Theater directing. Profession director

The centuries-old history of the theater knows periods of dawn and decline, and has thousands of names of great artists. Hundreds of times people who know and love theater have tried to explain the magical art of the stage, to discover the secrets of its influence on people.

Each era left its own theory of theater. Many theatrical trends emerged. But no one other than Stanislavsky united the creative experience of outstanding actors of the 19th and 20th centuries into a single harmonious system, discovered the objective laws of human behavior on stage, or tried to find a conscious path to the actor’s subconscious. He is not only a great actor and thinker, but also a brilliant director. He created a certain theatrical direction.

The Stanislavsky system creates an artist, a director - creates performances

The system is as simple as anything ingenious. And unimaginably complex. Who knows and loves life. He will understand her. Who is talented will master it.

The laws of the system are born from practice and practice confirms it. Every artist must one day discover it within himself. And having discovered, develop and improve the laws of creativity.

In just one hundred years, the concept of the director has undergone a significant revolution. The director is a manager, manager. In the middle of the last century, the concept of a director did not imply anything more. The manager is like at a festival, otherwise he is the scriptwriter. The play was learned and performed by the actors. The director made sure that costume designers, props, make-up artists, lighting technicians, and workers served the artists well and on time.

The art of theater directing is an acquisition of the second half of the 19th century. There are some discrepancies about when and with whom “it all began.” Some theater scholars trace the history of directing to the Duke of Meiningen and his assistant L. Kroneck, others to A. Antoine and O. Brahm, while others begin the history of the new theatrical era with the founders of the Moscow Art Theater Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. However, the latest theater studies again push back the time of the birth of director's art by several decades and trace its history exactly from the middle of the last century, linking the emergence of director's theater in Europe with the activities of Charles Kean in the London Princess Theater (1850 - 1859) and Heinrich Laube in the Vienna Burgtheater (1849 - 1867) Of course, not only because it was Laube who really turned out to be the first in the history of theater to turn directing into an independent profession. He came to the Burgtheater, already a famous playwright, but, having headed the theater, he did not write any more plays, because he believed that the duties of a theater director and director could not be combined with any other activities. The point is not at all that until the middle of the 19th century directing as a profession did not exist at all. The point is different - in the specific revolution that took place in theatrical art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The acting theater became a director's theater. That's the whole point. Not just a new profession appeared, a fundamentally new type of art was born - the art of theater directing.

The entire middle and second half of the 19th century is the pre-director era in the theater. This is a time when there were already directors, but the art of directing did not yet exist. Directing was just receiving citizenship rights. The profession, the position of director, already really existed in the theater, was designated in the theatrical nomenclature, but the functions of directing still continued to be purely auxiliary.

At the turn of the century, the emergence of director's theater in Europe took contemporaries “by surprise.” The emergence of the director as the first creative person confused everything: traditions, hierarchy, the relationship of the artist with the public and criticism, the very structure of theatrical production. The invasion of directing into the performing arts was perceived as something seriously threatening the very nature of the theater; the figure of the theater director was seen as a dangerous destructive force. And the director’s stage, as often happens in new things, really wasn’t very convincing. In 1889, he tried his hand at directing, staging P. Gnedich’s one-act comedy “Burning Letters”, Konstantin Stanislavsky. The performances of the famous European theater have become a good school for aspiring actors and aspiring directors.

Theater of the 20th century is the era of great directors. What does it mean? This means that we live in the era of director's theater. Modern theater - theater 070998 is the leader of the theatrical process, heads and conducts the theatrical business, it is the director who today determines the creative face of the theater, its ideological orientation, repertoire policy, its artistic style, handwriting, method, organizational and creative structure, its aesthetic and ethical principles.

“What” and “how” in directing are the relationships between the director and the author (with his era, environment, social circumstances), the director and the actor, the director and the time in which he lives and stages this performance. The director is responsible for the logic of connecting all the artistic structures of the performance, and - this is perhaps the most important thing - for connecting theater with life.

