Stanislavski Quotes

* "Every action a little of psychology. A little psychology is everything physical."

* "Take nothing for granted. Think of your own experiences and use them truthfully."

Some links to Stanislavski's teachings:

http://www.kryingsky.com/Stan/Biography/bot.html

http://method.vtheatre.net/stanislavsky.html

Motivation for Character Movement

There's always a reason behind every action, and motivation behind any movement...

1. Initiative to do small actions for subsequent movement
* excitement * interest * curiosity
2. Space: control -> territory (threat/invasion of personal space).
3. Discomfort: hide.
4. Personal: confidential -> away/close.
5. Private: withdrawal/rejection/own world.

Stopping (for beat transition) - emphasis on a moment:
- ending and stopping movement grab attention. it could be for the actor to ponder/think or a after-thought.
- stopping to shift gears -> change of emotions.
- justify the actions and motivations for movement.

More small notes to directing

Week 9

2 ways of blocking actors:
* blocking actors to camera.
* blocking camera to actors' movements.

- be more demanding and explore how much deeper actors can go in rehearsals.
- get actors to work on bigger probs in rehearsal and not worry much about the smaller probs.

- "what does the actor want from the other actors?" and "how does the actor achieves it?"

- character actor is an actor who normally gets into the role of the character they are playing -> transforming themselves.
- lead actor is an actor who normally plays himself on set.
- make sure give 1st and last positions during rehearsals.
- learn to make things in depth -> foreground/background.
- use more verbs to help the actors understand better.
- reflect on the actors' experiences to anchor themselves to the scene.
- taste/hearing/visuals -> work on all the senses.
- try to rehearse with costumes to make the actors to be more 'absorbed' into the story.
- be more specific in terms of time/place.
- inject a little good in bad character even if there's no good ending... -> to keep audiences going on in the film.

Passion for Directing

After thoughts of "Regrets"

Just had some nice after thoughts for "Regrets". I felt i had more fun in directing for this project than the last albeit the constant shitty production problems.

Somehow i find myself more connected to the story and casts involved. And i feel that i've matured in terms of learning the craft in telling a story as a director.





Meanwhile my pal Byron has posted some "behind the scenes" pics he had taken while on set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/voux/sets/72057594050832378/


Wrap photo...actually not really wrapped...still got to rushed to next and last location at the Church to film Brian's last scene.

Studio Project One Critique

Week 5

Here are the compiled comments from Kym:

- allow actors to express more. try to let actors talk more about the roles they're playing.
- find out how actors feel emotionally for the scenes.
- stand-ins not as good as having actual cast during rehearsal with any real cast in a particular scene.
- better to let actors read the script first and then find out how much they feel and understand the characters that they are playing.
- try not to make characters' emphasis too much in certain words -> better to leave it to the actors to feel for the scene.
- always ask them what the actors think and feel about a particular line/scene to gain feedbacks and instill a sense of pro-activeness in the roles that they play.
- read through the pages with the actors.
- walk through the actors on the scene.
* let the actors do what they feel is natural -> 1st & last
points.
* Chereograph actors what they do and where to move with
respects to the camera setups (block to camera).
- emotional recall or the mood within the script context to help the actors achieve the needed emotions for any beat changes or key moments.
- let the actors act over the top and then to suppress it down if it's too much -> depends very much on logic of the characters and scenes involved within context.
- good to give notes and feedbacks to the actors.
- work on bigger changes (especially the performances) and naturally the smaller problems will be corrected.
- "What do you think you want from the other party?" -> objectives of the characters.
- relationships between the characters + the environment, especially e.g. a quarrelling scene -> be aware of the place (environment) which the scene is staged -> realistic sense.
- actors are not trying to affect each other -> ellicit feelings and behaviours mutually.
- can't see Yap and Joanne having the notion of having Billy -> lack of emotional risks...
- setup the journey of the characters and to experience/express the highs and lows of it.
- the couch not appropriate for the intense cafe scene. too comfortable for both the characters.
- can't see Joanne's background of having done therapy previously.
- actual costumes can help the actors get themselves more into their respective characters.

Week 4 small notes

- if a performance is too flat -> lack of logic and motivation.
- for every scene, do we believe/convinced of the character's scene objectives/motivations to gauge the level of performance in it.
- get the character to vocalise things (subtexts) in their head -> a combination of subtext + interior monologue.
- evaluation -> give the actor 3 things to think about.
- silence in the script means nothing while pause is often for the actor to think internally.

Good exercise:
- learn to act a scene without dialogues, by saying out aloud with interior monologues and without the monologues but just the actual acting. Observe the difference...

- to feel with eyes close on the scene and then act it out -> effective memory.

Activity & Intention -> more natural when the actor is talking with some activity going on at the same time.