Since I identified my lack of experience working with actors as a weakness, despite what experience I have had being good, I've been looking for ways to fill this gap. Obviously shadowing a director would help and I've mentioned acting classes before, however I also ready a really interesting book by Judith Weston.
It is easily the best book on directing that I have ever read. It is an extremely useful resource to have and I'll probably continually refer back to it throughout my filmmaking career.
I've never received any training with regard to directing actors, because it's not something university has ever touched on, so I have major blanks in my education, and I think this book helped to fill some of them.
I'll not bother trying to cover everything the book said, because there was literally so much that I found useful.
Weston said that the first thing you need to know about actors in order to understand them fully, is that they consider everyone who isn't an actor as 'civilians'.
She recommends never giving line readings, or even adjectives. For example, never say "more aggressive". Instead, she suggests using verbs as a more aggressive form of communication. For example "he accuses".
There is a heck of a lot more than that. I think I might reread it this summer and take notes.
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