Directing Actors on Set: 12 Notes That Actually Work
It was 1:40 AM on Going Home. My lead actor was crying on cue, the camera was rolling, and the take was perfect.
Then I opened my mouth and said, “That was great, but can you make it a little more sad?”
She gave me a look I still think about. Not anger. Pity. The look of a professional realizing the director has no idea what he’s actually asking for.
That note — “more sad” — is the single dumbest thing I’ve ever said on a set, and I’ve said a lot of dumb things on sets. It means nothing. It’s not playable. It’s the directing equivalent of telling a chef to “make it more food.”
This article is about not doing that.
🟦 The Short Answer (for the people who skim)
Directing actors on set means guiding performers to truthful, repeatable performances through trust, clear language, and playable direction. The number one rule: never direct the result — like “be angrier” or “more sad.” Instead, direct the character’s objective, the obstacle, and the circumstances. Get casting and pre-production right, and most of the on-set “directing” takes care of itself.
How Do You Build Trust With Actors Before You Roll?
Trust is built in pre-production, not on set. By the time you call “action,” an actor should already know you see them as a collaborator, not a puppet. The fastest way to earn that is to do your homework on the script and on them.
The set is a pressure cooker
Picture a 3:15 AM call time. The generator outside smells like burnt diesel, the sound mixer is fighting a losing battle against a nearby highway, and everyone’s on their fourth coffee and second personality.
Now imagine asking someone to cry, scream, or fall in love convincingly under those conditions — in front of 15 strangers holding light meters.
That’s the actual job you’re asking of them. The least you can do is make them feel safe.
Production Story: The breakthrough on Going Home
I had an actor playing a character who’d experienced homelessness. The early takes were fine. Fine is death.
So instead of giving notes, we spent an afternoon talking — not about the scene, about the research. About what that life actually feels like. The next take didn’t need a single direction from me. It was the take that got us into the 2024 Soho International Film Festival.
The cheapest film school is being on someone else’s set. The second cheapest is shutting up and letting your actor do the work.
Tactical Takeaway: Have one real conversation with each lead before the shoot day. Not about blocking. About the whyof their character. You’ll save yourself ten bad takes.
What's the One Note You Should Never Give an Actor?
When you say "be sadder," the actor's brain goes to "what does sad look like?" Now they're performing the symptom of sadness — the furrowed brow, the wobbly lip.
Audiences don't feel symptoms. They feel causes.
| ❌ Result-Oriented (Avoid) | ✅ Playable Direction (Use) |
|---|---|
| "Be angrier." | "He stole fifteen years from you. You just realized it." |
| "Be sadder." | "You're hiding the tears, because last time you cried he called you weak." |
| "More energy." | "You can't wait to see their face when they open this." |
| "Slow down." | "Walk like the floor is covered in quicksand." |
Does Casting Really Matter That Much?
Yes. Casting is roughly 90% of directing. Martin Scorsese has said as much, and he’s directed a few decent films. You cannot direct a wrong actor into a right performance — you can only manage the damage.
Production Reality
On Maid, I worked as a set dresser for ten episodes. Netflix money. Real budget. Craft truck snacks that were still, somehow, terrible.
What I watched from the corner of the room: the difference between a scene working and not working was decided weeks earlier, in a casting office I never saw. The directors on a well-cast scene barely had to do anything.
A great actor in a tiny bit part is invisible. A bad actor in a tiny bit part is the only thing your audience remembers.
Common Beginner Mistake
New directors cast their friend who “is basically the character.” Then they spend the entire shoot directing around the fact that their friend can’t act, while the talented stranger they passed on books a commercial that week. When you’re managing an ensemble cast, you have to cast great actors in every single role — down to the one-line waiter.
Tactical Takeaway: You can fix a lot in the edit. You can’t fix a dead-eyed performance in the background of every wide shot.
How Do You Block a Scene Without Killing the Emotion?
Block for emotional truth first, then re-block for the sensor. An actor’s organic instinct will sometimes break the shot technically — too fast for focus, too wide for the lens, too lit for the camera. Your job is to adjust the physics without touching the feeling.
The 30% Rule (an actual thing I now live by)
On a reveal, I once blocked an actor to spin toward camera. Looked incredible in rehearsal.
