Directing

What you'll learn

• Explain the director's responsibilities for interpretation, communication and decision-making, compare directing contexts from independent features to episodic television, describe the role of the DGC or DGA, and write a concrete vision document.
• Analyse a screenplay for direction by finding its spine, breaking scenes into beats, defining characters' objectives, obstacles, tactics and stakes, and identifying given circumstances, subtext and key moments.
• Build a director's plan from governing visual ideas, collaborate with the cinematographer, choose between shot lists, floor plans, storyboards and previs, and estimate and prioritize shooting time with the first assistant director.
• Plan and run fair, humane casting, from breakdowns and sides to adjustments, callbacks and chemistry reads, and weigh inclusive and authentic casting, financing pressures and union rules in casting decisions.
• Give playable rather than result direction, using objectives, action verbs, as-ifs, images, facts, tasks and tempo notes, and give notes in ways that protect actors' concentration, dignity and boundaries.
• Plan and run rehearsals and improvisation, protect freshness, manage emotional continuity across an out-of-order schedule and shape performance across takes and set-ups.
• Design blocking that expresses relationships through distance, height, barriers and motivated movement, stage in depth, choose between coverage and long takes, and manage the axis of action and eyelines.
• Lead a shooting day with the first assistant director, follow set protocol, make the day under pressure, choose takes and moving on, and carry the director's share of responsibility for safety, intimacy protocols and dailies.
• Apply the laws and agreements protecting child performers in Canada or the United States, direct children of different ages, work humanely with animals, direct non-actors ethically and direct crowds and background performers.
• Control tone through performance pitch, pace and every department, work within and against genre conventions, and apply techniques for comedy, suspense, horror, drama and tonal shifts.
• Direct post-production by working with the editor, shaping performance and structure, using guild protections for the director's cut, interpreting notes and test screenings, and supervising finishing after picture lock.
• Direct a short scene from written analysis through casting, rehearsal, visual planning, shooting and rough cut, and reflect critically on how the director's choices served the interpretation.