Book description
This approach, honed after years of on-set experience and from teaching at UCLA, NYU, and Columbia, and endorsed by many in the industry, including director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and producer/actor Edward Asner, aims to provide a helpful reference and resource for directors and actors alike. It combines underlying theory with dozens of exercises designed to reveal the actor's craft. There is material on constructing the throughline; analyzing the script; character needs; the casting and rehearsal processes; film vs. theater procedures as well as the actor and the camera. Distilling difficult concepts and a complex task to their simplest form, the author explains how to accurately capture and portray human behavior. The author's discussion of creative problems she has encountered or anticipated after years of experience, and her suggested solutions and exercises, are immediately useful. Additionally, hear what the actors have to say in excerpts from interviews with such acclaimed actors as Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Glenn Close, Robert Redford, Christopher Walken, Julianne Moore, and Michael Douglas (to name a few) who discuss their work with directors, what inspires them, and what they really want from the director.Table of contents
- Cover
- Halftitle
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The Actor and Training
- 3. The Actors’ Vocabulary
- 4. The Text and the Throughline
- 5. Analysis of Script
- 6. The Character Outline
-
7. The Casting Process
- The Character Description
- Casting Resources
- Categories
- Articulating the Description
- Casting Directors
- Reading the 8 ×10’s
- Understanding the Training
- The Interview
- Graceful Rejection
- The Audition
- The First Reading
- The Callback
- Casting Children
- Making the Final Choice
- Adding the Camera
- Matching and Chemistry
-
8. The Rehearsal Process
- The Table Reading
- Introductions
- Discussion of the Throughline
- Collaborating with the Actors
- Scene-by-Scene Rehearsal
- Movement in the Scene and the Use of Props
- Starting the Scene
- The Jump Ball
- The Moment to Moment
- Communicating with the Actors
- A Sample Scene
- Designing the Arc
- Choosing Needs
- Rehearsal Schedule
- Use of Improvisation
- Nudity and Sex
- Fight and Action Scenes
- Rehearsing Children
- 9. The Actor and the Camera
- 10. Film and Theatre: Similarities and Differences
- 11. What Do the Actors Say?
- 12. Tips for the Director
- Appendix A. Additional Exercises for Workshop or Classroom
- Appendix B. Suggested Reading and Viewing
- Glossary
- Index
Product information
- Title: Changing Direction: A Practical Approach to Directing Actors in Film and Theatre
- Author(s):
- Release date: February 2006
- Publisher(s): Focal Press
- ISBN: 9781136068935
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