Brad Silberling (TV Director) - Contextual Research

Brad Silberling

Brad Silberling is also one of my favourite directors but for TV series. He is also known for directing major films like 'Series of Unfortunate Events' and 'Casper'. But he is majorly known for directing major TV series such as 'Reign', 'Jane the Virgin' and also 'No Tomorrow'. One of my favourite tv series that he has directed is 'Reign' from the first episode i fell in love with Brad's directorial styles within this TV series, it is absolutely brilliant and the techniques he uses are fantastic. Brad was born on September the 8th 1963 in Washington D.C he is known for being a Director, Producer, Screenwriter and also an actor. Silberling began his career before completing his studies. In 1986 he became a production assistant for a popular children's program. He then began slowely directing television and film. Silberlling's big break was when he was approached by warner bros to direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerers stone, but he was never chosen. This never stopped him as he carries on signing with other production companies and began to work on other tv series.

Reign is one of his best works, mostly because it interested not only the younger audiences but also older audiences due to it being a direct homage to Mary Queen Of Scotts and Queen Elizabeth. Since this TV series plays a homage to these people a lot of different audiences are interested, this makes it quite popular and making it a big break on CW. The series started in 2013 and carried on until 2017, it is still airing currently but with the final season. The actors started to get other jobs and decided to finish the series on season 4. What i love about this series is the locations that have been chosen and also the way that it is filmed. Silberling really pays homage to the history of Mary Queen of Scotts and Queen Elizabeth, the locations are castles and beautiful landmarks it really creates a wonderful atmosphere.

In this video we can really see how much work is put into the set locations and also the work they put into costumes. That is one of my other favourite things about this tv series, the costume designs are so delicate and beautiful it pays a lot of attention to detail. Silberling also likes to play with key lighting, when characters are in a safe zone the colours are light and warm as to when the characters are in danger the colours are dark cold and unsafe. While Silberling is being interview he says that he records a scene almost 30-40 times as in contrast to Clint Eastwood where he might film it only 10-15 times but use the first/second take where as Silberling likes to shoot a lot with different angles.

As we can see clearly in this picture Mary Queen Of Scotts played by Adeline Kane is dressed in all black the colours are dark and gloomy meaning it is a dark and saddened scene. Silberling aimed to make this show visually stylish as a film, Reign is challenged with drama, action and historical romance. Silberling really managed to pull it off whilst displaying very visual and beautiful competent shots and wardrobe. 

I really love how in the video below Brad Silberling makes sure that Mary is the one that we focus on, her costume and horse both show that she is the dominant to the rest, as we can see the rest o the men are behind her in black clothing and brown horses while Mary is on a while horse that stands out making sure that we are focusing on her only. The location is also a huge landmark where no-one can run or hide it is empty and goes on forever. This really establishes the location and atmosphere for us and we know that Mary is the dominant figure of the entire shot. 

Brad Silberling also uses a lot of of long shots and mid close ups, he never uses extreme close ups which is also a contrast to Clint Eastwood. Brad Silberling has big landmarks and beautiful set designs that he would like to show to us as where Clint focuses more on the characters expressions. I actually love the long shots that Brad always includes in his work because it really places us in the location and we understand exactly where we are and what is going on. I used long shots and mid close ups also in my shots and left out extreme close ups because i really wanted to express the location that my characters are in, i did also use extreme close ups but only about 2-3 times which is not enough but for this project.

Brad really taught me how to express the locations that my characters are set in, he uses small details to really express the atmosphere that we are placed in to fully understand the scene not only does he focus on characters individually but he really focuses what is around them. Brad Silberling shows us that it is possible to make a huge historical homage into a 21st century tv series, packed with action and romance he not only made it visually pleasing but used small details to create effect. I have taken this into account and will use small details to create the effect of a perfect visual. I will always consider these methods so i can make my production visually pleasing, i will also use long shots to show my audience the location that i am placing them in.