What do you do to improve role playing in the group you play

[Volar the Healer]

I open and close scenes with movie terms to get the players in the mood. "Lights, Camera, Action!" If a player makes a mistake I stop the scene with "Cut!", explain what he did wrong, then dock him one character point.
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[Volar the Healer]

...with...the group you play with?
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[Kehlin Yew]

I personally, just call a timeout, tell them what was wrong, time in, commense.

I only dock points if it was severe, or ridiculously stupid.

[garhkal]

I am the opposite, i will chastise during a break. BUT if in game a character does a great job with something, thinks of a witty repart, comes up with a briliant plan etc, i sometimes award an on the spot bonus CP (or 2). Though only once have i done the 2cp thing.
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[Kehlin Yew]

by time out, i dont mean everytime someone does something stop the game, just every few hours, then give props to those who done well, and help the ones who didn't do so great.

[Volar the Healer]

I usually give players background information in a "secret Director's conference" before the game begins so they can roleplay their character with information only they could logically have - usually on a 3x5 card.
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[Kehlin Yew]

you mean like, take them outside during a break, of before you start, tell them what they need to know then?

[Volar the Healer]

Exactly. That way information the team needs enters the game from the characters, not the director. This gives the players a place to start their acting as well as giving the characters more depth.
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[Kehlin Yew]

ok, thats what i thought, i try to do that every now and then. we also use paranioa(sp?) notes

[Sabre]

One of the things I've done before was to create a personality index, which is basically a list of character personality traits and tips for roleplaying them. If a player has difficulty writing up the personality for their character, I give them the index and have them pick out the traits and list them on their sheet, then award bonus CP based on how closely they stuck to the character they made at the end of a session. I also hold the 'objective' category to be the most important part of the character sheet. I think it's fundamental to playing a character that the player knows what the character wants.

I really like the idea of the GM using director's lingo/props. I've considered doing something like that before, and in live groups having two or three people who are essentially just actors who take on the roles of various NPCs and are basically there to ham it up and get everyone else in the mood. Something like that would take a lot of work to arrange, though.

[Esjs]

I like the idea of "guest" NPCs. Takes a little bit of stress off the GM to come up with a personality for all of the random people on the street that a character decides to talk to. This kinda falls in line with the co-GM concept, except the guest actors don't necessarily have to be in on the plot.
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[KageRyu]

I always try to convince my players to flesh out their characters and develop some real personality for them. Between games I often ask them to come up with some likes, dislikes, loves, hates, motivations, hopes, dreams, regrets, and nightmares for their characters. I always encourage players to try to act out the use of all and any interaction skills like con, bargain, command, etc... Whenever the players are imparting knowledge to each other, or NPCs I refuse to settle for a simple "I tell him" and ask the player to act it out as his character would.

I also try to act out the NPCs, and give them motives, hopes, dreams, fears, and regrets to make them more real.

I use background music a lot to set the mood of a scene. And I also use lots of long descriptives for people, places, and things.

If a player needs work, or is particularly inexperienced, I try to get together between games to address the issues and give pointers. I give a certain amount of coaching and help too, so as to help newer players get the feel for it.
Of course, I reward good roleplaying with CP. This alone often encourages others to take a more active and dynamic part. I also give a good sport award too...hard to explain.
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra

[garhkal]

Some times i have allowed the players do make the backstory and character up for npcs that work for them, within a little guidelines from me. Like in an adnd game, one group set up an orphanage, where their back up characters taught at. I allowed them to make up the kids who were there, and those few who were 'adventurer material', i even allowed them to make up their characters (with races and classes most predisposed to be coming from me)...
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[Volar the Healer]

In the middle of the game I encourage a player with something like "That's really cool how you sound just like a Hutt. Bonus character point for good role playing." This encourages other players to imitate their character's voice or mannerisms.
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[Tahlorn]

Well, my group doesn't do as much of that whole 'cinematic' thing, so our concept of roleplaying has little to do with iether cool action shots or impressions of aliens. Pretty much, each character is unique, and it has its own quircks. If an action is being done that seems to disagree with how the chracter would normally act, I ask them "Is that like your character to do that?", and allow them to retract the action if they wish. My players keep a strong aspect of roleplaying, and doing such earns more character points. Not acting liek your character reduces how many character points you recieve. Simple incentive for more and better roleplaying.