ABSTRACT
Directing actors is the most experiential aspect of the craft of fi lm directing. It is not something you can learn from watching fi lm. It is not something that can be taught in a crash course. I can, and have, taught students the conceptual aspects of fi lmmaking in one semester, but never has it been demonstrated to me, or to the rest of the faculty at Columbia, that students can direct actors after 14 weeks-or even, for most, after two years. We are talking serious directing-which means getting performances that are not only believable but interesting.
