Directions Unit - Director Research - Phil Abraham

Few people have had as much impact on The Sopranos as Phil Abraham, who had held the role as camera operator (4 episodes), cinematographer (47 episodes) and even directed an episode. Though Abraham is more established as a cinematographer, Abraham has directed a total of 59 episodes across 29 different TV series including The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad and most frequently Mad Men for which he has directed 15 episodes.

Abraham's directorial debut came with the iconic TV series, The Sopranos for which he only directed one episode across the whole series. However his role as director in this series would see him direct in a number of some of the most iconic TV shows of today. He even had the chance to direct the opening two episodes of the major Netflix series, Daredevil, which set the tone for the rest of the series.

Phil Abraham likes to challenge actors with some ambitious takes, he likes to stick to the script and likes to keep it that way, even if the shot is deemed too hard to shoot. One of the most iconic scenes Abraham directed was the one shot fight scene in the acclaimed Netflix series Daredevil, which saw Daredevil take on a room full of thugs in an epic 3 minute shot. There was not a single cut in this shot and to make this scene possible they made a few Texas Switches between the actor and his stunt double and took about 7-8 takes before the scene was complete. The cast and crew asked if they could do a few wipes as the scene was too complicated to achieve but Abraham was adamant that a one shot fight scene with no cuts would be better.

It was the one shot fight scene that got me particularly interested in Abraham and I am especially interested in his overall style. When he directs an episode, he wants to keep the episode on the same path as the rest of the episode but aims to create that special, iconic scene. He has done this with Mad Men, The Walking Dead and as mentioned earlier, Daredevil. I would like to implement a shot of great importance that is similar in fashion to some of the most iconic looks in TV, and Abraham is a great example of someone who did just that.