Here’s a list of the basic requirements and dos and donts to think about:

1. Make sure your face is centred in the frame and not favouring one side
2. The shot of your face should be sharp and well focused and not soft in any part. It is better if the background can go out of focus.
3. You want to look like an actor and not a model.
4. Your portrait should be color for the U.S. and black and white for Britain.
5. Try and eliminate any distractions on the background of the frame. When a casting director is scanning through dozens of pictures you want the fleeting glance to look at you and nothing else.
6. Don’t wear anything with logos or have anything in shot with names, graphics etc.
7. Avoid patterns in any clothing in shot i.e. shirt collars, scarves etc. No stripes, lines and so on.
8. No head wear, hats, caps, feathers!
9. Wear little jewellery, preferably none at all.
10. No makeup.

You’re not really selling your own personality here; you’re selling a version of you, a look or a set of features.

What you have to remember is that the photo isn’t about how you would like to look, but it’s how you actually look, real and unmade up, flaws and all. This is your uniqueness. A film director or casting director wants to see the person in the photo walk in to the audition; not someone who looks one way in their headshot then arrives looking completely differently.

Want more acting tips?

The importance of hitting marks

‘Marks’ are used all the time on set for many things. White camera tape can mark the position of moving cameras, points of focus over distances and people’s positions in shot and in frame.

When it comes to marks for a character’s position, an actor should try to ‘hit’ the marks correctly through each successive take. The camera and lighting will both be focused on this particular area to make the subject look as good as possible, as sharp as possible or achieve whatever purpose the Director and D.P. have decided. With lighting, after a couple of takes (if you have that long) you will know when you are in the light and when you are not and this is an awareness and knowledge that, as an actor, you will pick up as you gain in experience and time spent on set.

Movement in frame

Often when you are in tight framing such as a close-up (CU) or extreme close-up (XCU), movement must be kept to a minimum. The director will most likely tell you when you are in this sort of framing and communicate the necessity of remaining ‘still’ once you walk or lean into frame. Any excessive movement of the head and shoulders will mean you move in and out of the frame or focus. If you imagine yourself projected onto the big screen in a tight shot, the slightest movement will be exaggerated to a large degree; quite a dizzying experience for the viewer.

Hitting marks for focus

When it comes to knowing when you are ‘in’ and ‘out’ of focus and how much of you is in frame; you will probably not know. Really, you will never need to concern yourself about it. Marks are crucial here for focus, unless there is sufficient depth of field (area of focus); the camera assistant will know this and be adjusting during the take. If an actor is as little as a few inches off mark, they can sometimes be out of focus and this is where consistency and accuracy for hitting those positions each time comes in.

A digital camera operator or camera assistant will often ask an actor to look straight into camera when they are standing on their positional marks. This enables the assistant to use actors’ eyes as an object of focus. With the camera lens ‘zoomed’ in, accurate lens focus is made using the whites of the eye. The lens is then returned to the correct size for the upcoming shot.

If a crew is working with ‘prime lenses’ (lenses that have one focal length) a ‘focus puller’ will measure the distance from the camera lens to the subject of the shot and correct the focus manually using the distance marks on the lens focus ring.

When the camera crew ask an actor to do something, like look into camera, it is important for that actor to have patience and remain still while the crew make the measurements they need. Not being distracted by other actors and the activity around you is desirable and the crew will love you for it.

JAY: One of my major philosophies of directing is that, as a director, I should understand and be somewhat competent in any aspect of filmmaking. To that end, I started in the business as an actor. I was a professional actor for a few years, got my union card, and moved to the behind-the-scenes side. Transitioning from live theater (in nearly ever technical aspect) to film, I started professionally as an electrician (as lighting was a major aspect of my theater experience) and moved up the ladder. I found a secondary passion for lighting and cinematography and stayed as a DP longer than I had anticipated before “retiring” officially in 2005.

In addition to acting and cinematography I have professionally produced, written and edited films. I think, in the end, knowing and being somewhat competent in all of these trades makes me a much better director. I’m not a real big Star Trek fan, but I’ve often used the analogy of Captain Kirk as the epitome of what a director should be. Someone who is clearly in command, who has the mission objectives firmly in mind, who has the respect of all of those under his command and who knows enough about everyone’s job to be able to troubleshoot any given problem. Sure, Scotty is a much better engineer than Kirk, but when those warp drives don’t work – it’s usually Kirk’s out-of-the-box suggestion that gets Scotty going in the right direction…

That’s what a director is supposed to go: keep everyone moving in the right direction. All of that is a very long-winded way of saying my photography helps my direction by having an intimate understanding of how to tell a story visually – and the skills to understand clearly how to technically accomplish what I’m asking for.

HOW DIFFICULT OR EASY IS IT TO STAND BACK FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY SIDE OF THINGS?

Surprisingly, not that difficult at all. In 2002, I directed the short film The Night Before and it was the first time I ever worked with another cinematographer – a good friend of mine (and a brilliant DP) Chris Probst. I was taking on a short film with three lead child actors, and I knew I’d have my hands full taking care of the directing chores without worrying about the photography. Keep in mind, prior to this film, I had worked solely as a professional DP for about five or six years. Prior to that I was a gaffer for a few years, an electrician before that and going even further back I was a lighting designer and master electrician in theater – so it’s safe to say for a decade and a half, at that point, lighting had been nearly my whole life.
It was the second day of the shoot on The Night Before and as we were doing a turn-around, I was looking over my script and I heard Chris tell the gaffer to put the “baby” (a 1,000 watt Fresnel fixture) on the other side of the room. I stopped, looked up and realized that I didn’t have any clue there was even a baby in the room! Here we were – a day and a half into shooting and I had NO cognizant idea at all of the lighting that was going on around me. At that moment I looked up and saw his fixtures hanging in the ceiling and saw how he was approaching things…
But prior to that moment, I hadn’t paid any attention at all. It was an extremely liberating experience to totally surrender that aspect of production to someone I wholly trusted. Of course Chris and I discussed the look before hand and I would often make adjustments to the shot just before we rolled (IE: Can we get a little more or less fill here?) but they were minor differences.
I still love shooting, but directing has been my passion my whole life and it was really wonderful to just concentrate on that and do the best job I could.

FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN IT, CAN YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR SHORT FILM “DESCENT”?

Descent is a short, fifteen minute, thriller about a woman trapped in an elevator with a killer. The official log line is something along the lines: Six weeks after secretly witnessing the brutal murder of her best friend, Andrea finds herself trapped in an elevator with the murderer.

YOU COLLABORATED CLOSELY WITH CHRISTOPHER PROBST, WHO WAS THE CINEMATOGRAPHER AND CO-WRITER ON “DESCENT”. HOW DID YOU END UP WORKING TOGETHER?

Chris and I met during my brief stint in junior college in Arizona. He was one of the filmmakers in the film program with me – and one of the few I saw passionate and dedicated enough to really have potential (IE he walked the walk).

Chris and I moved to Los Angeles together in 1995 and continued to work with one another and help build each other’s careers. Chris took the path to DP as a camera assistant and I took the path as an electrician. Whenever I shot something, Chris would be my 1st AC and I would be his gaffer when he was shooting. We taught each other and pushed each other. I had always shot my own projects until The Night Before, as I said above, when I asked Chris to be my DP. Chris is, in all sincerity, 100 times the DP I ever was – in addition to being a very good friend. It was easy to totally turn the job over to him and never give it a second thought.

When Descent came around, it was actually intended to be a test of the new Sony F950 HD camera for American Cinematographer Magazine, and he originally had another project he was going to shoot to do that test, but it fell through. I shared the idea for Descent with him and we inadvertently started writing it together. He was a bit skeptical about the idea at first, but when I sent him the first partial draft he got into it – did some re-witting and sent it right back to me. We did this ping-pong process through e-mail for six full drafts to come up with the final product; again – always pushing each other not to compromise and make the best product we possibly can. I had co-produced with Chris a couple times on spec commercials, but this was our first longer project together. All-in-all he was a key component to the whole project.

