Directing for Short Film

This two-day workshop covers the role and responsibilities of the director in film. Participants will be guided through the director’s role, aesthetics that inform a director’s craft, taking your script to screen, leading your team, casting your cast and crew, on-set etiquette, working with investors and practical workshops on working with actors. This workshop also covers case studies from concept to finished film and will involve a practical directing exercise.

Tutor: Christopher Houghton (with guest actors)
Dates: Saturdays 23rd & 30th June (NOTE CHANGE OF DATES)
Time: 10am – 4pm 
Cost: $170 members, $220 non-members

Places are STRICTLY LIMITED so email or call 8410 0979 for more information or to book your place.

Christopher Houghton

Christopher Houghton originally trained as a commercial photographer before opening a fine-art B&W studio in 1991. This led him to the Brisbane indie filmmaking scene where in 1998, he co-founded and worked for QPIX, Queensland’s premier company dedicated to assisting emerging filmmakers. With a number of short films under his belt, including THE FENCER, a Pacific Film and Television Commission funded production, Christopher was accepted into the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2001. While at AFTRS he directed three more shorts graduating with AFTRS’s highest accolade for directors, the Screensound Australia, Excellence in Screen Direction Award.

His short film LIGHTNESS, which stars screen veteran Arthur Dignam, won a number of awards including two Australian Cinematographers Society awards and two Skildirs’ awards at St Kilda International Film Festival. His short comedy VERSUS, which features Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award winner Russell Dykstra, collected the Australian Screen Directors Association/AFTRS award for Best Director. The film premiered internationally in the Cinema des Antipodes Showcase at Cannes 2003. Christopher’s short films went on to screen at festivals around the world including Brief Encounters in Bristol, CameraImage in Poland, Palm Springs, London and Chicago International Film Festivals.

Christopher’s short, SWING was financed by the South Australian Film Corporation and the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF). Premiering at AFF in 2007 the film received the Audience Award for Best Short Film. SWING has since won Best Film at St Kilda International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Short Film at the 2007 Australian Film Institute Awards. Currently he is directing his first feature documentary Sons & Mothers, to be followed by his FilmLab feature TOUCH.

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