The director must be able to read and understand the play, he must also be able to hear and understand life. Only with a subjective, purely individual approach of the director to the play is directorial creativity possible, the creation and birth of new independent content is possible. And this content will be filled with the director’s individuality, personal attitude both to the world of the play and to the world of life itself.

Based on the author’s super- and super-task, from the author’s entire world and the specific integral life of his play and relying on his own knowledge, his intimate, spiritual, human experience, the director creates an independent concept of the play and performance. Exactly this independence makes the director an artist, creator, interpreter. Finding the way, not getting lost in the magical labyrinth of connections created by nature itself and the specifics of theatrical creativity - this is the main task of all theater artists. The difficulties of an actor in this work are incommensurable with anything. The creation of a stage character, the mystery of the birth of a living person in the circumstances proposed by the author and director, that is, the connection of a human actor with the individuality of the author, the alien soul of the role, the director’s plan - what could be more complex, inexplicable, more mysterious?... And how necessary is the actor here? the hand of the director, the sensitive and intelligent hand of the director-teacher. The director of the actor and his assistant, who, in the words of Nemirovich-Danchenko, is able to “simultaneously follow the will of the actor and direct it.” The actor is the follower in this work, the leader is the director.

“As Nemirovich-Danchenko said: the director is a three-dimensional being”

1. Director and interpreter of the play

2. The director is a mirror reflecting the individual qualities of the actor (to be able to manipulate, to be a good teacher and psychologist)

3. Director and organizer of the performance.

“A theater director today is not a stage director, he is the author of a play,” writes G.A. Tovstonogov. - the director’s possibilities in interpreting the play today are limitless. His role and responsibility for creating the performance has increased many times over, even compared to the heyday of Stanislavsky’s directing work... There is no need to be afraid to admit this, just as there is no need to be afraid to recognize natural changes in art...”

The director is responsible both for the logic of connecting all the artistic structures of the performance, and - this is perhaps the most important thing - for connecting the theater.

K.S. Stanislavski paid great attention to ethical issues. It includes ethics as a decisive condition for life and the development of art. In “Notes on Artistic Ethics and Discipline,” he wrote that an artist must obey not only the ethical laws accepted in society, but also artistic ethics (“narrowly professional ethics of stage activity”). Another ethical norm in the theater is knowledge of the text, since an actor who gets confused in his words disturbs both his partners and the audience. Particularly noteworthy is the need for a certain relationship between the director and the actor. It is necessary to consciously, for one's own success, submit to the will of the director and other artistic directors of the performance.

The practical results achieved by Stanislavsky made his system the greatest achievement of theatrical culture, a generally recognized, scientifically based method of acting. The true material of directing, from Stanislavsky’s point of view, is not the body or psyche of the actor, but his creativity. This leads to ch. director functions:

1) evoke a creative process in the actor;

2) continuously support and direct it towards a specific goal in accordance with the general ideological and artistic concept of the performance;

3) coordinate the result of each actor’s creativity with the result of the creativity of the other performers to create a harmoniously integral unity of the performance.

In the theater, as in any collective work, a certain organization, an exemplary order is necessary in order for the external, organizational part of the performance to proceed correctly, without interruptions. Iron discipline serves as such an organization. But even more order, organization and discipline are required by the inner, creative side - it requires inner discipline and ethics. Without this, it will not be possible to carry out all the requirements of the “system” on stage.

Ethical education is one of the most important principles underlying the professional education of an actor. As a worker in theatrical art, he must feel his responsibility to the audience, to the theater group, to the author of the play, to his partner and to himself. A sense of responsibility helps to overcome selfishness and contribute through your creativity and behavior to strengthening the cohesion and unity of the team.

If an actor does not possess such qualities as integrity, truthfulness, directness, a sense of duty, moral responsibility for himself and for the team, then he has nowhere to get these qualities even when he is on stage. To create the inner life of an image, the actor has no other material than that contained in his own intellectual and emotional experience. The “small” person will not play a big role.

First of all, the director should take care of the education of the theater group. If he is helpless or mediocre in this regard, then he is not only a bad teacher, but also an inferior director. After all, a truly good performance can only grow in a good moral and creative atmosphere.

