Types Of Theatre Or Film Directors

And How To Work With Them

The above conversation was something my director friend had experienced while visiting a theatre studio a few years ago. He had been using the studio to conduct his rehearsals for any of his upcoming shows for years now. One day, the studio visited by a somewhat elderly British chap, and my friend decided to strike a conversation.

When he told us what had happened, we laughed our arses off as we couldn't believe the guy's reply. This became an inside joke that ran for years, up to this day.

I’ve only bumped into this guy once at the same studio (The Theatre community in Malaysia is respectable in size, but not huge). I’ve never seen him conduct his rehearsals, but I’m told that his style of directing is heavily based on Biomechanics which originated from Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Biomechanics in Theatre is a style of acting where the actor’s character is originated from external movements first, then inwards. In contrast, Stanivlaski’s style was to develop a character from the inside out. Both however, had the same objective, which is to produce a realistic and authentic output from the actor.

Anyways, the point I’m trying to make here is that every director has their own style of directing and no two directors will be alike. The world is a big place and every director brings in their own unique magic, skills and experience to create art, whether that's on stage and in film.

Although this is true, generally speaking, they can be categorized on a high level. These directors may fall under only one category, or may even be placed under several of these categories in different amounts. This generalization is for actors to get a broad understanding of what kind of directors you may end up working within the industry.

Without further ado, here are the types of directors and how to work with them.

The Technical Directors
Technical directors are those whose style tends to spend their time and focus on the physical setup of the production such as staging, lighting, logistics and camera angle (in Film).

They tend not to concentrate so much on the character’s emotional understanding or journey and are likely to expect them to perform under minimal supervision.

They don’t target to get the best and most authentic performance like how some other directors could spend hours and retakes trying to achieve. So long as the performance is believable enough, the technical setup will bring the show to life.

If working with such a director, expect to have a less personal interaction with the director. Be independent, know your lines and staging, ask questions if any and deliver your part like a professional.

The Result Directors
Result directors (also known as General Directing) are those who guide actors to achieve a certain effect or performance by telling them the desired expectation/emotion. You know you're dealing with a result director when most of their requests go something along the lines of, ‘Be More Happier’ or ‘Be more Shocked’. They tell the actors to ‘be’ something without telling them ‘how’.

Although most actors don’t enjoy this form of directing, it does not necessarily make it bad directing. Some of the greatest directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and John Carpenter are known to be result directors who ended up producing great films. Every actor is different anyways. Some actors can deliver great performance with minimal context. However, most would need that context in order to gain a deeper understanding of the character and the story.

If you’re working with a result director and you’re the kind of actor that needs context, expect lots of question marks and grey areas. Understand the end result the director expects and spend some extra time alone to fill in the gaps of your characters motive. Do this by coming up with your own purpose and reasoning that justifies why the character would behave a certain way.

The Context Directors
Context directors and those who guide actors to achieve an authentic performance by providing deep context and understanding to the story. These types of directors are likely to have a dedicated acting workshop before a shoot or during rehearsals with their actors.

During this time, the workshops would usually consist of insights into the story and the character's journey, and bonding sessions to understand the actor on a more personal level. This is so that the director would know how to best convey the story in a way that's effective to the actor's understanding (possibly employ sense memory).

The overall objective of these directors is to put the actor in the character's circumstance and state of mind to bring out the most organic and authentic performance. Once that is achieved, the director will then mold that character accordingly to the show.

You know you are working with a Context Director if they spend lots of time explaining and having you do theatre exercises such as ‘The Interrogation’ and ‘Sense Memory’.

If working with this type of director, be prepared mentally and emotionally as you may experience an intense amount of emotion. You can only be completely put into the character's circumstance and state of mind if you forget yourself, surrender yourself to the character and be vulnerable enough for the director to guide you. This means a strong sense of trust needs to be established beforehand.

A director may not strictly fall under one of these categories but may possess a blend of these styles. It's important to remember that there are no right and wrong styles in directing.

The measure of a director is the overall end product of the show. The means to get there are up to their discretion.

That’s it for this time! I hope you guys enjoyed this piece and let me know if you have any questions I could answer.

See you guys soon!

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