES they lead – the speed of their thoughts, their dreams, passions and predicaments. There is no such thing as dialogue – only […]
(This was first published in ‘The Great Acting Blog 2011 but links were invalid..so updated.) Actors are often obsessed with sub-text and when they find it, they want to share it. But what is sub-text? Literally it is what lies beneath the words. But we deal in sub-text all the time, even when we are […]
How do You Solve a Problem without Knowing what the Problem is? When you first start screen directing, you know there’s a problem but you can’t put your finger on what it is – so you can’t solve it. Here’s a little check-list to help you identify what the problem might be… Symptom: The actor […]
Directors and Actors Sharing a Language Directors are busy, harassed, stressed-out people. The buck stops here. This is true for all directors, but especially so for screen directors. They may have to get 30 minutes of screen time in the day. Or maybe only a minute and a half, but it involves a helicopter shot […]