DIRECTING CRAFT
PRODUCTION
ELLA JONES
challenged and to have different perspectives. I never want to be making the same thing.
CREDITS The Baby; Back to Life; Enterprice; Pandemonium; Fully Blown
casarotto.co.uk
I feel all style should come from the story it’s trying to tell. I don’t believe in shoehorning on a style for the sake of it. I want any visual language to evolve from the story, the tone and what it’s exploring.
I’ve got people that I absolutely love working with. When you find people that you have a shorthand with and that you are creatively on the same page with, it’s gold dust. But now everyone’s so busy so it’s been useful to be forced to expand that pool of people. It’s nice to be
Having been an actor myself, I hope that it means that I can empathise with them. Hopefully, I have a sense of what they need from a director. But I’m also aware that every actor needs something different. Part of the job is to translate each actor’s process and work out whether they’re an actor that likes to be given lots of feedback from the start, or whether they prefer a chance to warm up before they get too much of a response. I’ve got more confident at just asking them how they like to work with a director and what they need from them.
I like to have all my shots planned. And I like to have done lots of work with all the heads of department in prep, so we all have a strong sense of what the vision of the show is and what we’re hoping to achieve. That means that when we’re on set, because everyone knows what they’re doing, it allows more space to
be flexible. In the moment, if the actors are offering something that’s exciting, we can tweak that. And it means that my focus can be on the performance because when you get to the edit, a shot can be as beautiful as you like, but you’ll always choose the one with the best performance.
Some of the most exciting shows on TV, like Succession, have huge amounts of comedy. They’re incredibly funny and incredibly dramatic. Whether it’s comedy or drama, it’s all about truthfulness, and everything has to be grounded in that however heightened it is. For me, all good comedy comes from playing the truth of the moment rather than playing something for laughs.
The visual side of a comedy is just as important as a drama. That sometimes gets overlooked. The way you frame something, the production design and the way that a character sits within their environment can underpin and enhance the comedy of the moment in a subtle but
very effective way. Why is our character dressing like this? What would be in her room? I think the more rooted that is in the psychology of the characters, then the more powerful it will be.
I love working with the writer, that is so key. I used to be a script editor and hopefully it means I can bring that as a useful perspective. Fundamentally, especially in TV, you and the writer need to be making the same show. In comedy, often you’re working with writer performers and it’s even more important that you build that trust so that when they’re performing, they can trust you to hold the story.
It’s so important to create a calm, positive, focused but fun atmosphere where people feel comfortable and excited to do their best work. So often, when that’s not the case, it comes from people at the top not being able to manage their stress. As a result, it comes out in negative ways. It’s the responsibility of the director to be able to find their way of doing that.
Summer 2023
televisual.com 79
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