Directions: Reading List

Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen

by Steven D. Katz

Review:

The most useful thing about this book was that it was somewhat of a follow on to From Word to Image which I read for the last unit (see Script to Screen: Reading List). This is because of how it covered storyboards and pre-production from the viewpoints of both the director and the production designer and how these two roles may collaborate during the process. Therefore, I found it was more detailed than From Word to Image as it built on the skills I had learnt about how to draw a storyboard, emphasising creating the image that had been drawn in the real world so it can be put on screen. To help with the creation of the storyboarded image on the screen staging actors was covered with three basic patterns, I, A, and L. This was then built on to show how different lenses and camera positions could impact the mood of the scene, and how the audience relate and identify with the characters, as well as how the camera can move around or with the actors in different choreographed sequences. It also showed how tone is affected by the different transitions used between scenes such as cuts, fades, wipes, and dissolves. Mainly, I found that this book broke down the different aspects of visualization so that it was shown how they linked together but was not difficult to understand. 

British Television Drama: Past, Present and Future

Edited by Jonathan Bignell and Stephen Lacey 

 

Review:

The three sections of this book, covering institutions and technologies, formats and genres, and representations, broke down different British television dramas through the essays forming these parts. Many of the essays mentioned Sydney Newman, the Canadian producer, who I had never heard of before reading this, and how important he was to the BBC when he was the head of drama, creating a 'Golden Age' of drama involving single plays. What was most interesting was that although these essays covered mostly the positive aspects of this age, they also covered the negative in that women were not particularly involved behind the scenes as writers and directors, or on screen as they were mainly presented from a typically male viewpoint. This essay on women's representation was one of the most intriguing as it highlighted previously ignored or even unrealised issues, as well as the essay on how technology affected and allowed Brookside to be created and filmed, how melodrama is taking over soap opera plots, and the piece comparing adaptations of Jane Austen's Persuasion as the production process changed over time, impacting each final product. The essay on how Downton Abbey made me see costume drama differently as I realised that after this show, more and more period dramas are being made that are not literary adaptations as many of the essays pointed out was the custom in the past. How the Doctor Who character Sarah Jane was reinvented for her own spin-off show allowed me to consider how characters can progress beyond the source text while the universes of both shows still remain coherent to each other. I also found that regional identity is important as shown in the essay detailing how the production process for Waterloo Road changed but still stayed the same in certain aspects. Overall, although I had not seen many of the dramas covered, I was still able to gain an understanding of their production processes and/or cultural significance.

Producing and directing the short film and video

by Peter W. Rea and David K. Irving

Review:

What I liked most about this book was that there were specific boxes that broke up the pages into smaller sections that had advice for students and also firsthand experiences from filmmakers who had made the short films featured in the book. These were helpful because they helped me to understand which parts of production were the producer's responsibilities and which were the directors, as well as how these collaborate both in a theoretical, and practical way as well as on smaller scale students productions (especially when one person is the producer and director). The timeline in the front of the book also showed me what each of these roles is responsible for in every stage of the production. 

However, it also taught me how directors collaborate with directors of photography and art directors. Because the book is broken down into three section, preproduction, production, and postproduction, as well as each chapter being split into producer and director sections, I found that the information was straightforward, meaning I didn't have to read the book in order, but instead could use it as a guide when I was stuck on something or needed some inspiration. The most useful thing about this book was chapter 3 on breakdowns, as using the script breakdown template I downloaded from the book's website, I was able to follow the steps in the book to break down my own script and then generate a budget and schedule from this as well as a production book to take with me on set. This meant that I could get everything logistical sorted out in an organised way, leaving more time for me to concentrate on the creative aspects of the production, such as storyboarding. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that some of the information was somewhat outdated and complicated in places, such as the section about what type of film was better to shoot with, but just because I couldn't use it on my production for this unit doesn't mean it couldn't be useful in the future if I tried to understand it better. 

Directing: Film techniques and aesthetics

by Michael Rabiger and Mick Hurbis-Cherrier

Review:

I enjoyed using this book for research, especially for my director statement, as it gave good advice such as that ‘Each film projects the specifics of a way of life, and each by design expresses a point of view on the enclosed world it presents. Everything is involved: locations, casting, lighting design, furnishings, clothes, props, music, sound design, and even the weather’ (Rabiger and Hurbis-Cherrier, 2013:293). I think that this will be advice I will take onto other productions in the future. However, because this book was so in depth and covered everything, from creating a script by collaborating with a screenwriter as a director or being a writer/director to exhibiting the finished film at festivals and screenings, I didn't get to finish all of it, even though I would have liked to. The book's companion website: directing book.com does have summaries of each chapter though, which are useful because they break down lots of information into only 3 pages or so of bullet points. Again, I found that this book helped guide me with aspects of my production, especially with gaining a better understanding of elements of production design such as costume, hair, location aesthetics and things to consider when location scouting, as well as creating a clear, consistent vision with my developing directing style. 

Changing direction: A practical approach to directing actors in film and theatre

by Lenore DeKoven

Review:

As I have never worked with actors before, this book was the most useful compared to the others I have read for this unit to help me to understand how to work with them in a collaborative way, respecting and understanding their interpretations of characters. The most helpful information was mostly about spending time with the actors instead of getting caught up in the more technical side of directing, but also not ignoring the crew. It also affected how I planned my film because of the advice on how to best capture actor's performances with a camera, such as how their eyes are important when wanting to show emotion in a scene. The hardest thing about this book was that the whole book has to be read to understand the method, otherwise parts of it are difficult to understand on their own. However, I am close to finishing the book and hope to understand the method outlined in it because of how it makes directing simpler for actors to understand, so that their performance follows directions but is still their interpretation of the character, and acting simpler for directors to understand, which I think can allow films to turn out better as the production process runs smoothly when everyone on set is able to collaborate well.