What is the key behind a good performance?
Whether it is play shown at the theatre, a film shown at the cinema or a programme/series shown on whatever viewing device you wish to use, our eyes take in a performance. We see, we hear and thus consume an experience that is designed to stimulate a response of some sort.
That performance could not be received without a number of contributors to the process. All those contributors are important. All. Sitting at the end of a movie to see the credits and see how long it lasts is a testament to just how many contributors make that end result. As detailed as that is, I would not be surprised if there are a host of others who were involved at the various stages of the making of that final performance. All of them are important. All of them.
I was reflecting, however, on three particular roles that might be considered essential in the making of these performances – the producer, the writer and the director.
It is good when all the contributors feel a sense of ownership of the final outcome, but there’s good reason to believe that those three roles would have that sense of ownership to a larger degree.
The producer has the conviction that without his efforts this literally could not be produced (something in the title gives the game away). Resourcing, equipping, ensuring the environment is set and involved in an oversight capacity every step of the way and having the responsibility of being a guardian for it.
The writer has the belief that this is all his creation. The characters, the plot, the script, everything came from her. There would be nothing to produce if she had not made all this appear from the strands of creativity into one tapestry of storytelling brilliance. Nothing could be put in the flesh and in action if it wasn’t put in the word first.
The director makes the affirmation to have been the primary maker of the piece. For it is the director that got the on-screen team and the off-screen crew together. It is the director that oversaw the actual production process in terms of the scenes being shot, edited and then arranged in a manner that would reflect his vision. Whatever the script suggests, it’s his vision that is realised at last with the skill-set essential in getting all the pieces of the jigsaw together.
The producer, the writer and the director.
These three appreciate that they could not do without the other. However important they think their individual contribution is there has to be a very good interaction between the three for the project to come out just right. Significant though they are for what they do, they are substantially more effective as the platform on which all the other contributors can flourish.
From the environment, to the script to the instruction, they set everything up so others can shine. When that happens it’s a superb performance.
(Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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