Explication. Part one.

“Let unconscious-intuitive creativity
originates through conscious preparatory work.”

What is director's explication?

One of the creative tasks of GITIS, for admission to the theater directing department, requires writing explications.
This development is a test to see if you are ready for this profession. Does the play interest you, are you passionate about the idea, can you understand all the relationships and all the components of the work you have chosen. Will you be able to infect the master, and therefore the creative group, with your desire? This is serious work that requires a painstaking approach and effort on your part. If up to this point you thought that creativity was chaos and inspiration. Then now we must understand that in fact creativity is a well-ordered structure and work.

What is explication? Definitions.

- Explication (theater)- written accompaniment and explanation of the director’s intention in symbols.(Wikipelia)
- Explication(lat. explanation, deployment)
- The stage of research, which consists in revealing the essence of a particular object or phenomenon - explanation.
- The process of deployment, as a result of which the content of the book is revealed. unity, and its parts gain independence and can be distinguished from each other. (Philosophical Dictionary / Edited by I.T. Frolov. - 4th ed. - M.: Politizdat, 1981. - 445 p.)

Form.

The explication is written in free form and carries your individuality. It does not have any clear points or rules. As someone said: “You’re a director! Independent person. There is no need to ask everyone in what form it should be done. Show your originality and use your brain.”

To start with the task: imagine that you are simply thinking about the play you will be directing. And write down your thoughts on a piece of paper.
A special word about volume. Yes, the explication can easily exceed 15 pages and even reach 30 or more. But, again, there are no clear frameworks. The main thing is to be convincing in the conversation about your analysis.

Remember that the main thing in explication is your vision. We can say this: try to move as far as possible from the generally accepted interpretation of the work, try to see the meaning that no one has ever seen. Surprise, but surprise, please, not with nonsense.

Next I will give sample list of questions which you can ask yourself.

(Oh, I express special gratitude to Polina, who allowed me to write today’s post without actually straining my boiling brain). Remember that this is just a list of questions. These questions may or may not be in your explanation. They may be in this order, or they may be in a completely different order. These are not clear points, but a hint.

ATTENTION. If you must write an explication, do not betray yourself. Read the text below only after you have written the explication points YOURSELF.
Why? Firstly, you will force your brain to work, and not mindlessly fill out the items. Secondly, you can find some necessary question/point that needs to be asked of your play. In order to be a director, you don’t need to do everything as a carbon copy.

Also see applicants on the ArtGang website.

Most often, explication is understood as the director’s presentation of his vision of the script, synopsis or application, his concept of the content of the future film and the presentation of the ways in which he intends to achieve the desired creative result. Based on this document, producers, pitching organizers, investors, and studio heads decide how adequately the director imagines the implementation of the future film and whether their general vision of the film coincides. On the other hand, explication helps the director establish a dialogue with the film crew and convey his idea to them. Actually, the explication is a decoding of the director's intention. Moreover, its creation is not only the responsibility of the director. There are also camera, visual (from the production designer) and sound (from the sound engineer and composer) explications. This document is created at the very beginning of the preparatory period, when the director comes up with a movie in his head (as Rene Clair said: “My film is already ready - all that remains is to shoot it”).

Explication format

As a rule, all explications are written in free form, but there is a certain list of points that it is desirable to reflect in the final text.

1 What is the story of your film?

This is the most important question, which can be divided into several components: the main idea, how the action will develop, what is the driving story, what is the dramaturgy of the picture, what is its main task, what is the main conflict. In fact, this is the key description of your plan (Andrei Tarkovsky talks well about assessing the concept of his film in).

2 What genre is the film made in?

Fantastic tragicomedy, sentimental detective story, docudrama or the usual rom-com - very often the genre plays a decisive role in the producer’s decision to take on your work.

3 Where does the film take place?

It is necessary to describe the proposed filming objects as completely as possible. For example, you have declared a football field - what is it like? Is it a large field with a green lawn, brand new goals and freshly painted barriers, or an overgrown stadium with broken stands? Or maybe it’s just a dusty wasteland with markings drawn on the ground and two sticks instead of gates? If this is a street, what is it like: busy or empty, illuminated or is it a dark dead end? The same goes for interiors, you need to have a clear idea of what will work for your story and what is best avoided. Up to understanding what color the wallpaper will be in the main character’s room, how many windows, what kind of light and what kind of furniture is in his home. It would not be amiss to indicate the time of the film - day or night, winter or summer, as well as some specific weather conditions (heavy rain, clear sun, sunset, and so on).

