Directing workshop

We spent roughly two weeks with Tony on a directing workshop.  The workshop required the students to work on skills such as improvised acting and plotting, engaging and connecting with the character’s emotion, directing actors and casting.

I have not had much acting experience and was quite weary of the challenge due to my quiet personality, someone who always prefers to be the creator rather than being part of the creation.  Through the workshop with Tony, I’ve now enjoyed acting a little more, understanding the process of engaging with the character’s emotion and somehow make it my own.  Furthermore, I really enjoyed the directing part of the workshop and the process of layering the emotions and creating the emotional dynamic for the characters.  The given material, in my opinion, did not allow much room for interpretation, one can perhaps place the scenario in a different situation, but the interpretation and the character’s transition was quite concretely laid down in the script.  The challenge for the directors in these cases was to bring out the performances from the actors rather than having to engage in profound communication in order to give birth to an entire new child.  I also really enjoyed the casting experience, the key to this process is to understand whether or not the actor is able to be shaped by the director, whether the actor has the emotional range required for the role.  Completing this workshop has made me more confident as a director when working with actors.  This was one of the skills that have lured me into the arts of filmmaking.