Sergei Zhenovach is the only purely literary theater in the capital. The main part of the performances is based on prose works. Being a student of Pyotr Fomenko, Sergei Zhenovach follows the master’s precepts and, in principle, works in the same coordinate system. It is characterized by the idea of joint creativity, a common composition with the actors, aimed at the free flow of creative imagination, and the director himself plays the role of a leader, combining individual episodes into a single and integral composition.

The playwright, theater and film director staged more than ten performances in Moscow, Irkutsk and the Polish cities of Warsaw and Krakow. For the play “Oxygen” Vyrypaev was awarded the “Golden Mask”, and is also a laureate of numerous Russian and international theater festivals. In 2009, Vyrypaev was named the best playwright of the year in Germany, his plays have been translated into many languages and are performed throughout Europe.

Came to directing from the acting troupe of the Theater. Vakhtangov, also acted as a performer. For a long time he refused to stage productions based on texts, but after meeting Pavel Pryazhko, he began actively staging his plays. Grigoryan's directing style is called designer style; the predecessor of this direction is Bob Wilson. The director's major works are a wandering play at the Theater of Nations and the premiere of the 2014-2015 season - Gogol's with Ksenia Sobchak and Maxim Vitorgan in the leading roles.

The founder of the Moscow theater, winner of TEFI, Golden Mask and other prestigious awards, Kirill Serebrennikov is famous not only as a theater director, but also as a film director. His performances have been and are being performed at the largest theater venues in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Bolshoi Theatre, Mariinsky Theatre, Sovremennik, Theater of Nations and others), as well as on the stages of Riga and Berlin.

People's Artist of the Russian Federation, professor at the Moscow Art Theater School, winner of major theater awards, including Golden Mask, The Seagull and Crystal Turandot. Ginkas are distinguished by their dark coloring, sensuality, ruthlessness and naturalism of detail. Masterfully embodying tragedy, he is also interested in Russian classics, tragic farce, and the theme of death and fate.

Artistic director, Rimas Tuminas adheres to the traditions of the Russian psychological school. There is no shocking or political satire in his productions; they are always philosophical and unhurried. Classic Russian drama directed by Tuminas is filled with metaphors, poetry and visual symbols. The director was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation, the Order of Friendship and the Golden Mask.

The unexpected mixture of drama and painting in his works is explained by the fact that Dmitry Krymov is not only a director, but also a set designer. He is struck by visual metaphors, they contain a lot of humor and fantasy, while the dialogue of the characters or even the plot may be completely absent. Dmitry Krymov is a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, a laureate of the Golden Mask and international theater awards.

The artistic director of the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop gravitates toward large-scale productions based on novels by “non-theatrical authors” (James Joyce, ). His performances are often ironic and even grotesque. In addition to the Workshop stage, Kamenkovich’s productions are staged at Sovremennik, the Theater named after. Ermolova, Theater Arts Studio. The director is a winner of the Golden Mask, Highlight of the Season and other awards.

Artistic director of the Theatre. Vl. Mayakovsky was awarded the prize named after. Stanislavsky, “Crystal Turandot”, “Golden Mask” and more. Most often based on classical texts, they are restrained, subtle and imbued with philosophical depth. Karbauskis's works have nothing to do with entertainment theater, and he prefers a clearly expressed main idea to innovation and enthusiasm.

A graduate of VGIK and GITIS, winner of the Golden Mask special prize for the play “Life is a Good Thing,” Marat Gatsalov stages plays by contemporary young playwrights using . According to the director, he is interested in studying life at arm's length. The “new drama” became such an experimental laboratory for him, cultivating in the young director a keen ear for theatrical falsehood.

The young director, a graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School, became famous thanks to his hip-hop opera “Cops on Fire,” the heroes of which soon went beyond the stage into the media space. Today Yuri Kvyatkovsky teaches at the Moscow Art Theater School, and one of the performances staged with students, Verbatim, has entered the repertoire of the Praktika Theater. The director’s recent grandiose project was a wandering play staged in the space of the Center. Meyerhold.

