DNA - Directing

As part of my Gold Arts Award, I had to do a leadership project and for that, I decided to direct a wonderful play called 'DNA' by Dennis Kelly at school with year 11-year 13 students as part of the cast.

The performance dates were the 13th and 14th of November, both starting at 7pm.

Although it has been extremely busy and stressful, it was a wonderful experience and I've learnt a lot, including different ways to position the characters and help them speak their lines in different ways.

Stage acting and directing is very different to film acting and directing but I know with this experience, I could add my new directing skills to my Preliminary Task, filming a short film with the genre of film-noir intertwined in it.

It was definitely a rollercoaster. Although I had help from fellow students to help put up the set, and do the tech, I found it very difficult at times. I had to plan auditions, decide on casting, plan rehearsal times, sort out makeup and costumes, sort out props, design the programme, plan the food and drinks for the interval, the performance dates and times and more. I'll have to use a lot of these for the short film noir film that I will direct, film and edit.

The cast and crew were extremely supportive and wanted to help me in any way they could so I knew that I would always have someone by my side. I think the hardest bit was being strict enough with the cast. I found this hard because the cast were my friends and I didn't want to come across as rude or grouchy yet I wanted them to listen to what I was telling them to do.

Because I am so used to acting, and listening to the director tell me what to do, it was weird yet cool to change role.

I've learnt a lot from this experience and it has helped me to have different views and perspectives on acting and directing. I've also learnt that you have to work hard to get a wonderful outcome, it doesn't just happen by sitting back and watching all the time.

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Below are some screenshots of the play being promoted on the school's social media as well as a short trailer that the Technician (Scott Formstone) put together to again, help promote the play and to get more seats booked.