4 What is the style of your film?

Name reference films that are similar in spirit to your film and provide a few frames as examples. What will your future creation look like: paintings that are ideal in composition and naive in spirit, films that are acidic in picture and frank in content, or pseudo-documentary and ironic works by Ulrich Seidl? Maybe you generally focus on paintings by famous artists? What mood will the viewer leave with after watching your film (for example, with a feeling of happiness or with light sadness)?

5 Visual solution for your film (intersects with the previous point)

Describe the atmosphere of the picture:

color scheme (cold or warm range, b/w or color, natural or acidic color, and so on;
type of camera (DSLR, Red, Alexa or even GoPro, what kind of optics it will be);
camera movement (handheld, tripod, steadicam, rails or crane);
working with light (absolutely natural lighting, as in Alejandro González Iñárritu, or shooting in a laboratory in the light of fluorescent lamps);
features of framing and composition (perfectly constructed picture or deliberate violation with displacement of objects);
features of editing (intra-frame, torn or parallel, nature of transitions).

It wouldn’t hurt to describe what your heroes will be wearing. Especially if their clothing affects the overall color perception of the picture. Here you can also indicate the cameramen and production designers whom you would like to invite to your shooting.

6 Sound design and musical solution

How do you plan to work with sound on set and in post-production? Will there be any special sound effects? What kind of music would you like to use: provide the names of the artists and the titles of the compositions.

7 Cast

Describe the types and personalities of your characters, show their relationships and conflicts. Give a dream-cast of your actors - which of the famous or familiar actors you see as performers of these roles. Attach multiple images of different actors playing the same role.

Explication volume

There is no fixed number of pages for explications; it all depends on the conditions. At some competitions or pitchings, I may require you to fit everything on one or two pages, but for some, 5-10 sheets will not be enough. At one of his master classes, Nikita Mikhalkov said that his explications are usually three times larger in volume than the script, since he describes in detail everything that he would like to receive during filming. The main task of explication, in his opinion, is to constantly refer to it, to check with the plan if something goes wrong. Check whether the scene will work in new conditions (for example, instead of the sun it’s raining) and whether this does not contradict the general concept of the film.

Examples of director's explications:

Director's explication of scene 17 from the film "Burnt by the Sun 2" by Nikita Mikhalkov.
Director's explication of the short story "" (dir. Sergei Burov), included in the Disney almanac "Happiness is...".
As a special bonus - the director's explication of the never staged opera "Die Walküre" by Lars von Trier.

Other types of explications

As mentioned at the very beginning of the article, there are other types of explications, which are developed by the remaining members of the film crew. As a rule, they intersect with the director's explication. So, for example, the director of photography, based on the storyboard, makes his operator's explication, in which he describes in literary and schematic form the visual design of the film (tonality, coloristic design, type of shooting, angle, change of plans, lighting, composition). This is especially important if visual effects are planned for the film; even at the pre-visualization stage, equipment and optics are tested, distances, backgrounds and sizes of objects are measured. You can read more about creating a camera explication, working with the dramaturgy of light and color solutions in the book “Profession - Cameraman” (M.M. Volynets, 2008).

Production designer creates his own visual explication, accompanying it with sketches of costumes, scenery, and so on. He must convey in his explication the composition of the entire work, the relationship between objects and episodes, and show the logic of their development. The artist’s task is to emphasize the dramaturgy of the scenes, reveal their artistic meaning and achieve stylistic consistency. You can read more about this in the book by L.B. Klyueva “Problems of style in screen arts.”

Sketch by Andrey Ponkratov for the film “Leviathan” by Andrey Zvyagintsev - Living Room in the House Nicholas

The sound engineer and composer can provide the director with their sound explications, which, like camera shots, are created on the basis of a storyboard and individual scenes. The sound engineer clarifies for the sound engineer the nature of the noise objects that need to be recorded, in which frames they should sound and where they should be recorded (or taken from the sound library). The composer in his explication indicates the place and time of the audio composition, its nature and the composition of the orchestra.

