FMST 016. The Director/Actor Collaboration

This course focuses on the importance of the relationship between the director and the actor and the use of improvisation in rehearsal and production to create more powerful performances for film and television. Texts and films examined in the first half of the course will include THE IMPROVISED PLAY: THE WORK OF MIKE LEIGH by Paul Clements, DIRECTING ACTORS by Judith Weston, THE COOL WORLD by Shirley Clarke, VERA DRAKE by Mike Leigh and OLD CATS by Sebastian Silva. The second half of the semester will include in-class exercises, open rehearsals with professional actors and individual student films that put some of the examined techniques into practice. The course will also include special workshops and Q&A’s with guest filmmakers.

Prerequisite: FMST 001 and FMST 002 or equivalent production experience from a film/video production course in the TriCo with a working knowledge of the Premiere Pro Editing software is required for this course with instructor’s approval.
Prerequisite: FMST 001 or FMST 002
Humanities
1 credit.
Spring 2026. Evans.
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/film-media-studies

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