What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?

[Brian Drysdale]

Actors vary and sometimes you need to go with what feels natural to them. Was there a reason why she had to keep walking? If there's a reason tell them why they need to keep walking, motivate them into a performance, don't just tell them to keep walking.

It's also possible you may be wrong and she needs to stop because in reality that's what the scene emotionally requires.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh well the reason was, is that it was the end of the scene and the character was leaving the building, so I had it storyboarded so that she says her lines and she leaves the door, and the door closing was how I wanted to end the scene. But I suppose this doesn't really have as much to do with acting though, cause I still want the acting to be better of course.

[Brian Drysdale]

The storyboard is only a snap shot within the scene, why is she saying lines if she's just leaving the building? If they're not adding anything dramatically to the scene, why are they there?

[Ryan Elder]

No the lines establish more story, it's just that I wanted her to say them as she left and closed the door, cause I thought it would be a better transition into the next scene.

[Brian Drysdale]

That sounds like exposition, which is to be avoided in a script.

With all the stops, how close to the door did she finish speaking?

[Ryan Elder]

Like right at the door. Oh okay, I didn't think it was exposition since she was still talking about the situation at hand though. Why does it sound like exposition?

She stopped close to the door but I didn't want her to stop and keep going. I just didn't think she would stop and felt it was unnatural.

[Brian Drysdale]

If she still has dialogue to say and she's reached the door, it's possible you've got too many lines for the walk.

If she's just explaining something, it's exposition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_(narrative) , You don't need to explain everything and if the characters are opposites it's possible to introduce a measure of conflict that allows you to bury the exposition. Basically show, don't say, unless you're making a soap opera you don't need on the nose dialogue.

"You'll see when we get there" in more intriguing than you explaining everything, plus it has more energy.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh well this was one of those cases, where what she was explaining was not going to be shown later though. As for having too much dialogue before she reached the door, I didn't think it was too much, but I wasn't able to tell, since she kept stopping to talk, instead of walking to see. So I was never able to tell, but I think if she had, she could have gotten it all in.

[Brian Drysdale]

With all the stops and she's till talking at the door, it seems oblivious she has too much dialogue.

Why is she explaining something that you won't see later on? That's exposition. Plus the audience will have probably forgotten about it after a few minutes. At least have them searching and not finding this thing, that's dramatic.

[Paul R Johnson]

Why did you not just time the dialogue? Easy to see if it fits then, and if critical tells you how long the shot needs to be?

[Ryan Elder]

Oh well a lot of times people explain things you don't see later on though. Basically I wanted to establish in the plot that she was going out to dinner, but I didn't want to show the dinner cause it wasn't necessary. But the fact that was going out to dinner that night, I thought was relevant.

And she didn't have too much dialogue that she wouldn't have been able to not finish it before reaching the door. She just couldn't walk and talk simultaneously. It wasn't a timing thing, she was having trouble multitasking.

[Brian Drysdale]

If you don't see things and they don't have anything to do with the story, why are you putting them into script?

The plot isn't the story, it's how you organise the story.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, I believed that the conversation did have to do with the story. You don't have to see everything though, and many movies do not show everything, but still establish certain things in dialogue.

For future scripts I can be sure to ask if there is any exposition in them though. However, as a director though, I want to get better at directing actors, and that was just one example, of how I couldn't get an actor to walk and talk simultaneously. So is there anything I can do to get better at things like that, and pulling out better performances?

[Brian Drysdale]

How the actor performs a scene can be influenced by the dialogue and the beats within a scene.

Dialogue about a dinner that's so unimportant that you don't show it, what has it to do with the story? It may be a bit about the character, but it becomes more important if she can't go to the dinner because of the story is destroying her personal life.

This has been mentioned before, but doing acting classes should help with the directing

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks, I've done acting classes before, and about do them again, once they start up again soon. I was also told to get better actors and a better DP. When I post for casting calls for example, it's always the same group of actors that apply it seems. I feel I want the next short to be really good, I need actors who can really knock it out of the park. Is there other places I can be looking though, rather than just posting on facebook, craigslist, university theater, etc?