The Rehearsal & Performance series provides regular opportunities for directors and actors to practise their craft. Each workshop brings in an experienced moderator to guide participants as they explore a workshop scene in groups (one director, two actors) in a safe and non-pressured environment.
The Guild is pleased to present the next two workshops in Christchurch and Auckland with director Chris Dudman.
Moderator
Chris Dudman’s career has involved writing and directing short films, commercials, feature and series documentary and series TV drama. He directed short film successes The Graffiti of Mr Tupaia and Choice Night, and later co-wrote and directed Harry, the gritty crime drama series starring Oscar Kightley and Sam Neill. He wrote and directed The Day that Changed My Life, the multi-award winning documentary about Christchurch’s devastating earthquake, and directed two standalone episodes of James Patterson’s true crime anthology series Murder is Forever. He’s currently writing an adaptation of Archibald Baxter’s memoir We Will Not Cease. Chris was also a longtime partner of and director at Auckland TV commercials company Robber’s Dog.
Preparation
Selected directors and actors will be expected to do some script prep beforehand. DEGNZ will provide the scene at least one week in advance.
Auckland
When: Sun 30 June, 9am – 2pm Where: Venue TBC, Auckland Cost: DEGNZ/Equity NZ members – Free
Spots are limited to four directors and eight actors. If your name is selected, DEGNZ will contact you directly to confirm your participation. Only members of DEGNZ and Equity NZ are eligible to register.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Rehearsal_and_performance-Logo2.png4701240admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2019-05-21 18:11:112019-05-22 18:34:47Auckland – Rehearsal & Performance with Director Chris Dudman
The Rehearsal & Performance series provides regular opportunities for directors and actors to practise their craft. Each workshop brings in an experienced moderator to guide participants as they explore a workshop scene in groups (one director, two actors) in a safe and non-pressured environment.
The Guild is pleased to present the next two workshops in Christchurch and Auckland with director Chris Dudman.
Moderator
Chris Dudman’s career has involved writing and directing short films, commercials, feature and series documentary and series TV drama. He directed short film successes The Graffiti of Mr Tupaia and Choice Night, and later co-wrote and directed Harry, the gritty crime drama series starring Oscar Kightley and Sam Neill. He wrote and directed The Day that Changed My Life, the multi-award winning documentary about Christchurch’s devastating earthquake, and directed two standalone episodes of James Patterson’s true crime anthology series Murder is Forever. He’s currently writing an adaptation of Archibald Baxter’s memoir We Will Not Cease. Chris was also a longtime partner of and director at Auckland TV commercials company Robber’s Dog.
Preparation
Selected directors and actors will be expected to do some script prep beforehand. DEGNZ will provide the scene at least one week in advance.
Christchurch
When: Sat 29 June, 9am – 2pm Where: Rangi Ruru Girls’ School, 59 Hewitts Road, Merivale, Christchurch Cost: DEGNZ/Equity NZ members – Free, Non-members – $29
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Rehearsal_and_performance-Logo2.png4701240admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2019-05-21 18:07:052019-06-11 13:41:46Christchurch – Rehearsal & Performance with Director Chris Dudman
Directors & Editors Guild of NZ is pleased to offer a Directing Masterclass with acting coach Howard Fine who for over a quarter of a century has built an unshakable reputation as one of the most gifted acting teachers of his generation.
In this Directing Masterclass, Howard will supervise the directors to work with an ensemble of paired actors on pre-selected scenes.
Howard will teach directors how to articulate their visions in a way that allows actors to live authentically within the world of the script. He focuses on areas of personalisation, technique, script analysis and insights into authentic human behavior.
Background and Auditing
A two-day Masterclass for actors (Fri 21 – Sat 22 June) organised by Equity NZ will precede the Directing Masterclass (Sun 23 June). Each full day consists of rigorous exploration of technique as Howard works with the ensemble of actors on pre-selected scenes. The same actor pairings and scenes will be used for the three days.
It is highly recommended that prospective directors also “audit” both days of Howard’s acting Masterclass as this will greatly enhance and inform their understanding of the work undertaken in the workshop. It is also a wonderful opportunity to observe Howard’s technique, lessons and processes.
