How to motivate your actors

Are you a film director looking to push the boundaries of performance and get the most out of your actors? Find out how to motivate and improve your actor s performance with these simple tricks.

Actors don t need to know the technical most of the time when it comes to performance. At the end of they day, they are playing a character, and that character needs to be in his/her own world. Try to avoid restricting their movements or giving them a 10-step guide on how to move in the scene. If things look to rehearsed, you ll end up with a Jean Claude Van Damme soap opera (unless you are doing comedy)

Give your actors as much information about a scene as is necessary. Sometimes miscommunication can lead to a poor performance. Don t spend 99% of your time with the DP, or try to give too much detail on how the camera is going to move, the lighting aperture and so on. Your actor has to remember his lines and your directions, and stay natural!

Involve your actor with the crew. This breaks down the wall of insecurity. Get your crew members to talk to each other, or even better, invite them to a party. You will find that a happy, motivated crew that gets along will help actors feel more empowered.

Give your actors room to improvise. Sometimes you can get incredible performances from an improvised dialogue.

Lastly, listen to your actor s ideas. Allow them to explore new character traits.

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