A graduate of GITIS, he received a diploma as the owner of the “Golden Mask” - common to the entire Liquid Theater, in the performance of which Vytoptov participated as an actor. Actively participates. Among the director’s best works is the production of the synthetic modern opera “Dreams of the Minotaur.” There is no destructive element in Vytoptov’s direction; he clings tightly to what is reliable and proven, while not being afraid to use the latest technologies.

A master of shocking, known for his more than extraordinary productions of classics, Konstantin Bogomolov became especially famous thanks to performances based on Oscar Wilde and Dostoevsky’s novel. In 2014, at the invitation of Mark Zakharov, Bogomolov staged Pushkin’s play, full of unexpected finds, on the stage of Lenkom. The director’s performances are also staged at the Moscow Art Theater. A.P. Chekhov, Oleg Tabakov Theater Studio and more.

The artistic director is perhaps the most mysterious of all the capital's directors. A student of Efros and Vasiliev, about whom legends have been circulating since the early 90s. Klim’s first project on the stage of the Central House of Artists is the duology “Serving the Word - Russian Logos”, the first part of which lasts 5 hours, and the second - almost 2. A poetic text is performed from the stage by a single actress. Klim's performances are the co-presence of a group of people - spectators - between the past and the present, alone with the magical law of phrases.

The history of the emergence of the director's profession

In the course of various reforms and changes in political, cultural, social life, the well-established one began to falter and required restructuring. The destruction began with a breakdown in the harmony of dramatic action; the accepted hierarchy in the work of the troupe disintegrated. Previously, it was customary that the entire action was built around one of the characters, one person played the main role on stage throughout the entire play. There was a kind of pyramid of the troupe, the top of which were the premieres, the next step were those who played supporting roles, and even lower in this hierarchy were the tertiary performers.

But plays began to appear where the action covered more than one storyline, and there were several heroes, instead of one main one. The three-level hierarchy was replaced by an ensemble; first one or another performer came to the fore, depending on the development of the play. Such dramaturgy no longer allowed one actor to carry out spontaneous directing; roles were no longer created around which the entire action was revolved. During the course of the play several centers emerged. Playwrights were also losing their importance. At the same time, the role of decorators increased, which further deepened the conflict situation. The authors of the plays did not want to give up their positions; they tried to impose their opinions on the performers and artists through multiple stage directions and author’s instructions.

Initially, the director came from among actors and playwrights and only later became an autonomous figure. Although this process was quite rapid, the responsibilities of a representative of the new profession gradually changed and did not take shape immediately.

The tasks of the first directors of the Russian theater

Initially, he was required to resolve organizational issues.
Then the updated position of directors appeared - this is the recruitment of a troupe, the choice of repertoire, actors of a certain type, placement in suitable buildings.
Another area of activity is organizing the creative process of working on a play.
Greater importance began to be given to the preparatory stage. It included: searching for materials, for example, for historical productions, reading a play, and rehearsing.
There was a need to unite the troupe around one person, submit to his will and maintain discipline. The director began to solve this problem.
His equally important responsibility was the function of educating the team in accordance with the repertoire and rules.
There is a need to educate the audience in new traditions and rules.
The expansion of functionality was especially expressed in, for example, the creation of complex mise-en-scenes. They could only appear with the assistance of the director, who saw the stage from the auditorium. Mise-en-scène, along with plastic arts and words, became the language of production.

When all this was concentrated in the hands of one person - the director, then he, and not the playwright or actor, became the author of the performance. His concept and composition became the basis; this made the performance itself more holistic.

In Europe, this position appeared in the second half of the 19th century. In Russia, this process proceeded at a slower pace, for which there were historical reasons. Russia was a young theatrical state. The development of this type of art in both capitals was slowed down by the monopoly law. According to it, only imperial theaters could operate in Moscow and St. Petersburg, while private enterprises existed in the provinces. The monopoly was abolished in 1882, this served as the basis for the emergence of private stage venues, but they found it difficult to compete with the existing ones, so they opened and closed, unable to withstand the competition.

