Professional Acting From Amateur Actors

Filmmaking Articles

Production

Acting and Actors

Written by Jeff Lanctot

Labels: Acting, Blocking, Production

Let's set the scene: a beautiful actress is being wooed in a gorgeous scene at a park and a huge alien ant creature pops out and eats her boyfriend. She watches in disgust and screams but looks more grossed out than horrified. Or better yet, you've got a scene between a mom and daughter where the drama is flying, but for some reason, no matter how you cut it together in the end, mom and daughter seem to be having two completely different conversations. You know what the problem is but how do you fix it?

Directing amateurs will require more preparation on your part because you'll need to know the characters inside and out... You can't expect amateurs to be able to break down scenes, characters, and emotions the way a pro would very naturally do. The upside is that often you will be able to employ shortcut directing techniques in order to squeeze a good (or at least passable) performance out of an amateur that a professional actor would be insulted by. Line reading. Mimicry and off-camera queuing? Amateurs won't know to be insulted by these techniques, because usually they are too inexperienced to know when they're giving you a good (or bad) performance anyway.

Crying, Lying and Dying

Three of the most difficult emotions/actions for an actor to arrive at are crying, deception and death sequences. Especially death sequences. Why? First off because no one living knows what it feels or looks like for themselves to die. Second because actors have to be well meditated and trained to be able to tap into such deep emotions as weeping and lying to someone. Try these methods:

Crying: After you just can't take it anymore, clear the set and have only the actor in question stay behind. This is where eloquence must come in. Speak to your actor with respect and marvel. Tell them that in order to get to the real tears they must do some very hard work for the camera. While alone with him/her, tell them to close their eyes and think of something dark. Maybe they have seen a crime in progress or been victim of a crime. Tell them to imagine that moment as if it were happening RIGHT NOW. Push the actor and poke at him with your words but remain calm and in control. Never berate or yell at them. Simply be a stern leader who can pull feelings from a person with nothing more than words and a little manipulation. If all else fails, get them frustrated, work them up, put eye drops in their eyes and have them rub them.

Lying: Deception is difficult. Choose a feeling: either happy to convey real evil while delivering the lie, or scared to convey the lack of confidence that goes with lying. This feeling must stay with the actor. Tell the actor (still alone) to prep that feeling while saying his lines. Have him/her do it over and over while giving them direction to tweak it where you want it. This takes some time but can be very effective.

Dying: Be very cautious with dying sequences. Prior to your shoot, research the kind of death that your actor should be portraying and have them do the same. If you find information of particular good use, share it with the actor before they go on. Keep in mind that brain aneurysms often start off like a headache and then cripple the person just before they pass out. There is no wailing or flailing around. Gun shots: Your actor or combat stand-in must absolutely understand having a bullet hit the body. Do exercises with them: Throw a hand ball (they're soft) at them and have them react to it. Tell them not to anticipate the ball hitting them, but rather being surprised when it does. And also be sure that the actor reacts in motion. When a bullet hits, it often throws the person back a bit.

Happy Face Sad Face

For some reason, whenever the camera is off, you will find the actors beautifully displaying their lines and living in the moment. When they are in the spot light, however, actors sometimes become stiff, rigid and uncomfortable being vulnerable in front of the crew. It's baffling since becoming an actor is a choice, but it happens.

To help with this, before your production, hire an acting coach to come out and do some exercises with your cast. At about $100 per hour (only one hour is necessary) you can have a Master of Fine Arts recipient who is likely listed on LA Casting or in the back of acting magazines, show up on set, warm up your cast and have them singing like finches in no time.

Having an acting coach can be particularly helpful if there is an overall theme to your movie, like preppy and peppy. Perhaps it's about teens who dance. The coach would prep those actors to be confident, happy and maybe even bouncy. If it's a dark romance, however, your coach would bring them to a sullen, or at least moody place. You'd be surprised at the difference this will make in ambiance, too.

Combat, Baby!

Stage combat is no easy task on set. Especially when you're low budget and you don't have the time or money for your actors to rehearse weeks and days before. Often times indie film makers must rely on the actor's ability to pull of the amazing and memorize the band-aided script the night before the shoot. But fear not. I have these wild suggestions for you:

First and foremost, if this is the first time you have had combat on a set, you must hire a choreographer or actor with combat skills. As a newbie, you just have to do it. I found my choreographer/ninja wannabe on Craigslist but he's worked out beautifully. Not to mention the fact that I also had an acting coach on my first combat set, who only cost me $300 for the entire day. It sounds like a lot of cash but the positive difference it makes in production value is priceless.

When you have a little bit of experience with combat acting but still can't get your actors to look hurt, bruised or beaten, I have these simple fixes that may help:

Do some exercises with your actors in a medium circle. Have them pretend that there is a ball going around the circle and they must catch it when it is thrown to them by another actor. Upon catching the ball, they must believe that it is heavy like a bowling ball. Tell them to show you how that would feel if they (magically) caught a heavy ball that was thrown. Start the circle off yourself and throw your imaginary ball to an actor. Next, change the ball from heavy to hot. Tell your actors to react to the hot ball being thrown at them. You could even go through a list of adjectives like a light ball, a BIG ball, a cold ball or a sharp ball made of razors.

Next, if you still need help, have your actors start a routine and practice it. Have actor A punch at actor B. Actor B should duck, then upper cut. Have them do this in slow motion over and over until they've memorized it. Then have them speed up. Once it's in their bodies and they are able to do it quickly, switch the movements up until they mimic what you want them to look like.

Last Resort

If all else fails and you're at your wit's end, the best thing to do is use fancy editing in a bad fight sequence. Erratic flashing cuts, creative wipes and flash backs are often a great remedy for fumbling actors. And though you are Indie, finding a talented editor for cheap is not impossible. Editing can save your film when it has hit rock bottom but as usual, you should never purposefully rely on it to pull your project out of a hole.

In the end because of limited budget indie filmmakers are often forced to rely on volunteers, friends and family to get the job done. While most of the above tips and suggestions would insult a "real" actor (who will almost certainly come to the set with thier own toolbox and won't have much use for the amateur antics I've described), for those who we tap as actors simply because they fit the costume, own the location, or because they were in the wrong place at the right time, these tips may be the fastest way to save their performances, and ultimately your movie.

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