Techniques and standards for director casting

Skills and standards for director casting

If a person wants to be a film and television actor, he or she should at least have the appearance conditions to be qualified for the basic requirements of the industry - obviously, here It only talks about the most basic concept of "photogenic", and does not include the special appearance required by some film and television characters. For a long time, the most primary, most direct, and most critical factor in the success or failure of an actor's character creation in film and television dramas must be his or her external image. But in addition to appearance, there are many other factors that influence the director's casting. Below are the techniques and standards for director casting that I bring to you, welcome to read.

1. Artist Agency: How the Director Selects Actors

First, professional assistant directors collect actor information based on the requirements of the characters in the play, which is the so-called set photos and Possible video information, and then use this information to find relatively suitable candidates. This generally means "matching" based on the actor's facial makeup and the facial makeup of the characters in the play. If there is video information, then based on whether the target actor is on camera and Make a preliminary judgment on the performance level and select the target candidates you want to meet. Of course, the candidates mentioned here are basically the so-called outside the first line, because everyone is familiar with the first-line actors, and generally they are relatively busy and rarely need to meet people.

Secondly, the assistant director will find the actor or the actor’s agent by phone and ask the actor to come to the set to meet at the appropriate time, which is often called "actor meeting", and meet with the college students participating in the recruitment. It's the same as accepting an interview. There are generally two aspects of work. One is the technical level, looking at their reactions and general understanding of the performance. Sometimes, if necessary, auditioning with the actor's consent, and auditioning does not necessarily mean auditioning. Sometimes you may ask the actors to express themselves in the play you are about to perform; the other is non-technical, which is chatting and asking questions. The purpose of this is mainly to understand all aspects of the actor's character traits and personal charm to see if he or she will win the role. The audience's likes and whether the target role can be played well.

Once again during the interview, sometimes some footage will be recorded on DV for reference when making the final decision. This is actually a very critical step for new actors. I would like to remind everyone not to think that It only depends on your family background or your professional aspects. More often, it also depends on your character, whether you are actively cooperative, whether you are humble, whether you understand the rules of the industry, and punctuality is a very important criterion. Many new actors often lose out because they leave a bad impression on the crew at this time. After all, when the director looks at you, he will consider that he will work with you for a long time in the future. Everyone has to pay attention to basic human skills. If you think the other person is uncomfortable, it's definitely not okay.

Finally, the production department negotiates the remuneration price and work schedule with the actors or agents. This link is also a very critical link. For newcomers, after all, the competition is fierce, and the price will not be what you want. So ideal, this is the so-called universal law of the market economy. In fact, I would like to remind some agents here that it is normal for your actor to have a good role and a good price, but you must also make a correct judgment. It's OK, instead of treating him as a "cash cow", which might affect his development.

Only after these steps can you decide whether to use an actor. It is not difficult to say it is difficult, as long as you take it seriously and be a good person. If it is difficult to say it is difficult, after all, this is not an absolutely objective judgment, it is decided by people, and they must have human psychological factors.

2. What exactly does a casting director do? How does a casting director select actors?

The casting director, also known as the deputy casting director, specializes in selecting actors for film and television dramas to co-create with the director. . From the protagonist to the supporting role, from the special actors to the extras, it is the job of the casting director. Different crews have different personnel settings. Some crews have two actors and assistant directors, and some have one, plus one or two assistants, each with their own division of labor.

Not everyone can be an actor-director. To find a suitable actor, you must first read the script, understand the role requirements of the producer and director, select alternative actors, and then according to the producer's requirements Fang and the crew actually selected the actors.

Generally, when choosing actors, the crew will prepare for a period of time and collect the actor’s information and photos; then, they will look at the photos and select the candidate actors according to the requirements of the script and role; then they will make an appointment with the actors to meet, and some crews will also need to audition; finally, they will select actors who are suitable for the role. Among the actors, the final candidate will be comprehensively selected based on the actor's artistic performance, price point and development direction. This is basically consistent with the process of "how directors select actors" shared by the artist management company above.

Actor directors have been in this industry for many years, and naturally have a large number of actor resources at hand. They naturally understand the artistic development trajectory of these actors, so they can produce them at the appropriate time. Recommended by the film studio and director. It's not difficult to be an actor-director who can find people. Just have a lot of phone numbers and mobile phone numbers. But it doesn't mean that people will buy your account after you get through the phone numbers of celebrities and artists. Not everyone has a thick book of actors' phone numbers. You can be an actor-director.

