1. APPLY A PRACTICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE OF THE CONTEMPORARY DIRECTOR AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ACTOR, TEXT AND AUDIENCE OR LENS.
2. CRITICALLY ANALYSE AND REFLECT UPON THE EFFICACY OF CHOICES MADE.
3. ¿REFLECT UPON YOUR PROCESS OF DIRECTING A SHORT EXTRACT, DRAWING UPON YOUR PRACTICAL WORK AS WELL AS CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH AND STAFF/PEER FEEDBACK

Assessment 1: Practical [LOs 1]
20 minutes in total, combining live and recorded outputs.

Assessment 2: Reflective Viva [LOs 2 and 3]
Responding to pre-issued questions, you will articulate your reflections on the making and execution of your directing projects.

All individually assessed.

Taking the relationship between the actor, director and the text as the starting point, you will explore a variety of rehearsal methodologies in relationship to contemporary and/or classical texts for both stage, screen and other digital media.

This will involve you in the study and practice of directing actors in theatre and screen contexts, and will examine the director's overall role and responsibilities.

You will explore and understand the creative techniques and decision making required of both the director and the actor in the professional rehearsal process and will learn several differing (and often contradictory) approaches to rehearsals through the examination of a range of play and screen texts, practitioners and genres of work. You will explore how to direct on camera, with mise-en-scene and working with other collaborators such as DoPs.

Contemporary practitioners work will be explored, including that of Katie Mitchell, Patrick Tucker, Alex Mackendrick, Ariane Mnouchkine, Mike Alfreds, Declan Donnellan and Max Stafford-Clark amongst others. You will undertake several of their rehearsal strategies and test their efficacy and reflect on the emerging results.

This module will culminate in a showing of scenes (live and recorded), directed and acted by yourselves, applying the various strategies used and presented to an invited audience of staff and peers. You will also work with the creative media students in a multi-cam studio environment as part of their Media Production module.

Fancy exploring the role of the director for stage and screen? This module will allow you to embrace contemporary rehearsal and directorial strategies, techniques and concepts, and apply them by directing short scenes for both live and recorded mediums.

Workshops will enable you to examine the relationship between the director and the actor and the challenges involved in the production of short extract(s) of differing styles of text in both live and recorded contexts.

Workshops will examine some basic structures of directing such as: pre- rehearsal research, casting, ethics, storyboarding, pre-viz, early rehearsal strategies, different approaches to arriving at physicalisation and staging of the text; script analysis, characterisation and middle/late stage rehearsal techniques and problem solving strategies. All of these will be presented as potential possibilities, as each text will require different strategies and approaches.

You will work on a number of extracts through which you can apply understanding and practically explore directorial techniques.

The module will also see you engage with a number of student led rehearsals and workshops (as part of the guided independent stud) , applying work from the contact sessions.

Delgado, M & Reballato, D (ed.). (2010). Contemporary European Theatre Directors. Routledge
Heritage, H. (1996). In Contact With Gods - Directors Talk Theatre. Manchester U.P
Katz, S. (2019). Film Directing: Shot by Shot. Michael Weise Productions.
Mackendrick, A. (2006) On Film Making. Faber and Faber
Manfull, H. (1992). Taking Stage - Women Directors on Directing. Methuen
Marsden, M (2022). Inside the Rehearsal Room. Methuen Drama
Meckler, N. (2023). Notes from the Rehearsal Room. Methuen Drama
Mitter, S. (1992). Systems of Rehearsal. Routledge Rabiger, R. (2021). Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics. Routledge
Shevtsova, M & Innes, C (ed). 2009. Directors/Directing. Cambridge University Press.
Stefanova, K & Carlson, M (2021). 20 Ground-Breaking Directors of Eastern Europe: 30 Years After the Fall of the Iron Curtain. Palgrave Macmillan
Twijstra, R and Durden, E (2019). Theatre Directing in South Africa. Twist Theatre Development Project

Unwin, S. (2006). So You Want To be A Theatre Director? Nick Hern Books
Weston, J. (2021). Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television. Michael Weise Productions.

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