Acting workshop

On Wednesday 2nd of February our media group took part in an acting workshop during one of our lessons. We learnt what actors require from a director mostly but we had a go at acting as well to see what it is like to be directed- this was useful as we got to see what we [as actors] needed from our director first hand.

• Help actors to perform- do not instruct them how to act as they should already know and it is patronising
• Use 'More' or 'Less' as guidelines for the perfect performance
• Script, costume and make up should be provided for unless the actors are asked specifically to bring their own
• Always direct the actors before you direct the cameras or you will end up wasting a lot of time on shots that won't look right, and often you find the perfect shots by observing the movement of the actors
• Always tell the actor what shot you will be doing of them as this will affect how they act e.g. if it is an extreme close up they will concentrate on facial expressions
• Tact= be sensitive and polite towards your actors- this will encourage a more confidant performance
• Always do a cold reading before you start filming, this will get the actors more confidant with the script before they think about acting it out
• Get the actors to do as many takes as possible, this is because performance will get more believable as they get used to it
• To start a scene always say 'action' this means all the crew will do their jobs at the same time
• Do practice acting before you record, this means you can direct as they act and are more likely to get the perfect shot quicker
• As a director you must look out for volume, face expression, pace, tone of voice and change in atmosphere.

Our acting workshop was assisted by Simon Ockenden- he sampled some film noir American accents and we asked him if he would be able to do our voice over for our film.