Sound explication for the film “Time, Forward!” Mikhail Schweitzer.

No matter the coursework, no matter the diploma, fellow film students always had a question:

what the fuck is “explication”?

Let's clear the fog over this document, which is very useful for the future film.
Explication of a film is a statement of the director's intention of the work, an explanation of the methods for its implementation.

The main questions that the explication answers:

What? for what? How?

The points:

ideological and thematic orientation of the film
interpretation of images-characters
characteristic of the era
choice of filming locations and the nature of the scenery in the pavilion
household characteristics of the film (things, clothes, furnishings, props)
choice of actors, nature of future auditions
explanation of creative means and techniques to the creative staff of the film crew: cameraman, artist, composer, sound engineer, editor)
general composition of the picture (dramatic structure, tempo, rhythm, mise-en-scène, plan, frame, angle)
installation principle
production and creative tasks for group members for the successful implementation of the scenario

A director's note is a written document in which you freely describe your artistic and organizational vision for the film.
In the conditions of modern Russian production, not a single producer will enter into a contract with you until you put the director’s explication on his desk. The producer needs to ensure that his idea of the future film coincides with the director's vision.

You can follow approximately the following director's explication plan:

What's the idea?
The main conflict.
Additional conflicts.
(All minor conflicts are subordinated to the Main One and constantly increase the intrigue.)
What are we playing? (Dramatic Action)
Character 1
Character 2
Character 3
…
For every scene
The main thing in the scene:
Three acts:
Exposure:
Complication:
Catastrophe:
Therefore, we will film this in the following non-trivial way...
Therefore, we will select such and such filming objects and do this in them...
Therefore, the only installation solution is this...
And I organize the filming process like this...
And I will overcome the difficulties of the process...

28. Director's explication

Explication. Part one.

“Let unconscious-intuitive creativity
originates through conscious preparatory work.”

What is director's explication?

What is explication? Definitions.

Form.

To start with the task: imagine that you are simply thinking about the play you will be directing. And write down your thoughts on a piece of paper.
A special word about volume. Yes, the explication can easily exceed 15 pages and even reach 30 or more. But, again, there are no clear frameworks. The main thing is to be convincing in the conversation about your analysis.

Next I will give sample list of questions which you can ask yourself.

1. Motivation and justification for choosing the theme of the theatrical performance

This section indicates the motives for choosing the theme of the script, gives its justification, and reveals its socio-pedagogical significance for the predicted audience.

2. Ideological and thematic content of the script

2.1. Script theme. (Theme is the subject of the author’s artistic research.) The definition of the theme should be brief, specific and answer the questions: What? Where? When?

2.2. Script idea. (The idea is the main conclusion that follows from the script, containing the author’s moral attitude to the events depicted.)

2.3. Genre of the script. (Genre is the author’s ideological and evaluative mood in relation to the subject of artistic research, realized through a system of certain expressive means). The definition of genre in terms of production also includes the form of theatrical performance.

2.4. Conflict. (Conflict is a confrontation, a collision of the acting forces depicted in the work). The carriers of the conflict are identified, as well as their aspirations.

3. The actual content of the script.

3.1. The super task of presentation. (The ultimate goal of the presentation is the ultimate goal for the sake of which the setting is carried out, the idea is revealed).

3.2. Cross-cutting action or script-director's move.

3.3. Event sequence or episodic script construction.

3.3.1. Determined event series, if there is a clearly expressed plot in the script (An event is an effective fact that changes the stage tasks of the performers and puts them in updated proposed circumstances. An event series is a line of effective facts from the beginning to the end of a theatrical performance).

3.3.2. If there is no plot, then it is determined episodic construction script, then the artistic title of the episode and its content are written. An artistic name is given to each event or episode. The functional load is determined.

3.4. Stage tasks of performers events(when constructing a script episodicly, stage tasks are not determined). The stage task includes three elements:

Action (what am I doing?);

Purpose of the action (why am I doing it?);

Equipment (how do I do it?).

