Directions: "The Director"/ Atonement scene recreation

The Director

In a workshop with Simon, we first went through what a director usually does and how many different departments they would have working with them on a shoot. Roles such as DOPs (director of photography) , camera man, assistant directors and other roles like that. It was interesting because it is clear that the director plays a very important part in terms of how the shoot will be run but it is important to note that the director only focuses on what is going on in front of the camera and where the camera is seeing it from. The director needs to have a vision and also the ability to answer any questions that is thrown their way. This means that they have to be super organised and super prepared, as well as maintaining communication throughout with the whole team so everyone knows what their role is. 

I learnt that on a shoot, the Director must; 

• check the location - make sure everything looks okay to film
• check to see if the crew are okay
• start "Blocking" a scene with DOP, actors and camera operators to figure out the positioning of the actors and camera placement. 

We then went down to the studio where we were given some tips on how to "direct" the actors. Simon made it clear that you must not patronise the actors but simply give them some motivation on why they would be doing that action instead of saying something like "be more angry". You could say something like "imagine you've just lost your house and your job", something like this is likely to get the actor a bit more involved and feel a bit more connected to the role. This is important for me to remember because I will be working with actors with little to no acting experience and I must understand the different ways of approaching a situation like this. 

We then learnt about about coverage and how there are so many ways of setting up a scene and creating depth of field to create different looks and feels to a shoot. He got some students so be example actors whilst he got us to suggest the different ways they could be arranged for a different look. This was an eye opener for me because it made me realise that I should really start to think deeply about how I want to position my actors as it has a big difference when you put them certain ways. Something as simple as a two shot can become so much more or so much less if you chose to. For example, by having the camera positioned behind an object and looking onto characters whilst they are talking can give the impression that we are spying on them and that we shouldn't be hearing what they are saying. A shot like this could obviously be used to create the sense of secrecy and mystery opposed to a close up on a subject whilst they are talking, this would have an adverse effect where we are much more intimate and it may feel like we are right there on the table with the character. 

After watching a scene from Atonement where two characters have been brought together again after a long time and share a conversation with each other. If I remember correctly, we watched this scene without the sounds to see if we would be able to tell what was happening just with the visuals, focusing strictly on the visual story telling. It was interesting to think about how much you can do visually and how much you need to think about what you will have your characters do in order to show their personality traits and what is happening. We then had to have a go at directing that scene ourselves, taking on board all the things simon told us about motivation and coverage. We were given the scripts and I chose Saskia and Laura to be my actors and Josh as camera operator. This was an interesting experience as I had a subtle vision but I also wanted to make it different from what we just saw. 

I wanted to keep the shots simple and intimate and focus on the character's reactions. I though simple would be the best way to get coverage for the shoot, I wanted them to be facing each other directly to create a more intense vibe. During editing I wanted the edit to be fluid and have a nice seamless feel to them. I tried to achieve this by having the other person's dialogue come in before visually cutting to them. This stops it from having such a "choppy" flow, something that I wanted to avoid since this is supposed to be a emotive scene. 

Overall I am happy with the edit and I think I achieved my target focus points, the hand touch and the reactions from both characters. This is something that I will take on board for my productions. I must think long and hard about how I want my positioning to be as I want it t be as effective as possible.