As a director, Martin Wood's credits include
Jeremiah, Just Deal, The Invisible Man, Earth: Final Conflict, Jake and the
Kid, Silk Stalkings and Stargate SG-1. He wrote and directed the 1998
movie Teenage Space Vampires. 
In 2001, he directed the children's movie The
Impossible Elephant, written by Robert C. Cooper, and was nominated for a
Directors Guild of Canada Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Children's TV
Movie or Mini-Series. He also directed the award winning documentaries,
The Great Run of China and If Trees Could Talk as well as two episodes of the
Canadian documentary series, The Life and Times.
We're extremely grateful to Martin for
taking time out of his ridiculously busy schedule - he pointed out to us that
the producers of Stargate SG-1 expected him to be about the place yelling
things like "Action!" and "Cut!" - and also his well-earned
hiatus! As Martin was honored <cough> with a whopping ninety-seven
questions from eager fans and doesn't want to (1) disappoint anyone (2) quit
directing Stargate to become our OS Guru, he - and we - will be sharing Answers
to those Questions in gentle installments...
Without further ado, we launch into part
one, with, according to our calculations, a mere eighty questions - and weeks
of Martin's life - to go!
We're very honored Martin has chosen to
share with us his thoughts on directing and we're sure you'll agree that this
is one of our most fascinating interviews yet. We hope that you, like us,
are looking forward to reading more :)
Alison for Solutions
01 July 2003
1 Thanks for taking time to answer
our questions: First, I'd like to know why you picked Michael up in your
directors cut of 'abyss' . It was very hard to hear the commentary going on
between the three of you. I enjoyed your Director's Cut; will we see more
from you on other DVDs? What do you think about Director's Commentaries on
DVDs?
I love doing the DVD commentary. It
gives me the chance to make a connection with the viewers that is much more
intimate and personal. I get to explain something about what you never
get to see and, without taking any of the magic out of it, I get to show you
the “tricks of the trade” (pay no attention to the man behind the
curtain).
I picked up Michael to demonstrate how I
wanted him to enter the scene- I wanted him to walk down the wall- being an
ascended being he would be unaffected by gravity and could enter the cell any
way he wanted to. Michael didn’t understand how he was supposed to do it
(oddly he felt his inability to defy gravity would ultimately be the reason for
his noncompliance). I told him that someone would lift him up and all he
had to do was walk, he said “no one can hold me up there long enough. I
weigh close to 185lbs”. So I showed him.
Tanya:
2 Who of the main Stargate cast is
easiest to direct? Who is most difficult?
Each of the cast members have their
individual quirks and quarks and depending on how they are feeling any
particular day they each are easy or difficult to direct. For the most
part though none of them are really difficult (certainly not in the “Hollywood”
way of being difficult). Often they will come in with a particular idea
about how they want to play a line or a situation and we will have a discussion
about it. The best idea wins. Because I’ve been working with the same
cast for 7 years I can usually predict how a scene will be played out and I
have good solid reasons for blocking it and directing it the way I do. The
actors trust me to make them look good and tell a good story.
Usually I do and there is no conflict…on other days though….
3 How did you come to be involved in television?
My Dad was in television- he produced and
hosted his own show here in Canada so I quickly became a TV station brat.
I shot my first frame of film hanging out of a helicopter with an old CP-16
film camera when I was 13 years old. Ohh the stories I could tell….
Gateangel:
Hello Mr. Wood and thank you for taking the time to do this for us:)
4 About A Matter of
Time- Right after Cold Lazarus, this is one of my favorite Jack O'Neill
episodes. As the director on this one how did you go about approaching
the concept of time slowing down and of creating the tension of the blackhole issue?
Were there any particular camera angles or lighting that you went for to create
the mood and tension? It was such a wonderfully done episode.