DO YOU ENJOY WORKING WITH PEOPLE YOU’VE WORKED WITH BEFORE? DOES THIS MAKE FOR A MORE SATISFYING, EFFICIENT PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE?

Absolutely. For years I’ve been building a certain collection of people that I love to work with. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to discard great people and start anew on each project – I’d rather go back to people with whom I have had excellent collaborations in the past and build on that experience. Chris is one of those people, so is Dan O’Brien, my editor, and Buck Sanders my composer. All of these guys make major contributions to the work and they are always the first call I make whenever there’s a new project.

It does, indeed, make for a more efficient production experience. For instance, with Chris and I, we’ve been working together for so many years now – we’ve reached that cliche “ESP” kind of communication level. He can look at me and say “For this shot, we’ll do a little dot-dot-dot…” and I’ll know exactly what he’s talking about and nothing more needs to be said. That kind of shorthand only comes from years of working with someone. If I had a totally new DP on a film, someone I had never worked with before, I’d have to be much more involved, communicate much more clearly and keep a tighter eye to see if/how he/she was interpreting my needs. With people like Chris and Buck and Dan – I don’t have to do that at all.
Generally I get along with people very well and, mostly, I’m happy to work with them again – but I am very critical and I’m mostly looking for the best people I can find who also work well with my style of filmmaking. There’s a short list of people I’ll never work with again – but it takes a lot to make that list.

HOW DID YOU FIND APRIL ADAMSON AND ROB MCLAUGHLIN, YOUR MAIN ACTORS FOR “DESCENT”? DID YOU HAVE A LENGTHY AUDITION PROCESS?

There was absolutely no audition process for Descent at all. Just prior to Descent I was working as a producer on two feature films and a short film. In a six month period I, literally, saw over 2,000 actors in auditions and I was DONE with the audition process for quite a while. I had originally worked with April on The Night Before and then a good friend of mine, Jamie Neese, cast April as the lead in his short thriller, which I co-produced and photographed for him. Having worked with April on both those projects, seen her incredible range and what a joy she is to work with – there was no question who I went to first for Descent. It was purely a situation where I sent April the script and said “Do you want to do this?” and she said “Yes” that was the whole casting process with her.

Rob was a friend who I had known for a few years. I knew he was getting more and more roles and he had the perfect look I wanted – so I asked him to read the script and meet with me on it. We sat down for an hour or so one afternoon, talked about it and I cast him there. Anthony Backman and I were actors together back in the day. In high school we competed against each other in Speech and were both on a TV show called T.V. or Not T.V. together. I re-connected with him and cast him in two shorts I was doing for Group 101 (a collective of filmmakers in Los Angeles who each make one film a month for six months) and cast him the same way I did April. Finally, Renee, who played the unfortunate victim, had foolishly offered her apartment to us for a location. I was originally considering another actress I had worked with before, but when Chris and I talked to Renee about her apartment we both looked at each other and said “Vanessa?” – Renee was game – and casting was done.

WHEN AN ACTOR COMES TO YOU TO AUDITION, WHAT DO YOU HAVE THEM DO?

That depends greatly on the project and the role. Generally the actor will read with a casting director or assistant from the script for that project. We videotape the actor for reference. I like to talk to them just a little bit before and after their reading, maybe give a little direction and have them read again – but it’s often very clear who is right for the role. For one of the features I was casting in the big six-month span, we did all improve auditions; nothing prepared, nothing scripted. That was a fascinating process.

For The Night Before we didn’t really have an “audition-able” scene in the script, so I decided to give the kids scenes from Stand By Me for their first audition. In the end, that wasn’t the best idea as it showed us who really had acting chops – but not necessarily in good context to the piece we were doing. For callback auditions we switched to the actual script. For more established actors, they rarely audition. We’ll generally sit down with them and have a meeting, discuss the project and character and make a decision from there.

When actors do audition, I’m looking for someone who embodies the role and transcends expectations. It’s amazing when it does happen. You can be sitting through reading after reading after reading, day after day and suddenly someone comes in – and your jaw drops to the floor. When that happens – there’s usually very little discussion – it is simply that person IS the role and they get the gig. It isn’t always that clear cut – but when that happens it can be pretty magical.

Actor’s reputations really make a difference, too. How they are to work with is a big factor in my considerations – do they make for a good set environment, or will they be difficult and put everyone on edge. I prefer to have a comfortable set. Work is fun – we should all enjoy the day (even though it’s hard work) and one main sour apple can ruin the barrel quickly.

WITH A FILM LIKE “DESCENT” WHICH FOCUSES ON THE MAIN CHARACTER’S INTERNAL FEELINGS AND FEARS, HOW IMPORTANT IS A GOOD AMOUNT OF REHEARSAL TIME FOR DEVELOPING THE PERFROMANCES YOU WANT?

We didn’t do any rehearsal for Descent, and I wish I had. What wound up happening is that we did quite a bit of rehearsal and discovery on-camera the first day of shooting. It was a little challenging to “dial-in” Rob and April’s performances to what I was looking for while “on the clock” that first day, but we got through it. Rehearsal is often a luxury that you don’t get. Schedules get in the way and so many factors can’t really be rehearsed – especially for something like Descent where most of the film has no dialogue at all. I would have liked to work with both of them a little bit more in prep, however, but in the end it turned out great.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO CHANGE THINGS WHEN YOU’RE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM AN ACTOR’S PERFORMANCE?

That varies considerably depending on the actor. A director once told me, many years ago: ‘There are three types of actors: the kind you need to baby, the kind you need to kick in the ass and the kind you need to leave alone. A good director knows the difference and works with them accordingly…’ That’s an over simplification, but it’s very true. Generally when something isn’t working right I’ll usually ask the actor what their intention is – where they’re going with the performance. We discuss it and I’ll offer adjustments to their line of thinking that gets it back on track – sometimes that can just be a verb (no, you don’t want to punish him here, sooth him…) sometimes it’s about motivation (this is NOT when she reveals her secret… She’s still scared and it’s haunting her here…) sometimes it’s merely a fact of breaking through the barriers keeping the actor from the good performance. Breaking through the barriers can be tough – and it all depends on the situation.

SOME DIRECTORS ARE MORE COMFORTABLE FOCUSING ON THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF A FILM THAN ON THEIR ACTOR’S PERFORMANCES. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?

I think they’re both equally important. For the moment, for the scene, the actor’s performance is everything. The nuance of their performance drives the film and engages the audience. People go to see people. BUT the technical aspects are what sets the tone and arch for the bigger picture – the whole film. Visual story telling is a major part of the audience’s journey and not focusing on that aspect is missing a big piece of the pie.
I’m very comfortable working with actors, primarily because I understand where they’re coming from. Having been an actor, I can speak their language fairly well. It’s a relationship built on trust – they have to trust me completely to really let go in their performance and trust that I will guide them in the right direction. At the same time, I can speak the technical language. I understand very well the differences between a close up and a medium shot – when to move the camera, when to block actors to camera and vise versa. Both aspects are equally important, in my view.

THERE IS ALWAYS THE UNEXPECTED ON SHOOTS, EQUIPMENT FAILS, ACTORS FREEZE, LIGHT FADES. WHAT PROBLEMS HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED AS A DIRECTOR THAT YOU’VE MANAGED TO OVERCOME?

Oh, there are problems every day. There are major obstacles every scene, every setup – that’s all part of the job. Overcoming those obstacles is what directing is all about.

I have a personal obstacle that happens once every production. There comes a time, usually a couple days in, when things go wrong – things have to change and my entire plan goes out the window. Suddenly I’m at a loss. What do we shoot? where do we start? what’s the point of view for this scene? How do we overcome this blocking problem? I get overwhelmed, my mind feels like a stripped gear – spinning and getting nowhere. I used to kind of sulk off and try to desperately work out the problem, but I’ve found a better solution. I just dive in and start shooting. I’ll pick a camera position – almost totally randomly – get the actors in and start shooting the scene.

