Directing Workshop with Steve Finn

Directing with Steve Finn.

For this lesson we were lucky enough to have Eastenders director Steve Finn come and tutor us for a day on how to work as a team with a director. It was very useful to know how a real TV director works with his crew to get the results he wants. I was able to take a lot of notes and we also shot a pre-written scene, working together as actors, a director, a DoP, and a sound. 

Collaboration is what creates a project. It's not all down to the director.

We learned about the general rules that people in the industry run by. For example, to get 10 minutes of useful footage a day for TV is good, and 5 minutes for film. Now-a-days, production is about speed, and if something can be achieved faster then it will be done. An example of this is a multi-camera setup; as the name suggests, multiple cameras are used and will roll at the same time to get many different angles of the same scene so that there are options and coverage. A multi-camera set up also often uses a live editing set up which means you can switch between shots and edit the footage immediately rather than waiting until all the shots have been collected.
Everyone wants things done fast- the crew, cast and the audience, everyone is waiting for the finished product. But I think it's important to take your time in order to appreciate the hard work that goes into any production.
Steve has been directing for years but he still gets nervous. I was glad to know this as I am particularly nervous about having to take charge of a crew and cast but this made me feel better about it as if he is particularly experienced and still gets nervous then I'm definitely allowed to be nervous!
Steve spoke about the shooting techniques they use on set to speed up the production of a programme. The most simple set up for cameras is to shoot in triangles- this way you get the choice of 3 angles and you still get coverage of the action. However if there is a particularly action-packed scene, they'll have many more cameras in order to get better coverage, as high-action scenes are harder to recreate. The particular scene he showed us was a house exploding in Eastenders. They were not able to redo this scene as they wanted to avoid injury to the stunt actors, and also they would have to reset the pyrotechnics which is a difficult and potentially dangerous job. For this scene they used many different cameras to get good coverage so that they wouldn't have to redo the scene.
It's important to read the script you get very carefully as this will give you a far better idea of the characters which in turn will create more human characters rather than people reciting a script, which is a very common mistake when making your first production. This is something I'm going to be doing for the Fargo script and it will be posted on the blog on the pre production post. As a director you need to take in every minor detail in the script, and think about what makes the script a human activity rather than instructions on a sheet.
Steve gave us feedback on our scene recreations so that we can take into our actual shoots. He said that for our group we should make sure there is movement in the camera as this keeps the eyes of the viewer interested. Even if it's on a tripod, the camera should be following the characters actions and shouldn't be so stationary as this makes the shot boring. It's easier to make a cut if the character is moving.
You need to consider blank spaces- they should only be there for a reason, whether to represent reflection or loneliness, but never there if it's something that isn't being utilised in some way. You should ensure you know the character's goal as this should come across in your shots.