Directions: Director Workshop 1 & 2 with Steve Finn

Director workshop 1 & 2 with Steve Finn

We had our first workshop with the director Steve Finn. He is a director for Eastenders and the whole experience has been amazing because we've been able to get great insight into what its like to be a director for television. I must admit, the whole thing seems very daunting as there is so many things for you to consider all at once. Steve showed us snippets from a few scenes that he had directed and we had to try and think about how he filmed it and what issues he may have had whilst filming. In all honesty I did try to suggest some answers but I was still not quite hitting the mark. It just made it clear to me that there is a certain level of thinking involved when it comes to directing and I have gained so much more respect for directors as a whole. 

Workshop 2.

This workshop was much more hands on and I enjoyed it a lot. We were all given the same script and had to decipher it to see what we could tell about the characters in it and what words gives clues to possible personality traits and situations. This was interesting for me because as I suggested things and they were right but Steve made it apparent that you could even look much more deeper into the script and find even more "clues". I guess for me it's a real eye opener because when you've been stuck at a certain level of thinking it can be a difficult thing to break that barrier. 

After deciphering the text, we got a greater idea about what the scenario would've been and it was then our task to go ahead and recreate the scene but with our own set ups and a plan for our own camera positioning. My own set up looked like this; 

Here I wanted to make use of the big wooden shelf so I had the table in front of it and wanted most of the action to take place there. I kind of struggled a little bit with giving directions but as it went along I got a bit more confident and was able to elaborate on my vision more. Its weird because you want to give suggestions but at the same time you don't want to sound silly but I learned that you NEED to be confident, otherwise how else would you be able to create your vision? So for mine I wanted to have the camera follow Laura as she went in and to be stationary as they had a conversation. I wanted my female character to be nosy and to fiddle with his stuff. I also wanted the male character to pretend to take down a prize possession from the wall, stare at it and then quickly stuff it in the bag when Laura comes in. It was my intention to give subtle character traits there by showing the plaque from the wall to be something the man cared about and that he must have a lot of pride with the work he is doing. Im glad that Steve was able to catch onto this when I received the feedback. He then went ahead and showed me other ways that I couldve done it and I was honestly mind blown because those little suggestions made so much sense and would've made all the difference too. He first made an important point about depth. He made me aware that I had not made the most of the space as I stuck the table too far in the corner to create some real depth in the room. There was too much empty space in the middle and I agree with that. This is a really important point that I must always remember from now on because I need my shoots to be the best that they can be and it is important to use the space wisely. Steve then went ahead and showed me how I could've started with a close up of the plaque and then come out a little just as it is being taken off the wall. Heightening the importance of it and also visually telling the story of what is happening. Viewers would've been able to make that link for themselves.

I think the biggest lesson that I learned from Steve in this workshop is to never be scared of thinking deeper and getting a little bit more creative. Its so easy to stay on the safe side and get "basic" shots but I need to know what my purpose for these shots are, I need to know the reasoning and what I'm trying to create. So this is what I will take on board for my shoot.