Actors and Talent

Let's face it - unless you've got some kind of budget to work with, you're not going to go out and look for professional actors to star in your next film. You'll be grabbing your buddies and telling them how to behave on camera, with promises of the fame and fortune that will most certainly be theirs if they agree to appear in your movie.

The truth is, it doesn't matter whether you're working with Samuel L. Jackson or your next door neighbor Sam; your job as director is to lead, provoke, and inspire your talent.

Working With Acting Newbies

People who aren't used to being on camera have a difficult time pretending it isn't there and it isn't pointed right at them, but that's exactly what you have to get them to do if you want to bring out a believable performance in an inexperienced actor.

It's true that the classic line, "what's my motivation?" is often used satirically. Isn't that what you should be offering to the people in front of your camera, though? You owe it to them to explain who their character is, what they're like, where they come from and why they do what they do, regardless of whether your genre is comedy, drama, action or anything else.

Comfort Is Key

The typical reaction of a person who is put in a situation where they feel uncomfortable is to do something that breaks the tension they feel. Some people can't stop smiling, or laugh uncontrollably and get red in the face. Others goof off and turn everything into a joke so nothing gets done.

How can you, as a director, turn this behavior around into a productive filming session? Well, if you know it stems from discomfort, that means you need to do everything within your power to make them feel comfortable.

Tell them to relax, stretch, take a deep breath. Jump up and down a few times, shake it off. Keep the camera pointed at them regardless of whether it's on or off. In fact, say you're going to do a practice run-through of the scene or shot, but actually record it.

Tips For Success

Word to the wise, here: if you have one of those camcorders with a red light on the front that tells people when you're recording, find a piece of duct tape, electrical tape, or just sharpie over some masking tape. Stick a piece of your completely opaque tape over that light so it never sees the light of day again.

You know how to use a camera, don't you? Right, so there's no reason for that light to exist except to tell people on the other side of your camera when it is or isn't recording. No one needs to know!

Make That Footage Count

Even if you don't have world-class actors working for you, and you grab the seven-year-old kid from down the street to play the page boy in your medieval film on knightly valor and conquest, you can do a lot to improve the performance of your on-screen talent.

I'm not going to start with the believe in yourself crap here, because that's not what I'm trying to say. Well not really. Don't be afraid to tell an actor what you want out of them. Cut film for a minute and take them aside, or take a moment out to explain a line of dialogue or an action. Show them by acting it out yourself, if it helps.

The bottom line is that people who are on camera for fun need coaxing, guidance and direction. It's helpful for them to be goaded into the embodiment of their character, so don't be afraid to get vocal, to be assertive, and to give them every possible chance to bring their acting to a level that's satisfactory and meets the level you want.



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The Notorious Big Movie NOTORIOUS is the story of CHRISTOPHER WALLACE who, through raw talent and sheer determination, transforms himself from a Brooklyn street hustler to become the greatest rapper of all time, THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. This story charts his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectation and redefines our notion of "The American Dream".

The Notorious movie cast includes the Brooklyn-based rapper Gravy, to play rap icon Biggie Smalls (Christopher Wallace), a.k.a. the Notorious B.I.G., in its upcoming biopic. Name actors like Derek Luke and Angela Basset round out the cast. Luke will play Sean Puffy Combs and Basset is to play Notorious Big moms. The movie has been in the making for sometime now. As many know Notorious Big met an untimely death. Cutting short a career whose music is still being heard throughout the world.

This story begins in the late 1980s, when a young Christopher Wallace (played by Biggie's real son, Christopher Jr.) is seduced by the easy money being made by crack dealers in Brooklyn. When his mother discovers what the white stuff under his bed really is, she kicks the teenage hustler out, accelerating his criminal exploits. Wallace does a quick jail bid and returns home with an assortment of potent new rhymes and a new name: B.I.G. His demo cassette ends up in the hands of a brash record exec named Sean "Puffy" Combs , and a rap phenomenon is born.

The intricate stories of the women in his life give fresh insight into Biggie's music and personality. No matter how bad his behavior, they always gave him one more chance: his mother, Voletta; his baby's mother; the girl who Biggie plucked off the corner and turned into the sex bomb Lil' Kim; and his wife, the singer Faith Evans. Whom was one of subjects of the eventual beef between Biggie and Tupac. He has a role in the movie as well. But his character is not explored that much in depth. If you think there will be critics about the Notorious Movie then think about a movie on Pac.



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For those of you who have photography experience, this term may already be familiar to you. Composition is the term used to describe the way an image is set up.

The rectangle that encloses every frame of your film becomes the window through which the viewer looks into the world you have created. For the duration of the film, you want this to be their reality.

However, this "window" is unlike reality in that said viewer does not have the ability to look around and take in more information than you give them; they are limited to only the knowledge you provide them through visual and aural means.

Think of the way you set up each shot as a tool that you can use to shape your viewers' perception of every moment. If you're going to provide them with this information, you want it to appear in a way that draws the eye to its most important parts so that these parts are quickly recognizable.

The Z-Axis

Although a film is technically a two-dimensional (2D) image on a screen, part of an audience's suspension of disbelief relies on your ability to appeal to their subconscious and make them think they're looking at a 3D reality.

What I mean by that is, if they're looking at an image that resembles something they might see in real life, they'll be more likely to submit themselves mentally to what you're putting in front of them.

When we speak about the layers of composition available in an image, we're talking about the appearance of depth - how far away things appear to be, or what we call the Z-axis. Home videos have a tendency to be really flat; they don't have a lot of z-axis depth (because of the way video cameras work).

To separate our general layers along the Z-axis, we use the terms foreground, middleground, and background. Lighting, depth of field, elevation, and perspective can be used to give depth to each of these layers of distance.

Light and shadow, for example, play an important role in an audience's perception of the Z-axis. When a person stands in the doorway of a dark room with light coming in from the other side, a silhouette is created. When a three-point lighting setup is used to illuminate half of a person's face slightly brighter than the other half, it gives the person three-dimensional qualities.

The X and Y Axes

The other part of composition involves the spatial arrangement of focal points in the frame from left to right and from top to bottom. Applicable to both photography and cinematography, the rule of thirds specifies the points in an image where the center of interest should be.

Imagine a picture - any picture - or use an actual image you've got lying around. Start at the top left corner, and then go a third of the way across the top. Draw an imaginary line on the image from top to bottom. Go another third of the way across and draw another imaginary line. Now your image is divided into thirds vertically. Do the same thing horizontally, and you'd have a total of nine "boxes" divided by these imaginary lines.

There are also four points at which the lines intersect. These points, according to the rule of thirds, are the best places around which to orient the focal points of an image.

Audience Perception

Using a combination of factors on the Z, X, and Y axes is key if you want to take your imagery to a new height. When you consider composition, remember that what's outside the frame is often just as important as what's shown within it.



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