Action and purpose are conscious in nature, adaptations arise in the process of live communication with a partner. Therefore, when fixing a stage task in a production plan, only two of its elements are determined: action and goal. The number of stage tasks is determined by the number of main events.

3.5. The main mise-en-scène. (Mise-en-scène is the arrangement of the characters on the stage in certain physical relationships to each other and to the material environment around them). A system of symbols is determined and one or two main mise-en-scenes in each episode or event are graphically depicted.

3.6. Real heroes, their role and place in revealing the main idea of the performance.

3.7. Techniques for activating spectators (real, ceremonial and game actions).

4. Editing sheet or light and sound score of the performance.

The installation sheet in the form of a table consists of twelve columns:

1) number in order;

2) the episode, its name exactly matches the script and director’s plan;

3) the title of the issue and its nature, the author and name of the work are indicated;

4) performers are registered: soloists, groups;

5) who is entrusted with the accompaniment of this number, if the number is accompanied by a phonogram, then you need to give the serial number of the phonograms.

6) all texts performed on stage, heard on the radio are entered, and announcer’s texts are entered here;

7) the need for film material is recorded, indicating the nature of the tape and format;

8) it is indicated in what stage design the performance takes place;

9) the lighting design for each act is filled in, and staging effects are recorded here;

10) costumes for performers, all costume accessories;

11) props and props;

12) notes.

The light and sound score is made according to the following scheme:

5. Scenographic solution for the performance

5.1. A figurative solution to the presentation. (Figurative solution is a set of expressive means with which the director reveals his concept of the work, his artistic thought).

5.2. Layout of scenery. (Set layout is a drawing of the location of scenery, various structures, furniture and other elements of the material environment on the stage area). The stage area is viewed from above.

5.3. Sketch or layout of the stage design.

5.4. Costume sketches.

5.5. Sketches of posters, programs, invitation cards.

6. Plan for preparing a theatrical performance

The preparation plan should reflect the main stages of work on a theatrical performance: work on the script, table period, rehearsals in the enclosure, run-throughs, editing and dress rehearsals, premiere, work with the composer, artist, musicians and all support services.

7. Plan for a holiday or program for a theatrical performance.

8. Cost estimate(for a holiday) (see Appendix No. 9): rent and technical support; space design, participants in the theater and concert program; organizational and creative group; printing costs; fare; payroll accruals; unforeseen expenses, etc.

Related information.

Recently the question arose: what is explication? In support of those who strive to comprehend the art of directing, I am starting this entry. At the very least, sometimes I raise these issues in conversations with students, and those who are deprived of this opportunity and do not even suspect the existence of these problems, I hope, will receive enough information.

Don't let this job intimidate you. It really does require a lot of serious preparation, but the main thing is determination. If there is a goal and love for the work, then difficulties will be overcome. A little later I will also post books on atmosphere, cross-cutting action and counteraction, or at least explanations.

It is also advisable for actors to know the concepts that directors use.

Points of director's explication.

For explication, you choose any play from the world repertoire; it is advisable that it is familiar to the examiners, so that they understand what it is about and do not fall out of the discussion. But most importantly, she should delight you. You must really love her.