As soon as I do that – it all becomes clear and I can make the necessary adjustments to the current setup to get us back on track. I’ve run into this “moment of doom” once on every project – but now that I know how to deal with it, I’m much less overwhelmed by it. Just dive in and start rolling and figure it out as you go.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED AS A DIRECTOR SINCE YOU SHIFTED YOUR FOCUS FROM CINEMATOGRAPHY?

There’s a lot more responsibility riding on my shoulders for each project. In addition – there is a LOT less work for me, overall. As a DP, I could easily do 5-10 projects a year – if it got slow, I could find a commercial or music video or short film…As a director, I’m LUCKY to do one project a year. It means I have to really focus on trying to develop as much material as I possibly can in the hopes that one will succeed and lead to the next. It’s a much different business and lifestyle paradigm that I’m still getting used to. I also have a much more direct line to the equity investors and their demands – and that puts a much different perspective on your work, not always a good one. You have to balance all that as a director and I have to balance out a LOT more “down” time than I did when I was a DP – that can be very hard on the spirit, for sure.

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE FUTURE FOR FILM? IS IT “DEAD” AND IF SO DOES IT’S DEMISE MAKE YOU SAD OR HAVE YOU EMBRACED THE HD REVOLUTION?

Well – I don’t see the demise of film anytime soon. I, honestly, don’t feel that film will “die” in my lifetime. By “die” I mean will be primarily replaced by digital technology. Film will never completely “die” as we have a 100+ year heritage with film and no one is ever going to digitize Citizen Kane and destroy the film prints.

At the same time, digital technology is in its infancy and it’s fantastic. I tell filmmakers all the time, if your feature budget is under $5,000,000 – $10,000,000 there is no reason to consider film. Digital technology is the way to go for those kinds of budgets. If you’re above that, then film is more the way to go.

Without getting into a HUGE diatribe, there are four aspects of digital technology – digital origination, digital postproduction, digital exhibition and digital archiving – that need to be firmly in place before the “death” of film. Right now we have digital postproduction firmly in place and a vast majority of projects do not touch film in postproduction at all. Digital exhibition is coming into it’s own – but it still accounts for less than 5% of all theatrical exhibition around the world (in the US we’re seeing just under 2,000 screens digital compared to 37,000 screens film). Digital origination is starting to catch on a little more – but its’ still minor. In 2006 9% of all films released theatrically in the US were originated digitally (excluding animation and documentary) – so we’re still a ways off from digital replacing film in that category.

Where digital is at a COMPLETE loss is in archiving. No one has devised a fool-proof digital archival system that is guaranteed to last 100+ years. Some media can claim to last that long – but no one can know for sure if we’ll have the hardware/software necessary to read that media in 100 years. Film requires only the light and the human eye to see – digital requires much more and the technology evolves so quickly, it is often obsolete before it is even close to seeing full adoption as a standard medium.
So… No. I’m not sad – and yes, I have embraced digital technology.

JAY, CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DOCUMENTARY “CAM GIRLS”

CamGirls is an introduction to the cultural phenomenon of web cams and, specifically, women running amateur web cam sites from their own homes. I was fascinated by this expanding culture and started looking into why anyone would do this – especially those who are not necessarily porn sites and those who do not necessarily cam for profit. What I discovered is quite surprising – the reasons are just as diverse as the women themselves. CamGirls introduces the audience to the real women behind the cams, what their lives are like, who they are, and tries to get behind why they do what they do.
I’ve been working on this for nearly four years now – much longer than I ever thought I would – but we’re seeing a potential light at the end of the proverbial tunnel – so I’m happy about that.

WHEN AND WHERE WILL WE BE ABLE TO SEE IT?

Damn good question. Hopefully we’ll be completed with it by fall 2007, so we could potentially have a release in place by early 2008.

IS THE BEST PART OF BEING A DIRECTOR HAVING YOUR OWN CHAIR?

LOL… I actually rarely ever sit down. I’m not a big fan of director’s chairs – although the older I get the more that will probably change – I’m more comfortable sitting on an apple box or camera case close to the action than kicking back in a director’s chair out away from where the magic is happening. The best part of directing, for me, is when I get to see the final work with an audience and they ride on the emotional journey (whatever that may be) with all the right turns – just as I intended. THAT’s what makes it all worth it.

OK, WHAT’S THE BEST PEICE OF FILMMAKING ADVICE YOU’VE EVER BEEN GIVEN?

Steven Spielberg said it – and it’s VERY true: “Wear comfortable shoes.”

THANKS JAY!

JAY HOLBEN is Director, Writer and former Cinematogrpaher.

Dez: It’s a documentary feature film to use a genre word, but in essence it’s a psychedelic journey or a shamanic journey if you like. The vehicle is the writing and worldview of Alan Moore, probably one of the greatest English writers of the last 50 years. Since he’s incredibly articulate, that search for a deeper underlying truth beneath our physical reality is expressed in the clearest possible way, while sketching a portrait of one of the greatest creative minds of our times.

ALAN MOORE IS A NOTORIOUSLY PRIVATE MAN. HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT SECURING HIS COOPERATION FOR THE PROJECT?

I approached him with the main theme of the film and emphasized that the film wouldn’t be focused on comics –although I love the medium– but rather on his magical world view. At the time all the interviews I read about him were comics based, and I thought what a shame. Here you have one of the most interesting writers alive and nobody delves deeper into the creative process. So I faxed him the treatment with the theme: The artist as contemporary shaman.

Which at the time was something I was slowly becoming aware of, that there is a deeper drive and intention to art, when it really comes from inside. So he called me back after the weekend and the ball just rolled from there.

CAN YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT THE FINANCE FOR THE FILM, HOW YOU RAISED THE MONEY AND THE CHALLENGES INVOLVED IN THIS?

Initially there were some other parties involved, potential co-production deals, where they either would secure finance and post-production, produce the project or do all of it, etc. etc. When it all became clear (and this can take anywhere from months to years) that nothing was happening from any of these companies and people, I had to jump in the fire and start fund raising. Now, when you start out, you will have to beg, borrow, steal, rob, hustle –I don’t know if it was Bill Laswell who said something similar about music– as long as you have a clear plan of how to produce a final result.

So I injected my last savings into the company I founded, started to borrow from family, friends, business connections and gave up my own equity in other projects and business ventures, anything to inject some cash into the film. Then at the last stages business loans were necessary, credit cards, all the stuff I never did in my life as I hate owing money to anybody, especially bureaucratic institutions. It’s been quite tough the last few years, because effectively, the last year was a move from being a production company to a distribution company. Developing the DVD and the infra-structure to sell the film.

In retrospect it was a mission impossible, and had I known about all the obstacles I maybe would not have done it. But that’s why it’s good when you don’t know what you’re doing and just keep going. And I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, because the money is stuck for a long time and you’ll get creditors breathing down your neck, so the pressure to deliver something marketable is tremendous.

All of the above was parallel to trying the conventional route by the way, film funds that rejected the 80 page business plans and submission. Distribution companies were interested after completion, but too scared to take it on as they considered it too much of a “niche”, or they couldn’t convince they really understood the film and how it had to be packaged and marketed. So a good thing that I moved ahead independently.

WHO WERE THE OTHER IMPORTANT MEMBERS OF YOUR PRODUCTION TEAM?

Quite a few and all really talented people, some also on the threshold of developing their skills further, some I’ve lost contact with as they went their own way. Moritz Winkler the cinematographer and editor was a close collaborator and although not into comics, was able to translate the feel into the cinematography and was great to work with in the editing process.

