FWDC Day 20 - that's a wrap folks

Day 20, final day of the Four Week Directing Course (FWDC - in case the titles have not been making sense). What a ride. There were three main learning areas for me: direct learning, indirect learning and experience points.

Lets see if I can recall what I learnt in each of these buckets:

DIRECT LEARNING
Learning outcomes in scope of the course ranged from blocking, capturing sound to roles of crew members. The two most important lessons for me were:
> directing actors; and
> making scripts more engaging.

INDIRECT LEARNING
These are the things I was 'encouraged' to learn as a result of the story of my short:
> green screen (with a moving camera);
> aging in post;
> tracking;
> cheesy FX; and
> a little bit of sound enhancement.

EXPERIENCE POINTS
Theory can take you so far but eventually you need to jump off that branch and flap like a mad man to learn to fly. The three exercises we did ('the punch','directing actors', and short film) gave me plenty to flap about. The key learning outcome for me were:
> motivating crew through their involvement, achieved through communicating the shot plan etc.
> be firm when needed to get the most out of your actors - both you and the actor will be thankful otherwise you just end up wasting everyone's time. You are there to make a film first and friends second.
> be flexible and don't blindly commit to a shot because you like it. If a shot tells you nothing new, lose it.


Overall, found a great teacher in Ben, although his grasp of time travel principles was shaky at best. That said, he didn't stop challenging me to refine and tighten my story. Gona miss the constant state of race Ben's hands are in, each one trying to overtake the other.

The peer group was a mixed bag of nuts. Without giving away names, we had:
> a musician;
> a seasoned actor;
> an i-talian facetube addict;
> an extra from Guy Riche's movies - 'lend us a ciggy mate - ya know what mean';
> an executive pensioner;
> as experienced AD, aka Mr 'quiet on the set';
> an absentee Neptunian;
> a fat man in a superman getup;
> mr. quiff who wished he could enter rooms to 70's porn music; and
> a swiss shopaholic doing her bid in stimulating the economic.

I'm not one for sentiments, or as I would like to call them - chick flick mounts, but I'm gona miss the 'brady bunch'.

Its been fun writing these series of posts, logging the course along the way in case I lose my notes ... Which I managed to do back on day 7.

I'll end with my saying that really annoyed Ben ... But it's a good way to end this.

" ... and cut ... we'll fix the rest in the post !! "

That's a wrap folks ...