Mike Leigh
The Mike Leigh method

Step One: Leigh meets each actor individually, and he or she talks about dozens of people he has known, intimately or fleetingly.

Step Two: Eventually, one is selected as the starting point for the character: it could just be a bloke glimpsed in the pub one night.

Step Three: The actor, builds up an elaborate alter ego, mapping out his life in enormous detail, down to how his parents met, and exploring every cranny of his psyche.

Step Four: Once the individual characters are formed, gradually the actors are gathered together for a series of loose improvisations to build up their collective world. - None of them knows anything about the narrative they will participate in other than their own place in it.

Step Five: After a while, the actors go out on the streets to interact with other characters and the unsuspecting public, while they are observed from a distance.

Step Six: An outline of scenes for the final piece is given to the actors. The actors improvise specifically around these, while an assistant takes notes.

Step Seven: The best lines and moments are distilled and scripted, and shooting can at last begin.

-This whole process usually takes about six months.

Charactor analysis
Frantic Assembly
Knee High- Hansel and Gretal
Knee High Witches