Brian Kinney the special make-up fx artist was a big Alan Moore fan and knew every letter and image of his work, much more than I did in fact. So not only did he create the first ever V for Vendetta and Watchmen-Rorschach masks, but he was also like a walking reference book to check if I got things right. He later moved back to the US and after some odd jobs ended up at the special make up department of CSI New York. We had planned to do some brutal prosthetics in a martial arts film as in the 70s Japanese films, but we later saw a lot of that in Kill Bill unfortunately and the whole mainstream has gone more gory, so we’ll have to find new ways of doing things.

Drew Richards, the music composer created a great score without having seen any of the film. Additional music was provided by Spectre, a hiphop producer from Brooklyn and also by Lustmord. There was also one track by Bill Laswell and Alan Douglas. All of their music was very influential in writing the film, so it was a good decision to contact them all early in the process.

John Coulthart was involved after the film was completed, with the publicity material and DVD design. One of the few people I know that have that perfect balance between great technical knowledge, understanding of aesthetics and narrative and the whole media business in general and his work was inspiring during the tedious DVD post-production process.

Then there were a lot of other people involved along the way, e.g. Ivor Goldberg who did a lot of the high end computer animation, Mano Camon who edited the bonus interviews and so on.

YOU SHOT ON 16MM? WHAT WERE THE REASONS YOU CHOSE TO SHOOT ON FILM RATHER THAN A DIGITAL FORMAT?

Yes, Super 16mm to be exact. Film, what can I say, has more latitude, has a great contrast and subtle shades, while video is too sharp, edged and the contrast between shadow and light is just harsh. For time lapses as well film is much better and I felt that this would be the only chance to capture a magician on celluloid, so film had to be part of that alchemical process. Film is magic. And another thing is, because it so expensive per minute, you have to be more decisive. I often see people on video shoots and it’s too relaxed, too much hanging around while they just keep the camera rolling.

DID YOU HAVE A FIXED AMOUNT OF TIME TO SHOOT WITH ALAN MOORE?

Yes, and it wasn’t much. We had one day to record an audio interview. And just one day to shoot him, as he was in the busiest period of his career probably. He was writing towards his retirement from mainstream comics, in particular on the ABC line for Wildstorm, so he was toiling away on 5-6 series a month!

I realized later he probably wanted to get out of the DC yoke, because they had bought up Wildstorm at some point, which meant he effectively was working for them again. Now he’s contractually free to do anything he wants.

A few months later in August 2002 we did a few hours of pick ups, his hands laying down the tarot. That was it, not much time but it forces you to plan things out and get out of the grip of Murphy’s Law.

THERE ARE ALSO DRAMATIC SCENES WITHIN THE FILM USING ACTORS. WERE YOU RECREATING SCENES FROM ALAN’S WORK?

DV: Yeah, in fact we did the first Watchmen, V for Vendetta and Hellblazer (later made by Hollywood as Constantine) adaptations ever, which was a great challenge and experiment. I decided that mood, atmosphere was the thing to go for, just to give a flavour of the man’s work.

WHEN AN ACTOR COMES TO YOU TO AUDITION, WHAT DO YOU HAVE THEM DO?

I often ask them what kind of music they listen to and why. This gives me a much better idea of what kind of emotional landscape they go through. Then I ask them to read bits of dialogue from a page. Also testing how well they can memorize a part of a script very quickly and if they are able to improvise. But in general it’s important to see if they are not too wooden because of stage play experience, not too cocky about being the next Brando –or even worse one of those contemporary pretty glamour boy or modelly girl faces– and if they will be chilled out enough to work with for a number of weeks.

In film you don’t have to be the best of buddies, but it’s important that people are at least well mannered and pleasant to work with over a longer period.

CONCERNING PERFORMANCE IN GENERAL, HOW IMPORTANT IS A PROPER AMOUNT OF REHEARSAL TIME FOR YOU AS A DIRECTOR AND YOUR ACTORS BEFORE SHOOTING?

The guerrilla shoots I’ve done never really allowed for more than a few days, but I would say a week to get the whole feel of the script right and another week to go over each scene is a minimum. The more you can rehearse the better, but this depends on the actors as well. What is the method they use, do they like to improvise, do they have a good memory? And there is a point where you just have to shoot, I don’t believe in this Kubrick nonsense of 200 takes. Respect to the man’s oeuvre, but that is just being indecisive. I usually shoot one take, then another 2-3 as backup. With the martial arts project I’m planning, rehearsal time will be at least 4 weeks I would say of training and choreography, but I’m aiming to get real practitioners which will make it easier.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO CHANGE THINGS WHEN YOU’RE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM AN ACTOR’S PERFORMANCE?

Tricks. Actors don’t like them, but they can work. A famous example is I think Rosselini’s use of glycerine or onions to get an actor to cry. Fact is film is an illusion and it’s whatever looks right on screen that counts.

I did similar things with having an actress spray heavy perfume on herself just before an actual take, so it would subliminally calm the actor playing opposite her, who was all hyped up.

SOME DIRECTORS ARE MORE COMFORTABLE FOCUSING ON THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF A FILM THAN ON THEIR ACTOR’S PERFORMANCES. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?

That’s a film school mentality. We all do it when we start out, as you’re learning about the craft. But it’s like language, learning about the letters, then showing off rhymes and how clever you can be with the grammar, without really saying anything to greater emotional impact.

Some people never evolve beyond that point, but they’re lucky enough to have calibre actors to give reasonable performances. Hollywood is a good example, it’s for 90% a CGI mentality now. Boys with toys.

WHAT OBSTACLES/CHALLENGES DID YOU ENCOUNTER WHILE SHOOTING “MINDSCAPE”? HOW WERE THEY RESOLVED?

Too many. Not enough money, people not living up to commitments of certain jobs, too much to organize with no production or location manager, etc. etc. But you have to stay calm, continue and improvise, that’s the nature of guerrilla film making. It has a lot of limitations, but sometimes they force you to be more creative and it keeps you sharp.

WHEN THINGS DON’T GO TO PLAN, WHAT DO YOU DO TO REMAIN CALM IF YOU FIND YOURSELF BECOMING FRUSTRATED OR FRAZZLED WHILST SHOOTING?

Over the years I’ve learnt to deal with it much more as I didn’t use to be patient at all or not very considerate to what was going on around me. The only goal was to get that shot and if it didn’t work out I got frustrated. But in martial arts you have to be able to suspend your emotions otherwise you will simply end up dead in no time, so I’ve learnt to be more flexible. Meditation helps, but on the actual shoot there’s a really good mantra when things get hairy: Fuck it.

Once you realize you can step back from it for a short break, it helps tremendously. Break for 10 minutes, let everybody do something else entirely and come back to it with a fresh mind.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT AS AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCER/DIRECTOR FROM MAKING THIS FILM?

Too much to go into detail. All of the above. Planning, decision making, legal requirements before you step into the battle zone, evolving the bullshit radar, unilateral movements. Let’s put it this way, I think it was the Dutch football coach who developed total football, Rinus Michels –nicknamed The General– who said: Football is War.

I’m not a sports fan, but I would say: Film is War. You got all these resources, equipment hired for a lot of money and people lined up to do a certain job. Don’t waste it, be efficient. If you want to fuck around and be indecisive go buy a canvas and a few brushes, then you have all the time in the world to play the artist. Film in its intention is an art, but in execution is war.

IF YOU COULD DO IT ALL AGAIN WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY?

Get a producer. Get a sales agent. Secure all the financing first before shooting anything. Make sure any commitments from third parties, companies or whoever promised golden mountains, were all laid down on paper. Create milestones. If at a certain point it becomes clear they can’t deliver, rework the terms and change procedures and plans accordingly. I wouldn’t wait as long as I did to hear back from the various parties anymore, because that lost time can never be given or bought back with all the money in the world.

