This was quite interesting in a number of ways. Graham spoke a lot about working with actors and how to speak their language. How to talk to them about altering their performance. We also did a mock audition with two real actors from outside the group. Graham himself was another shite-free zone. This is a good thing and a refreshing thing about this course as a whole. Especially when it's all about a topic that there's normally so much rubbish talked about. This was a fantastic exercise about what it's like to have to find actors for your piece.
He also spoke knowledgeably about the director's function and the director's relationship to all the other depts' and prsonnel. Because he has to 'manage' them all really. Get the best out of all to the benefit of the film as a whole. Also, he spoke about the process the director ahs to go through himself to make decisions about the script/film and how to put these thoughts into a cinematic form through story boards and shotlists. He also talked about how the director works with the different people to find the best way of expressing his ideas. This really was an exellent workshop as, to be honest, I did have certain ideas about the job a director dsoes, and more importantly, how he does it, and this workshop exploded many of these pre-conceptions. I feel now that the job of a director is at the beginning, like any artists. Lots of research and ideas amd then, because itis the collaborative art of film, he has to open these ideas up to all his fellow collaborators and work with them to find a way to make the film s/he wants to make. A director not only has to be a creative however, but also has to be a master at managing peopke and getting the best from them. He has to make everyone feel it's their film and that they decided to make it the way that he would like it. I liked the advice on working with actors too. It would apply equally well to any management area, I feel.
I am looking forward to seeing Graham's own feature, soon to be released: "Anton", an i2i/Foxglove Films production
