Especially for music videos, I like a DP who I can bounce crazy ideas off and who will throw them back at me with something extra, and I like to collaborate well before the shoot and really come up with some great ideas together. I have the initial concept, what I want to see, what I'm thinking, etc., and then I love a DP who doesn't want to take charge of my project, but who begins sentences with, "What about..." and "You could..." and gives me some more ideas to play with. That's awesome. That's exactly what happened on my last video and it was so much stronger because of that. We came up with a lot of the finer points together, and it was a collaborative process as film really should always be.
I let my DP have quite a lot of creative freedom, though, I don't control every shot. I know what I want to see and describe it but am open to changes, and especially during performance footage I give advice and ideas, but honestly any DP I work with will (must) have more experience than me. In fact I'd prefer they have about 10 times as much experience, quite literally, because I haven't gained enough experience to know everything that might look great, I like to play, and if the DP wants to play and experiment a bit that's fun, time allowing. Otherwise I know exactly what types of shots we need, beyond what we need it's about what would be cool, what do we have time for, what can we do in this location that might be especially effective.
I don't want a DP who starts calling things out to my actors, or who tries to take control. I'm the director and I want to be free to direct. But I don't want someone so hands off they think the project is just mine, and take no ownership of it. I want people at the top of the crew list (and if you're lucky everyone!) to take some ownership of the project, throw their passion into it, because the efforts of many talented people CANNOT HELP but be better than the vision of just one person. As long as everyone's ideas are filtered through one person, the director, and that person has a clear vision and is able to make disparate ideas work together effectively, that's directing to me. So that's what I want from my DP.
Also I see my job as a director as being more about influencing every part of the project slightly, rather than an overbearing control of every aspect. In other words, I don't edit my own projects, I don't select every shot, I let my editor play, but I help massage that final edit into what I want to see, I make suggestions that change the way the project is put together, and I explain from the start what I'm going for and let my editor play around a bit, too. Same thing with a DP. I don't want to have to explain every detail. I have a shotlist, I know what I want, but I like to see how the DP wants to set things up or light them within my basic confines so there's always room for creativity.
I think that's my favorite part of directing, I don't have to be mostly responsible for anything whatsoever, but I have to be partially responsible for absolutely everything. It's a tough job on one hand because nobody puts more time into a project than a director except maybe the producer (I have often produced, co-produced at least, and directed the same project, which is a pain), but it's a great job on the other because it's like being a coach of a team. If I get a great team together and I give them professional equipment, then all I have to have to get a great product is that great idea. Because I know that with a great team, they'll pull off my idea as I have envisioned it or better, and the biggest element of that is my DP.
It's interesting when the average person is like, "So you directed the music video, wow you did a great job on shooting it!" I am like, "No I didn't shoot any of that." "Oh... well what did you do then?" "I directed it." "What does that mean?" haha, it's like the director doesn't shoot it, doesn't edit it (on most professional projects), doesn't act in it (usually), doesn't setup the lighting equipment, etc. But take my last project, even though the reason it was really great is because we had such a great team, there is no project without me. Without that idea, without me finding that band and coming up with that idea and putting the work into finding a good team (and my DP found his team), there's no project. So it's ultimately very satisfying despite not "doing" any one thing, yet ultimately every part of the project has my signature on it because I made the final decisions that led to its creation. My DP has to be understanding of my ideas, too, and supportive of what I want to accomplish, because if there's one person I need to believe in me it's the DP.
I let my DP have quite a lot of creative freedom, though, I don't control every shot. I know what I want to see and describe it but am open to changes, and especially during performance footage I give advice and ideas, but honestly any DP I work with will (must) have more experience than me. In fact I'd prefer they have about 10 times as much experience, quite literally, because I haven't gained enough experience to know everything that might look great, I like to play, and if the DP wants to play and experiment a bit that's fun, time allowing. Otherwise I know exactly what types of shots we need, beyond what we need it's about what would be cool, what do we have time for, what can we do in this location that might be especially effective.
I don't want a DP who starts calling things out to my actors, or who tries to take control. I'm the director and I want to be free to direct. But I don't want someone so hands off they think the project is just mine, and take no ownership of it. I want people at the top of the crew list (and if you're lucky everyone!) to take some ownership of the project, throw their passion into it, because the efforts of many talented people CANNOT HELP but be better than the vision of just one person. As long as everyone's ideas are filtered through one person, the director, and that person has a clear vision and is able to make disparate ideas work together effectively, that's directing to me. So that's what I want from my DP.
Also I see my job as a director as being more about influencing every part of the project slightly, rather than an overbearing control of every aspect. In other words, I don't edit my own projects, I don't select every shot, I let my editor play, but I help massage that final edit into what I want to see, I make suggestions that change the way the project is put together, and I explain from the start what I'm going for and let my editor play around a bit, too. Same thing with a DP. I don't want to have to explain every detail. I have a shotlist, I know what I want, but I like to see how the DP wants to set things up or light them within my basic confines so there's always room for creativity.
I think that's my favorite part of directing, I don't have to be mostly responsible for anything whatsoever, but I have to be partially responsible for absolutely everything. It's a tough job on one hand because nobody puts more time into a project than a director except maybe the producer (I have often produced, co-produced at least, and directed the same project, which is a pain), but it's a great job on the other because it's like being a coach of a team. If I get a great team together and I give them professional equipment, then all I have to have to get a great product is that great idea. Because I know that with a great team, they'll pull off my idea as I have envisioned it or better, and the biggest element of that is my DP.
It's interesting when the average person is like, "So you directed the music video, wow you did a great job on shooting it!" I am like, "No I didn't shoot any of that." "Oh... well what did you do then?" "I directed it." "What does that mean?" haha, it's like the director doesn't shoot it, doesn't edit it (on most professional projects), doesn't act in it (usually), doesn't setup the lighting equipment, etc. But take my last project, even though the reason it was really great is because we had such a great team, there is no project without me. Without that idea, without me finding that band and coming up with that idea and putting the work into finding a good team (and my DP found his team), there's no project. So it's ultimately very satisfying despite not "doing" any one thing, yet ultimately every part of the project has my signature on it because I made the final decisions that led to its creation. My DP has to be understanding of my ideas, too, and supportive of what I want to accomplish, because if there's one person I need to believe in me it's the DP.
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