And to continue on your previous question, I’ve learned that Ego is something you can not take out of the equation. As much as you might be passionate about just getting the project finished, all these Egos are involved that are more keen on the credits, fame or money than you would expect, even if they don’t complete their responsibilities. Before you know it, you get a lot of flack and accusations thrown at you. So whatever you do in the business, because there are so many parties involved, you’ll always get criticism. But you simply can’t please everybody and have to continue with the best of intentions and take the winning team with you to the next project.

DID ALAN MOORE SEE THE FINISHED FILM AND WAS HE PLEASED WITH WHAT YOU’D DONE?

He really loved it. He gave some great compliments that were inspiring as hell, so whatever criticism I will ever get, having the blessing from the man himself –with such a high standard of criteria in narrative– made it all worthwhile. And a benchmark to aim for.

AT WHAT STAGE IS THE FILM AT NOW? WHERE CAN PEOPLE SEE IT?

After a number of festivals and all that, it’s available on DVD now with a lot of bonus material and on sale at: www.shadowsnake.com. Completely independent, but it will be available at retailers at some point.

IF YOU WERE A SUPERHERO/VILLAIN WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

Probably a combination of villain (in the sense that I would be a vigilante) and hero, who could read minds and make the heads explode of corrupt politicians or figures who continuously squeeze out the people and raping the planet, effectively stagnating any spiritual growth. I’ve seen lives and countries destroyed because of that. They are the real villains.

But as that seems to be part of the system we live in, maybe having the power to just become any animal I want at any time and just get out of human society seems a more liberating choice. Fly away to use an old cliché.

WHAT POWERS/COLOURED PANTS WOULD YOU HAVE?

Black pants. Maybe for the hell of it with that red groin piece and chains that singer from Cameo had in that 80s Word up video. It takes balls to wear something like that.

WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT AND WHAT’S IN THE FUTURE FOR DEZ VYLENZ?

2 films. I’ve put everything else in the fridge and am focusing on the scripts for a martial arts project and a jungle sort of mystical thriller-drama. They’re all part of the Shamanautical Series and parallel with that I’m writing a novel where these characters are developed in depth. I can’t elaborate too much on it till it’s all done, but the future will be that kind of film and story. I’m interested in mystery, myth and mystical planes.

Mundane stuff can be done better by other people, but I just got hired to write two feature screenplays for other kind of material, so we’ll see.

Besides that I’m doing a lot of work as Strategy Consultant, which is not always film related but it pays the bills and is great business experience. And with the whole funding process in the film industry being such an arduous process, I have a back up, because I don’t want to get stuck in development hell.

I love film, but there’s more to it and over the years I’ve become more of a martial artist who works in film rather than the other way around. Martial Arts are a much purer art form as you don’t do it for show or entertainment to anybody else, just for the art. So me retreating from the whole media thing and just living my life somewhere in peace and quiet and teaching is also a very realistic option.

But I’m not disillusioned with the entire film industry as yet, so let’s hope I get at least 3 more films done in the next 10 years that will stand as engaging narratives.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF FILM MAKING ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN OR HEARD ABOUT?

Milos Forman said something like: A director has to be good at all the departments, but he should have people working there who are better than him.

THANKS DEZ

Dez Vylenz is a Director, Writer and Martial Arts choreographer based in London and Amsterdam. For more info on Dez’s work, visit Shadowsnake films.

Lie Still is a psychological ghost story, with the emphasis placed on mood and atmosphere rather than gore and jump scares. It really comes out of my admiration for older films such as The Innocents, The Haunting, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, Polanski’s early work, and more recently, J-horror films such as Kairo and Ringu.

HOW LONG WAS THE SCRIPT IN DEVELOPMENT BEFORE IT WAS READY TO SHOOT?

Whilst the first draft was written relatively quickly, it took a while to make the film happen and the script was being worked on the whole time, so I’d say about three years.

YOU COLLABORATED WITH PRODUCER NAVIN CHOWDHRY ON YOUR SHORT FILM “THIS BASTARD BUSINESS” AND THEN “LIE STILL”. HOW DID THE TWO OF YOU MEET AND START WORKING TOGETHER?

Just a coincidence, really. I met him though a friend of mine who he was seeing at the time. He’d written a short script, his first (This Bastard Business), and she suggested to him that he give it to me for advice. Not knowing him that well at the time, I was fairly merciless with it and I’m surprised he stuck with me! However, we ended up working on successive drafts together for a year or so. Eventually he decided that he wanted to produce it and asked me if I wanted to be involved.

The film turned out well, played festivals and won some awards. From there, we ended up doing some corporate-type video work together. However, we also used to sit in the pub and hatch schemes about doing a low-budget feature film. Eventually, we stopped talking about it and went and did it…

CAN YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT THE FINANCE FOR THE FILM, HOW THE MONEY WAS RAISED AND ANY DIFFICULTIES THIS INVOLVED?

Raising money is always difficult. I think one of the main problems we had is that people didn’t believe we could do it for the budget we were proposing. Also, there are always issues of control, and we were determined to maintain that for ourselves. We raised a portion of the budget from doing the aforementioned corporate work, and then Navin managed to put the rest of it together, probably by selling various internal organs on the black market.

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CASTING THE FILM? WHERE DID YOU FIND YOUR ACTORS?

We had a casting agent advising us, and then of course Navin is himself an actor, so he knew people’s work and had various contacts. He suggested Stuart Laing to me for the main role of John, and after looking at some of his work, I completely agreed. He also knew Nina Sosanya personally, and being a great admirer of hers, I thought she’d be perfect.

Of course, none of this means that people will necessarily be interested, but luckily, most of the actors we approached genuinely liked the script. I think it’s true to say that most actors are always looking for good material, regardless of how much money is involved. If you’ve got an interesting project, I don’t think you need have any problem finding quality actors.

IN GENERAL, DURING THE AUDITIONING PROCESS, HOW DO YOU WORK WITH YOUR ACTORS, WHAT DO YOU HAVE THEM DO? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

A lot of our so-called auditioning process simply involved me looking at examples of people’s previous work and making judgements based on that. We simply didn’t have time to get into a lengthy casting process.

In general however, I’d say it’s important to get a sense of how the actor works and how that would mesh with your own process. I’d be mainly interested to see what their understanding of the character and material was, and what they were going to bring to the table. It is a collaborative process, and I want people who are going to run with what’s on the page. Stuart, for example, ended up completely owning that character, and added shadings to it that were only vaguely there in the script.

I’m therefore usually not so interested in script readings in and of themselves (although they have a place). Some people read well, others badly. It doesn’t necessarily reflect on their ability as an actor.

I’d also say it’s important to make people feel comfortable during the audition process. I’ve heard horror stories about castings you wouldn’t believe, and quite how that benefits anybody’s work I’m not certain.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A PROPER AMOUNT OF REHEARSAL TIME FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR ACTORS AND DID YOU GET ENOUGH BEFORE THE SHOOT?

I generally like to have a decent amount of rehearsal time, especially when you’re working with a tight budget/schedule. However, I do think it’s important not to over rehearse and deaden the material. I’m more concerned with making sure that everyone at least understands the intent of what’s on the page than getting perfect line readings.

Our pre-production time was extremely limited because of scheduling factors beyond our control, so we ultimately only had a weekend of rehearsal time with the actors. However, this was enough to at least run through the major dialogue scenes and make sure that we were all in tandem on issues of character and motivation.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO CHANGE THINGS WHEN YOU’RE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM AN ACTOR IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE?

It depends. Sometimes it might be because I’ve not been clear enough in what I want, or a lack of understanding on their part. In which case it’s my job as a director to clarify, and I always maintain that the best adage is K.I.S.S – Keep It Simple, Stupid. As a director, I’m very text-orientated, and don’t go in for windy metaphorical speeches as to what an actor should be doing. It often comes down to what the character wants, which should be there in the subtext of the script.