In playback, her face warped like a fisheye punch on the fast turn. The emotion was real. The image was unusable.
The fix wasn’t “do less emotion.” It was “turn 30% slower, same intention.” Same performance. No warping. That’s the whole game — protect the feeling, fix the mechanics.
Production Story: Beta Tested and six inches of focus
We shot tight close-ups on a 35mm lens wide open at T2, with the camera practically in the actor’s face — which left us barely six inches of sharp focus. Every time he leaned in, he went soft.
I didn’t tell him to “stop moving.” That would’ve frozen him into a mannequin. I adjusted his blocking by eight inches and told the focus puller to ride it. Emotion intact, face sharp.
Indie directors will drop $5,000 on an anamorphic lens and $0 on a focus puller, then wonder why every emotional close-up is slightly, maddeningly soft.
Tactical Takeaway: Run your first blocking pass for emotion with zero technical notes. Then run a second pass purely for the lens, the light, and the focus. Never mix the two — you’ll confuse the actor and lose both. I went deeper on this in my guide to blocking and staging in film.
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When Should You Give a Note — During or After the Take?
Default to waiting until “cut.” Talking over a take rarely helps and usually shatters the actor’s concentration. The exception is a specific actor who’s told you they like live, in-the-moment adjustments — and those are rare.
What Audiences Actually Feel
Here’s the thing nobody tells you: the audience never sees your notes. They only feel the result.
A jittery, over-directed performance reads as anxiety on screen, even in a calm scene. A confident actor who trusts you reads as truth, even when they’re faking the whole thing.
The audience can smell directorial panic through the lens. I don’t know how. They just can.
Tactical Takeaway: Give one note between takes, not five. A drowning actor can’t swim toward five different shores at once.
| ❌ Result-Oriented (Avoid) | ✅ Playable Direction (Use) |
|---|---|
| "Be angrier." | "He stole fifteen years from you. You just realized it." |
| "Be sadder." | "You're hiding the tears, because last time you cried he called you weak." |
| "More energy." | "You can't wait to see their face when they open this." |
| "Slow down." | "Walk like the floor is covered in quicksand." |
How Do You Direct Non-Actors and First-Timers?
With non-actors, throw out the vocabulary. Words like “objective,” “beat,” and “subtext” mean nothing to your neighbor’s kid. Give them simple physical actions and real circumstances, and resist the urge to over-coach.
Production Story: Noelle’s Package
We shot Noelle’s Package on a smartphone for a 48-hour film fest. It won. Part of why it won is that I stopped “directing” the less-experienced performers and just gave them tasks.
Not “play the subtext of your loneliness.” Instead: “Text him back, then delete it before you hit send.”
The behavior is the emotion. Let the camera do the interpreting.
Tactical Takeaway: For non-actors, replace every emotional note with a concrete action. Behavior reads truer than feeling, every single time. There’s a full breakdown in my notes on working with non-actors for genuine performances.
How Do You Handle Conflict on Set Without Losing the Room?
Stay calm and stay in charge of the conversation. The director is the only person an actor should take performance notes from. The moment your DP, your producer, or a bored grip starts giving acting suggestions, your authority quietly evaporates.
The day job that made me a better director
I currently work as a doorman at a 4-star hotel in Victoria. Genuinely the best directing training I’ve had.
You learn to read a person in three seconds. You learn to keep a flat, friendly face while a millionaire panics about a parking spot. You learn that quiet problem-solving beats loud authority every time.
A set is the same. The loudest director is almost always the most scared one.
⚠️ Pro Warning
Never let the crew direct your actors. Even well-meaning advice from a gaffer undermines the single relationship that makes the performance possible.
A union set runs on hierarchy. The 1st AD owns the clock, the script supervisor owns continuity, and you own the actors. Blur those lines and you’ll get notes from five departments before lunch.
Tactical Takeaway: If anyone but you needs to give an actor a note, route it through you privately. Protect that one channel like it’s the last clean SD card on set.
Quick Product Picks (for actually running a set)
🔑 If You Remember Only Three Things
Direct the why, never the result. “Be angrier” is a curse. “He lied to you for fifteen years” is a gift.
Casting is 90% of the battle. You’re not a magician. Cast people who can actually do it.