Thanks this was one of my all time favourites
too. (Along with Small Victories, Line of Duty, Solitudes, Beast of Burden,
Changeling, Full Circle, Abyss and Avenger 2.0- oh yeah you guys haven’t seen
that one yet…). Lighting always plays a crucial role for setting mood and tone
in any visual medium. Fortunately for me I generally have Jim Mennard my
Director of Photography hanging over my shoulder seeing what I’m doing with a
particular story and he will try to match the picture with what I’m trying to
do. The best part of Matter of Time was in trying to figure out how
to make it look like Rick and company were actually being dragged into the gate
(we accomplished it by actually turning a gateroom set on its side and having
the actors suspended from the studio ceiling. When I was trying to
explain the effect to them I had the Special effects guys haul me up on a
harness and let me drop down to the floor again ). Both Matter of Time
and Abyss were fun for me because antigravity always pushes the limits of what
you can do without getting too expensive. For me doing something ‘in
camera’ or practically (meaning no computer enhanced visual effects) is always
the most exciting challenge- some of my most favourite shots are the ones that
you would look past because they pass by without fanfare (ie: Carter holding
her dog tags up to the gate when the black hole first starts to effect us-
totally practical- it’s a piece of fish line tied to the end of the
tags).
5 About Deadman Switch- This episode seem to have a lot of exterior
shots. Are they harder to set up and control than interior shots? And which do
you prefer?
Exterior shots are great if the weather
cooperates- they will always look better, have more depth and multi-textured
contrast, Lighting by God is always going to be way cooler than anything we
mortals can come up with. There have been lots of times when we
will all stand and watch a sun set and just stare at it- it doesn’t happen very
often in a studio full of lights. Deadman’s Switch was particularly neat
because we were in a really cool part of the Seymour Demonstration forest here
in Vancouver and the weather was all on our side.
6 About Divide and Conquer- This seems to be a very controversial
episode in SG-1 history. How do you feel about it and did you have any sense of
the controversy it would be creating while you were directing it?
Oh yes. I knew as soon as Brad and
Robert started to tell me the story of Upgrades and Divide and Conquer that it
was going to be a potboiler. I added a few things to heat up the
force-field scene like the fact that Jack and Sam were nose to nose- neither
Rick or Amanda felt comfortable being that close together and saying lines
(they love each other- don’t get me wrong- it’s just weird to be talking to
someone with your noses almost touching) I had to keep reminding them
“there is a force field between you, it isn’t weird”
7 About Red Sky- This
is my second favorite episode of Season 5 and again it was one filled with
tension and drama. Was filming with all that red lighting a problem for you?
How did you adjust to it to catch the emotion of the actors...or does something
like this add to how the acting comes across?
Again Jim Mennard came to the rescue in this
episode. Jim and his Gaffer Rick Dean spent a lot of time trying to get
just the right colour to film mix to set up the different stages of
“redness”. On the DVD director’s commentary I think that Jim spends a
good deal of time talking about finding the levels that would appear to be red
on television without making some older tv sets explode with over active red
tones (red is always a problem when broadcast- even the red spinning lights in
the base that go on with incoming wormholes have to be a specific “tv safe” red
colour). As far as the light working on the actors- it really isn’t
so much a factor. We were spending 11 or 12 hours a day under the red
light in the studio- after about 10 minutes your eyes become accustomed to it
and you don’t really see it any more (of course if you wander outside and then
come back in it startles you and you really start to see RED…maybe that’s what
RDA did just before he came hurtling down the steps to land the punch…).
8 About Abyss- Ok I
gotta ask…did you guys really throw a shoe at Michael Shanks? His flinch was so
realistic! How did you go about approaching the concept of filming something
that was the effect of a very confined space. Did you have any original
concepts about this that just didn't work when you tried them?
During the rehearsals I had Rick throw a
shoe and Michael would just catch it and throw it back (although if you know
anything about Richard Dean Anderson you know that every time we rehearsed he
threw the shoe harder and harder trying to surprise Michael). When we did
the visual effects shot in a single of Michael RDA was behind the camera so far
that Michael couldn’t see when he was motioning to throw it and would forget to
flinch. It was frustrating everyone (it was a late Friday night after a
particularly tough week), so when it came to that spot in the scene where Jack
throws the shoe I stood beside the camera and said “Michael I’m going to fake
throw my shoe at you to cue your flinch” Without Michael knowing it I tied one
of the laces of my shoe to my finger, when it came time to cue the flinch I
launched the shoe and it looked as if it were actually going to hit him but it
came up short of getting into the shot- MS thought he was going to get hit-
hence the flinch.