Of course, it may be that the script itself is lacking (In my case, I can say this without causing offence to anyone, because I generally write my own stuff!). In which case, I don’t hesitate to throw things out if they’re not working. It might be that I have to come up with something else, or else the actor might suggest ideas. Whatever works for the best of the film. You can’t be overly precious about the words on the page.

It’s always a learning process. Actors are all different, and I’m there to help them give the best performance possible. Establishing trust is a big part of that, but sometimes you just have to know what the right thing to say is. I hope that I’ve managed to say it at least some of the time so far.

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO PUNCH AN ACTOR IN THE FACE OR OTHER BODY PART?

Not whilst working with them, no. I’m sure there are difficult actors, but sometimes people will be difficult because they’re in the hands of a bad director. I’m trying not to be one of those. A lot of it is in casting. You look for people that you can work with. Some people think fighting on a set is somehow a creative process – I’m not one of them. There will always be disagreements, but I think it’s helpful to like and respect the people you’re working with. Of course, it doesn’t always happen that way, and there are a few people I’ve crossed off my Christmas card list (and vice versa), but no actors as yet. It’s often considered normal for directors to complain about them, but I do like and respect actors and their work.

YOU CHOSE TO SHOOT ON FILM RATHER THAN ON A DIGITAL FORMAT. WHAT WAS THE THINKING BEHIND THIS DECISION AND HOW INVOLVED WAS YOUR D.O.P. PETER SINCLAIR IN THIS?

I think we convinced ourselves fairly early on that we’d shoot on film. (Of course, my original intent was to shoot black and white, but I was quickly shot down about that!) The quality of HD just wasn’t there when we first started planning, and we wanted to make the best-looking film possible. It cost us, both in terms of time and money, but I believe it was worth it. It’s very possible that the next thing I do will be HD, but I think there are greater possibilities there now.

Pete came onboard very late in the game, so he wasn’t involved in those discussions, but I don’t think he would have been happy shooting it in High Def. He knew precisely what the film required and did a fantastic job of achieving that in the Super-16mm format we ultimately went with.

DID YOU HAVE A CLEAR IDEA OF HOW YOU WANTED THE FILM TO “LOOK” VISUALLY AND DO YOU FEEL YOU ACHIEVED IT?

I did have a clear idea, and certainly had a number of elements I wanted to achieve, but I don’t think it’s good to be too restrictive about these things. I told Pete early on that I wanted a moving camera, muted colours and deep, dark shadows. From what I’m told, this seemed to mesh pretty well with his overall style anyway, so he seemed perfectly happy with that!

On set, I’d prepared a comprehensive shot list, but you have to be flexible. Sometimes what you’ve planned just isn’t possible because of time restrictions, and sometimes the D.P simply has a better idea. Pete Sinclair is a very experienced and talented guy, and I’d be an idiot not to listen to him. So some sequences in the film are precisely as I’d envisaged them, others I went with Pete’s ideas. It’s a definite collaboration.

So yes, I’m very happy with the visual look of the film. It’s one of the things I’m proudest of, especially given the budgetary limitations we were under.

WHAT OBSTACLES/CHALLENGES DID YOU ENCOUNTER WHILE SHOOTING “LIE STILL” AND HOW WERE THEY RESOLVED?

Not to sound like a broken record, but the main obstacles were time and money. A rushed pre-production schedule didn’t help (we only had a limited window of time to shoot in the main location and had to accelerate things because of that). We had a couple of crew members drop out at the last minute and had to scramble to replace them, which led to a lack of planning in some departments.

Sometimes you just have to improvise and go with what’s possible on the day. I’ve made a lot of low/no budget shorts, so I was reasonably comfortable doing that, but it’s not ideal. There were a couple of days where it was definitely seat of your pants time. For me, a lot of the things I wince at in the film are due to lack of prep time and resources.

It does help if you have a plan, because at least you have a foundation to work from when things go wrong. And we were gifted with a very dedicated bunch of people who believed in what we were doing, which certainly got us through the rough spots.

WHEN THINGS DON’T GO TO PLAN, WHAT DO YOU DO TO REMAIN CALM IF YOU FIND YOURSELF BECOMING FRUSTRATED OR STRESSED WHILST SHOOTING?

Throw things at the production assistants.

Not really. There will always be frustrations and stress, and if you can’t deal with that you’ve got no place on a film set. I’m not a shouty kind of director; I just don’t think it helps. I’ll generally skulk off into a corner and stew for a while. (I always start smoking again when I’m filming.) Like I said, always have some kind of a plan. That way, if things go wrong, you still have something to work from. A shot list always helps me. Even if you ultimately have to drop or combine shots, having something down on paper at least gives you a way forward.

A couple of beers at the end of the day work wonders too.

HOW CLOSELY DOES THE FINISHED FILM MATCH YOUR ORIGINAL VISION/EXPECTATION?

In some ways, it’s very close. The performances, visuals and sound are all what I wanted and more. I don’t think any film can ever live up to the ideal in your head but I’m very proud of what we have.

The film changed from the original script to some extent, but that’s just part of the process. Things were dropped and restructured in editing, and we ended up doing a bit of rewriting and reshooting, to augment certain elements and replace others that didn’t work. You’re always learning, and some things that seem to work on the page don’t always in practice. However, the film is basically the same story I conceived of originally, and the initial approach I had in mind never changed. I wanted a dreamlike, subtle horror film with strong characters and performances, and I believe that’s what we managed to get.

IF YOU COULD DO IT ALL AGAIN WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY?

There’s no doubt, but it’s my first feature and I’ll know more about certain things next time. You’re always trying to improve, and I certainly think I’m a better writer/director now than I was then, simply by virtue of age and experience. So yes, there are things in the film I’m uncomfortable with, but they’re my mistakes and I’ll learn from them. (Judging from what I’ve heard from distributors, I should have put more tits and gore in there too, but this is the film we wanted to make and I’ll stand by that.)

And although it was really no-one’s fault, I’d certainly want more prep time if we did it again. And a lot more money.

And a nice trailer, and a personal assistant…

AT WHAT STAGE IS THE FILM AT NOW?

It’s done the festival circuit and is hopefully starting to get sold to various territories. It’s meant to be getting a DVD release in the US and South America sometime soon. No news on the UK alas…it’s a tough market over here.

OK, TIME FOR A SERIOUS QUESTION: IF YOU WERE A SUPERHERO/VILLAIN WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

Wolverine, because that healing factor must come in handy for hangovers.

WHAT POWERS/COLOURED TIGHTS WOULD YOU HAVE?

I wouldn’t look good in tights, trust me.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF FILM MAKING ADVICE YOU’VE EVER BEEN GIVEN OR HEARD ABOUT?

Get plenty of sleep. Hire people who are more talented than you. Don’t hire Lindsay Lohan.

FINALLY, WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT AND WHAT’S IN THE FUTURE FOR SEAN HOGAN?

I recently signed to do a project in Ireland that has since been delayed due to legal difficulties. As it stands now, I’m not sure the original script I wrote will ever be made, so there’s not much I can say about it other than the fact that it was a larger scale supernatural noir/horror film that would have been a lot of fun to do. Something may yet happen with the same producers but I’m not sure what as yet…

So in the meantime I’m going to go back and try and raise some money independently and do another small scale film. I’ve just started writing the script, so it’s early days, but it’s called Corpses for Dogs and will hopefully be a nastily twisted little exploitation piece, with some black humour.

And tits…And gore.

THANKS SEAN.

Sean Hogan is a London based Director and Writer.

A small role in an episode of a long running television programme, can often be far more nerve racking than a larger role. I’ve often seen actor’s sitting around all day waiting to do a few lines, only to discover their little scene is to be covered in one shot and it’s to be the last shot of the day. The director knows the crew (who have been flat out all day) must finish on time as there’s no money in the budget for overtime and a good 1st AD won’t be shy at reminding the director of this. So with only 10 minutes to get the scene in the can, you’re frantically called to the set (not a good moment to leave a jacket or prop in your dressing room!), you’re introduced to the 1st AD (the person responsible for keeping the director on schedule), do a rough block with the director, followed by final make-up and wardrobe checks, then someone screams turn over, the board is read out and the director yells ‘Action’. Suddenly, with all eyes on you (not to mention a camera), the pressure to get it right first time is enormous. This kind of scenario may sound extreme but every actor will experience it.

