I met Jennifer Lawrence at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007 at an award gala. She was there to promote her new TV series The Bill Engvall Show. At the time Jennifer was very innocent and enthusiastic. She was all excited about having landed the series, but didn’t know anything about it, except for who would play her siblings and that the show starred Bill Engvall.

Flash forward to last month’s Oscar® ceremony and I saw a very different woman. Two Oscar® nominations and a win later, her approach to life was less innocent. After receiving her statue, Lawrence downed a quick shot and then was ushered into the pressroom for questions. She was very straightforward in her response to the press and had no reservations sharing what went through her mind when she stumbled up the steps on the way to receive her award. She simply stated, “A bad word that I can’t say. It starts with ‘F.’”

Some people who followed her career were startled by a loss of innocence. This loss is not limited to child actors who are forced to mature all too quickly, but can be seen in many who look at life honestly. The world of film is made up of such fakery that many within the industry loose track of reality. However, there is a positive aspect that comes from this sobering awareness of what is real, and that is the ability to create honesty in one’s performance.

Lawrence’s performance in Silver Lining Playbook was raw, real and inspired by a tough life surrounded by people living in denial. These types of people are easy to study from within the distorted world of the film industry. Since many churches attract hurting people, it too is a good place of observation for developing a character.

The ideal character, especially one that is worthy of winning an Oscar®, is one that can be portrayed honestly. Even the top acting schools in LA have shifted to teaching honest performance techniques. Developing this type of acting chops can only come from deep within the actor’s gut and experiences. In other words, people who have always had a golden life are not capable of giving an Oscar® winning performance.

This is not to suggest that we appreciate damaged people over healthy ones within the arena of performance, but depth of character or heart are essential to award winning performances. Even comedians draw humor from their personal pain.

There are three steps an actor can take to move her acting toward an honest award winning performance:

1. FIND A THREE DIMENSIONAL CHARACTER. The average Hollywood actor reviews, or has her team review, a couple dozen scripts every week in hopes of finding one character worth playing. All too often an actor will grab a script to keep busy or to work with someone in particular, resulting in a character that keeps her away from an award winning performance. The key is to find a character with depth, some form of paradox, and a drive that leads to a good story – All within the same script. Take out any one of these three factors and the character will be less than award winning regardless of the actor’s ability.

2. ACCEPT YOUR PERSONAL FLAW. To play a character with some sense of honesty the actor must draw from their personal flaws or troubles. The closer the character’s actions are to the actor’s flawed experience, the more honestly the actor can play the role. This requires vulnerability and a strong director to protect the actor’s performance.

3. SECRETLY USE A VULNERABLE MOMENT. The best way to use an actor’s vulnerable moment from life is by attaching it to the character, as if she had an identical secret moment. The more embarrassing or vulnerable the moment, the more easily the actor will be able to draw from her emotions for the performance. This energy is discerned by the camera and takes very little movement on the actor’s part to deliver. She can hold still, while exuding an amazing intensity of performance.

Drama becomes melodramatic when the actor isn’t able to connect her vulnerabilities to her performance. However, when the connection is made, the performance is honest, believable, and draws the audience into the character. This bond plays a major role during award season and Lawrence was able to make the connection, resulting in statues from The Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and The Golden Globes.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers

Director notebooks look significantly different, as it typically reflects their vision and style for a given story. Notebooks can be physically made up of a set of three ring notebooks, a single sketchbook, a diary type book, a digital book, or any combination that allows the director to capture and easily get at his ideas for the film’s look and feel.

Notebooks typically hold certain information regardless of the director’s taste. Software packages exist that help the director create a digital notebook. Unfortunately, the digital books lack templates or forms for many things that a director needs to capture.

Regardless of style, creativity and inspiration, most directors’ notebooks hold information to meet the director’s requirements for casting his vision to each department head. Many directors add the department heads’ notes and illustrations to their notebook as they become available.

The notebooks typically include the following sections in no particular order:

1. Script: (All Department Heads and Principals) Some directors use a master script marked for shooting, while others use a shooting script. Regardless of the markings, it is important for the director to talk through the script with his department heads to transfer his complete artistic vision and notes.
2. Development or Director Sheets: (Director’s Eyes only) This sheet includes any key elements a director may need during the shoot when working with talent. Many directors mark these notes directly on the script rather than having a separate sheet. The content is broken down by scene and includes: Through Line, Motivation, Entrances, Literary Devices, etc. It also includes motivational verbs of varying strengths to help the actors increase or decrease the intensity of their performance.
3. Beat Sheet: (Director’s Eyes only) This sheet includes the breakdown of the story’s beats, turning points, emotional charting and story conflicts. These elements help the director to focus on the actors’ performance and each character’s shift in power.
4. Character Sheets: (Casting Director) This sheet spells out the key characteristics, age, and other elements necessary for the Casting Director to filter down potential actors for the director’s selection.
5. Character Development Sheets: (Production Designer, Costume Designer, Hair Stylist and Make-Up Artist) Descriptions, thumbnail sketches or photos of the director’s ideas that reflect the look and feel of each character including physical stature and appearance, clothing, make-up and hair style.
6. Action Props & Vehicles Sheets: (Production Designer and Property Master) Descriptions, thumbnail sketches or photos of the director’s ideas that reflect the vehicles and props including how it is used.
7. Set Design Sheets: (Production Designer, Set Designer and Set Decorator) Descriptions, thumbnail sketches and photos of set ideas that reflect the look and feel of the set are included.
8. Shot Lists: (Director of Photography) For some directors the shot list is nothing more than an actual list of shots per scene. Other directors embed their shots into the script using the same markings as the Continuity Supervisor. Most directors add blocking diagrams and set-up cards showing the actor’s movement and the camera positions that match the shot list.
9. Lighting Notes: (Gaffer, Director of Photography and Production Designer) These notes are limited, but give a good sense to the team in advance for altering blue prints or designing set-ups to conform to the imagery and mood of the director’s vision.
10. Physical Effects & Stunt Sheets: (Special Effects Supervisor and Stunt Coordinator) These sheets typically include the visual outcome the director seeks and the story elements leading up to the moment. This is all discussed in advance in case set alterations or camera equipment will be impacted by the functional operation decisions.
11. Contracts: (Production Manager and Line Producer) Having a set of contracts on hand quickly reduces arguments and helps the director, production manager and 1^st AD determine appropriate overtime if needed.
12. Script Breakdown: (1^st AD, 2^nd AD and Production Manager) The Script Breakdown determines workload and helps the team create schedules for cast, crew, vehicles, props, wardrobe, etc.
13. Location Sheets: (Location Scout and Location Manager) This includes location contracts, contact information, location photos, nearby hotels, etc.
14. Production Sound: (Sound Mixer) This list covers the ambient and unique sounds required by the story. The more locations sounds captured, the less foley work will be required in post.
15. Editorial: (Film Editor) While the editor gets the Continuity Supervisor’s notes, the director still needs to share his vision for how he sees the story coming together.
16. Visual Effects Sheet: (Visual Effects Producer/Creative Director) Storyboards tend to fill in these pages to provide discussion on technical requirements in production including the shooting of background plates and matte work.
17. Sound/Music Sheets: (Sound Designer) This sheet includes a list of critical sounds and music samples that reflect the style and mood the director desires to capture for each scene.

The most productive directors use notebooks to save time and money. Flipping to a certain page is much faster than trying to remember all the details of every scene. Some directors only use the notebook during prep time the night before a shoot or when in meetings with department heads, while others keep it with them on the set for last second decisions. In either case, the notebook is the production bible for the film.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers

Photo © 168stock – Fotolia.com

Casting is all about finding the right actor for the right role at the right time. It is also the first area where newbie directors fail. This might be due to there being a plethora of documentation for the actor’s role in casting, but very little for the director. In fact, the few things that can be found are usually for the casting director, not the director.

On bigger pictures the director works with the casting director who manages the pre-selection process. They vet principal actors based on schedule, ballpark figures, look, desire to play the role, and their history of playing nice with others – No one wants an actor who is a nightmare waiting to happen on the set.

There are 3 things directors can do to simplify the casting directors job:

1. CREATE A CAST BREAKDOWN: This is a one-page document with thumbnail character descriptions. It is based not on the actor’s looks, but allows the casting director to infer the character’s physical appearance and level of attractiveness. Here are a couple examples from my latest list:

Eric:         (26), confident, athletic, intelligent, playboy-esque, chivalric, passionate about truth and justice, explores ideas, fun-loving, yet classy.

Kathy:       (25), high intellect, slender, beautiful, nice, gracious, firm, business-like, follows rules.

2. KNOW MIX & MATCH COMBINATIONS: When working with name talent, timing and money is key to a successful selection. Many times a director is forced to pick an actor who doesn’t quite fit the thumbnail, but can draw a larger audience to the box office. In those cases the director must understand the characters well enough to alter the thumbnails of contrasting or complimentary characters.

3. DEVELOP A HEADSHOT LIST: Collecting headshots of potential actors for each character will help give the casting director a visual understanding of the director’s vision, especially if the headshots clearly compliment the cast breakdown and look the age. I like using Pinterest boards to collect my ideas to share with casting.

The number of hours required to accomplish the above is dependent on the amount of detail and accuracy the director wants to capture for his casting director. The hardest task is determining the cast breakdown, which newbies tend to over write. Here is an example of an over written cast breakdown:

Eric:         (26), 6’ tall, wavy brown hair with highlights, muscular athletic build, dimples, blue eyes, sexy smile, confident, womanizer with a look of innocence, chivalric, sharp dresser, intelligent, passionate about truth and justice, explores ideas through experimentation, fun-loving, comical at times, yet classy.

It’s important to give the casting director the right vision with plenty of room to accomplish her job without being tied to impossible requirements. Flexibility is key in searching for just the right combination of actors. The better the fit, the more realistic the drama.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers

Photo © Innovated Captures – Fotolia.com