Steve Finn Workshop

Steve Finn - Directing Workshop

What we did:

Steve Finn is a famous Director that has been working in the Television industry for many years. He is most famous for directing soaps such as 'Eastenders' and 'Coronation street' and came to give us a masterclass about all his directing tips. The first thing that he taught us was 'Directors MUST have communication with actors'.  Steve said that it is key to always get lots of coverage as this can add pace in the editing stage. He outline many different shots and the effects that they can create, for example hand held shots help to emphasise a sense of urgency and rawness. We then looked at blocking and Steve told us to always block in triangles as this ensures that we can get many angles of the action. He also told us that we should always try to keep actors moving and  give them a purpose to move. For example put their props around the set to keep them moving and therefore keep the scene appearing fresh to the viewer. 

We then went into the studio and he handed us some very simple scripts with basic dialogue between two characters. He taught us how to analyse it quickly before directing by looking at five things; what, when, who, where and how, once we have this information it much easier to then block the actors whilst kit is being set up. He also told us that the crucial shot to get is the master shot, this is because we can refer to back to it during the edit process. We then took the scripts and recreated sections from it all taking turns to direct. 

What was successful?

The most successful part of the workshop for me was actually learning how to understand the script. i normally just read it and try to work it out whilst going along but it really helped to actually break it down into five sections as mentioned above as then I was clear on what effects I wanted to create and most importantly how I wanted the audience to feel.

Another successful part of the work shop was blocking the actors. Steve had told us how to block and to direct the actors and then whilst they are rehearsing direct the crew. This was really useful as it meant that the crew could set up kit whilst I was blocking the actors s it saved a lot of time and meant that everyone was clear on what they were doing. 

I found directing really fun and felt really satisfied when I watched back some of the footage and felt proud of how some of the shots had come out with the performance as I had directed it, and this is something that I had not really done before.

There was a medium shot that we got as Evie which is below and I really liked this as I feel it captures her expression perfectly nut also feels slightly tense due to it all being hand held. 

What went wrong?

Even though I really enjoyed the directing process it was still quite stressful as I wanted my vision to work so it was hard to explain that vision in terms of acting and performance to the actors and then in technical terms to the crew. It was a lot of trial and error to get the shots right as we did not have much time and in the time I had to direct actors and crew and then we all had to work as a team to get it right so we tried some shots such as a high angle tracking shot of Evie's shot as she walked towards Luke. However this was harder than I anticipated as when the DOP George tried it hand held it was quite shaky as it was so low tracking her feet and there was a slight shadow moving across her from the camera. So then we tried moving along from the side of her rather than being in front of her but this then did not work as she needed to walk quickly and it was hard for George to move quickly walking sideways with the camera. Then we had an idea of putting the camera on a chair with wheels and holding it in it while angling it down towards her feet. This meant that we could move the camera along at a faster pace by crabbing along the side of her. when watching it back in the viewfinder I really liked the shot, however when reviewing it during the edit it ha come out really bumpy due to small lumps in the floor so it had not worked. This was a shame however in future I would use a track and dolly or a tripod with wheels to achieve the shot and I would take more time to get it right. 

Another challenge that I faced was with the master shot. Steve had stated how important it was to get this so I knew I needed to get a good master shot that I could keep referring back to. However when looking back at it I really don't like it for the second half of the scene. This is because Evie moves to the other side of the frame (the same side as Luke) so half of the frame is taken up by empty space which does not look interesting for the viewer.

Conclusion:

In conclusion Steve Finn's workshop was really useful as it was great experience to direct properly for the first time however there were some hurdles that I had to overcome such as recording blank space in the master shot and it took us a while to get the sound right as we had plugged it into the wrong channel on the camera which meant that the sound was really low as we had not set it up for that channel this took some time but once that was done it meant we did not have as long to shoot as first anticipated. However I was happy with how most of the shots turned out and in future I will always allow lots of time prior to shooting to make sure that everything is set up and ready to go to ensure that the shoot is not rushed. I will also make sure all the space is always filled to make sure frames are always interesting.