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Hello Mark,
The image above is a scene from the classic courtroom drama, 12 Angry Men, adapted from a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose and directed by Sidney Lumet.
The film tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of an 18-year old defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. Disagreement and conflict among them force the jurors to question their morals and values.
Notice how each character is in a significant position and attitude, reflecting their state of mind. There is one character who seems calm, collected, still in his suit jacket, sitting at the table staring at the character who is speaking.
Look at each character.
What are they thinking?
Where is their attention focused?
Who is trying to take control?
Who has the control?
What is going to happen next?
In “The Art and Alchemy of Staging” course, I will analyze and deconstruct the staging of a variety of scenes from well-known films. The scenes range from highly charged ones to plain vanillas where nothing is happening. You will see how a tiny change in staging (a thwarting of the impulse for comfort, for instance) can create a completely different scene. That’s the magic of staging well.
For your part, if you really want to get the gold of staging, you will immerse yourself into the weekly homework assignments. That’s where you get to experience the power and beauty of staging. Even if you cannot attend the live online sessions, if you do the homework and watch the replays, you will gain as much, or more.
The homework includes:
- Multiple stagings of your memories and true stories to open up other possibilities and other outcomes while keeping the events and dialogue exactly the same
- Solving problems by non-ordinary, dyslexic or counter-intuitive thinking
- Using timing and time distortion to increase tension and generate unexpected turns
- Noting people’s quirky, strange or eccentric habits
- Creating a list of telling micro movements
- Improvising inner dialogues for nonverbal scenes
- Imagining interesting distractions, obstacles and impediments
- Unearthing the stories underneath the stories that hide underneath
- Loosening the boundaries of your imagination to serve the spirit of your stories
- And much more…
I look forward to seeing you.
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