Again thanks for doing this.
Magpie199:
This is *fantastic* news! He has directed some awesome episodes and has been
with the show since the beginning.
9 Of the episodes you've directed,
has there been one which was harder than any of the others, whether it was
getting the overall 'feel' that you wanted or because technically it was a very
complex episode?
Technically “The Gamekeeper”, “Matter of
Time”, “Revelations” and “Abyss” have been the most challenging. Gamekeeper
because we were only able to drop the mausoleum that killed Daniel’s parents
one time- so every one of the flashbacks had to happen simultaneously from very
narrow angles using 1 Michael Shanks and 2 Daniel doubles. Matter of Time
and Abyss were challenging just because it’s really hard to fake redirected
gravity. No matter how hard you wish for it not to – no matter what
camera angle you use, no matter which set you turn on its head- our gravity
pulls everything to the ground- hair, clothing, aging faces…. So you
really have to get creative in making the actual ground the direction that you
are wanting to “redirect”. Revelations was tough because it was the first
time we’d used a motion capture character- James Tichenor the vis fx producer
and I spent most of our prep time just mapping out how we were going to tap
dance our way through the day with the actors acting with a character that
wasn’t really there.
9a When you read through a
script for the first time, do you immediately visualize the whole story as how
you want to see it or do talks with storyboard artists help you decide?
Both actually. I can’t help put
pictures to the scripts as I’m reading them for the first time- often I will
doodle little diagrams in the script margins or make visual notes to myself to
remind myself of my first impressions. I am often startled when I look back at
episodes from years ago and compare my old scripts to the final product-
believe it or not most of the pictures you see are very much the ones that I saw
when I first read the script sitting in my living room.
9b Do you look at it as a
whole story, or do you concentrate on individual scenes?
The whole story is the only way to do
it. To make a scene that you’ve concentrated a lot of energy/time/style/effort
etc. at the expense of the rest of the story is like spending all your time on
the sauce and forgetting the rest of the meal or putting on a really great pair
of shoes and forgetting to wear anything else.
10 a Do you know from that first
reading what you want from each character?
I generally have a good impression about
what their “voice” (the actor’s character at a specific moment) is going to do,
but “on the day” everyone brings their homework to the table and adds their own
stuff to the mix.
10b Do your initial impressions or
goals for the episode change from that first impression as filming goes
on?
Always- generally for the better. I
always have a plan but depending on what gets brought to the table that plan
will change. Usually it’s best idea wins…usually.
11 What is the biggest change, if any, you have made to a script
during filming?
Thank you for taking the time to participate in a Q&A!
You wouldn’t believe what you could have
seen soooo many times. How a little nuance that someone plays with in a
rehearsal or during a table reading gets turned into a huge deal – changes in
plotlines, changes in characterization, changes in dialogue that will shift
entire upcoming episodes. It’s really quite an organic thing this
Stargate show of ours. Sgt Siler is a good example of this- I needed Dan
Shea the Stunt Coodinator to be close to Rick in a stunt scene. In order
to get him close enough I had to dress him up as a base technician, and because
Dan has a bit of a sibilant “s” when he talks he decided he should be Sgt.
Siler from Syracuse. Now he’s a big time TV star…. Another huge
change that we made to a script was during the filming of “Spirits”. Originally
O’Neill was going to lead the team to the planet, he was going to get “shot at”
not “shot” in the briefing room. But RDA needed the time off (something
about having a baby or some equally ridiculous thing) and suddenly Carter is
leading the team (which is why, if you listen closely to Carter’s dialogue you
will notice there are a few O’Neillisms thrown in that the writer’s tried to
shoehorn into Carter’s mouth). Crystal Skull is another famous episode-
Michael Shanks had an appendix burst in the middle of shooting, a double played
almost all of the scenes in the cave with the other characters.