But it is permissible if prospective directors can only commit to Saturday and Sunday. You will be asked to indicate which days you can commit to in your application.
Note: Both Masterclasses will be open to Auditors from Equity NZ and DEGNZ. Any work done by the selected directors will be in front of an audience of industry peers in a supportive, learning environment.
About Howard Fine
Unique among his contemporaries, Howard is an award-winning acting coach, an award-winning author on acting and is the head of an award-winning acting studio. Howard Fine has trained Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actors in the US, and AFI, AACTA and Logie winning actors in Australia. He has personally coached many of the world’s most notable, recognisable and decorated actors, including Jennifer Connelly, Will Smith, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pine, and Oscar winner Jared Leto. As the Creative Director of two permanent studios, Howard Fine splits his time between Los Angeles and Melbourne.
“Howard Fine is an extremely skilled teacher. He has the ability to help actors create beyond their own experience in a way that is both exciting and compelling. Personally, I feel he is one of the greatest acting teachers working today.”
Martin CampbellDirector (Casino Royale, Edge of Darkness, Vertical Limit)
Workshop Details
When: Sun 23 June, 9am – 6pm
Where: TBC, Auckland
Price: (includes auditing of acting Masterclass days) DEGNZ member – Free / Non-member – $60
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSF5732.jpg27604896admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2019-05-17 17:19:122020-03-20 11:36:51Directing Masterclass with Acting Coach Howard Fine
DEGNZ invites New Zealand directors to apply for a 5-Day Travis Technique Intensive from August 14 – 18 in Auckland. The workshop is designed to fully immerse a small number of directors (max. 5) into STORY (Autobiographical Storytelling), CHARACTERS (Interrogation Process) and STAGING (Power of Placement). By practicing The Travis Technique on a story from their own life, directors will gain the confidence to apply their new skills to their own projects right away.
Based in California, Mark Travis trains directors in The Travis Technique worldwide.
Go beyond result directing and venture into inspired and impactful collaboration with your characters
The greatest obstacle for directors and actors is their desire to control the characters. Directors control by demanding results. Actors control by planning their performances, thereby effectively blocking the characters from emerging freely and organically.
The problem is that most directors are not given the training in how to engage with actors in a creative and collaborative way. Without these skills for inspiring and supporting the actors, directors will revert to result directing. This forces actors to fabricate the emotions and attitudes they think will please the director.
With The Travis Technique, directors can bring out the characters’ emotional truths from the actors without falling back on result directing. Actors can release their characters from within – complex and unpredictable, lusting and tumbling through the drama of their lives. Even the most vanilla scenes will start to breathe and pulse.
Once directors and actors have worked together in rehearsal, exploring the characters’ relationships and dynamics in the scenes, the quality of performances will be markedly heightened. During production, multiple takes can be tweaked quickly and efficiently, saving time and money.
“I love working with Mark. It’s as if he opens the top of my head and rummages around in there until all my internal voices are alive and conflict… then he calls action. I can’t plan or play it safe, I am forced to exist in the moment. It’s a gift for an actor.”
Tandi WrightActor (Nothing Trivial, Daffodils)
“I was fortunate enough to attend a 10 day intensive Mark Travis technique in [Los Angeles]. I found the workshop immensely beneficial. Especially in regards to workshopping characters, deepening my script and also blocking scenes in a more dynamic and interesting way.”
Zoe McIntoshDirector (The World in Your Window)
Our Tutors
MARK W. TRAVIS is one of the world’s leading authorities on the art of film directing, writing and storytelling. On-stage, he has directed over 60 theatre productions in Los Angeles and New York. Author of two important books on filmmaking and winner of over 30 directorial awards in theater, Mark Travis has developed a fresh and innovative approach to writing and directing that cuts to the living and breathing core of every story, script and character. Mark has taught his dynamic Travis Technique at over 50 film schools and director’s guilds around the world. Affectionately called “the director’s director,” Mark is in constant demand to consult on film projects worldwide.
ELSHA TAYA BOHNERT is an award-winning artist and poet, and the author of Don’t Trip over the Garden Hose (Deuxmers, 2013). Elsha has been a longtime student of Mark Travis’ autobiographical storytelling workshops in Hawai`i and is the only person authorized by him to teach it. With her background in multicultural learning and narrative medicine, she helps students learn The Travis Technique through playful and provocative games. “You have to be like an ancient four-year-old,” she says, “clueless and wise about the enchanted worlds we come from and still carry around in our bodies.”
