more film making advice please Shane?

[Gareth]

I've made a couple of Shorts and plan to make a 15-20min one before the end of the year which I'll have to fund write direct shoot and edit myself, there's a brilliant film company about an hour away from me who'll provide the equipment and edit suite so logistically I'm pretty well off, just need to save up a couple 100quid

I've got a few scripts but the most important part in any film is the actors performance and this is the only part of the film making process that I've got absolutley no experience at what so ever and the one that I imagine is most demanding. just thinking about standing there with the camera and not getting the performances I need terrifies the life out of me because I wouldnt know how to fix it

I feel like I've got a couple of pretty powerful scripts it's just getting those performances.

so I don't exactly know what my question is without it seeming far too vague, I supose If I knew what to ask I wouldnt need to ask if you know what I mean

I'll give it my best shot at coming up with a half decent question;

from casting through to workshops, through to the actual shoot, where is it that you actually see the close to finished scene? do the actors read from the script at the audition or do they improvise in character? also at the workshops do the actors improvise the scene with a start and an end point or do you start with the script and then adapt it?

sorry if this is a far too bigger question to answer or if its not really a question at all, any advice on working with actors would be hugley appreciated and give me at least some peace of mind

cheers

[Gareth]

if anyone else has got any advice or read any interviews that I've missed they'd be great too