Stanislavski: Characters

The Stanislavski method can be summed up with these seven questions:

1. Who Am I?

2. Where Am I?

3. When Is It?

4. What Do I Want?

5. Why Do I Want It?

6. How Will I Get It?

7. What Do I Need To Overcome?

As a director, I find this to be very useful as when an actor comes to me with a question about a scene, I need to be able to answer these questions and push them in the right direction.

Given circumstances and the Magic If are both exercises in which an actor can gain greater understanding of their characters goals and objectives.

It is important for me to study theatre practioners as well as film practitioners, as there is significant overlap between the performance of the camera and the performance of the actor. However, if you are lucky enough to have a skilled actor onboard with your film then it's likely that they will be able to embody the character without much assistance.