A Quick Guide to Film Directing Page 3

  Before a director can direct a movie, he must first have a movie to direct. There are several ways for a helmer to land a project:

  DIY

  Independent directors will often create their own projects. They will write their own scripts (or get people to write scripts for them), and then look for funding for the production (from independent film companies, from professional backers both inside and outside the film business, by soliciting funds on crowd-funding websites such as Kickstarter, or by appealing to sympathetic relatives and friends) or finance it themselves (by using their own income, by maxing out credit cards, and sometimes by selling their own blood), shoot the film, complete it, and then go looking for a distributor—often by entering the finished product in festivals and competitions such as Sundance.

  Development

  Established directors with their own production companies will frequently develop projects that interest them. A director who does this will either come up with an idea himself or find a script or other piece of material (such as a book or a magazine article) that he likes, sell it to a studio, and then work to assemble all the necessary elements (a finely honed screenplay, a bankable cast, a talented creative team, and a capable production crew) in the hope that the studio will green-light (approve for production) the project and make the movie.

  Taking an assignment

  Established directors are often offered projects by producers, production companies, and studios. In other instances, directors will go after jobs that interest them—usually high-profile studio movies. For these gigs, a director will meet with the producer or studio executives to express his enthusiasm for the proposed movie and his desire to direct it, and to then present his ideas for bringing the project to the screen. Many of these meetings are simple conversations, but sometimes a director will go further and craft elaborate presentations—often consisting of written documents, specially prepared artwork, or even lavishly produced short films—to demonstrate how he would realize the film in the hope that the producer or the studio will select him for the assignment.

  The DGA

  Directors who make movies for the major film studios and production companies must be or become members of the Directors Guild of America. The DGA is a craft union that represents directors (and members of the directorial team) in all media in the United States. The Directors Guild negotiates agreements with studios, production companies, and producers covering pay and working conditions for its members. Those agreements stipulate that only guild members may direct projects for signatory companies. The DGA also runs training programs to help newcomers break into the industry, and gives awards to its members for outstanding work. Many other countries have their own unions for directors.

  6

  The Film Director in Preproduction

  Once a director has a project to work on, preproduction—the process of preparing the movie for filming—begins.

  A helmer has a lot to do during preproduction. What follows is an overview of the tasks a director needs to attend to before shooting begins:

  Conceive a vision

  Before any other serious preparatory work can be done, a director must develop a vision for the production—a concept for realizing the film on screen. This concept is vital because it will influence every aspect of the film, from the shooting script to the production design to casting to cinematography to editing, sound, and music.

  The director’s vision should include the following elements:

  1. A theme: a core notion of what the film is about—a guiding idea of what the story is meant to say and what dramatic point it is intended to make.

  2. A storytelling style: Will the tale be told in a realistic manner or will it be stylized in some fashion (e.g., will the tone be melodramatic or campy or larger than life)? Will the action be believably down to earth or outrageously over the top? Will the comedy be subtle or broad? Will the sex or violence be discreet or graphic? Will the pace of the storytelling be lyrically slow or pulse-poundingly fast?

  3. A visual concept: Will the movie be photographed in black and white or color? If it is shot in color, will the palate be desaturated, lifelike, or heightened? Will the lighting be natural or dramatic—overly flat or full of shadows and contrast? Will the shot compositions be loose or formal? Will the camera move or will it be static? Will the editing allow shots to unfold in long, leisurely fashion or will they be presented in quick, rapid-fire cuts?

  Form a working relationship with the producer

  The director and the producer work together to get the movie made. On paper, the director is responsible for the creative aspects of the production and the producer is responsible for everything else—finances, logistics, politics (especially when dealing with the studio), and promotion—but in reality things are never that cut-and-dried. The producer usually has a say (sometimes quite a significant one, especially if he initiated the project) in creative matters and—because making art is always subject to practicalities, the director cannot help but become involved in the producer’s purview.

  Ideally, the two will respect and support one another in attending to their duties and responsibilities. If they do, then their partnership can become a stimulating and productive collaboration. If not, then the professional marriage between director and producer can lead to tension and sometimes a struggle for creative control of the film (to avoid this, many successful directors eventually opt to become their own producers).

  Collaborate on a schedule and budget

  As previously mentioned, the producer is generally responsible for the financial and logistical aspects of the moviemaking process. The producer himself usually takes care of the broader elements of the production—acquiring the core material; assembling the talent package (the director, the screenwriter, and the stars); raising the money to make the movie; and securing a distribution deal—and then hires a team to assist him with the nuts and bolts of the production.

