CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The word directing has been given a lot of definitions by theatre scholars and has acquired a lot of meaning overtime. Robert defines directing as the process of transforming personal vision into public performance (3). This, therefore means that the director tries to convert his personal vision into reality before an audience using the human and material resources of the theatre. Johnson agrees with this position when he observes that directing is an intellectually-tasking, creative theatrical stage activity, which involves the management of artistic personnel and creative devices towards a deliberate moulding of a perceived vision, into its most sublime form (57).
Bedman describes directing as the auditory or visual interpretation of a play-script by the artistic director (71). For Ayakoroma, it is the art of harmonizing the contributions of the various artistic collaborators in a theatrical production. The contributions of the different artistic collaborators manifest in the following areas: Playwright, acting, set design and construction, lighting, costume, make-up, stage properties and sound/sound effects (88).
In the performance arts, there are two types of acting where directors are needed to direct the production. There are; stage and screen acting. Stage directing/acting is a live performance were actors are on live stage while the audience watches them perform. This is essential in theatre production. Therefore, theatre directing involves the creative interpretation of a play-script by an artistic director using the artistic and the non-artistic personnel of the theatre to present a play in the presence of an audience at a given place and at a particular time. Theatre directing is a relatively new phenomenon of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and is still developing. The role of the director began to receive particular attention during the modern age. Today, the position of the director has grown from a place of insignificance to a position where he wields and commands a lot of respect in the theatre.
Prior to this, in ancient Greece, the “Choregus”, who was the head of the chorus, directed plays and was in charge of coordinating song and movement. Bedman adds to this view when he opines that in ancient Greek theatre, the director was called “Smith”, which if translated in English means teacher. The choregus “producer’ was also a director (71). During this time, playwrights bore the responsibility of staging their plays and may have also done the casting by themselves. This tradition continued till the Roman times. During the Medieval era, it was the “Master of Secrets” (special effects expert), who was in charge of coordinating the productions. Later, during the Renaissance, there were Actor- Managers, who were usually senior actors in a troupe. These bore the responsibility of choosing the work, staging it, as well as managing the company.
Smith was noted for unifying productions. He established the idea of ensemble playing, the coordination of various components of an acting company, so that a unified impression might be created-the total performance. This signaled the beginning of modern directing and gave birth to the myriads of styles and approaches in directing today, (23).
Screen directing is a type of directing that that take place on film making process. The director is seen on production location interpreting the role of every member of the crew as production takes place. In other words, the director is the chief creative person for a movie. The director leads the viewer so the viewer gets the most out of the movie. The director wants the viewer to see the story from a particular point of view. According to Johnson “screen directing gives the director opportunity to tell the actors how to play a particular scene, sets the scene for a specific type of mood, and moves the actors around for a particular effect. In the above definition, the word setting is referring to the specific atmosphere created by the props, location, scenery, and costumes.The directing of cinematography includes both the camera shots and the lighting to obtain both a particular type of effect and mood, (1). The director also has control over the editing to create the pace, rhythm, coherence, story, and character development they and the producer want. Johnson emphases that most directors are involved with the sound for the movie, especially the dialogue, ambient noises, and sound effects. Many directors have their individual style, so we can often recognize when a specific director is responsible for a movie.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In any production in the entertainment industry, the role of a director cannot be overemphasized. This is because, the direct remains the chief corner stone that translate the dead script to live shots. The characters in the script are dormant until a director assigned the characters to actors to impersonate. By doing this and other relevant functions, the director brings to reality the different shots to a line of meaningful story for the audience to comprehend. The director and actors work together for the overall success of theatre performance. The director’s knowledge and expertise are reflected massively on the actors during performance.
It is very clear that directing for stage and screen performance demand different methods and approaches. The mismatch of these techniques along stage and screen will lead to total failure of the directors. However, there are similarities that remains core to the directing functions in both stage and screen. Critically, the study seen to be relevant to present educational theatre production and film making because most directors in contemporary drama performance do not know much on directing skills needed for both stage and screen and how they are judge from the perspective of the actors’ performance.
It is on this note that the study seek to provide comparative and contrastive analysis of directing for stage and screen.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study is directing for stage and screen: a comparative and contrastive study while the followings are the specific objectives.
- Understand the essence of directing for stage and screen productions
- Examine the similarities between stage directing and screen directing
- Discovered the difference between stage directing and screen directing
- Explain how the knowledge of the comparison of stage and screen directing can be helpful for directors.
1.4 Significant of the Study
The study is important at this point because of the immerse benefits to students, film directors and academic literature. It key to note that the study will contribute to the knowledge of student directors with practical knowledge about director responsibilities and examine the similarities between stage directing and screen directing, discovered the difference between stage directing and screen directing and explain how the knowledge of the comparison of stage and screen directing can be helpful for directors.
On the other hand, the study will have academic knowledge that will add to existing literature on the subject matter for the research.
1.5 Scope of the Study
The study focused on the directing for stage and screen: a comparative and contrastive study using the following objectives as guide. Examination of the similarities between stage directing and screen directing, discovered the difference between stage directing and screen directing and explain how the knowledge of the comparison of stage and screen directing can be helpful for directors.
1.6 Research Methodology
The method of this research is library research. The research review exiting literature generated from journal articles, book in theatre arts, and other literary materials. This is because, the study is based on secondary data collection.
1.7 Justification of the Study
Specifically, the need to examine this topic is due to the fact that some exiting literature did not necessary captured the recent literature. Also, narrowly the study to Nigeria context, the important factor for this study is to ensure that research of this type cover Nigeria directing or director.
1.8 Limitation of the Study
It was observed by the researcher that some challenges were outside the control of the researcher. These are the availability of literary resources and time frame to complete the research which comes together with other school activities. However, the research was able to manager these challenges to a point of completing the research.
1.9 Definition of Terms
Directing: This is the art and science of give cues to actors and other production crew during theatre and film production.
Director: This is the person who is assigned to direct the production of theatre and film.
Stage: A designated space for the performance of productions
Screen: Flat surfaces in a camera, on television, camera which pictures or word are shown.
1.10 Organization of the Study
The study is organized in four chapters. Chapter one covers the background to the study, statement of problem, objective of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, research methodology, justification of the study, limitation of the study and definition of the study. Chapter two focuses of literature review while chapter three discussed on the concept of directing, stage and screen and the similarities and differences of directing stage and screen. Chapter four centred on summary, conclusion and recommendations.
