Week Seven

Alright, this week's topic might be a bit tricky to go over in too much detail for me seeing as I missed the majority of the lecture due to a fault of my own (yes I admit I over slept, it happens). And it's not ideal trying to explain a new concept like this after waking up and scrambling to get in just in time for the latter end of the lecture minus your morning coffee, but I'll do my best.

Objectives - Relate to the characters motivations to overcome obstacles in the story arcs.
There are different types of objectives, such as:

1. Super Objectives - Lifetime Objective.
2.  Film - Story Objective.
3. Scene Objective.
4. Unit Objective. 

"They are actions that an actor plays in order to achieve an objective that must be put in terms of active verbs."
            Chris.

For example:

1. He seduces her to get his objective.
2. She inspires him to get her objective.

This helps us directors to communicate more clearly with our actors and scriptwriters. Different words will give different, subtle shades to characters, add textures & give depth to them and the overall story.
I guess the main point I picked was by using this very particular form of communication we give our actors different options as to which direction they take our (the director's) instructions. And that we should explore various other similar possibilities so the actors can change it up so to speak with their expressions, actions, demeanor etc, maybe every few takes or so as they may go somewhere with it we wouldn't have thought of perhaps. Also as someone who has a keen interest in editing I completely agree with this approach as an editor it's better to have more options than not enough, nothing worse than realizing you don't have all the shots needed to construct a cohesive story or what you have is sub-par.

Week Six

This week we were introduced to a screenplay concept completely foreign to me to be honest, Chris taught us about "Scene actions" and "Unit actions" and explained the difference between the two.
A screenplay is made up of many scenes, each with it's own story action (scene action).
A scene is made up of one or more units, each with it's own story action (unit action).

The scenes of a screenplay are usually divided in to smaller, more manageable sections called units which are usually named after either what the characters are doing or wanting. This is done so we don't miss any key points and can explore sub-text.
Units can usually be found where a new action begins and where it ends, Chris referred to these moments as ''beats" which is when there is usually a change in emotion or mood. It defines the action and not the subject matter, I am still trying to wrap my head around it so to speak.
Scene actions and unit actions are psychological actions, NOT physical actions! We use strong verbs to describe them so as actors know how we the director is interpreting the script and there is no confusion as to what we are trying to extract out of them in terms of their performance, we have to be specific. (Usually the unit action is written in pencil on the right hand side of the script as it can change).

The class watched a scene from Ridley Scott's "Gladiator", and this is what we came up with:
Scene story (Psychological) - "Caesar pleads with Maximus for the future of Rome".
Key moments - "Let us sit & talk as men".
Maximus talks about his home.
Caesar "I want you to be protector of Rome"

 During all those key moments or beats, the emotion changed to suit the situation and the actors were entirely convincing and believable which I put down to great screen direction more than being great actors (which they are and it helps I know).

Like I mentioned at the start of this blog, this was the first I had heard of this concept and it's a bit tricky but I think I get it in theory, in practice is another matter all together though. So I may have to do some more research in to it and try applying it in to my scriptwriting as well.

We also briefly covered the archetypal story structure of the hero's journey as apposed to the traditional three act structure. The hero's journey is split in to four or more acts instead of three.

• Orphan - Ventures out alone.
• Wanderer - Obstacles.
• Warrior - Takes action.
• Martyr - Prepared to sacrifice himself.

Christopher Vogler maps it out more precisely here in this diagram of the "Hero's Journey"- http://www.dramatica.com/theory/articles/vogler-plot.html .

So as far as directing goes there's much to think about right now, almost feel like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole...just wonder how far it goes?

Week Five

No class as it was a public holiday, then annual Gronkfest Media Camp 2012 all week.

Week Four

Sorry people I know this post is two weeks late, but I've had a hectic couple of weeks being away in Melbourne for half a week for a rugby competition then only to arrive home absolutely shattered and have to leave for a week of madness for the annual C.I.T. media camp down in Fairbridge (which was a blast, and I got to direct so it was well worth it). So recently assignments have started snowballing a bit, but enough excuses!

In this lecture we went through the first process a director normally goes through when he or she first receives a script, which is generally research & breaking down a script.
This is necessary so they can get down to the core elements of the story such as the underlying themes of each scene & overall theme of the script, the individual characters & their motivations, how the director feels about the story and then decide on the visual elements side of it.

We were given a scene from one of the lecturer's short films which we had already seen, "Kanowna" and asked to each do a simple breakdown of the scene. Easy I thought to myself! But not so simple when it actually came time to do so, even thought I felt I had a good understanding of what was going on and what the director was trying to get across it was very hard to articulate it accurately & it took a lot longer than I anticipated.
There were a few key questions of that particular scene I had to figure out such as, what story was it telling the "A story" (main plot) or the "B story" (sub plot)? What's happening, the characters motivations & relationships, theme, feeling, specifics and look for any symbolism in the visuals. And every scene should have a beginning, middle and end. So knowing the inciting incident and how the mood changes from it had to be considered .
For the scene from "Kanowna" the key questions were where was it set, when was it set, what cultures were involved, relationship between the two characters and what sort of troopers were the two men?

By the end of it all my script was covered handwritten, scribbled notes, underlinings and it looked like an absolute mess. Which is funny because another lecturer said the messier the better, as it shows that you've gone through it, made changes, did some deliberating over it and had broke it down. And the better you as the director know the story, the better you can communicate with the actors and crew as to what you want from them! So I guess that is the main thing I took out of that lecture, so now on to the next.