Every production will be slightly different but the countdown to a standard Shoot (if such a thing exists) will probably be as follows……

Firstly the audition, remember getting one is an achievement in itself. So make the most of it as it’s hard to get seen for TV and Films, and even if you don’t land this job it may lead to other jobs. Nearly all castings are handled by a casting director who liases with the agents and assembles various actors to meet the director. These castings are more like an interview than an audition, involving a brief chat followed by a reading. Arrive early as you may find a couple of pages waiting for you at reception. Don’t be surprised if you only get to read the scene a couple of times that’s quite normal and the casting director usually reads the other roles. It will probably be filmed and may only last ten minutes or so.

Having been cast you’ll be sent a script (possibly a revised draft) and a schedule, read them both carefully. The schedule is an important document and should be able to answer any questions. At the very least the schedule will contain a call sheet with details of where you need to be and when. However, most are far more detailed with cast lists, crew lists, phone numbers, maps, directions to locations, travel arrangements, health and safety regulations, etc.. Check your contact details are correct and that the dates on the schedule are the dates you were booked for. It’s rare they’re wrong but it’s always best to check as you may start work before your contract arrives. Your agent would have the original booking dates from when the company first checked your availability.

Next you’ll receive several phone calls; firstly, from the 2nd AD or a production assistant confirming your call. If you have any questions that the schedule can’t answer, this is the time to ask. For instance, if by this stage you’ve not received a script, mention it. They listed me as the wrong character on a schedule once and when I mentioned it to the 2nd AD, it turned out some of the lines and my character’s name had been changed. Nobody had told me and I had learnt the wrong role, luckily I still had time to learn the right role!

Next you’ll probably get calls from someone in the Costume and Make-up departments. Depending on the scale of the production they may arrange fittings and make-up tests. Either way, make sure you know all your measurements for Costume including hat and glove sizes. Incidentally, it’s common in TV that you don’t try on your costume until you arrive for the shoot. So give them your real sizes not the sizes you wish to be! Also, if your hair is different to your spotlight photo, tell them as they might be making decisions based on it.

While waiting for your shooting day to come around, work on your script, familiarise yourself with the lines and characters. Any work you do at home that better prepares you before the shoot, could prove useful especially as less and less time is allocated for rehearsing on Set. Don’t forget to work on the standby scenes too; these are scenes that are held in reserve in case the schedule is changed at the last minute. They’ll be on the call sheet listed as standby scenes or wet weather scenes.

You’ll probably then hear nothing until a day or two before you start, when they’ll ring to confirm your call.

When you arrive at the unit base, the first person you’ll meet will most likely be the 2nd AD who amongst other things is responsible for your whereabouts during the shoot. Make sure they or someone else knows where you are at all times. 2nd AD’s are full of wandering-actor-stories bringing shoot’s to a grinding halt because they decided to look round a location. Remember, you’ll end up looking foolish but the 2nd AD gets the blame.

Having arrived at the unit base or the studios, provided the shoot is running to schedule, you’ll be shown to a dressing room or green room. If the schedule has been changed (it often is) you’ll be taken straight to costume and make-up. If on location the unit base will either be a building or various trailers and trucks. You’ll probably be left on your own as most people will be shooting somewhere else, but there may be other actors around (and if on location, catering people and various drivers). However, at some point you’ll be collected and taken to Costume and Make-up.

First thing in the morning these places are a hive of activity, so look out for the other actors in your first scene that day. The chances are some of them will be in make-up at the same time as you.

Depending on the size of the production, you may have your own make-up artist and your own dresser who will be responsible for your costumes. As you will end up spending a lot of time with these people, they’ll be a large factor towards your enjoyment of the shoot. I know one director who judges the mood of his cast and crew, by the atmosphere in the wardrobe, Make-up and catering trailers.

Once you are in costume and have been to make-up, you’ll probably get sent back to your dressing room or trailer. Depending on how well they are sticking to the schedule, will determine how long you spend waiting to be called to the set. How you pass the time is up to you and every actor I’ve met has their own way, (I know one actor who even used to spend his time trying to write sitcom scripts and ended up becoming a very successful writer). Some actors (but not all!) like to get together and run lines which is great if you are inexperienced as it can help calm the nerves. However, the important thing to remember is that you have to be ready so that whenever you are called to the set, you are able to do the best you can when the director yells action.

Every actor knows that work generates work. So no matter how small your role is, never forget you’ve been given an opportunity that many other actors would relish. I can’t think of a more exciting place than a film set full of talented technicians and actors, who are all pulling together to create something. So make the most of it and enjoy it, because if you’re lucky, you can work in some amazing places with some incredibly talented people.

Edward Hicks

(This extract from the Actor’s Year book is printed with permission of AC& Black, the author and contributor. The latest edition of the Actor’s Year book is now available.)

There are several things you can do to maximize your chances of understanding actors and the process and therefore pinning down exactly what you are looking for:

1. Read books on acting. I recommend anything by ‘Directing actors’ by Judith Weston, who has great understanding of the process but there are plenty of others out there.
2. Try out some acting classes at a local college or evening class. There is nothing better for learning a subject than throwing yourself into it, if you have the courage. It will build confidence too and you will start to get a hook on the language and methods of acting.
3. Watch them work. Live theatre is a great place to study actors in the moment. You will soon start to recognize people who lose themselves in their characters and people who don’t. Good and bad acting will start to shout out to you and you will develop the skill of seeing when an actor is really listening and when they’re just saying the lines. You may need front row seats for this though otherwise it’s the binoculars.
4. Check out nearby drama schools that often have regular free or cheap performances of both well known works and more experimental stuff. It’s a great place to find local talent and possible collaborators.

Working with actors is about you as a director being able to draw the performance you want from another person. That other person is not a robot or a machine but a human being who is making themselves vulnerable every time they go up for a role in a film or a play. To put oneself in that position time and time again takes a lot of guts and stamina. In order to protect that vulnerability, most actors will need to feel ‘safe’ working with you so that they can fully express their emotions and do a good job. It is up to you to generate that ‘safe place’ and the freedom for them to create. We are not talking about a physical place as such; it’s simply means having their director’s (that’s you) confidence and trust.

Directing actors can be frustrating at times like any human interaction, but it’s mostly rewarding, exciting and an incredible learning experience; of which you will probably become aware of much later. For the most part it’s a short term relationship, but a relationship nonetheless and if you go about it the right way, it could lead to much longer, mutually beneficial collaborations.

The audition itself:

When you’re assistant brings in the auditioning actor for the first time, introduce yourself. Don’t hide behind a table all aloof, get up and shake hands, bow, curtsey, whatever is your thing, but interact. You are the charismatic director after all and you want to create the right impression.

Introduce your own assistant actor, if you have one. Run through the process or you’re assistant might have already done it.

What is the process? It’s this:

The actor, having read the script pages, will have begun the process of interpretation of the material. They can now begin to audition for you. You can explain that you want to see what their initial impression is and what they bring to it. Explain also that you will run through the material at least three times so you are not going to kick them out after the first attempt. This will help Bob or Meryl to relax and steady themselves. Bob will need to hold the pages in his hand too as no-one can memorise that quick.

Watch the first attempt.

It will probably be disjointed, rushed, out of rhythm. It’s hard to remember that no-one else is as familiar with these words as you and how the characters sound and act in your mind’s eye. You will have to let go somewhat, of any pre-conceived ideas about how someone should sound or look like as this just limits you and could cut you off from finding someone who is really good but doesn’t “look right”. Of course there are certain parameters for how a character should look but try not to be too stubborn about it. Be open to whatever comes up.

