Directing kids advice

[schofield1981]

Hi,

Thought this would be a good place to ask for some thoughts on directing child actors as many of meadows films have great performances from the younglings.

I've directed kids before but in minimal dialogue dramas that have been more to do with the casting than any inspired directing ideas on my part. In a couple of weeks though I am directing two ten year old boys delivering a fair bit of dialogue that needs to be funny (My first attempt at comedy)

It's always tricky to know how much information to give them out of fear of overloading their developing minds but I also don't want an overly theatre performance that might come with letting them run free.

Really I want to create an atmosphere where they feel free to try the dialogue in different ways and not feel tense or pressured.

Any thoughts or tips for getting the kids in the zone would be appreciated

Cheers

Dave

[e-mail]
@ironbeardfilms

[Dazza]

How old are the children? I often find if they are quite small then you have to make it more of a game for them. Also if they are quite young then you certainly don't want to load them with lots of dialogue maybe think about using more improvisation as you don't want it to come across as 'wooden' or them just saying lines. In some auditions recently I had problems where the little boy kept looking at me and not the actress who was playing his mum. Eventually we then played a game where I was the camera an the aim was he wasn't allowed to look at me even if I pulled faces he had to try and keep chatting with the actress playing his mum, luckily this worked and he didn't look at me once. The key is that you keep it fun for them so they don't get bored as then problems start

[Gareth]

I'm no expert but I'd say giving a load of dialogue to kids is just asking for trouble, I'd just make sure they understand the situation their playing and then play them against each other giving them their direction separately playing tricks on the other etc to keep it all fresh

if anything feels slightly stale move on to something else

I'd also say telling anyone not to do something, especially a kid, is probably a bad idea, tell them to do something rather than not to,

[RydCook]

Hi

You've probably shot this by now. But anyway I'd say its really important for the two child actors to be on friendly terms already. If they're already friends then great, if not, then go bowling together or something. If the kids arn't really friends there's no way they'll look like friends on screen. I wouldn't give them a script or lines to read/remember. Instead I'd rehearse all scenes way before the shoot, allowing them to improvise here as much as poss. Then on the shoot, I'd ask them to recreate those rehearsals, and throw anything else in.

I say all this, I'd do exactly the same for any actors.

Be interesting to know how the shoot went!