  The key members of the production team are:

  •Line Producer—The line producer is initially responsible for drawing up a budget and devising a schedule for the project. He then oversees all the physical and practical aspects of the production—securing soundstages and shooting locations; hiring below-the-line (noncreative) crew members; renting or buying necessary equipment, material, and supplies; transporting, housing, and feeding the cast and crew; troubleshooting problems; and generally making certain that everyone and everything required to make the movie is where it needs to be when it needs to be with a minimum of fuss and bother. Above all, the line producer is responsible for working with the director, the producer, and the crew to make sure filming stays on schedule and on budget. Line producers are sometimes credited as Executive Producers.

  •Unit Production Manager—The unit production manager has essentially the same duties and responsibilities as the line producer (in fact, on many productions, one person functions as both the line producer and the UPM.). The differences are mostly of degree and emphasis—the line producer is usually concerned with the overall production, while the unit production manager is focused more on day-to-day operations. Large-scale films usually employ both a line producer and a production manager, while smaller projects often only employ a UPM.

  •First Assistant Director—The first assistant director’s primary responsibilities come during production—he prepares the daily call sheets (an official schedule and list of all of the personnel, equipment, and props required for the particular day’s work); makes sure all cast, crew, and equipment are on hand and in position when needed; moves the crew from setup to setup in an efficient, orderly manner that keeps the production on schedule; tends to the feeding, health, and safety of the cast and crew; and prepares daily reports on the progress of the filming for the producer and studio. Although the first AD does most of his work during filming, he is usually brought onto a project during preproduction because his years
of on-set experience make him very good at estimating how long it takes to shoot various types of scenes, expertise that can prove invaluable in devising a realistic shooting schedule for the picture.

  During preproduction, the director collaborates with the production team to hash out a reasonable budget—one that can provide the director with enough resources to satisfactorily realize his vision, but at a price the financiers can live with. Depending on the project, professional film budgets can run anywhere from ten thousand to several hundred million dollars.

  The director and the production team also collaborate on a workable schedule for the movie—one that gives the director enough days to comfortably shoot all the required scenes while keeping the production within budget. Since shooting days are expensive (running anywhere from $5,000 a day to several million, depending on the type of film) the number can frequently become a matter of contention—directors (who want as much time as possible to get things right) usually want more, and producers (who understandably need to watch every penny) always want less. Film schedules can be as short as three weeks or as long as six to eight months.

  A director pushes for a schedule that accommodates his creative needs. For example, he may want to shoot an intense emotional scene between the two leads at the end of the shoot to give the actors a few weeks to get to know one another and develop an off-screen relationship that will hopefully enhance the on-screen one. Or he may want to shoot the film in sequence to allow the drama and performances to develop naturally. On the flip side, the production team wants the schedule to be as practical and economical as possible—e.g., to shoot all the scenes that take place in a particular setting at the same time, to save the days and money it would cost to come back again and again.

  There is a lot of give and take in this process and a great deal of compromising on both sides. A director must be sure he can live with the results—that he has enough time and resources to properly make the movie the way he sees fit—and not just to ensure that he can achieve creative satisfaction. In most instances, directors are required as part of their contracts to abide by the final agreed-upon budget and schedule. If they don’t—if they go sufficiently over schedule or run considerably over budget—they can face legal and financial penalties (including being responsible for cost overages).

  Revise the script

  During preproduction, the director also works with the screenwriter to get the screenplay ready for filming.

  If the movie is based on an original idea by the director or one of his associates, or if it is based on a piece of material (a novel, a play, a magazine article, etc.) the director has acquired to adapt into a movie, then he will work with the writer from inception to ensure the final shooting script represents his concept for the project (and, of course, if he’s penning the script himself, then he’s doing this automatically). If the movie is based on an existing screenplay (one the director has acquired for himself or that he has been hired to make), then he will work with the screenwriter to rewrite that script—sometimes lightly and sometimes quite extensively—into one that reflects his vision for the project.

  Directors work with screenwriters in different ways. Some stick with the same writer from the beginning of the writing process to the end; others employ multiple scribes throughout the writing and rewriting. A director will usually replace a screenwriter if he feels that he and the writer aren’t in sync creatively or if he feels that the writer isn’t able (or willing—screenwriters can be as stubborn as directors) to give him what he wants. Some directors may bring in a string of writers to pound away at the script until they get the results they are after. Others like to employ different writers to handle various elements of the script—one to work on plot, another to craft the action, an additional scribe to enhance characterization, and yet another to polish the dialogue. Some directors don’t bring in any additional writers at all, but instead make the desired changes themselves.

  Many screenwriters dislike the fact that some directors will use so many scribes on a single project—they feel that it is disrespectful to their craft and minimizes their role in the filmmaking process by making them seem disposable. However, in the modern film industry, the director has the last creative word—so if the helmer and the scripter don’t see eye to eye, it is the screenwriter who must give way.