Give some feedback

You’re going to be a director, you’ll have to get used to giving feedback all the time. Be as positive as you can without bull-shitting.Now you will have to come up with a suggestion about how to play the scene. Depending upon your script analysis that you have already spent time doing (right?), you will have an idea on how the scene should go. This idea should now inform your directorial choice. Is the scene tense, violent, romantic? There will be layers of subtlety within the writing, subtext and mood changes that you won’t be able to do justice to in this short period of time but you will need to find a way to bring the essence of the scene to light and communicate this to the actor.

Give ‘playable‘ directions

Depending on your material, give them a playable direction. For instance, the scene is tense with two men who don’t trust each other. The direction is “You’re impatient to leave. You have to get out of this room.”

Obviously you don’t want them to physically leave the room and if the actor walks out the door, assume you haven’t explained yourself properly. So staying in the room, how does the actor communicate that feeling of frustration and of being trapped through his spoken words and his body language?

Don’t use directions such as “be afraid, be nervous.” This is ok if you’re making a cartoon but not if you’re dealing with real people, (check out Judith Weston’s book, “Directing actors”).

Watching the next attempt

Continue to work with the actor, giving feedback and more playable directions. If you are close to what you want, then carry on along that way. If not, try the complete opposite.

In the case of the above example you could say, “Intimidate this other guy, make him leave the room!” Again, don’t use something like “be angry, be aggressive”. These types of directions have no goal, they are just states. They can mean many different things and lead to questions such as “how angry, how aggressive?” Try to combine direction with goals, objectives, purpose. This gives an actor something to grasp.

Remember to have fun with it; this type of collaboration is a creative process and an exciting one.

At the end of each audition thank the person involved for their time and effort.

Summary of the process:

1. First read through: actors interpretation
2. Second read through: with basic playable direction from you.
3. Third read through: observations from the previous two attempts, try opposite direction.
4. Fourth read through: go crazy.

The day of the audition:

1. Arrive early.
2. Set-up the space
3. Camera set-up.
4. Brief your ‘assisting’ actor.
5. Have your assistant prepare the ‘sides’.

Arrive before the actors!

Set-up

Get to your audition venue and set-up. Clear the space you’re using and make room for your candidates.

Do you have a camera?

It is a great idea to have a camera at the location to record the performances. This is necessary for reminding yourself later of each audition and watching for nuance and insight that you might have missed on the day. Ideally, have someone else operate.

The camera should be static and a wide enough angle to capture full body shots of all the actors involved plus all of their movement. You don’t want close-ups; you should be watching faces with your eyes, not hiding behind a lens. Later on you can review whether the actors are using their bodies well, whether they are stiff, uncomfortable with physical closeness, have ticks etc, all this will be on the camera footage.

Just to add, your location should be lit brightly enough for filming and you should state that the footage shot will not be used for anything other than private viewing, i.e. for purposes of reviewing these auditions.

Having another actor present

If possible get another person, preferably another actor or if not an actor somebody with some life about them, who can read well and put some emotion into it. Don’t get a friend who is afraid to read out loud. It is better not to read yourself as part of your awareness is taken up with conscious processing of the lines and you as the director need to focus on the subtlety of performance.

Having another actor there also helps you to direct the auditionees because you can prime your actor-assistant with instructions to make it different, change their lines, move differently and so on. This is all to see how your candidates adapt and react to new, surprise or subtle changes in direction.

Make notes

Make notes on each audition, marking down your instinctive impressions about the person performing, whether they followed your direction and so on. The most important quality for an actor is being able to “listen” not just to you and your instructions but to the other actor they are working with. Really good actors are always listening which is another way of saying they respond in the moment to what’s happening, they react to the people in their environment. So you could say that you want “reactors” not actors.

The material

Have your assistant hand out the “sides”, which are the one or two pages of material to perform. It would be good, ideal even, to have pages from your own script. The benefit of using your own script is it gives the actors a chance to assess your film for its content, don’t forget they might choose not to do it! Many actors will obviously be looking for good show-reel footage and even if desperate won’t do just anything for the sake of it. Often it is a good idea to use well written, established dialogue material that you’re familiar with. Not that your stuff isn’t well written, I’m sure it is.

(You could send the audition piece to people via email but this only works if everyone gets it. Those that do get it will have more time to work on the lines, if they choose to, whereas some who don’t get it are then put at a disadvantage come the audition. If everyone sees the material for the first time when they arrive then it is a level playing field and more accurate for you to judge.)

1. Advertise the roles.
2. Organise c.v.’s and show reels to watch.
3. Eliminate the ones you can’t use.
4. Short-list your preferred artists.
5. Organise a location for auditions.
6. Contact your candidates.

Advertising your film

Start by advertising your film, with a basic description of the story and the roles offered, in trade magazines, on-line and so on; that way you will have enough choice for your auditions. Be honest about what kind of film you’re making. If it’s independent and with a small budget then say so. It’s better to let people know what they are getting into up front. I mean, if there is no money to pay artists, are you going to feed them, pay travel expenses? You better do one of these, preferably both!

Organise the paperwork

Wait for those c.v.’s to roll in over the next week or so. Some that are posted to you will come with stamped address envelopes for return. If they are not the actors for you, try and return the c.v.’s if you can, because sending professional pictures to directors can be a costly expense for impoverished actors.

Try and find actors with short film or feature film experience as well as theatre; they will know the ropes to some extent. Look at their skills and hobbies, do you need martial arts, horse riding or rock climbers? Stage combat is a good one if you want to shoot simple fights. Most actors have some experience of this. More complex fighting though will obviously need a fight or stunt coordinator.

Eliminate people you don’t want

It is difficult to choose who to eliminate when you haven’t met anybody but the picture and the C.V. is usually all you have. Some more web savvy people are now posting show reels on-line and this trend should increase but it’s not the norm yet. For your film though, be aware that an actor with only credits in theatre will, generally, have no film vocabulary to work with, they will be unfamiliar with hitting marks for camera, sound levels and so on. They may be wonderful performers on the stage but a possible hindrance on a film set.

Shortlist

Once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential candidates, sort them into male and female. When casting for roles it is better to see all women or all men at the same time in order to better compare gender roles rather than a random mix of boy, girl, boy etc.

Location hunting

Find a location in which to conduct your auditions. It has to have enough space for your actors to move around. Actors will need to move their bodies to relax and demonstrate physicality during the audition. Without this there will be no life and no opportunity for someone to show you what they can do.

Get in touch

Contact the actors you have chosen and let them know your dates and politely ask if they can make it on these times. If your budget is tight they will have to make the day you suggest. If they can’t, you can scratch them from the list. If you have more flexibility, say two days, then they can come to either and this gives them a chance to make arrangements and you more choice over who to eventually cast. Whether you have one day or two, split the day into morning and afternoon. Keep the morning for men and the afternoon for women or vice versa. Have each actor pencilled in at staggered times such as follows:

Day 1

11.00am: first actor “Bruce”
11.20am: second actor “Marlon”
11.40am: third actor “Al”

Lunch break 12.00-12.30pm

12.30pm: fourth actor “Meryl”
12.50pm fifth actor “Madonna”
13.10pm sixth actor “Julia”

Twenty minutes should be a minimum for you to assess each person, if you can spend more time with each person then that would be better. It all depends on how many people you have to see, how much time in the location, how many days etc.

Note: this is the time you will see them but you will want to tell them to arrive fifteen to twenty minutes before their allotted time as this will enable them to read the script and form a basic idea, opinion and approach to their performance. Without this time the audition will be messy and confused as the candidate will be fluffing lines and stumbling all over the place.
Also confirm these times again with the actors to make sure they are coming, either by phone or email.

Give yourself some contingency time too, as inevitably, someone will be lost, late or delayed.