Directing DS

[Luciaphile]

I thought I'd start a new thread rather than add to the other one about the acting.

Don't know a lot about the directors or their particular styles of the folks from DS, but I've been trying to watch the show from that perspective (and damned if you guys aren't right, Kaplan's episodes are markedly different from Swift's).

I was fascinated by the anecdote about Jerry Lacy and Lela Swift and I have to admit (being an ardent "Eric Lang is evil" proponent), that I had never really considered that Powell's over-the-top performance might have been dictated from above.

Sooo, I thought I'd throw this out there.  I have no fixed opinion on the subject.  And I'm really just curious at this point.  What kind of styles do you see coming from the different directors?  Any more anecdotes that might shed some light on what certain people wanted and how effective they were at getting it?  Also wondering if certain actors had more leeway than others?  I did read an interview of Sedwick's (sp?) that suggested that when the F/X really got going, they had less time to spend with the actors.  

Deeply curious,
Luciaphil

[Dr. Eric Lang]

I had never really paid attention to who wrote or directed particular episodes until just recently. Every now and again I notice a special little touch of extra directing effort, be it a good segue from one scene to the next, especially good camera work, or unusually effective special effects. When I do check the end credits to see who the director was for that episode it invariably winds up Lela Swift.

Like I say, I'm not too familiar with the styles and differences between the directors, so perhaps Swift has some weak points by comparison. Perhaps she's more of a technical director than an acting director. However, whenever I notice a little extra directing effort - something that just catches my eye, like a really good camera angle, or starting a scene with a shot of some particular prop and pulling back from it effectively - something a little extra like that - it always turns out to be a Swift episode.

On the other hand, when I've noticed especially BAD technical directing and checked the end credits, it's invariably a non-Swift episode.


Just my .02  

[Daphne]

Like I say, I'm not too familiar with the styles and differences between the directors, so perhaps Swift has some weak points by comparison. Perhaps she's more of a technical director than an acting director.

I would have thought the opposite. KLS wrote about how Lela Swift gave her a lot of help in the beginning of DS because she had no prior experience [on tv shows, anyway, i guess], and told her what to do, what not 2 do, etc...."don't point" "don't indicate" "refill this and sweep that and wipe that and if you're done with all that before the end of the scene, THEN you can look at the other actor." LMAO I love anecdotes! ^_^

I really don't notice much about the cameras and the like on DS....I guess I'm just 2 absorbed in whatever's going on between the characters. Although, I did like the one episode where the camera was a close up on Julia's eyes through a microscope in Lang's lab. That was pretty kewl ^_^

[Barnabas]

I guess I'm just 2 absorbed in whatever's going on between the characters. Although, I did like the one episode where the camera was a close up on Julia's eyes through a microscope in Lang's lab. That was pretty kewl ^_^

That really was a high point of DS directing. I've yet to see anything quite so inventive on any other daytime soap since.

[Dr. Eric Lang]

I would have thought the opposite. KLS wrote about how Lela Swift gave her a lot of help in the beginning of DS because she had no prior experience [on tv shows, anyway, i guess], and told her what to do, what not 2 do, etc...."don't point" "don't indicate" "refill this and sweep that and wipe that and if you're done with all that before the end of the scene, THEN you can look at the other actor." LMAO I love anecdotes! ^_^

I really don't know, but I've read some criticism of Swift so I figured maybe she wasn't considered a good director of acting. I've just noticed it's her name in the credits whenever I've looked to see who the director is because I found the technical stuff good that day.

Do you have KLS' book "My Scrapbook Memories" too? I loved when she talked about asking a director "what's my motivation?" and the director snapped "Where you gonna work next week? THAT'S your motivation!"

[Raineypark]

I'm not sure where you'd find the information, but I would think it's very important to know how much experience each director had in both stage and TV directing when comparing their individual styles.  It's pretty much the same thing we said about the actors....those who had had previous television experience had a clear advantage over those who had none.

Directors who came straight from the stage would have been at even more of a disadvantage than the actors,because  the process of technical direction is a whole "other", more complicated job on top of directing the actors.

I also wonder which, if any, of the  DS directors relied almost completely on their Technical Directors to compose (if not "call") camera shots in the control room?
Wouldn't THAT be interesting, if we were giving praise for technical expertise to the director who actually had none at all?!!

I'm absolutely NOT attempting to demean anyone's talent....I never watch the credits and have NO idea who directed a single episode.

Raineypark

[jennifer]

I  guess i'm going to have to start watching
to see never really paid that much attention
to it either but it sounds like it would be worth noticing if there is a difference

jennifer

[Cassandra]

I  guess i'm going to have to start watching
to see never really paid that much attention
to it either but it sounds like it would be worth noticing if there is a difference

jennifer

A good idea. I've never really noticed this before either but now that you mentioned it, Im going to start looking myself.

[Daphne]

LOL, right after I read this, I went and watched DS y-day, and I was looking at the beginning of y-day's episodes from that POV. I thought they were reeeeeally kewl, like Carolyn in two angles overlayed on top of each other. And all the fading. I was like "........WOW" It was really kewl! ^_^ I liked seeing, like, a close up of Carolyn's face, and then at the same time, I could see where she was going [i.e. towards the door, the bed, etc]. LOL I wonder if it's just 'cuz of this topic.....hmmm  

[Julia99]

I think technically Swift had it going. .the artsy camera angles of Julia thru the magnifying glasses, and mirrors were Swift episodes.  But "actor" style, Kaplan got more subtlty and honesty out of the actors, they were restrained and the screen blocking was more for television and not the stage.  I remember when once, in PT a character was unconscious. .they had the camera angle on the floor and I remember noting it .. because other times.. .they'd have the person up on a bed or couch. . Kaplan seemed to try and make the "human physical actions" more real. . is that the right phrase?