November 23 – December 6, 2005. Kiev. Ten day educational course including lectures, master-classes and workshops

6-18 April, 2006 – repeat of the course

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The course consists of 3 modules:

Module 1: The Director's Journey: from script to screen
(An intensive three-day seminar on the art and craft of film directing)

The Director's Journey covers the entire process of directing a feature film from script to screen, from concept to completion. This intensive seminar is a discussion; demonstration and analysis of every creative step the film director must take in the realization of a film.

Based on Mark W. Travis' best-selling books, The Director's Journey; the Creative Collaboration Between Directors, Writers and Actors, and Directing Feature Films this most popular seminar has been taught world wide, including Japan, England, Germany, France, Netherlands and Poland.

Directing a film is a complex network of creative collaborations. There are hundreds of artists who are involved in the creation and completion of the film and they are all lead by the singular vision of the director. How the director communicates, inspires, challenges and supports each artist will determine the quality and integrity of the final product.

During the 24-hour seminar, a feature script is used as a model so that each student can analyze, prepare and communicate his/her vision of the film. Model scripts used in the past include: As Good As It Gets, When Harry Met Sally…, Notting Hill, Ordinary People, Chinatown , American Beauty and Shakespeare In Love. Concurrently, portions of the feature film are viewed, analyzed and deconstructed giving each student an intimate insight into the art and craft of its director.

Topics and areas covered in The Director's Journey include:
•  Script Analysis
•  Working with the Writer
•  Forming The Creative Team
•  The Casting Process
•  The Actor/Director Relationship
•  The Rehearsal Process
•  Visualizing your Story
•  Working with the Cinematographer
•  The Production Process
•  Post-Production

This three day seminar is then followed by three days of Master Classes

Master Classes that were available in November-December 2005 and April 2006 included:

The Rehearsal Process
Exploring a wide range of rehearsal techniques that both actors and directors can use in the development of characters, exploration of relationships and design of the scenes.

Staging
Staging is more than just moving actors around.  It is exploring the dynamics between the physical and emotional relationships between the characters.  The dynamics in a scene can be triggered or enhanced simply by adjusting the physical behavior and relationships.

The Director and the Camera
The camera is simply a recording tool.  But it is how the director uses the camera that will determine how the audience experiences the scene.  As a recording and delivery system, the camera, lenses, framing, focus, depth of field, angels and movement all affect how we experience the event that is being recorded.

The follow-up optional master classes:

The Casting Process
Casting is 80% of directing.  And how the director works in the casting process will often determine the quality of the film.  Having only a few minutes to determine the potential of an actor is an awesome responsibility.

Working with Non-actors
There are special techniques that can be used to approach the process of bringing untrained performers to the creation of characters.  Often we are faced with this challenge and there is not time for training or education.

Scenes of Intimacy (Love scenes)
Scenes of Action and Fight scenes
Love Scenes and Fight scenes require levels of Intimacy that are at the same time frightening and challenging.  The key to working with love scenes and fights scenes is creating familiarity and trust between the actors.  This Master Class demonstrates these techniques in a very profound way.

Directing Comedy
“Dying is easy.  Comedy is hard.”  Most actors, writers and directors agree that Comedy is the most difficult genre.  Whether romantic comedy, black comedy, farce or parody – bring the audience to laughter, or even a smile requires skills of precision, timing, attitude and risk.  In this Master Class we explore a variety of tools that can help any director or actor find the humor in any scene.

Directing Children
Children are a special breed.  Seeing little differentiation between themselves and the characters, directing them is a special and unique challenge.  In this Master Class, we will explore a variety of special techniques and approaches that will allow children to be natural, vulnerable and consistent.

The Actors Boot Camp (preparing the professional actor for auditions, rehearsals and performance in film and television)

Too often actors are working without a net.  Working without a skilled director, competent scene partner or a quality script.  The Actors Boot Camp teaches profession actors special techniques and tools that will help them survive these unbearable situations.

* Each Master Class is usually one 8 hour day but in the future programs it can be expanded to two or three days if students wish more detailed exploration and demonstration.

Now, after only six days of seminars and Master Classes, the students have acquired a comprehensive view of the entire process (Director's Journey) and examined in detail three essential tools (Three Master Classes) of directing. Now it is time to apply the learnt techniques in the next module: Director's Workshop.

The only way to learn directing is to actually direct. Directing is a trial and error process (usually including more errors than one would like) and we all learn by our experiments, our mistakes and our accomplishments.

The Director's Workshop is unique in that it affords the student director the opportunity to work with script and actors in a rehearsal process under the guidance of a seasoned director. Consequently the trial and error process is accelerated as the instructor can guide the student through the treacherous waters of directing.

Demonstrating a wide range of rehearsal and directing techniques, the instructor exposes the students to new and inventive ways of looking at the scene, structuring the rehearsal process, developing characters, inspiring and challenging the actors. A crucial aspect of The Director's Workshop is the examination of the communication between the actors and the director. Directors and actors need to be able to develop the skills of listening to each other to understand the differences that exist in their processes and to avoid miscommunication and misunderstandings.

**The Director's Workshop is customarily a weekly workshop but in this course, it's condensed into a 4 day intensive.

Areas and skills covered in The Director's Workshop include:
•  Script Analysis
•  Character Development
•  Objectives and Obstacles
•  The Character Arc in a scene
•  Working with the Actor
•  Improvisations and Rehearsal Exercises
•  The Actor's POV vs. The Director's POV
•  The Tool of Staging
•  Visualizing the Scene
•  Camera and Coverage to Enhance the Scene

***In "The Director's Workshop" there are a limited number of directors who can actually participate in a hands-on manner – 16 students only. They will be chosen by Mark Travis during the first day of the ten-day course. The others may watch and participate in the workshop from the hall.

Day One: The Screenplay. 8 directors will focus on script and scene analysis.
Day Two: The Characters.The same 8 directors will focus on working with the actors and character development.
Day Three: Staging. Another 8 directors will focus on staging the scene as the tool of examination of each scene.
Day Four: The Camerawork. The same 8 directors of the previous day will focus on approaches to and concepts of visualizing the scene. We will explore angles, lenses, framing, etc.  

This, then, becomes a 10 day program for a large number of students. And by the end of this program, all students will have gained new tools and insights into the process that will support their work enormously.