In traditional narrative film:
As long as the protagonist wants something, the audience will want something. 
As long as the character has an objective, a goal, a purpose, and as long as the conflict (obstacles) are presented clearly with that purpose, then the audience will wonder if he/she will succeed. Drama. Suspense. What happens next?

For each scene (and film, for that matter) you should always know:

• What's the superobjective for the scene? 
• What are the actions taken to get superobjective? 
• How do these specific actions reveal character/personality? 

Break down superobjective into smaller objectives -into beats. Objective reached, beat changes.
What is each of the beats about?

I. SUPEROBJECTIVE: 

Zoe needs to get an A in biology class to raise her GPA  to a 3.5, make Dean's List, so she can get into a good law school. 

...PROBLEM IS...she is an animal rights activist and is opposed to experimenting on any kind of animal and in order to pass biology she must dissect a frog.

It's the first day of biology class...

III. Strategies/Steps that the character takes to achieve Superobjective & Objectives.

 BY WHAT SPECIFIC ACTIONS?     BEATS
 WHAT ARE HER OBSTACLES?    How do you show them?
 HOW DOES SHE OVERCOME THEM?      How do you show this?
 Then what?  .... 
 What do the character’s actions say about what kind of person he/she is? 

Character is revealed through action. 
 Character is revealed in the unique ways through which the person does to get to his/her
 superobjective. Character is action.

[From David Mamet: On Directing Film]

What are the images, specific, distilled, pure, that will reveal what we need to know to tell a story? Keep it simple.

How do you know if a shot/concept is necessary? Take it away and try to tell the story without it.

To give direction to the actor, and to give direction to the cameraman, you have to refer to the objective of the scene and to the meaning of this beat.

Based on this, you tell the actor to do those things, and only those things, he/she needs to do for you to shoot the beat. Nothing more.

The acting should be the performance of a simple physical action. That’s all.
The more the actor tries to make each physical action carry the meaning of the scene, the more that actor is ruining your movie.

Actors will ask a lot of questions: “What am I thinking? What's my motivation? Where did I just come from?” The answer to these questions  (according to Mamet) is “It doesn’t matter.” You can’t act on those things anyway. I defy you to act where you came from...

Just do the action. Simply. Completely. Know your objective. Know the action you will take to get to it. Do the actions. [If you -director- planned the shots well, the action within each shot will connect to the next and a story will be told]. David Mamet: The good actor performs his tasks as simply and unemotionally as possible. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT WITH AMATEUR ACTORS - the more you rely on them to act or gesture emotions or reactions, the more THEY WILL RUIN YOUR FILM!

The story should be carried by the shots. It should be understood in silence. Dialogue shouldn’t carry the story, the shots should. Why do dubbed good films still work? because the shots tell the story well. 

KNOW YOUR MOTIVATION FOR EACH SHOT, your P.O.V., perspective, mood, where you want to position the audience, what you want to reveal to them in each shot... 

Can you show emotions through the camera angle ot camera movement or composition? Do you need to? Or should you just focus on telling the story so that it is most interesting for the audience? - 

Just remember that every shot has a meaning, a purpose, and is loaded with information which the audience needs. 

Sometimes an angle and a composition will reveal a lot about what's happening in the scene or even about the character (think of opening sequence of Pi - or about long takes we saw inThe Graduate ) 

However, if not motivated, if no consistent with what's happening to the character or in the plot, "cool angles" look like the director trying to be cool and are irrelevant to the film. 

Everything the camera does (move, change angle, show an unconventional angle, show an ECU, etc.) MUST BE MOTIVATED. You, the director, must control everything that the camera shows by choosing your shots -after much planing and thought, and after clearly answering the question: WHY THIS SHOT?

Each shotshould help tell the story. Remember the door opening sequence of PI - Tension done in the editing. No need for continuity or acting, because you can cut the shots together to tell your story. But without the right shots (i.e. all ECU's in the case of Pi or long takes in the scenes from The Graduate)  editing will not be able to construct your story.

The following concepts are useful when breaking down a script preparing for shooting it. They help the director analyze the script in a way that will make the dialogue, the acting, and the shot selections meaningful and well through out. 

In preparing to shoot the scene for next week, try to identify each of these concepts in the chosen scene.

Intentions
Intentions are related to superobjectives. They are action verbs that describe what each character is seeking, as opposed to what each character is saying. The line “I can afford it” can mean very different things if the intention is “to impress your poor brother” or “to shoulder the load.”

