Feeling the words, not just memorizing
What did you have for lunch three days ago? I can guarantee that you had
to think about that. It took some pre-thought. Did you look down or away to
catch your thoughts? As a director, remind your actors to use pre-thought
when recalling things. Too many actors seem to roll off numbers and recall
incidents without any pre-thought because they’ve memorized the script so
well. They don’t show that they’re thinking — only acting.
Along those same lines, many actors enter a scene and put too much into
a simple “hello.” Direct your actors to have a more matter-of-fact delivery.
Don’t enter the scene saying “hello” like you’ve rehearsed it 100 times, and
it’s the most important thing in the world.
Also make your actors aware if they’re enunciating each word too perfectly.
Precise enunciation is reserved for narration, professional speeches, and presentations. Let the actors run their words together. Many actors tend to put
too much space between words to make sure that they’re being clear, but it
doesn’t sound natural or believable in films.