Moscow Art Theater as the cradle of Russian directing

By the time the Moscow Art Theater appeared, the capital's public was already ready and was looking forward to the birth of the new temple of Melpomene. The historical one outlined the fundamental ideas of the existence of the new theater. During their famous conversation the following questions were discussed:

stage ethics,
technical side of things,
process organization,
repertoire,
building relationships within the team and between two managers.

On all counts, they already had a special plan for reforming the old complex stage body, and these ideas did not contradict, but only complemented each other. Dual leadership made it possible to use Stanislavsky's organizational talent - he was given the production part, and Nemirovich was responsible for the literary side of the process. The troupe included Moskvin, Knipper, Meyerhold and other amateur actors from the Alekseevsky circle and graduates of the Philharmonic Society. The new directors’ program for the future of the theater came together right away; not everything was accomplished at first; some things came easy; others took many years to achieve.

The ideal was a troupe without hierarchy, created on creative and social equality. The entire process of preparing and working on the play at the Moscow Art Theater was structured differently than was previously accepted. Much attention was paid to the preparatory stage of the production: reading the play, its analysis, multiple and dress rehearsals. The preparatory process also involved the education of the viewer: it was forbidden to walk around the hall during the action, enter after the third bell, or interrupt the action with applause.

Nemirovich paid great attention to the quality of dramaturgy in the repertoire. There was nothing random here, but there were no restrictions on style or theme. The first ten years in the repertoire could be traced in several directions:

historical and everyday life (A. Tolstoy),
intuitions and feelings (Chekhov),
socio-political (Ibsen, Gorky),
social and everyday (Hauptmann, L. Tolstoy),
fantasy, symbolism (Ostrovsky, Maeterlinck).

The first was the play “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich” by A. Tolstoy. The drama was in keeping with the stated goals of the new temple of Melpomene. Both directors drew inspiration from the tours of the Duke of Meiningen's troupe, from there they took the desire for historical authenticity, harmony in every element of the action, and careful design of crowd scenes. The production was successful, but Nemirovich said that the Moscow Art Theater was not born with this premiere, but much later, in a modest series of working days.

The following performances were announced in the repertoire:

"Antigone" by Sophocles,
"The Seagull" by Chekhov,
"Hedda Gabler" by Ibsen,
"The Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare,
"The Sunken Bell", "Hannele" by Hauptmann,
Pisemsky’s “arbitrary people.”

It was “The Seagull” that marked the birth of a new stage venue. The premiere, which took place on December 17, 1898, was not noisy, the hall was half empty, but it was with this play that success began. This and others: “Uncle Vanya”, “Three Sisters”, “The Cherry Orchard” radically changed the dramatic art of the new century.

The Moscow Art Theater immediately became fashionable and beloved by the intelligentsia, who saw their ideals in its productions.

The role and significance of the Moscow Art Theater

The revolutionary ideas of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich were developed. By 1910, the director's theater was divided in two. The first is literary and psychological, separating the stage and the auditorium with an invisible wall. The second is with improvisation, similar in spirit to commedia dell'arte. At the same time, all kinds of performing arts of both directions existed; they mutually influenced and complemented each other.

Fifteen years since the significant meeting of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko:

The Moscow Art Theater appeared, it developed its influence on the dramatic art of the early 20th century,
a new creative profession of director was born,
the author of the play has changed,
the birth of a new profession helped the formation of the dramatic stage as an independent art,
Directing, which grew out of the Moscow Art Theater experience, began to develop in different directions.

New theater directed by V.S. Meyerhold

After four seasons, Meyerhold, the leading actor of the troupe, will leave it, deciding to try himself in a new role as a director. First, he will create the “New Drama Partnership”, then he will try himself, working in a branch of the Moscow Art Theater. He will try to free himself from the excessive natural truth of the Meiningen school. His studio will embody the idea of conventional dramatic art.

