Directing, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 25

FINAL REHEARSALS AND PLANNING COVERAGE

 

THE DIRECTOR AS ACTIVE OBSERVER

So far our rehearsal priorities have given primacy to the actors' sense of what their characters must do, moment to moment, with the director observing and steering the results by way of critical feedback. Soon you must turn from interpreting characters and text to planning their presentation on the screen.

Habit will make you want to sit while observing and taking notes, but this is dangerous because it leads to experiencing the action like a theater-goer and to choreographing the action for a static camera placement. Clearly this is not cinematic and arises largely out of the director's immobility.

So, as the action unfolds, move around and adjust your viewing ...