Being a technical actor-director is difficult. To find out the plasticity of a certain actor from a lot of photos of various styles and place them in the right position requires discernment. For example, when Pan Hong starred in the movie "Stock Madness", everyone was shocked. In people's minds, Pan Hong has always been a tragic actor, such as "The Distressed Smile", "Du Shiniang", "Middle Age", and "The Last Queen" Wait, Pan Hong finally won the Golden Rooster Award and the Hundred Flowers Award for starring in the movie "Stock Madness", which shows the casting director's vision.

For actor-directors, the producer may have distribution requirements. The selected actors must be a hit, and the crew may have financial restrictions and cannot exceed the budget. They must also make the finished film sell well and be popular. Save costs. ; Therefore, actors must be knowledgeable in their formation, and the mix of first-, second-, and third-tier actors, as well as newcomers and veteran artists, must be reasonable.

At present, more film crews are living a tight life. The pressure from box office, film sales and ratings forces them to reduce production costs. Actors’ fees are the first to bear the brunt. Therefore, in a large-scale movie or TV series, Naturally, there is an urgent need for a knowledgeable actor-director.

For producers, crews, and directors, the ideal casting director is one who can budget for actors, understand the actor market, film market, and audience needs, use stars, big names, veteran artists, and newcomers in a reasonable mix, and negotiate An actor-director who won all the price tag contracts, negotiated a sizable cast, gave feedback to the producer on the budget and expenditure table, and finally saved the crew money. Actors and directors who can do this can be regarded as the "first line" among them.

3. What are the differences between selecting movie actors and stage actors?

The idea of ??a movie must be performed by actors before it can become something concrete. Just as the elements of the environment (sound, time, and image) can be designed, so too can the actors who move in and influence that environment. Actor "design" mainly includes selecting actors (assigning roles) and designing movements and intonations to harmonize with the ideological style of the film. An actor's personality can affect the entire nature of a movie.

Choosing movie actors is different from choosing stage actors. In a stage play it is easier for an actor to adapt to his role than in a film. In fact, the ability to transform oneself into another person is the minimum requirement for a stage actor. For example, a talented thirty-year-old actress can play a seventy-year-old woman on the stage without any inferiority. This is because there is a distance between the stage actors and the audience during aesthetic appreciation and actual situations, so there is sufficient room for character development and adaptability. Therefore, when selecting stage actors, dramatic talent (vocal training and dramatic intelligence) is more relevant than physical and psychological similarities. Since the purpose of being on stage is to induce communication between actor and audience, even without costumes, scenery, and make-up, talent for achieving this purpose is of paramount importance.

However, in movies, this process is usually reversed. The character has to adapt to the actor playing him. The relationship between the audience and the film's actors is so intimate that there is little room for illusion. Here, a thirty-year-old actress, no matter how talented she is, can only succeed in playing a seventy-year-old woman in extremely rare circumstances, and only occasionally.

4. Talk about the relationship between the director and the actors and the director’s casting standards

Because the actor is the most direct conveyor of the director’s thinking, the director must understand the actor, himself and himself. The relationship between actors is full of sympathy and love. An apt metaphor for this is the relationship between a psychotherapist and his patient. I don’t say this in the sense of a “confessional” relationship, but in the sense of a creative relationship.

When there is a tacit understanding of cooperation, the therapist and the patient can work together to create a channel that leads to a "new" person, a person with more agency and presence in the world. In this sense, excellent directors and actors also create a channel (i.e. performance) that leads to a new person - the character in the film. That character will ground the narrative and construct another relationship—the relationship with the audience. These creative, engaging relationships are exactly what audiences are crying out for. Only in this way can good actors earn well. For this same reason, directors who are unable to maximize the potential of their actors are naturally paid very little. I would also add that actors are on the front lines of filmmaking, taking the greatest personal risks, and their courage deserves the audience's respect and, dare I say it, their love. They were important partners in the process of creating the film and implementing the director's vision.

Many directors believe: "Choose the right role, and half of your work as a director is done." This declaration is at least half right. In this age of star-making projects, financial considerations often drive casting as much as the director's vision. The rise of powerful agents and casting directors has tipped the originally swinging balance toward casting for "money" rather than creation. What follows is about casting for the sake of creation (and let me just say that a director should fight to the end to preserve their vision for the characters in the film).