  Analyze the script

  Once the screenplay is complete (or almost complete), most directors will do a comprehensive dramatic analysis of the piece.

  A director will usually begin with an overview of the complete narrative to get a sense of the overall dramatic shape of the piece by identifying the spine of the story (i.e., determining where the key structural moments—introduction of the protagonist, inciting incident, Act I plot twist, establishment of the protagonist’s goal, initiation of the conflict with the antagonist, Act II plot twist, climax, and resolution—are located); by getting a feel for the overall rhythm, flow, and pace of the piece; and by determining what its theme or themes are.

  The director will then do an in-depth analysis of each individual scene in the script to get a firm handle on how it fits in to the overall story: what its purpose is in the plot; how it helps propel the narrative; and how it relates to the theme. This analysis will help the director when it comes time to shoot the scene, because it will tell him what the focus of the segment should be; what aspects of the scene to emphasize and which to play down; what the dramatic mood and tone should be; and how the scene should be paced.

  Assemble the creative team

  During preproduction the director assembles his creative team—the talented and experienced people who will help him realize all the various elements of the film. The creative team includes the:

  •Cinematographer—also known as the Director of Photography (or the DP or the cameraman). The cinematographer is in charge of photographing the movie. The director works with the cinematographer to determine the photographic style of the film—an approach to the lighting, shot composition, camera movement, image quality, and color palette that will best express the director’s concept. They also decide which aspect ratio (the width and height of the image when it is projected on screen—1.85:1 and 2.39:1 are the most common) to use and if the movie will be shot with one camera or several. (Multiple cameras are often used when the material being photographed cannot easily be restaged or repeated—big crowd scenes, complicated action and effects sequences, an unusually intense performance scene, and so on.)

  •Editor—the editor assembles all the individual shots made during production into a cohesive whole. The editor is arguably the director’s most vital creative collaborator, since he helps determine the final shape of the movie.

  •Production Designer—the production designer creates the settings in which the film will be shot. The director and the production designer work together to determine which scenes will be filmed on constructed sets and which will be filmed in real locations. The production designer then designs the sets and supervises their construction and dressing. He also helps select the real-world locations and dresses them appropriately. All the production designer’s work is focused on reflecting the directorial concept.

  •Costume Designer—the costume designer creates or acquires all the clothing the actors will wear in the movie. As with the cinematographer and the production designer, all the costume designer’s creative choices are made in accordance with the director’s vision.

  •Creative Makeup Designer—if the story calls for an actor’s appearance to be significantly altered—when the performer must be aged, maimed, made to resemble a famous historical figure, or transformed into a fantastical creature—then the director will call in a creative makeup designer to devise and implement the alteration. A creative makeup designer uses prosthetics, silicone, foam rubber, and other devices and materials to remake an actor’s appearance.

  •Composer—the composer creates original music for the
film (and usually orchestrates and conducts it, as well). The composer usually doesn’t start working until the postproduction period, but is brought on early if any original music is required to be played on set during filming.

  •Sound Designer—the sound designer is responsible for creating all the sound effects heard in the film apart from the music and dialogue. He edits together the sounds recorded on the set during production and new sounds created in postproduction to create an aural environment that supports and complements the film’s imagery.

  •Special Effects Supervisor—the special effects supervisor oversees the creation and implementation of the on-set special effects. During preproduction, the director and FX supervisor will meet to determine what effects the film will require, how long it will take to prepare and shoot them, and what safety precautions and other on-set accommodations will be required to carry them out. The director will use this information to adjust his shooting plan accordingly.

  •Stunt Coordinator—the stunt coordinator, who is usually a stuntperson himself, assembles the stunt team, devises and prepares the specific stunts, and then oversees their execution during filming. The stunt coordinator also choreographs fight scenes, car chases, and other elaborate action involving people. As with the special effects supervisor, the director will usually meet with the stunt coordinator well in advance of shooting to determine what stunts the movie requires, how long they will take to prepare and shoot, and what precautions and accommodations will be required to bring them off safely during filming.

  •Visual Effects Supervisor—the director will work with the VFX supervisor to determine which scenes will require visual effects. The two will collaborate on the design of the effects and work out what live-action material the director needs to film as component pieces for the FX shots (e.g., filming actors in front of a green screen so that they can later be composited into a VFX shot) and determine what special effects need to be employed during the live-action shooting (e.g., the use of a wind machine to simulate a giant creature’s breath; the use of interactive lighting to simulate the effect of a laser blast; and so on) to “sell” the VFX that will be added later.