Workshop Details
When: 14 – 18 August, Wed to Sun 9am – 6pm
Where: Samoa House, The Actors’ Program, 283 Karangahape Rd, Auckland
To be considered for the course, directors must meet ONE of the following:
You’re in advanced development on a feature film (can be a debut feature).
You’re attached to direct scripted drama that’s likely to go into production.
You have directed on a feature film, scripted drama or telefeature.
What you will need
Selected directors will need to begin preparation two months prior in order to be best prepared to get the most out of the Intensive. Prep will begin with the assignment of writing a short 3-minute autobiographical story. Mark and Elsha will work with each director to develop the characters and deepen their story ahead of the workshop.
Note: Any work done by the directors will be observed in a supportive, collegial environment. This workshop will be open to observation by a modest-sized group of actors and fellow DEGNZ members.
a brief, maximum 1-page letter that explains why you would like to participate. If you are in development, please provide details of the project, including what stage it’s in and key people.
Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted.
This May, the Directors & Editors Guild of NZ is thrilled to present two days of feature documentary workshops for editors, directors and producers with US documentary filmmaker Doug Blush. Doug returns to New Zealand thanks to a partnership with Loading Docs.
DOUG BLUSH is an award-winning editor, director, producer, writer and cinematographer whose work includes over 130 feature and television projects, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as well as the American Cinema Editors (ACE).
His recent credits include, as edit consultant, Notable Pictures’ The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps, as consulting editor and co-producer, the 2019 Academy Award winning Period. End Of Sentence, the 2018 Academy Award winning Icarus, and, as supervising editor, the 2013 Oscar-winning 20 Feet From Stardom, for which he also received the ACE Eddie Award for Best Documentary Editing. He was Co-Editor and Associate Producer of Kirby Dick’s The Hunting Ground in 2014, and the Oscar nominated and Emmy winning The Invisible War in 2012.
Doug co-owns MadPix Films, a production and post production company in Los Angeles dedicated to documentary and independent films. He is also a longtime film educator with classes and seminars at USC, UCLA, Syracuse University and the YoungArts Foundation in Miami, as well as exchanges and panels in Indonesia, Brazil, New Zealand, Armenia, Malaysia, Nigeria, China, the Netherlands and more.
Day 1: Masterclass on Producing and Editing a Winning Documentary
Sunday 19 May, 9am – 5pm, MTG RM, Kingsland, Auckland
In the world of documentary, the edit is crucial. This interactive Masterclass for editors, producers and directors will connect editing with the other crafts involved in documentary filmmaking.
The Masterclass will survey where we are and where we’re heading in documentary – using examples from over 15 years of award winning and widely distributed docs from Doug’s catalog of over 130 feature films. Participants will get to see how many major doc features and shorts made the most of great stories and overcame huge problems to succeed.
The day will discuss successful strategies for production, editing and post schedules, and promotion, distribution and festivals. Participants are also encouraged to discuss current issues they’re facing in their films, or questions about ideas in the planning stages.
Monday 20 May, 9am – 4pm, MTG RM, Kingsland, Auckland
Call for Applications!
The Lab will consist of a group seminar with up to 6 selected teams with a feature documentary project in post-production. Editors may attend on behalf of their project or come as a team.
The day will focus on how to think about structure, character arcs and larger meanings of each film, and how to plan out an edit path with goals and benchmarks.
Participants will be asked to introduce their project with a logline summary and show a sample (based on where the project is) for group discussion and feedback in a confidential environment.
We will discuss each project, and go over the potential promising story directions and possible pitfalls of each. Doug will also draw on clips from his past docs to show how they may have dealt with similar issues in the edit and the shoot.
Cost: $85 / team; fee waived if the editor is a DEGNZ Full member
How to Apply for the Lab – Open to Editors
Lab Application Deadline: 4PM, Monday 13 May
STEP 1:Click here to apply using the registration form. You will need to supply details about your project (title, brief synopsis, links if any) and names of those on your team.