The theory and practical implementation of symbolist theater was reflected in the work of Maeterlinck. Based on this and developing the idea of static performance, Meyerhold, at the end of 1906, staged the play “Balaganchik” at Komissarzhevskaya’s in St. Petersburg. There is no literary source in the booth theater. According to the dramatic plan, the actor becomes the center of improvisational action. The action is based on a script - a series of dramatic situations, but not with specific characters, but with masked images without individual features, where the stage space and the objective world are conventional. The performers had to study the techniques of past eras in order to use the techniques of grotesque and farce in the game.

Russian directing of the Silver Age

He brought to the world five great directors on the world stage, each of whom left his own unique mark on art. M. Chekhov described them as follows:

Konstantin Stanislavsky - with devotion to the truth of inner life,
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko - with precision of thinking, a sense of structure and integrity,
Vsevolod Meyerhold - with a demonic imagination to see evil in everything,
Evgeny Vakhtangov - with rich theatricality,
Alexander Tairov - with a desire for beauty.

These directors expanded the boundaries of dramatic art, pointed out the possibility of choice in the creative method of creating a performance, and convinced that on stage everything is acceptable and everything is possible. And they themselves remained in Russian theatrical history as the great masters of Russian director's theater, becoming the founders of many, many subsequent trends and schools.

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Directing is a creative and very difficult profession. In order to become them, they need an extraordinary mind, assertiveness, seriousness, literacy, and originality. Directing is a difficult task, because in a very short period of time you need to create something that will illuminate the souls of the audience with a bright flame and enter the minds and hearts of people. They make the pages of imperishable books come to life before our eyes. But this must be done in such a way as not to discredit the famous works of the classics, but to elevate them. And very often it turns out that theater directors are very limited in both means and capabilities.

About the profession

The profession of a theater director is inextricably linked with creativity. He interprets works in his own way, conducting them through the prism of his own consciousness. This requires tireless leadership of a team of actors, working with each of them individually. Often this becomes the basis for the success of a performance. In addition, the theater director controls the composer, the set designer, and other indirect participants in the action. He is also a production director.

In order to stage a performance, you need to develop a special rehearsal plan. This is also the responsibility of the theater director, and he conducts all rehearsals himself. In fact, he is the main man of the play.

Historical reference

The profession of theater director dates back to the second half of the nineteenth century. But the very concept of the profession appeared in the ancient Greek theater, although then the role of the teacher or didascal was played by the author of the dramatic work himself. During the Renaissance, everything was exactly the opposite.

Very often, the main member of the artistic troupe became the playwright and director. Such cases are known in Italian, Spanish and German theaters.

The very origin of theater director as a profession occurred much later. In the nineteenth century, the following trend could be observed in the theater: plays were staged for the prima, for leading actors. Everything was done for them: roles and plays were changed. The main indicator of the quality of the performance was the acting skills of certain artists. Changing scenery and music did not mean anything; it happened that some plays were performed with the same scenery.

Twentieth century theater director

The theater director these days is the head of the stage. Everything and everyone is subject to his plan. Even when the audience begins to talk about this or that performance, the work of the director always comes first. There is even such a famous expression: “The director dies in the actors.” It means that the theater director is blamed for all acting and stage mistakes. He must be not only a good organizer, but also a psychologist, because artists are subtle, sensitive people. In addition, he himself must possess acting skills, must be able to and know everything: even how the scenery is made.

In a modern theater? This is, first of all, a person who interprets the play according to his vision of the stage images in which the characters of the play appear. It is he who must find the main plot thread and build the entire action around it. At the same time, he must correctly place emphasis on those moments that are designed to attract the attention of a modern person, on what, in the opinion of the theater director, is reflected in modern reality.

The theater director creates his own world for the characters in the play, surrounds it with scenery, sets the desired rhythm, and selects the necessary musical accompaniment. All this is included in the plan for staging the play. The main goal of a theater director is to convey to the viewer the main idea of a dramatic work.

The task of a theater director is to skillfully realize his idea of staging a dramatic work that is already familiar to the audience so that it sounds in a new way, interests people and makes them come to the performances again and again. To do this, he must most accurately convey his ideas to the actors, set designers, costume designers and sound engineers, so that they understand and implement on stage what is required of them. After all, the performance is a huge work of all these people. And the task of the theater director is to unite them around a single idea, make them imbued with it and give all their strength, put their soul into the performance.

