SHORTCUTS TO SPONTANEITY lecture
DIRECTING ACTORS FOR FILM
on the creative cooperation between actors and directors in cinema
Description
The use of spontaneity in film acting is often misunderstood. During this lecture we take a look at what extraordinary activities acting and directing are. They are an inseparable pair; even without a director present, actors are still directed, albeit by themselves, being material, creator and tool at the same time. Actors have learned to deal with certain problems of creativity in unique ways, and the specific creative insights of acting professionals has significance beyond acting. Taking a closer look at widely practiced techniques, we may understand why true emotions and creativity can not be planned, and by its nature, spontaneity never occurs on demand. Both filmmakers and actors have to work around that essential paradox: the harder we try, the less spontaneity we get.
45 to 60 minutes – including 25 minutes of video material
About Fedor Sendak
Fedor Sendak (Amsterdam, 1975) has a keen interest in exotic film stories. He develops screenplays and film plans, short and feature length. With a background in illustration, photography and theatre, he has worked for film festivals and co-founded Filmpeople, an online film platform for the Dutch film industry. As a tutor he is advocating a physical approach and a better understanding between actors and directors. Apart from realising his film projects, Fedor looks for opportunities to connnect to other filmmaking minds.
“During my Master Film studies I have been stubbornly reformulating my thoughts on filmmaking and the filmmakers life. The mere aim of this ‘artistic research’ was to look for new ways of filmmaking by redefining its fundaments. After my two-year investigation of diverse components associated with cinema and filmmaking had indeed changed my views. The outcome of the research I then used as a base for various film works and workshops. My thoughts and experiments have thus been applied in a practical sense: by making films and/or executing film related exercises.”
