Directing tips for begginer

[Jim Brennan]

Jim,

When you say this, would you recommend using this as a sort of guideline to remember or should I focus on the direction of actors until I feel More comfortable with the craft of directing?

Jordan

IMHO, that is the primary job of the director on a set (and easier to focus on with preparation and a good crew). There is plenty of other work to do before and after. Of course it is unrealistic to believe that you will have the luxury of not dealing with other issues. In fact, sometimes they can create opportunities. But, as has been said by others, find experienced people you can trust and communicate well with. When they are doing their job, you can do yours. But you do need to keep an eye on them...:laugh:

Everyone works differently and has a different focus. Some directors are collaborative, some controlling. Some are about the shot, some are about the performance. It's a balancing act. Do your homework (as you seem to be doing here), but then go and shoot a 2 page scene, or something else that's simple. Get your feet wet. Most of the stuff you read and talk about will make more sense after you've got some shooting under your belt.

One of my maxims is to always remember that this is a process. Allow yourself the luxury to screw up, because you will. I definitely admire your desire to learn and prepare, and I think that will help you. But you will make mistakes, some of which will seem very foolish when you look back on them. That is part of what we do. You just try to learn from each one. Because there are no answers, only lessons.

 

[jordan Bergren]

IMHO, that is the primary job of the director on a set (and easier to focus on with preparation and a good crew). There is plenty of other work to do before and after. Of course it is unrealistic to believe that you will have the luxury of not dealing with other issues. In fact, sometimes they can create opportunities. But, as has been said by others, find experienced people you can trust and communicate well with. When they are doing their job, you can do yours. But you do need to keep an eye on them...:laugh:

Everyone works differently and has a different focus. Some directors are collaborative, some controlling. Some are about the shot, some are about the performance. It's a balancing act. Do your homework (as you seem to be doing here), but then go and shoot a 2 page scene, or something else that's simple. Get your feet wet. Most of the stuff you read and talk about will make more sense after you've got some shooting under your belt.

One of my maxims is to always remember that this is a process. Allow yourself the luxury to screw up, because you will. I definitely admire your desire to learn and prepare, and I think that will help you. But you will make mistakes, some of which will seem very foolish when you look back on them. That is part of what we do. You just try to learn from each one. Because there are no answers, only lessons.

Jim,
You brought a tear to my eye Jim. HAHA, Thank you that is GREAT advice. If it's alright with you I would like to do a few short scenes, as you said above, and post them and ear what you guys have to say about them. That would be sorta fun actually.
Thanks Jim!
Jordan B

 

[moonlitnite]

Rehi,

More tips, huh? Okay, rent/buy DVDs that include director's commentaries. Carefully watch these again and again, making notes of tips that distinguish the best in class directors. I'm sure other here will share some of their favorites, I'll start off with three that immediately come to mind:

Stephen Spielberg - Catch Me If You Can
Guillermo del Tor - Pans Labyrinth
Ronald D. Moore - Battlestar Galactica (especially audiocasts)

You should also carefully listen to all the KCRW audiocasts "The Treatment" by Elvis Mitchell. Elvis gets terrific interviews from leading directors. How can you go wrong soaking up the Cohen Bros, Brian De Palma, Ridley Scott, etc? And if that's not enough, check out Joe Morgenstern's "Film Reviews" and NPR's "Movie Reviews".

Listen to a few of each of the above and report back to us with your new insights and questions...

Happy Holidays, Michael

 

[c.g._eads]

I agree with Moonlite but I'll take it a step further. Find the movies and the directors that *you* like best, not necessarily the *best* directors or films out there. These are the guys you're trying to emulate so learn absolutely as much as possible about their process - from pre-production all the way through editing. Then just do what they do! Simple as that. (haha - okay, not exactly simple). For example, if you're a Woody Allen fan, don't use stoyboards (he doesn't). If you're a Hitchcock fan, storyboard until your hand cramps (he loves'em). If you're a Woo fan, come to every set open to completely changing the scene. If you're a Fincher fan, study light like there's no tomorrow. If you're a Rodriquez fan, keep your crew light and shoot fast. If you're a Burton fan, study production design and cast Johnny Depp. If you're a Bay fan, try to make the worst movie imaginable (sorry - I couldn't resist). You get the idea.