Obstacles
Obstacles are the things that get in the way of the character’s intentions. Using obstacles and intentions (as opposed to pure dialogue) is a good way to avoid indicated performance. An indicated performance is one in which the actor plays an adjective or an adverb: “drunkenly, he put the key in the keyhole.” Indicated performance tends to be broad and generalized, and is often over dramatized. Giving the actors an action verb, a clear intention and a clear obstacle helps focus the performance: “The intention is to get the key in the keyhole. The obstacle is that you see three keyholes.”

Text and Subtext
The text is the written dialogue. The subtext is the unspoken meaning that lies underneath the
words.

Dominant Character
Not always the easiest thing to define. The dominant character is the character we are most interested in at any given moment. Sometimes, it’s the strongest character other times it’s the one whose reaction seems more important. A character can be passive and still be dominant if we are interested in his/her reactions. There may be scenes with no dominant characters, or scenes with many.

Dramatic Beat
A beat is one intention by one dominant character played against one obstacle. A beat changes when the intention , dominant character, or obstacle changes. Generally, try to make each individual beat to be clear, easy to read. The audience will follow the dominant character beat per beat as he/she tries to accomplish his/her intention and overcome one obstacle at a time.

These questions are designed to help you find specific motivations as you direct a scene from a script. 

Remember, there are no absolute answers. Only different results. THE ANSWERS, HOWEVER, MUST BE CONSISTENT with your interpretation of the script.

In answering each of these questions, think of how camera placement, shot selection, editing, and lighting help to express the answer you decide upon.

1.  WHAT IS THE CONFLICT BEING PLAYED OUT IN YOUR (a) FILM (b) SCENE and (b) SHOT? 

2. FOR EVERY SCENE: What do your characters want and what is in the way? What are you expecting the viewer to concentrate on? How will your dominant character resolve the conflict at hand.

3. Who has agency in the scene? Who is driving the action of the scene? Who can make something happen? Who has power? One character? Or a combination of several? 

4. Describe the movement of the scene (not physical, but psychological). Is the movement experienced primarily by the characters, the audience, or some combination of both? 

5. What gives the scene life? A discovery? A shift in viewer's understanding? A development in character? What does the viewer feel/find/know/understand at the end of the scene that he/she did not understand at the beginning? What does the protagonist feel/know/understand at the end? What's more important, for the viewer to have a shift or for the character to have a shift?

6. What gives the scene urgency? Where is the vulnerability? What is at stake? 

7. Is there one key turning point in the scene? If so, what is it? What causes it? If not just one, then what are the different changes that move the scene forward? Identify them. What is the action that defines each change?

8. What are the conflicting forces in the scene?  How are conflicting forces balanced so that the scene’s tension is sustained as long as possible?

9. As the characters go through changes, describe what the characters intention and action is through each change. 

10. If the scene has a dominant character write his/her imagined stream of conscious thoughts. If the scene has several dominant characters, write out their thoughts. When directing: write out what the viewer expects the character to do. Then write out what you the director want the viewer to expect. Do these match? Decide whether the character will do the expected or the unexpected. 

1.Start with basic adjectives to describe your character. Then for every adjective, draw up a list of actions the character does that shows us that characteristic.

2. Identify the central conflict for the character. How will the character resolve this conflict? Are his/her actions consistent with your description of the character? 

3. How will you depict the character to the audience? In addition to the actions the character takes, you also depict the character and his/her dramatic situation through your camera angles, your compositions, the lighting, even the set design...

4. Who are these characters? What is at stake? What do they want? Explore what passes through the character’s mind at any given moment. What is the character afraid of? What makes the character tick? What makes him/her happy, sad, motivated?   What do we know about the characters so far? How do we expect the character to react within the given situation? Does the character surprise us? (a character is made more interesting through quirks and surprises, if he/she is not always predictable) 

5. Remember, character is revealed over time, through their actions, through their objectives, and through the ways he/she handles his/her obstacles. In a feature length film, he/she should not be fully defined when we first meet them. We get to know the character as the film progresses. We look for  the character’s potential to act in expected and  unexpected ways. We also expect the character to go through changes as he/she accomplishes his/her objectives and meets his/her obstacles. This is all compressed in a short film, where we may not have that much time to learn about the character.