I thought I would look into a director of one of the sitcoms we have used for inspiration throughout our whole project. We have used Mrs. Brown's Boys quite a lot as inspiration, so I thought I would look into the series director, Ben Kellett.
Ben Kellett
Kellett is a director and assistant director mainly known for Mrs. Brown's Boys (2011), Hardware (2003) and Swiss Toni (2003), and has been directing since 1998 - based on his IMDB profile.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0445843/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr1
Kellett has always wanted to be and has been involved in drama throughout university, theatre and TV. He started off as a temporary floor assistant at the BBC, and he stayed there for 13 years and ended up as a producer, director in entertainment.
His floor assistant job was for both comedy shows and entertainment shows, but he progressed into jobs such as AFM, location manager, production manager, assistant producer, and then director.
He mentions in an interview for Bafta Guru that he is influenced from all the comedies he watched as a kid (Dad's Army, The Good Life, Keeping Up Appearances) due to working on a few of them. He says "[it] was a great way to absorb the work and how it works and who does what and how it all hangs together in studio." and by having that experience it has helped him progress throughout his career. He follows up by saying "By the time I reached the dizzy heights of director myself, I had a pretty good idea of not only the people who were around me...[but] the way things worked." By having this experience, it means he knows what other people's jobs are like in a way, and that helps him become a better communicator with them as a director. Communication is the best skill to have as a director, so this skill can improve his own skill and reputation.
Kellett says "You can't learn unless you do it." which is good advice to hear when starting as a director or any other job role in the industry. I know I haven't had much experience at being a director, but as long as I learn from my mistakes and the research I do, I can do the job in the best way I know how.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRQSKYrEeFc
One piece of advice I will take into our own project is comedy should be fun to work on. Kellett says "If [the project] is not fun to make, it [won't] be fun to watch." If we're making a comedy, I want the environment on shoot days to be fun and relaxing for both the crew members and the cast. That way, you can see on screen the humour that was involved, and that makes for a good watch.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/badults/ben-kellett
When watching Mrs Mrs. Brown's Boys you can tell that it's a directing in a way that shows realism but also highlights and emphasises the comedy of the story. There are also certain parts of the show, like when we see the characters messing up, where you can see the directors relationship with the production team. He has chosen to leave these parts in to create an extra sense of humour, but also to give the audience the feeling that they are in the studio with the rest of the audience. This isn't necessarily something I want in our own show, but I do think it works for a show such as Mrs. Brown's Boys. The humour is very much carried through the story and the dialogue with help from the actions and the shots used. This is something our show will follow the same lines of as we want the story to be clear along with the humour.
After hearing what Kellett's influences are, it's clear that he has adapted to the old shows styles and interpreted into shows such as Mrs. Browns Boys, and this is something that I will do. All of the shows I have been influenced by on this project will have some sort of role to play in the making of this project, much like some of Kellett's jobs.
Overall, I feel like Kellett's style is keeping the acting quite natural whilst also emphasising the humorous aspects and showing off the characters personalities quite heavily, but not in an overwhelming way.
I will use some of Kellett's acting technique as influence to my own, but due to him directing more studio shows, I won't be heavily influenced by him.
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