Speaker 1: Film Courage What is subtext? Jeffrey Davis Well subtext is critical also to writing and acting but it's really what's not spoken. It's what's really happening in the scene, what someone is really feeling, thinking but they're saying something else, covering it up. And really as a director you're trying to direct the subtext in a scene. So it's about identifying what that subtext is and that's what the actors are playing and the words they're saying, not that they're superfluous, but that's not really what's going on in the scene, what they're saying, it's what they're thinking and feeling underneath. In fact if I may digress a little bit, I just did a short film last year in Paris, a little spy thriller, a lot of fun, and I wanted to shoot it in French because I just didn't want to have French people speaking English with accents, it would be ridiculous. So we were going to subtitle it and shoot it in French, I don't speak French. So I had to learn a little bit of it phonetically so I could kind of recognize the words. My French producer of course was bilingual so he would help me when the actors strayed but the truth is it didn't matter because I wasn't directing the words, I was directing what they were, their behavior and what was behind those words. And that's why I think I was able to pull it off because I just wasn't worried about that and the fact that there wasn't that much dialogue. So it really is important to know what the character's intentions are in the scene, how they're being thwarted, what's going on underneath everything, that subtext.

Speaker 2: Film Courage So even if you turn the sound down, you could still kind of feel it from the bottom of your head?

Speaker 1: In fact, I like to do an exercise with students from time to time. I sometimes do classes on working with actors and directing actors and I get a sample scene of two characters having lunch and I have them memorize the scene. I don't give them any notes but I say you memorize the scene so when you come in tomorrow you're off book and ready to do it. And so they come into the class and we confirm we've never spoken about the scene, we haven't talked about it, nothing. So I have them just play the scene first with no direction at all whatsoever and it's like a five minute scene. Then I'll say okay, so here now you were late for this lunch again and you're the scene partner, you are so fed up with this person being late that you want to just kill them. You feel disrespected, you know? And you on the other hand, you feel like this person's always judging you and so we didn't change a word of dialogue or nothing else at all and they came in and played the scene again, completely different scene. And we kept doing that with four or five different permutations on what's the subtext of the scene is. And it was a great way to illustrate for these students that wow, it really is about the subtlety, the nuance of behavior, the body language and you can add a different meaning to any scene.

Speaker 2: And do you let the other party know, the other actor know the intention or do you do it in secret?

Speaker 1: Well, it's a great idea to do that. In this case I let them both know because it was instructive for the students, I wanted them to hear it. But I have had moments when I've been directing where I've held something back from one actor and given the information to another actor. Not in a…anything that's damaging or menacing or anything like that, you know? There are other times where I've had two stars in a scene and I felt like, you know, the one star was a little bit intimidated by this slightly bigger star he was in the scene with. And I could just tell in the scene that he was cowering just a little bit and that wasn't really true for his character. His character had to be…had to stand up to this guy. And so I just took him aside, you know, after…between takes and I just said, you know, don't let him take the scene away from you. And he instantly got it, you know? And then it was great. Then it was like fire because, you know, and so now they're kind of, you know, they're really in the scene together. So sometimes, you know, withholding a little bit and giving extra information to somebody else is, you know, can be helpful.

Speaker 2: What if a scene doesn't have any subtext?

Speaker 1: Then it's not a scene. It's not shootable. It's not actable. And, you know, you at least have to be able to put a subtext in it, you know? And I can't…actually I can't even imagine a scene…I mean a writer could have written a scene without subtext because they're just unconscious or just working on a very surface level. But anybody can…any director or actor can take a scene and insert subtext. It's the simplest thing in the world. You know, what just happened to me right before I entered the scene? What am I worried about? You know, I've got a pain in my rib that I'm really worried about and I'm afraid to go to the doctor about it. These are things that are never spoken in the scene but they're going to inform how the scene is played. So there's always got to be…got to be subtext. No such thing as no subtext.

Speaker 2: Film Courage And even if it's just one actor in a room and no one else enters that room?

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. It's still about what's really going on with this person and what they really want.

Speaker 2: Film Courage How does a director help an actor convey subtext? So if I'm an actor in a scene and maybe it's another, you know, someone's late and they're always late. Maybe it's my sister and they've always gotten away with being irresponsible and I've always had to be the responsible one. How are you helping me convey subtext to this late sister that's…she's not there and I'm mad. We've got reservations. I've got to be back at work.

Speaker 1: Right, right. You know, it's really about body language and I feel like it's dangerous for me to try to give them a specific thing to do, a behavioral thing to do because it's…I don't want them to indicate. I don't want them to feel like they're going to imitate me. Same reason why I would never give a line reading unless I'm asked for it and oftentimes an actor will ask me. Just tell me, how do you hear? But other than that I would never give a line reading and I'm very hesitant to give too much of a specific behavioral thing but I just try to make it attitudinal. How do you feel when this happens? The last time this happened, how does it make you feel? And I just try to get them to summon their own feeling, not to try to give them one but to try to just have them summon their own experience and everyone knows what it's like to be annoyed. So I just try to encourage them to bring it from within just like I would a writer or anyone else.

Speaker 2: Film Courage So you would be more asking me as the actor how is this making you feel instead of like telling me the tone?

Speaker 1: Right. I would just say this is the third time. This is the third time this week this has happened. I don't know. I don't think she respects you. And that usually will give something honest. So instead of me saying look, tap your foot, look at your watch. Nobody wants to hear that.

Speaker 2: Sure. And no one wants to walk into a lunch like that either. Right, exactly, yeah.