Scope of the essay:
The essay investigates how a director should communicate and work with actors during rehearsal and on set to produce engaging performances. The essay investigates different acting styles, the rehearsal process, directing on set and communication between actors and director. The essay assumes the actor has formal training and basic experience. The essay then proves effective communication achievable through the “actor’s vocabulary” is key not to over-direct and building trust with the actor.
The Hypothesis:
If an engaging performance is dependant on effective communication between director and actor, then studying what an actor needs communicated to him by the director will ensure the actor understands the director’s vision, goal and will be able to deliver an engaging performance.
Trajectory of research to test the hypothesis:
The essay aims to provide insight into how actors and directors should communicate to ensure maximum efficiency. I will test these findings by directing actors during a test shoot. I will use the suggested method I found through this essay and document my findings.
Rehearsal and acting techniques.
Stanislavsky
Konstantin Stanislavsky’s method is based on naturalistic, psychological acting. He uses the “what if technique.” Stanislavsky believes actors should develop emotional triggers that they can recall to create a desired emotional effect. Actors imagine themselves in a given situation and feed on the emotions the situation awakens within them. The actor then draws from a personal experience in his or her past that is similar to the called for situation to invoke the same emotional response from the actor. This is often called “sense memory” (Daw, K. 2004: 42).
“An ...
... middle of paper ...
...y, C. 1936. An Actor Prepares. New York: Theatre Arts Inc.
Weston, J. 1996. Directing actors: creating memorable performances for film and television. Illustrated ed. California: Wiese Productions.
Unpublished:
Taylor, J. 2001. An introduction to Stanislavski's method. [Online] Available from: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3352 [Accessed 03 June 2009].
PERSONAL COMMUNICATION:
Gabriel, I. 2009. [Interviewed by W. Labuschagne] 9 Jamieson st. Cape Town, South Africa. (Personal communication 05 May 2009, 13:00 – 14:00).
Van den Bergh, R. 2009. [Interviewed by W. Labuschagne] Telephonic. (Personal communication 03 June 2009, 15:40 – 16:00).
Lecture Notes:
Freeman, M. 2009. Master Class notes. AFDA, AFDA Cape Town Lecture Theatre 1 on 23 February 2009, 18:00.
Williams, M. 2009. Master Class notes. AFDA, AFDA Cape Town Lecture Theatre 2 on 01 June 2009, 11:30.
The purpose with this paper is to study and compare two different directors, and to compare and contrast the two different works. How are they working with their movies and how do they use mise-en-scene? By studying two different directors that uses different techniques when making movies, we are going to find out how important mise en scene really is, and how it affects the movie.
This essay shows the subtle differences that can occur between directors, even when they are basing the movie off of almost the exact same script. Almost no two movies are exactly alike, no matter how hard the directors and actors might try. Minor personality differences and scene changes greatly affect the atmosphere and meaning of the same movie. One example of this is the movie Romeo and Juliet. This movie tells the gripping story of two young lovers who are forbade to see each other because of a viscous feud between the two families. I'll be looking at the older 50's version of Romeo and Juliet and comparing it to the newer version of Romeo and Juliet.
One solution is to approach an actor at the beginning of their training, and see where knowledge of "commedia dell'arte" and its performance can expand a performer's range. The contemporary young actor's most familiar performance role model is that of televisi...
Modern day directors use a variety of methods to hold ones interest. Ethan Hawke and Kenneth Branagh’s created versions of Hamlet that shared some similarities, but ultimately had many differences in respects to an audience’s appeal. An appealing movie is one that has an alluring ambiance and an intellectual stimulus. With these two movie versions, a setting and a mood forced an audience to acquire specific emotions, but Ethan Hawke’s version generated emotions more strongly and effectively. Also, these movies had extremely different uses of music and visuals, but both movie versions incorporated them well for the ambiance it tried to obtain. Finally, both movie versions drew characters to captivate the audience; however in Ethan Hawke’s version, the characters were used so effectively that it was easy to feel involved with them. While both these versions of Hamlet had a captivating ambiance, Ethan Hawke’s version was more appealing due to the intellectual incentive that it offered.
Despite the provision of stage directions, however, a play is not simple to adapt to a cinematic form. Plays rely heavily on dialogue to communicate emotion to the reader whereas film allows for close visual representation. Filmmakers can explore creativity in adaptation in many ways unavailable and impractical in the theater. In order to maximize the emotional impact of a dramatic work, the filmmaking team can make use of several simple yet effective tools, such as the composition of frames and the variations of the camera shot. In the 1961 film adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking play A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Daniel Petrie, the filmmakers use these techniques in creative ways to communica...
give them the full respect they deserve. Another important part of being an actor is to feel
In conclusion to this essay we can say that Stanislavski’s system in the training of the actor and the rehearsal process is effective. The system helps actors to break down their characters gradually and really know the role. Some may even the say that the system helps them to almost become the character. The system has played a significant part in theatre training for many years. It has been used, adapted and interpreted by several practitioners, actors and tutors. For many years to come Stanislavski’s system will still be used in theatre training. Not only is it an effective system it is the past, present and future of theatre training and the rehearsal process.
New African Vol. 1.492 (2010): 14. History Reference Center -. 2010 - EBSCO Industries, Inc. Web.
The development of editing - Editing - actor, film, voice, cinema, scene, story. 2014. The development of editing - Editing - actor, film, voice, cinema, scene, story. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Criticism-Ideology/Editing-THE-DEVELOPMENT-OF-EDITING.html#ixzz2sNiIEQqt. [Accessed 10 February 2014].
Often, actors fight against the staging or movement direction they are given; actors must be able to justify movement within their own mind in order to perform it authentically. Theater directors must be mindful of both the picturization of a moment and its sincerity; bridging the two can be a difficult task. Nevertheless, it is my job to honor the actor's instincts and create an eye-pleasing visual moment. Approaching this dilemma, I always start
Before each of these conventions is defined and analysed the process of making a Classical Hollywood film must first be described; it begins with either the completion of a script or the hiring of a scr...
Marks, Shula, and Stanley Trapido. "South Africa Since 1976: A Historical Perspective." South Africa: No Turning Back (1988): 1-45. Print.
...econd African Writers Conference, Stockholm, 1986. Ed. Kirsten Holst Petersen. Upsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1998. 173-202.
Bottaro, Visser and Nigel Worden. 2009. In Search of History Grade 12. South Africa Oxford University Press.
The Zulu people are now enmeshed in South Africa's modern, industrial economy and society, with the largest population of them still in the region of KwaZulu Natal on the eastern coast. There has been an adaptation of traditional beliefs to allow for Christian, medical, agricultural, mechanical and other rational, scientific approaches of the Europeans. However, despite the cultural diffusion of Western thought and religion among the Zulu people, traditional thinking, according to Berglund (1976), is not only still very much present in Zulu society, but is receiving mor...