Protect the trust. You’re the only voice the actor should hear. Guard that channel.
The Wrap
Here’s what fourteen years of bad takes taught me: directing actors has almost nothing to do with the gear, the lens, or the lighting setup you spent all morning fussing over. It’s a human job dressed up as a technical one.
The best performances I’ve ever captured came from moments where I did less — fewer notes, fewer adjustments, more trust. The worst came from me panicking and saying something like “more sad” because I felt I had to say something to justify the chair I was sitting in.
Your actors don’t need a genius. They need someone who’s done the homework, made them feel safe, and gives them one clear thing to play.
That 1:40 AM moment on Going Home still makes me cringe. But it’s also the reason I now bite my tongue before every note and ask myself one question: can they actually play this, or am I just talking?
Get that right, and the catering coffee will still be terrible — but at least your footage won’t be.
Now go make something. And for the love of god, never tell anyone to “make it more sad.”
🗂 2026 Semantic Glossary
Playable direction — A note an actor can physically do (an action, objective, or fact), as opposed to a result.
Result-oriented direction — Telling an actor the emotional outcome you want (“be angry”). The most common reason for wooden performances.
Objective — What the character wants in the scene. The engine of every performance.
Given circumstances — The facts of the character’s world the actor plays from.
Beat — A single unit of action or intention within a scene.
Blocking — The choreography of where actors move and stand.
Coverage — All the different shots you get of a scene to cut together later.
Video village — The cluster of monitors where the director (and too many opinions) live.
❓ FAQ
What is results-oriented direction, and why is it bad?
It’s directing the emotional outcome (“be sadder”) instead of the cause. It forces actors to fake a symptom, which the camera always exposes. Direct the objective or the fact instead.
Should I rehearse before the shoot?
Depends who you ask. Spielberg believes rehearsal kills spontaneity. Most indie directors rehearse hard because we often get exactly one or two takes before we lose the location or the light. On a tight budget, rehearse.
🚫 The "Don't Rehearse" Camp
Spielberg, big-budget directors
- Rehearsal "kills the spontaneity"
- Wants the first real take to be the discovery
- Relies on multiple takes to find the moment
- Has the time, money, and coverage to chase it
Works when you can afford to fail.
✅ The Indie "We Rehearse" Camp
Most low-budget & festival directors
- You get one or two takes before the light dies
- Locations are borrowed and on the clock
- Blocking + focus need to be locked in advance
- Rehearsal is your only insurance policy
Works when failure isn't an option.
How do I give a note without ruining the performance?
Give one note, not five. Make it a fact, an objective, or a physical action. Wait for “cut” unless the actor has specifically asked for live adjustments.
How do I direct an actor who’s better than me?
Get out of their way. Cast them well, give them the circumstances, and only step in when the technical reality of the shot needs adjusting. More on that in my collaboration guide for directing experienced actors.
How do I keep a performance consistent across takes?
Anchor it to actions and props, not moods. If the glass goes in the right hand on the master, it lives in the right hand for every angle. Continuity protects emotion as much as it protects editing.
What do I say to an actor who’s “not feeling it”?
Don’t troubleshoot the emotion. Troubleshoot the circumstance. Ask what their character wants in this exact moment, and you’ll usually find the performance was missing a reason, not feeling.
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About the Author:
Trent Peek is a filmmaker specializing in directing, producing, and acting. He works with high-end cinema cameras from RED and ARRI and also values the versatility of cameras like the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema.
His recent short film “Going Home” was selected for the 2024 Soho International Film Festival, highlighting his skill in crafting compelling narratives. Learn more about his work on [IMDB], [YouTube], [Vimeo], and [Stage 32].
In his downtime, he likes to travel (sometimes he even manages to pack the right shoes), curl up with a book (and usually fall asleep after two pages), and brainstorm film ideas (most of which will never see the light of day). It’s a good way to keep himself occupied, even if he’s a bit of a mess at it all.
P.S. It’s really weird to talk in the third person
Tune In: He recently appeared on the Pushin Podcast, sharing insights into the director’s role in independent productions.
For more behind-the-scenes content and project updates, visit his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@trentalor.
For business inquiries, please get in touch with him at trentalor@peekatthis.com. You can also find Trent on Instagram @trentalor and Facebook @peekatthis.