1. The relevance of the play. (explain why I chose it, why it needs to be installed now, etc.).
2. Style and genre characteristics of the play.
3. Characteristics of the location of the play. (historical period of writing the play; social and political situation in the world/country/city when the play was written; characteristics of the place and time within the play itself. That is, in which city, under what circumstances does this happen; characteristics of the specific place and action where all this is happening).
4. The atmosphere of the performance and the atmosphere in which the characters live and act.
5. Characteristics of the main characters. What motivates each of them, what guides them. What are they? Their personal conflicts. Personal super goals. Proposed circumstances.
6. Ideal distribution of roles - using the example of famous actors. Definition of roles (main and secondary). The role of the character in a given situation, that is, in every scene, in every action.
7. Grouping of forces (for example, by ideology).
8. Brief summary/synopsis, if necessary.
9. The main events of each act.
10. Analysis of the play into actions. those. where do you think the action begins and ends (this may not coincide with the acts and scenes of the play itself; there may be five acts in one scene. Or there may be five scenes in one act).
11. Interpretation of the plot.
12. Idea - what it’s about.
13. The most important task is why I set it.
14. Dir. the plan - how I set it.
15. Audience - for whom I stage.
16. Whole play: initial event; key event; main event; final event; leading circumstance.
17. Introduction, plot, twists and turns, climax, denouement.
18. Action and counteraction.
19. You can find one phrase (or come up with it) that will characterize the entire play. That is, not so much the play as your vision.
_______________
Scenography – or the idea of stage design.
20. The scenery must be justified from an artistic and ideological point of view. From the category of “black curtain, because it conveys the dark mood of the main character’s soul.” Or “a circle in the center of the stage that is spinning. In order for the hero to run along it in the opposite direction of his movement. And thereby created the appearance of dynamics, etc.
21. The scenery in gitis must be supported by a MAYOUT of the stage. Seriously. The scale is at your discretion, the material is the same.
22. Which artist or set designer would you work with on this play? What kind of skinny? direction.
23. Costumes - preferably sketches (if you don’t draw yourself, explain to the artist what you would like to see, let him create)
24. Musical arrangement (composer, mood or genre).
25. Light, color.

It is no coincidence that when preparing for performances I post material on the play, historical time, genre, etc. Look at the entries on Three Oranges or a short work in several articles on the Nativity scene.

(There are requirements for the layout - these are either the proportions of a cube - Moscow Art Theater stage or a standard elongated one in proportions of 1/2, i.e. depth, height, for example -25 cm, width then 50 cm. This basis for the layout is called a sub-model. Students to save time the scenery is changed in the sub-model, thus creating a new layout. But it is preferable not to destroy what has been created, but to make your own sub-model for the next model. All entrances and exits should be thought out, i.e. there should be scenes where you need them or the scenes can be standard. solid doors or holes - it’s all your imagination. My classmate glued the entire layout together from audio cassette boxes, i.e. they all represented opening and closing doors on 2-3 floors. But if the plan requires something else, you can do it. both the bunker and the cage, and if the heroes of your play have to leave the stage, think about how they will do it, you can lift it on ropes or lower it under the stage - again, your choice, but everything is subordinated to the idea of the performance, which is revealed primarily in image of space . More on this below.)

The scale must be maintained in everything: the hero figurine that you cut out, sew, sculpt, etc. determines the size of the stage, furniture, etc. (plasticine is despised by stage designers; it can be replaced with clay or plastic, which turns into plastic or other materials). If the figure is large enough in proportion, then the scene turns out to be small, intimate. If it is small, the scene takes on monumental proportions. Again I turn to the play “The Black Monk”. What did S. Barkhin do? - on a large dark stage he built a small, intimate, chamber scene of a cozy, fantasy world of heroes. The Black Monk comes from the darkness and depths of the large stage, and goes there too. She then begins to attack the small, destroyed world. At the end of the Black Monk, i.e. The hero’s self, his Ego (only when he is alone with him is he happy) is the ruler of this darkness and destruction, he has outgrown his very progenitor, destroying him.

Moreover, a more or less professional artist can be involved in making the layout and even working on the entire set design. After all, the director works with the artist in pairs, if he himself does not master the art. Although the director is an artist, and ideally he should be proficient with a brush, pencil and materials. This is a more universal type of theater, in which the creator is one person, a set designer and director. Otherwise, the director must find a like-minded artist and convey his idea to him in such a way that the artist becomes a further continuation of it. Preserving the style, emotions, melody, rhythm, i.e. image. Here, for example, Borovsky-Lyubimov, where the set designer is a self-sufficient figure and half of the director’s theater and his work gives creative impetus to the director. Tandem of the modern MTuZ Kama Ginkas - S. Barkhin)

View the layouts on this site in . Here you can find from student works to models, for example, by David Borovsky.