Jill:
Wow, another great Q&A! Thanks guys.
12. Martin, when you know a scene
is not working, what goes through your mind about ways to make it work. How do
you motivate the actors to produce the results either you want or you know they
are capable of?
There are lots of ways to make scenes work-
usually tiny changes in the dialogue or in tweaking the way that I’ve blocked
the scene out for the actors. We’ve all been together long enough that
there are very few times when we actually come up against a brick wall and when
we do then hopefully I have enough of a plan and the actors trust me enough
that we get through it. That’s what “directing” is- lots of preparation
and tons of trust on both sides. And then there are the other days…and on
those days I pull out the monster voice and the “fist of death” –both great
motivators
Karen:
Thank you for giving the Stargate fans at Our Stargate some of your time.
13 What was it like directing Chris
Judge in Changeling since he had written the script? Was he
nervous? Did you have to make any changes, and if so, how did he react to
any changes?
Chris and I had a really good time with
Changeling. I took great sport in saying “who writes this sh*#?” whenever
a line wasn’t working. There were several times when Chris would catch
himself saying the same thing. The double dream sequence was a lot of fun
to work with but it got confusing- lots of times he said “I’m not sure where I
am right now” and I’d have to remind him to stop “Teal’Cing” it and start
“Chris’ing” it up a bit. Tony would run into the same problem and I’d poke him
and say “Hey Bratac get out of this dream”. The things I changed in the
script and in production were mostly transitional things. Very little of
the original Chris/Brad Wright story got changed in production except to make
it cooler….
Lex:
14 Have technological advances made
a positive contribution or created additional logistical challenges in terms of
the production process?
Tech advances in Visual effects have made my
job far more wonderfilled than it ever was before- take for example Hymdal the
Asgard- three years ago we would never have been able to make a full motion
capture character on a television show. On the other hand the finished
product has never been so far out of my reach before –once I’ve finished my
Director’s cut of the shows then they disappear into a hole in the wall and
come out scrubbed and polished with all the VFX done. As far as advances
in the film medium, cameras etc: it tends to be all good- the panavision
Millenniums that we shoot the show on are soooooo much nicer than the stone
knives and bear skins that we used to use to make our 44 minutes of Television.
15 Has anyone ever
suggested a cinematic release for certain episodes?
Small Victories was the first show after the
pilot to generate the “cinematic release” buzz (the good people at Rainmaker
effects even packaged Nemesis and Small Victories together in an HDTV rendering
and showed it up on their big screen for the cast and crew but unfortunately we
don’t shoot in what is called a “film finish” mode and lots would have to
change in the way we shoot, the vis fx would have to all be “up-rezed” so you
wouldn’t see all the horrible cheats that we are doing. There is talk
about releasing this year’s final two part episode as either a feature or an
MOW but that remains to be seen( I start shooting it at the beginning of August
and finish at the beginning of Sept- I just finished my initial notes on the
writer’s draft- it’s a pretty wild ride…).
16 Do you storyboard
sequences with specific shots in mind or cover scenes with multiple cameras and
reach viewpoint decisions in the edit phase?
Generally I try to storyboard complicated
Vis FX sequences so that I can let everyone in on what’s happening in my brain
and to give the VFX artists, the cinematographer, and the actors a chance to
visualize what is actually supposed to be on the screen when I shoot some
desperately empty green screen set. As far as multiple cameras go- I
generally shoot most of my day using two cameras (on boring briefing room
scenes I will try to squeeze three cameras in (see “Fallout”- I only had 5 days
to shoot it and there are a few feisty scenes in the briefing room between the
“Langarins” and the folks from the SGC). On most action sequences I will
use multiple cameras at multiple angles in order to maximize my coverage and
substantially up the cool factor.
17 Do actors make good
directors?
No…with the exception of Peter DeLuise,
Amanda Tapping (you’ll see….), and two others I can’t think of right now- oh
yeah one of them is Ron Howard.
End of part one
On to part two [beware of Season Seven spoilers]
http://forums.delphiforums.com/ourstargate/messages?msg=2079.1
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