 

[jordan Bergren]

c.g.

HAHAHA!! I love the Michael Bay shot! Butt honestly, thank you very much, I think I will try and keep my range wide and absorb both the best and my favorite.

Thank you,
Jordan

 

[moonlitnite]

Jordan,

Oh yeah, you can get a ton of useful Indie director commentary on the short action movie, "Broken" - it's chalk full of all aspects of filmmaking.

Enjoy, Michael

 

[Gohanto]

Thought of some other stuff...

It's easier when first starting off, especially if you haven't worked on a film before, to concentrate on certain things in each film more than others. It's relatively easy to get a few basic shots of a scene and just cut everything together so it makes sense. (Though doing it once will teach you a lot of stuff). However the art of film is learning how to use all the different areas together.

One film I wanted to concentrate on lighting and cinematography so I tried a lot of Godfather style ideas on the mafia movie I was doing. On another movie I experimented heavily with sound design and super-fast editing sequences in an experimental film. Another I tried using colors to convey different themes.

Only on a fairly recent film did I significantly plan sound design, camera motion, framing, lighting, costuming, and editing all down pretty close to how it ended up in the final version. And most of the changes I made were only made because better ideas came along and not because my original thoughts didn't work out. That's a hard part to get to. Since I knew how everything was going to work in the final film and hard confidence in it from experience, I was much more relaxed to concentrate on actors while on set. I'm a director who loves the technical side, so that's what I wanted to get a handle on first (where the acting did suffer as a result), but now I'm much more confident on set and, most of the time, know exactly how to get what I need for every shot.

 

[Matthew R. Rodwell]

Rehi,

More tips, huh? Okay, rent/buy DVDs that include director's commentaries. Carefully watch these again and again, making notes of tips that distinguish the best in class directors. I'm sure other here will share some of their favorites, I'll start off with three that immediately come to mind:

Stephen Spielberg - Catch Me If You Can
Guillermo del Tor - Pans Labyrinth
Ronald D. Moore - Battlestar Galactica (especially audiocasts)

You should also carefully listen to all the KCRW audiocasts "The Treatment" by Elvis Mitchell. Elvis gets terrific interviews from leading directors. How can you go wrong soaking up the Cohen Bros, Brian De Palma, Ridley Scott, etc? And if that's not enough, check out Joe Morgenstern's "Film Reviews" and NPR's "Movie Reviews".

Listen to a few of each of the above and report back to us with your new insights and questions...

Happy Holidays, Michael

I put Catch Me If You Can in last night to listen to the commentary and I couldnt find it on any of the audio tracks or on the bonus material disc

 

[jordan Bergren]

Surreal,

I did the same thing with Munich last night too and I couldn't find anything!!!! HAHA!! I was real disappointed though that movie is a directing clinic! Gorgeous movie.

Jordan B

 

[moonlitnite]

I put Catch Me If You Can in last night to listen to the commentary and I couldnt find it on any of the audio tracks or on the bonus material disc

Sorry Surreal - the director commentary for Catch Me if You Can is on disk 2 named "Bonus Features". I was mesmorized learning how Leonardo received the script from a friend, read it and liked it enough to pass it on to Stephen who did a script reading session with his own family. With the two of them both thumbs-up, the rest was history (getting Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Amy Adams, etc to sign-on, etc).

Learning about the real Frank Abagnale is a story in itself (the movie tracks closely), but I was intrigued about how different Tom and Leonoardo were regarding feedback after a shot. Leonardo regularly would go immediately to the digital video monitor to checkout his performance, while Tom said he could never do another movie if he watched himself after acting (fear of being self-conscientious). If you remember the movie, in one scene Frank Jr (Leonardo) is in a passionate doctor's office interlude with the nurse (Amy). After about 6 tries, the director had a take. But in typical Leonardo style, he requested one extra take "just for fun" to try something not in the script. The scene involved some hot kissing on the doctor's desk - on the extra take, Leonardo asked Amy to be sure to really mess up his hair and glasses when she quickly had to pull away during an unexpected call from a floor doctor. Of course, the shot was hilarious and really sold the scene so the best of the prior takes was abandoned, using Leonardo's improvised take. One extra feature of the director's commentary on Catch Me if You Can is the special attention by the Art and costume director on the set (certainly not my area of expertise) - it was fascinating to appreciate/learn some of their award-winning techniques.

