Directions | Directions Workshops with Steve Finn

Steve Finn is a director for Eastenders, who has been in the business for more than 20 years, and so he knows a thing or two about the role of a director when producing moving pictures.

In our workshops with Steve, he took us through the entire production process from the eyes of a director and their responsibilities during this time.  Here are the steps he went through with us:

• Pre-preparation
• Understand the script
• Have a creative vision of the script
• Try to solve any problems at this stage in liaison with the producer and script editor
• Prepare ideas in advance of rehearsing with the cast - motivations, characterisations, blocking, camera scripting
• Rehearsals
• Working with the cast to achieve a mutual vision of how the scene is played and staged
• After rehearsals
• Create floor plans, camera plans, shot lists in light of rehearsals
• At the start of the shoot
• Inform the crew of the shooting plan
• Create a good working atmosphere
• During the shoot
• Be in charge
• Allow all the cast and crew to have a creative input
• Manage the time available
• Finishing too early is a sign that you haven't used all your resources
• Finishing too late is a sign of not being properly prepared or not being flexible when problems occur
• After the shoot
• Brief you editor of your overall vision
• Ensure that the best material is used wherever possible
• Step back from the scene and take an objective view of you work
• At all times
• Take a responsible attitude to the safety of those around you

Having worked on a show such as Eastenders, these 'rules' were vital to the running of the production.

We spent a lot of time focusing on 'blocking' scenes and how to break up scripts into everything that needs to be considered about shooting, which included; who the characters are; what is their relationship; how should they be portrayed; where should the camera be placed; where are the characters in relation to each other; what are they doing?

He gave us each scripts to go away and block so we could try directing ourselves after being shown the ropes. I planned out my scene by drawing a diagram of where each character would be in each scene and wrote notes as to what they would be doing and how I wanted them to deliver their lines.

I found it useful to plan out the finer details by blocking this scene and  it will be very useful when I come to planning and carrying out my shoot.