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Date Posted: 10:12:50 11/13/12 Tue
Author: SV
Author Host/IP: nycmspsrvz3ts111-dmz.mycingular.net / 198.228.201.153
Subject: A few questions for a drama major from a curious party...

Any drama majors, actors, directors, etc. out there who can oblige a curious party?

1. What makes a good actor/actress? How do you spot good acting versus one "phoning in a role"? What is a director's responsibility in getting a good performance out of an actor?

2. Is there such a thing in the "right thing" for a story/movie, etc. to do, or can you write whatever you want? Why not make THE most sensational and exciting thing that could happen, happen?

3. Is acting an expertise and profession on the level of mathematician or brain surgeon in that there is an undisputedly RIGHT thing to do in any given situation? If so, have great actors--say Jack Nickleson and Robert Deniro--simply mastered their craft and know what to do, or is it all a choice and they are "great" for the interesting choices they make?

3. Why does a director get a vanity credit of "a film by (blank)"? even if there's a different screenwriter and producer? What is a producers job? Why does a direction get credit or blame for a film's success/failure? What does a director do if a cinematographer chooses and sets up a shot, the AD or camera operator move the camera, and the (what's the title?) is responsible for all continuity in frame in FRONT of the camera? Shouldn't the Dark Knight movies by Sally Pfister's, not Chris Nolan's?

(More questions to follow as they occur to me. I'm very interested in screenwriting, but I read so many conflicting things online, I'm confused! Can anyone help?)
One more: how could two directors have different styles when directing IS a craft with right and wrong ways? Shouldn't both directors, assuming they're equally talented, make the exact same movie if they had the same script? Why would Joss Whedon's The Avengers be different from Jon Favreu's the Avengers--again if they had the same script? I see what people mean when they say The Avengers is obviously a Joss Whedon film, but that's because of his humorous, dialogue-heavy screenplay, a style idiosyncratic to him, isn't it? When Sally Pfister insulted the Avengers and Whedon a few weeks ago publicly, what was he insulting exactly? The shot in Avengers when the camera turns upside down, the POV from Loki's septer, when they're all being mind-fucked--whose decision was this, whedons or the cinematographers?

Anyway, any help would be appreciated, thanks!

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[> That should be "Wally Pfister", not Sally. Stupid autocorrect! -- sv, 10:17:32 11/13/12 Tue (nycmspsrvz3ts111-dmz.mycingular.net/198.228.201.153)


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[> Re: A few questions for a drama major from a curious party... -- kim, 11:03:46 11/14/12 Wed (cpe-75-82-42-119.socal.res.rr.com/75.82.42.119)

An hour on film is 100 pages of script. Give or take.

It's a director's job to tell everyone on set what he/she wants to see. Every. Aspect.

Then once the scenes have been filmed, the director sits with the editor and they choose the best versions of each scene and put together a narrative.

See, a script has the words, but visually, the scriptwriter puts: Night in a forest. Thor brings Loki to the top of a cliff.

It's the director's job to work out how everything is going to actually look with the set decorator and visual effects crew. The director has approval over *everything* except when the studio sees a cut of the film and says "change this".

Producers give/raise money for a project. They're there to get it made and remind the director of the budget limit. They do other things specific to specific films or shows, but that's the basic gist.

As for acting, yes, you can learn to get better, learn more techniques, and experience usually helps, but those we consider "good" are those that can embody characters. The audience needs to believe what the actor-as-the-character is saying/feeling/doing. To stick with Avengers, I need to be able to say that's Tony Stark, not Robert Downey Junior I'm watching. When Black Widow is talking to Loki and she pretends he's getting to her, we had to believe he was in her face so her reveal of playing him would work.

There are also things about acting that can't be manufactured, like charisma, magnetism, and sheer presence. Samuel L. Jackson is a badass the moment he walks on camera no matter what he's playing. Even in interviews as himself, you can sense that part of him.

Movies usually change a lot from initial script to final theater version. There are things the writer will put in the script that just don't work to act out on set. Then the scenes filmed are just a pile of scenes. The director choosing what scenes go in one order makes the rough cut of the film. Then they have to show it to the producers and studio and get it approved. Or make changes, which can be a re-edit or include reshooting some parts. When the story is approved, then the score is recorded and special effects added and all the little nuances to create the theater version. And then they hope it sells.