The first thing the viewer sees is the image. Of course, while acting, we may forget about it, but it’s like a smell, or like light, or like a sound that is always present and that you get used to, so you forget. But when you bring a layout to a professional, the first question may be “What is your image of space ? “You don’t have to ask, and everything is visible, but maybe what you see is not what you wanted to show? This is where you will present your view of the play; in general, this is the key to your vision of the problem. When you watch a performance - children's, adult, puppet, musical, dramatic, comedy, tragedy or buffoon, whatever - define for yourself the image of space. Why did the Taganka Theater take place because there was a wonderful set designer who had directorial thinking and enormous talent. In my layout of King Lear, the image of space is a castle-crown. Now I would make a different image - the image of a well, so that at the end of the play from its bottom we could see the eternal starry sky above the mortal and sinful head of humanity and say: “All is vanity of vanities.”

The layout should express idea your production. There can be no accidents in it. Remember Chekhov's story about the gun?

The atmosphere must be conveyed; if it changes, the decoration also changes. I don’t advise you to get carried away with historical attributes - in the theater, an object is a symbol, a sign that works for the image, even if you need to convey an era - some details are enough (as in clothing)

The texture is very important, i.e. the nature of the material from which you are making the layout. For example, I needed the texture of rough, cold stone for the crown palace. Of course, it’s stupid to drag cobblestones into the model, and even more so onto the stage, but you can bring other materials closer to the texture of the stone; my favorite is papier-mâché (my favorite) made from egg cartons. In clothing and draperies, gray tones of coarse linen predominate, while, of course, you need to make accents, for example, on the black metal massive chest decoration of the king or his crown, or the bright cap (cap) of the Jester, the dark green and burgundy dresses of the two eldest sisters and Cordelia's light, simple dress. In general, I love laconicism on stage, especially since this is a tragedy on a universal scale, there is no fuss or excess, and if this is how the author describes it, then in Shakespeare pettiness and stupidity are set off by the contrast of the Eternal Sky. He has it everywhere. And not a single extra word. And in the case of the image of space - a well, one could look for the texture of dark water (black cellophane) and the texture of moss and mucus and, of course, stone and metal.

To do all this, you need to cultivate a taste and sense of Harmony, constantly examining the works of outstanding artists, set designers of all times and peoples, as well as think about the scenographic design of the performances you are watching. THOSE. constantly develop and cultivate taste through world culture. (I recommend good books on the history of scenography from the 16th century to the present day: V.I. Berezkin. The art of scenography of the world theater. - multi-volume edition. I ordered through OZON. The books are expensive. You don’t have to buy everything. Take, for example, modern theater of the twentieth century ... A good second-hand book, you can also search on the Internet, - A. Mikhailova. The image of the performance. Who has the opportunity, go to D. Borovsky’s workshop in Moscow. In addition, sometimes the models can be seen in theaters. exhibition at the N. Sats Theater)

That's not all. As changes occur with the main persons of the play, this is how it happens transformation of space , i.e. its changes, transformations. Look again at the model of “King Lear” - the castle, like the crown, like the life of the king, like everything around, is destroyed, destroyed, he is gone, like the King himself, Cordelia and many others, along with the former kingdom. I can refer you to one more example, since it is very visual and close at hand, this is a recently published performance based on A.P. Chekhov directed by K. Ginkas. Look how the space collapses along with the aspirations, hopes for the well-being of all its heroes, how expressive the space is, how the fabulous feather plants are destroyed, how the gazebo at the end turns into some kind of coffin-box made of shields, i.e. a portrait of the consciousness of the main character and the Monk breaks through these shields - his madness, sick pride, where he is absolutely happy, but everything is destroyed. This space, as well as the wonderful acting, are so eloquent that if you watch without sound, everything will be clear. But this is not to belittle Chekhov and the actors, with their absolute pitch and subtle sense of a partner, even tenderness for a partner, but, on the contrary, to show how important it is to work with space.

You also need to listen to a lot of classical and folk music. To be able to stage the performance just as wonderfully musically. The same piece of music plays (quartet from Act 3 of G. Verdi's Rigolleto), but it changes in the same way as the mental state of the characters. Again - why "Rigolleto"? You need to know this tragic story. It is advisable to know both opera and music and that Verdi, so prolific in his art, considered it his best work.

Here are more layouts from the Internet:

Layout for the opera “Cherevichki” after N. Gogol