Week 2 - Working with Actors

Within our second seminar, we focused on the relationship between actor and director, and how emotions are brought to screen.

We discussed how many directors prefer to work with lesser known actors. That way there is more focus on the performance and not so much the star power. I believe that this would be more enriching to a story. It is often about casting the right person for the role, not necessarily the actors status/experience.

I learnt an interesting technique in building good relationships with actors, that being "finding a common enemy" such as a producer. It will naturally bring yourself and the actor closer, forming a better working relationship.

Emotions on Screen:

I found the topic of bringing emotion to screen very interesting. We discussed how an intense scene can be crafted, even with a lack of music and minimal sound, only the actors performance.

Another interesting point was the idea of the scale of performance. Theater actors perform in a big way, as they have such a large stage to perform. Television has the ability to create a more intimate "stage" with close shots. It is the directors job to recognise this and help the actors scale their performance to fit the scene.

To wrap up the week of learning, we were tasked with acting in our own scene, with no dialogue or sound. Just movement and expression. By acting myself, I learnt more about how the two roles of Actor and Director work together, and how a scene can develop on set.