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[> As for writing..... -- kim, 11:16:38 11/14/12 Wed (cpe-75-82-42-119.socal.res.rr.com/75.82.42.119)

Can you put whatever you want into an original script? Yes.

Does that mean you should throw everything and the kitchen sink in there? No.

A story, no matter the format, has to say something. Has to have a purpose. Move the audience, whether you want them to cry, laugh, cheer, think, be challenged, or all of the above.

Take romantic comedies, for instance. They have a formula of things that happen up to the end where they live happily ever after. Action movies also have a formula of putting obstacles in the way of the good guy until he triumphs over the bad guy and all of it happens at a fast, exciting pace. Fantasy movies include the epic journey filled with fantastical creatures.

Narrative structure can generally be divided into three acts: set-up, conflict, and resolution.


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[> Not a drama major or in the business but ... -- Lewis H., 11:36:36 11/14/12 Wed (adsl-98-85-39-96.mco.bellsouth.net/98.85.39.96)

back in college as part of my honor studies curriculum I took several classes on film and cinema. All I can give is my opinion based on what I was taught and what I've seen.

1. What makes a good actor? It is the ability to make an audience perceive your performance as reality. A good actor transports the viewer into the place, time and events they are portraying. It is a combination of body language, facial expressions, and rhythmic speaking that makes a performance real as opposed to wooden. A good actor can take what would be a grandiose piece of scenery chewing, such as many of the soliloquies from Richard III and make them feel natural and eloquent. It is above all, professionalism that makes the best actors bring their A game to every role. Olivier, Streep, Sellers always brilliant in everything they did.
The directors main job is to put the right actor into the right role. If they do that, they can just say action and do nothing else. If not then they have a harder job and must be very good at communicating what it is they want to convey and how they want the actor to express it. If they can't get it done in real time, then they must collaborate closely with the editor to see that what comes out in the end is what they want. Mel Brooks once went into detail about how he turned Young Frankenstein from an overwritten, overlong story that would have been a flop to the hilarious masterpiece it is through editing.

2. You cannot just write "whatever you want". There are technical elements that go into good writing. Above all, a good story has a well defined beginning, middle and end. If you don't know what story you are trying to tell and what the final destination is going to be, you will never get there. Lost and Battlestar Galactica had great ideas and excellent actors but it became very clear that the writers and directors hadn't really planned on the conclusion to their stories and when it came time to wrap them up, they disappointed their audiences. Think of your favorite movies. Are they well defined and tightly paced or are they rambling messes with no clear direction? There is nothing wrong with some ambiguity as long as it is planned such as the Usual Suspects or Memento but it has to be well thought out. If YOU don't know what the story is how is your audience going to get it?j

3. Credits and the like have to do with what the various guilds and unions have agreed to and what is in contracts. A credit is sometimes given in lieu of actual money. A lot of what happens in Hollywood and on Broadway comes down to money at the end of the day. Ars Gratia Artis is a nice motto but Ars Gratia Specie is more accurate.

4. Style is a very personal thing. How you film something, pacing, camera angles etc., etc. will make a very different film. You can learn more by actually watching films and taking notes than by reading opinions on line. Watch several films by Welles, Hitchcock, Brooks, and Spielburg. You will begin to note the stylistic differences and choices they each make in their various films. Since you are interested in screenwriting, be aware that ANY script no matter how good is a working paper. That means once you hand it off, it really isn't yours anymore. In fact no film really belongs to one person. Producers have to get the financing so they try to guess what people will want to see. As a writer you can put anything you can conceive on paper but a producer must have a good idea of what is feasable.

Anyone wishing to work in any kind of entertainment has to have a very strong will to survive. You must understand that 99% of everything gets rejected because there are so many people that want to do it. The ones that succeed have two things:

Most importantly they have talent but almost as equally important is that they have perseverance. Read some biographies of people who succeeded in Hollywood and see what they endured before they made it and decide if that is really what you want to do. I wish you well.


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