To successfully solve these problems, a theater director must be a good psychologist, have a sense of modernity and high intelligence, have a good imagination and a broad outlook. To manage other people, and this is what a theater director does, a person must be able to manage himself. Therefore, he must have high self-control and self-discipline.

The director's profession belongs to the category of creative ones, and its essence lies in directing the creative process of creating a work - a film, a play, a circus performance, a variety show, etc.

A representative of this profession is responsible only for the creative side of creating a work. This distinguishes the director from the producer, who raises money for the project and resolves financial, technical, and organizational issues. However, there are masters who combine both roles and avoid possible conflicts of interest (commerce and creativity).

What types of directors are there?

Stage director

The production director is the main person who is responsible for everything that happens on the set or on stage. Actors, cameramen, sound engineers, screenwriters, decorators and other specialists report to him - he organizes them and is responsible for the final result. Therefore, the word “director” is not always used in relation to him.

Theater director

The tasks of the theater director include organizing and conducting all activities for staging the play - from working on the text of the play, selecting performers and scenery to staging the work, synchronizing the actions of the actors and their compliance with both the storyline and the artistic concept (both the author of the play and his own ).

Film editor

The profession of editing director (or film editing) hides an ordinary editor who brings together pieces of filming into one work (film, TV show, commercial, clip). Of course, this is not an ordinary technician who presses buttons on a computer, but a specialist who works side by side with the director, who knows all the subtleties and nuances of the future film and, in addition, knows how to perform all the technical functions.

The main task of the editing director is to make the output what the chief director expects.

Places of work

The position of director is provided for in many organizations producing entertainment and entertainment products:

in film companies and film studios;
in theaters and circuses;
in large advertising agencies.

And some other organizations.

History of the profession

Before the advent of cinema, the profession of a director belonged to the theatrical field. At all times, there have been people who staged plays, performances and various shows. These could be playwrights, actors or someone else, but they were the progenitors of future directors.

The popularity of the theater and more complex productions around the second half of the 19th century gave birth to the profession of director. The Meiningen Theater, directed by Ludwig Kroneck, can be considered her birthplace.

Directors appeared in cinema almost immediately with its emergence: in the documentary genre - the inventors of cinema themselves, the Lumière brothers, in the fiction genre - Georges Méliès, in the animation - Emile Reynaud.

Over time, this activity became more diverse; not only film and theater directors appeared, but also circus directors, organizers of large public events, etc.

Director's responsibilities

The list and scope of specific tasks and responsibilities of the director can vary significantly depending on the direction and specifics of the activity. For example, a film director does the following things:

writes or selects a script;
determines the overall artistic style of the painting;
selects actors and directs them;
supervises the work of decorators, costume designers, screenwriters, cameramen, editors, assistants and other specialists;
manages the installation procedure (sometimes participates in it).

For comparison, we will describe some of the functions of a television director who creates programs and broadcasts:

creates scripts;
accepts ready-made stories and programs;
participates in editing television programs and advertising videos;
works live.

Requirements for the director

The basic requirements for the director are simple:

higher specialized education;
experience in a certain field of directing: film, theater, television, etc.

At the same time, “profile” specialists (editing directors, sound engineers, etc.) are sometimes required to know the relevant equipment and software.

How to become a director

Becoming a director, especially a high-level one, is not so easy. To do this, you need to obtain a higher education in the specialty “director” - for example, graduate from the directing department of VGIK, a theater academy, a cultural institute, or another specialized university.

Moreover, it is advisable to choose an educational institution immediately according to the desired specialty: very few manage to retrain, for example, from a theater director to a film director during the course of their career.

Director's salary

How much a director earns is a big question. Famous artists make millions, but they always risk that their next creation will fail and they will end up in the red.

In addition to famous directors, there are also a lot of unnamed specialists. Their incomes are usually not very high. A director's salary can range from 30 to 250 thousand rubles per month (depending on the employer and the level of projects).