In each director commentary, I find a handful of nuggets and insights. However, I will say that until I viewed the director's commentary of Pan's Labyrinth I was clueless of all the symbologies, allegories, etc. For instance, I suspect many viewer's didn't correlate the tree-stump pix (also on the DVD cover) as representing a mother's vagina and womb. The movie is chalk-full of various representations, especially shapes and colors - the director's commentary is will worth viewing for the aspiring artistic director.

Happy holidays, Michael

 

[bill totolo]

Study behavior, use verbs, lose adverbs, be simple, speak as little as possible, improvise.

 

[vertigoanton]

you can always go the George Lucas route of directing actors..."faster and more intense"

=P

 

[Zak Forsman]

even watching Michael Bay work (I do a lot of "behind the scenes" docs) was an education for me. he runs a very, very efficient set and keeps things moving like no one else i've seen. beyond that however...???

 

[Jim Brennan]

I know Bay has his share of detractors. But he is creating a product and he is good at it. Personally I love The Rock (The movie, not the actor...although old Dwayne was pretty great in Be Cool)

 

[Zak Forsman]

aside from being efficient, he's also the biggest assh*le i've every seen running a set. he once threw someone off his set by yelling: "get the f*ck out of my imaginary world!" and he meant it.

 

[Tom Marshall]

you can always go the George Lucas route of directing actors..."faster and more intense"

=P

Ahh, so that's why all of the films he's directed have such awful performances. It all makes sense now.

And as far as Bay is concerned, ask Bruce Willis what he thinks about the guy. :lipsrseal

 

[Chuklz]

And as far as Bay is concerned, ask Bruce Willis what he thinks about the guy. :lipsrseal

Yeah I'll give him a ring after I get done shtupping Rumer and Demi this weekend.

Bay was a photographer not a storyteller- and it shows.


Directing is two things. First it's homework. You plan every detail, or coordinate details in advance. It's a lot of homework and it requires mastering multiple disciplines. You need to know everything from fabric textures, to lighting, to camera, to acting. You plan it out... the more control you exert the closer your product will be to your vision in the end.

Second, it's the head creative guy on set. You might think that means you're the boss of an ad agency- but really its much more like you solve everyone's problems. Actors dont feel comfortable- you come up with a solution. You ran out of food and half the crew hasnt eaten yet- you find the right person's credit card and the fastest PA on the planet. You run out of a particular film stock- you have the right adjustments made so the tone of the film doesn't change arbitrarily.

 

[Ted Spencer]

You would be surprised how few people actually act professional in the indie world.

Spot-on, Jim. I've been acting in indie features and shorts (along with other projects) for some time now, and the sloppiness and unpreparedness of some of these situations is really striking.

It's actually perversely encouraging to me as an aspiring filmmaker myself because I know I will not be making most of those mistakes. I'll find plenty of mistakes of my own to make I'm sure, especially early on, but I doubt they'll be quite as bone-headed as some of what I've seen on occasion from the shiny side of the camera.

By contrast, some shoots I did recently for "The Onion News Network" were models of meticulous preparation, deep professionalism, and crisp crew work. Can't say enough nice things about those guys (and gals).

Preparation, preparation, preparation, they say...

 

[Ted Spencer]

Re: George Lucas

Ahh, so that's why all of the films he's directed have such awful performances. It all makes sense now.

The other reason is the dialog writing. He's regularly slammed for it by critics, and even quite a few of the actors who've appeared in his films. Great storytelling, but very wooden dialog.

I love all the Star Wars films anyway though. For me, what Lucas does well far outweighs what he does badly.

 

[brianluce]

Ahh, so that's why all of the films he's directed have such awful performances. It all makes sense now.

Ever seen "American Graffiti"?

Lucas got Oscar nods for the script, the directing, the whole enchilada.
Somehow he even managed to coax a decent performance from the likes of Wolfman Jack.