How does a director coordinate actors' performances to serve a film's story?

A director coordinates actors' performances by acting as a storyteller who balances individual character conceptions to serve the film's dramatic structure. Much like an orchestral conductor, a director does not teach the craft of acting but rather harmonizes the cast, ensuring each performance is properly adjusted to the "dramatic mechanism" of the story.1

Key aspects of this coordination include:

• Casting and Fitting: Directors carefully select actors suited to their parts and may adapt the role to the individual personality and method of the performer to achieve the best possible result.1
• Guiding Imagination: Rather than using rigid "drill sergeant" methods, successful directors stimulate the actors' imaginations, allowing them the freedom to develop their characters while maintaining a cohesive vision.2
• Balancing Values: A director must prevent any single character or performance from becoming disproportionately important, ensuring that every moment of the story relates correctly to the whole.1
• Technical Synthesis: Because film performances are often synthesized through editing and shot out of sequence, the director guides the actor through the "feel" and tempo of the film, selecting and proportioning performances until the final narrative form is achieved.13