Directing Workshop with Tom Abrams

The New Zealand Film Commission and the Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand are pleased to announce Tom Abrams, an award-winning director and writer in both film and television, will be holding two intensive three day workshops in Wellington (Sun 16/Mon 17/Tue 18 August) and Auckland (Sat 22/Sun 23/Mon 24 August).

This is a return visit from Tom whose workshops on mise-en-scene in 2008 were heavily subscribed and highly regarded by attendees. 

WORKSHOP CONTENT

Over a three-day period participants will explore ways to identify and bring out the underlying or sub textual meaning of their story by focusing on how they would shoot it.  The group will investigate methods by which the creative use of camera movement, composition, angularity, colour and lighting, etc. can enhance the communication of important ideas to the viewer.

Each participant will bring written scenes from a film script (short film, television or feature) into the seminar as the working text for their exploration.  These scenes will be distributed prior to the first day of the seminar and participants are required to read each other’s material. 

During the three-day period, participants will perform a series of explorations, some in-session, some overnight, to be discussed with the group each day.  A series of questions will be posed regarding each exploration to help focus its effectiveness and dramatic potential.

This is not a seminar on cinematography per se, but rather focuses on elements of visual storytelling; how the filmmaker designs, captures and communicates dramatic material from the page via the moving image.  By doing so, we hope to assist the director in formulating a visual treatment for their project.

Application deadline: 5pm, Friday 17 July 2009