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Film Directing Lesson

The key difference is that an action is what the character is trying to accomplish, while an activity is something they are doing in service of that action. In this example, the character's action is waiting for exam results, while reading the newspaper is merely an activity they are engaging in as they wait. The activity supports and accompanies the underlying action, but is not the primary goal or objective. Explaining this distinction helps actors understand their character's true intentions and motivations in any given scene.

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Aleksandra Markovic
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276 views85 pages

Film Directing Lesson

The key difference is that an action is what the character is trying to accomplish, while an activity is something they are doing in service of that action. In this example, the character's action is waiting for exam results, while reading the newspaper is merely an activity they are engaging in as they wait. The activity supports and accompanies the underlying action, but is not the primary goal or objective. Explaining this distinction helps actors understand their character's true intentions and motivations in any given scene.

Uploaded by

Aleksandra Markovic
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Directing

So, what does a director do?


- Create a unique vision for the film
- Share this vision with the crew
- Stage the scene
- Block the movements and actions
- Get a performance from actors
- Decide when to cut a scene
If you want to direct films,
then you should study films.
Watch them a thousand times.

Learn how a scene is created.


Learn how you feel with every creative
decision.
"You should know a little bit of everything.
Because when you're directing not everything's
your job, but everything's your problem."
The director’s job is to interpret the script,
get the best possible performances from
the actors, guide the camera crew,
and create a cinematographic experience,
through a unique vision.
Unique vision:
Stanley Kubrick
Unique vision:
Woody Allen
Unique vision:
Quentin Tarantino
Unique vision:
Paul Thomas Anderson
Unique vision:
Pedro Almodóvar
Unique vision:
Denis Villeneuve
Unique vision:
Christopher Nolan
The most important asset for a director is:

Imagination.

One has to be able to think and imagine.


Memento explained

https://youtu.be/qduOF_sl1IQ
Main goal

Create audiovisual narratives using methods


and techniques from cinematographic direction
for the transmission of an idea, thought or
service.
Learning outcomes

1- Understand the theoretical bases of the operation of an audiovisual


production in all its phases for the selection of a work team for film or
documentary.

2- Develop personnel management skills that allow collaboration with a


multidisciplinary team in the development of an audiovisual from the script to
its promotion in different media.

3- Analyze elements of the script that allow the selection of actors for the
effective collaboration of human talent on screen with the production team of
an audiovisual work.
Planning the scene
Choreographing the scene
The director as author
Unit 1

1.1. Directing: basic concepts


1.2. Pre cinema
1.3. The role of the director in a production
1.4. The auter theory
European film vanguards: the director as
author
Unit 2

2.1. Auteur cinema theory: concepts


2.2. German expressionism and French surrealism
2.3. Italian Neorealism and Japanese Cinema of the 1930s
2.4. Nouvelle Vague and the New German cinema
Unique vision:
Jean-Luc Godard
Unique vision:
François Truffaut
From the indie filmmaker to the new latinamerican cinema
Unit 3

3.1. Independent cinema: concepts


3.2. The director according to the Sundance school
3.3. The director according to the school of San Antonio de los Baños
3.4. The Latin American director as an ideological instrument for
social uprising
Director´s plan
Unit 4

4.1. Directing Plan


4.2. Mise en scene & Mise en abyme
4.3. Production and Post-production
4.4. Show Reel and distribution
Unique vision:
David Lynch
1.1. Directing: basic concepts

The role of the director


Director´s role

1. CREATIVE VISION

2. MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Director´s role

1.- Directing actors:

• Bring the character to life.


• Create a safe space for the actor to explore.
• Real thoughts. Real feelings.
• Improvise and take risks.

• The more we believe in the characters in the film, the


more relatable it will be.
Director´s role

1.- Directing actors:

• Give the actors actionable directions.


• Never force the actors.
• Build trust among actors.
• Create conditions for the film development on it´s own.

• Never do : “Result orienting directing” it´s a common


mistake among first time directors.
“All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen.”

Sidney Lumet
Director´s role

1.- Directing actors:

• Let the actors explore ideas before they have a final


script.
• Create a script from both actors and director.
• This creates a “real” world for the actors and nothing is
really scripted. It´s closer to real life when the camera is
rolling.
“You will find hardly any improvising on camera anywhere in my
films. It's very structured, but it's all worked out from elaborate Mike Leigh
improvisations over a long period, as you know.”
Source: Proferes, Nicholas. Film directing fundamentals. Focal Press. 2008
The Director during rehearsals

It is important that the director takes the pressure off the actor by
creating a space open to exploration, that makes the actor feel
secure and willing to take chances.

The more psychological the scene, the more interior it is, the more
the director has to work to change psychology into behavior that
can be photographed.
Director´s role

2.- Directing everyone else

The director must have a deep understanding of everyone


involved in the film, in all the stages.
• Preproduction
• Filming
• Postproduction
• Distributing
• Promoting
“As a director, you’re a bit of a dictator. But I feel that you’re a better
director if you’re open to other people’s ideas. It means that it’s tougher:
you have to be in a choosing process; you have to put the ego aside. As
long as everybody’s aiming in the same direction… I’m open to my main
partners in the film crew.”

Denis Villenueve
Director´s role

2.- Directing / working with

Location department. Scouting film locations.


Location manager. Basecamp. Storage. Trailers.
Location assistants. Moving from one location to other.
Follow the location manager plan and schedule.
Unique vision:
David Fincher
Director´s role

3.- Directing / working with

Art department.

Production designer. Create the world of the film. Before


shooting.
Art director. Organizes the art that will be visible on set.
Also the graphic design in the world of the film, such as
brands, products, services.
Stanley Kubrick.
76 Unique vision:
Sebastian Cordero
77
79
80
Director´s role

Why a dialogue can capture the audience's attention?

Source: Proferes, Nicholas. Film directing fundamentals. Focal Press. 2008


Because if it is intriguing and we want to know what is next.

Written words in a script is nothing without the actual visual hook


to make it memorable.

A character can perform only one action at a time. This can be a


visual reference in a storyboard later.

Only by fully understanding the circumstances and contex, we get


to know the true intent of the action.
Director´s role

Source: Proferes, Nicholas. Film directing fundamentals. Focal Press. 2008


4.- “Directing” dialogue
Drama is understood through the actions of your characters.

These actions must be conveyed to an audience for them to fully


appreciate, as well as understand, the story.

Dialogue is action! Therefore, it must be directed.


Unique vision:
Alfred hitchcock
A surprise can take seconds.
Anticipation can take
an hour.
Director´s role

Explain to your actors the difference between action and activity.

Source: Proferes, Nicholas. Film directing fundamentals. Focal Press. 2008


Suppose you are sitting in a hospital, in the emergency area, waiting
for exam results and reading a newspaper about a deadly virus. Are
you waiting or reading?

As soon as the doctor comes out to talk to you, you will drop the
newspaper.

So what is the reading, in dramatic terms?


It is an activity that accompanies the action of waiting.

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