Directions | The Brief (5th December 2016)

Today we were introduced to our next unit - Directions - and briefed on what we would be doing for this project.  As the title suggests, this unit will focus more on the directing side of TV production than the previous unit.  We have been tasked with writing a director's statement which outlines our vision as a director - our directorial choices, the reasoning behind them, and how they compare and contrast to our chosen director - as well as a 6-7 minute based on a scene or scenes by our chosen director, shot and edited as we would choose to.

In order to fulfil these tasks, we each have to choose a director that we admire for their directorial work, so that we can explore their work and determine what separates their work from other directors.  We will then be able to draw inspiration from them and build on our own directorial techniques which will allow us to stand out through how we direct these scenes differently.  I had several ideas on which director I wanted to focus on for various reasons:

• Marc Munden
• Director of Utopia, National Treasure on Channel 4, as well as Quantico, Black Sails, and more.
• Having watched Utopia and National Treasure, I was captivated by Munden's unique expressionist style through his use of extreme close-up and wide shots, combined with his expert use of sound design and colour palettes.

• Wes Anderson
• Director of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, and more.
• Anderson's visual and narrative style is also incredibly unique, and he was behind one of my favourite films, The Grand Budapest Hotel, however I feel that because his style is so unique, his scripts may not translate well into my own style and so if I were to choose Wes Anderson, I may struggle to maintain interest without being too similar to his style.

• Miguel Sapochnik
• Director of Game of Thrones, House M.D., and more.
• I knew that I would not focus on Sapochnik's work, as the scenes that stand out most for me are some of the huge scale battle scenes from Game of Thrones, which would be difficult to adapt in a practical sense.  Even so, I feel it is worth looking into the amount of story he is able to fit into a battle with little to no dialogue.

Whilst I admire these directors immensely, and I will no doubt look into their work in more detail at some point, I have decided to focus on the work of Frank Darabont, who is best known for directing The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and the pilot episode of The Walking Dead (and more).  To me, The Shawshank Redemption stands out as a film that perfectly utilises camerawork, sound and editing to tell a complex and emotive story that I can keep returning to and still enjoy it.  Therefore, I feel that Darabont will be an interesting director to look into, and I look forward to adapting his work using my own style.