[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: Can you explain to us how you direct a scene?
Tendayi Nyeke, Writer/Director/Producer: Because I was a little miss producer for the longest time, I wasn’t directing enough. I think I’ve started to do it more with this project prep. It starts there, it starts with breaking the scene down from a script perspective. I start with just that whole shape of the thing.
I need to know where my character is going. Then I actually look at the scene. I look at each character and their emotional arc in the scene. Even before I’m with an actor in front of me, I’ll know emotionally what I’m trying to communicate.
I then start directing the look and tone of it because I think of the camera language. I try to bring that together. So I’m going:
-How is the camera language adding to the storytelling?
-How is the lighting going to add to the storytelling?
That’s typically what I’m doing first. The visual treatment stuff and the visual story of the film or the episode and what’s it going to look and how is that helping tell the story and what’s in the character’s house. I try to build out the world from the what’s in the scene from a set and production design perspective.
Then the camera stuff, then the lighting stuff, then the script and the actors and now when I’m on set.
I love rehearsal, if I can afford rehearsal. I do love reading lots of questions. I love actors that come prepared…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
Writer/Director/Producer Tendayi Nyeke’s multi-genre creative work has been awarded internationally. A former broadcast executive who helmed several award-winning shows, Tendayi has also written, produced, and directed television programs across global platforms. Most recently, she Executive Produced the Annie Award-winning Disney+ science fiction Anthology Kizazi Moto (2023) with Oscar-winning director Peter Ramsey of Spiderverse acclaim.
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