Casting is the first expression of the director's thinking before filming begins - which further explains why the director must form a clear director's thinking in the pre-production stage. At this stage, the director's thinking should be based on the interpretation of the script. . The casting process begins with the actor's appearance. But whether an actor's appearance matches the director's vision for the character is less important than the qualities the actor projects in his appearance and manner. I suggest that during the first meeting between the director and the actors and the subsequent trial reading of the script, the director should make a list of selection criteria to evaluate the actors, such as:

1. Professionalism

2. The tension the actor brings to the situation

3. Energy

4. Charisma

5. Sexuality

Keep this in mind: Directors should apply the same standards to subsequent auditions and auditions in which the actor works with other actors.

Let’s first talk about professional standards. By the word professionalism, I mean showing up on time and responding to the interview in a professional manner. Actors are there to be hired to play roles, directors are there to hire actors. If the meeting does not help achieve these two goals, it would be a remiss of the director and actor.

The second criterion is the tension the actor brings to the situation. When personalities, desires, and opportunities come together, tensions emerge. How much tension can an actor create? How does an actor generate and convey this tension? Tension can be turned into energy. As a director, I would feel uneasy if the actors were unable to create the necessary tension. I would also worry if an actor in a certain situation (such as an audition) evokes more tension than I expected. The key here is to not only expect the actor to have tension, but also to expect the tension to have a positive effect on the actor.

The third criterion is energy. Good actors know that energy is key, no matter the genre. Joy, sadness, anger, wit and charm all fall under the category of energy. Can actors generate energy fields? Or are they able to absorb the energy around them? At this point, you might be thinking that a director needs a degree in psychology to cast his actors. In fact, it’s not necessary. But it helps to have an intuition about people, to understand them, and to understand what makes them human.

The fourth criterion is charm. It's a form of energy, but it involves something much more special - belief, strong, persistent, and practiced belief. It seems as if the actor wants the audience to share his or her beliefs. This belief is so strong that it is full of inspiration, power, and even charm. Charismatic actors have superior attraction, or pulling power. Is your actor attractive?

Finally, sexy. Every good actor understands that his or her film performance is in some way a form of seduction; in order to captivate an audience, the actor must be good at it. Does this particular actor have that kind of magnet power? Does the actor attract you as the director?

This list helps the director decide whether an actor fits his or her vision for the character. Often the actor will not look exactly like the character, but may add another dimension to the character.

The second stage of the casting process - the audition of actors - also needs to be screened based on the above five points. Although the audition itself has other requirements, the "through line" becomes standards of measurement. How does the actor intend to interpret the character? Does this interpretation match the director's intention, or deviates from it? What are the differences? How does this interpretation take shape? Does the actor make a conscious effort to create a "through line"? Is there charisma? Is there energy? Is there conviction? Is the actor trying to please or offend? These are all questions that arise in character interpretation. Regardless of whether the character is smart or stupid, intentional or unintentional, the director must be able to see how the actors create interpretations and evoke emotions for the characters. Then the director knows that the actors have weaved the ties that connect the characters, and the performance begins to take root. .

If the actor's interpretation is not consistent with the director's vision, the question becomes whether the actor's interpretation is interesting. If it can attract the director's attention, there is obviously something worth exploring. The actor might be the right age and look, but screw it all up in the audition. For the director, the trial reading actually reveals whether the actor and the character have an emotional resonance, and whether the actor's interpretation can be innovative. Ultimately, every actor wants to land the role, so there is naturally no shortage of desire and energy in the audition. The director's job is to use the five criteria mentioned above to see if the actor's audition and character interpretation are compelling.

The second level of acting test during the trial reading is to give a challenge and then conduct another trial reading. Some directors will prescribe an extreme situation—your mother just died, you just received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer—and ask the actors to reread the scene. This is done to test the actor's resilience.

Can the actor present a richer connotation than the last trial reading? This test allows the director to judge the breadth of the actor. A good actor can give a wide range of interpretations - funny, sad, tragic. This kind of challenge is a warm-up for character development. The actor's flexibility is reflected in his or her understanding of the character, which may be different from the director's understanding of the character. How interesting this difference is, and how fascinating the breadth of one person's role as an actor is!

The third level of the casting process, which may or may not be a separate stage, is where the actor is paired with another actor , another character cooperates with the trial reading character. The same five criteria can be applied to evaluate this trial reading. Is there a "chemical reaction" between the characters? If so, what is the nature of this "chemical reaction"? Do the actors collaborate with each other or compete with each other? Competition is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is often very useful. This reading, and subsequent readings with multiple actors***, can indicate whether the actor can connect with the audience.

Can the actor capture the audience's attention? Energy, charisma, and sexiness work together to keep the audience—and the director—engaged. ;