DIRECTIONS UNIT: TV DIRECTOR RESEARCH

Jack Bender, born September 25th 1949, is an American television and film director, best known for his work on Lost and Game of Thrones. Bender studied art at an LA college, he then went into action, appearing on shows such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, after this he began directing and producing a range of different shows. His biggest credit will be the ABC TV Series Lost, overall he directed a massive 38 episodes across the whole series, more episodes than any other director, and he was the executive producer across the board. His other credits include

- Game of Thrones

- The Last Ship

- The Sopranos

- Under the Dome

- Alcatraz

Due to the amount of shows that Bender has directed, he has come to have a very specific directorial style. Firstly, before looking at visuals, Bender has a very good handle on episodes of shows that involve some sort of time travel. The most prominent is an episode of Lost entitled 'The Constant', which involved the character of Desmond time travelling. Bender notes how he didn't want to do any gimmicky transitions or 'star trek dissolves and wipes', he wanted it to look very honest, and he did that through close up shots and then simply black editing cut to transition into the different time. The close up shots illustrates the emotion that a character goes through and therefore adds to the drama, something that Bender believes is far more valuable for an audience, than any gimmick.


The idea that Bender cares more about the emotion within an episode is mirrored in his more recent work on the last two episodes of season six of Game of Thrones. This is one of the most successful and famous shows in TV interest, and Bender to go in and direct when he never has before, he wanted to make his mark. Within his episode, one of the much loved characters of the programme Hodor, was to be killed by an army of the dead. However, Bender did one shot in that scene, where the camera moves closer in to Hodor and his face, as the army of the dead are pulling at his flesh.
Benders work is a huge inspiration to me and highly influences my work. Using a range of different close up shots to convey emotion, rather than focusing on the act that is making them feel that emotion instead, and it is something i defiantly have planned for at least one of my scenes in mu production.