How do you spot a good director?

H

hughbiquitous

New member
Full disclosure: I am not a filmmaker. Just trying to be thoughtful about film.

I was discussing the whole idea of "Best Director" awards with someone and we wondered:

How do you spot a good director? When you watch a film, what makes you say, "wow, that's the work of a great director?"
 
If it's a good movie, it probably had a good director. You'll notice in most movies awards the best director and best picture go hand in hand most years, but even when they don't it's a close race.
The job of the director is to make sure everything works together, from acting to production design to music and editing. If he doesn't do his job the movie isn't going to be pretty. One aspect of best director that doesn't always line up with best picture is innovative special effects and style, such as Spielberg's win for Saving Private Ryan for not only creating a great movie but doing it with such realism that had never been seen before. Although that said, I still never understood it losing best picture to Shakespeare in Love
 
Yeah I don't care for Saving Private Ryan much, fairly boring movie with a really simple, uninteresting story. The acting is great, the effects are great, music is good, technically speaking it's a great movie. But in every other respect it's just ok. There are a lot better war movies out there, and in my opinion it's one of Spielberg's lesser films.
 
you can do any number of things and be considered a good director. but for me, the one defining characteristic of talented directors is vision. a good director has to have a vision, an image of the world he wants to create in his head. you can have all the knowledge in the world about film technique and aesthetics, narrative and story structure, and character and plot development but without a vision those are just tools of a trade - dimensionally singular devices to help you achieve an effect.

take for instance george lucas. his vision of star wars was so clear in his head, so real, that even though star wars: a new hope fell well short of his vision it still was a masterpiece of cinema. now, I consider george lucas' work on the original trilogy (even though he didn't direct the second two) almost unparalleled simply because the world of the film was all there, in his head, down to the very last detail. lucas isn't the greatest writer or director in terms of literary/cinematic technique, effect, or aesthetic, but when it comes down to it, like I said, it's all about vision.
 
It's often very hard to spot a good director because different directors "direct" films in different ways. Some are control freaks, others let the production do their work for them, some know exactly what they want, others simply keep plugging away at shots and scenes until something comes into their heads.

But ultimately - all good directing comes down to a "good movie". Subjectively a good movie often contains many or all of the following:

1) Things that touch you emotionally

2) Things you've never seen before

3) Things you've seen before shown to you in ways you've never seen before

4) Things that make you go "woah"

5) Things that make you feel like you've gone on a journey and the destination was worth the time you spent getting there.


These are elements that are created by a varieyt of different people in a film crew, but are all USUALLY instigated/approved by the director.

A director is the captain of a ship. It's his job to make sure the ship gets to its destination and arrive in the exact condition demanded by the ship's owner (the producer). And if he can do that AND have a happy crew and have few accidents or people falling overboard and make sure it arrives on-time and doesn't use up any extra money or resources than allocated, then that is also regarded as "good directing".

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is an interesting example for me. Personally I can't stand the film, but I will happily agree that it was brilliantly directed. An interesting dichotomy - hate the film, but love the direction?

It makes sense if you think about it - the film is a cliche war movie with an uninteresting story and dismal, paint by numbers script and characters.

However - the elements of the film that fall under directorial control - are brilliant. The photography and the way it is edited together is amazing. The CHOICES that went into how the storming of Omaha Beach is portrayed is stunning. The tiny details like the acting in the scene where the German officer stabs the Jewish soldier or the decision to have the sound of the approaching German tanks slowly increase in volume over 10, continous, minutes - these are attributable to the director and his direct talent.

Two directors can shoot two scenes where the same person gets up out of the same bed, walks down the same hallway and carefully opens the same door that has the same blood-soaked man on the other side pounding on it violently.....and one director can make it seem cheesy, unscary, hokey, uninteresting and cliche....and another director can turn it into a wild ride of frights, fear, unbearable tension and terror just by a simple matter of altering the acting, shots, editing, sound, lighting and so forth.

A director is like the conductor of an orchestra - he makes sure the oboes don't come in too early, he makes sure the 2nd violinist doesn't get too loud, he makes sure everyone keeps in time WITH HIM and that there is a certain ambience being pervaded about the entire performance.

Good director's make either good or - at least - interesting movies. And the fresher, more original and more thought or emotion provoking that film is, the better they are as a director as a whole.

And let's not forget director's are not an island to themselves. They need the RIGHT creative team and administrative team to support them. Pair up the right director with the wrong DOP, the wrong editor, the wrong actors or even the wrong producer and there will be nothing the director could do to save the film.
 
I observe great directing is knowing the beginning, middle and end of the story so well that he/she can visualize its parts before they are blocked and shot... and then you take the viewer throught a story with unexpected creativity. A great director must be a great storyteller.

You purpose and assure that the casting is right, the acting is correct, that there is a believable change in the wants and needs of the characters, so we the audience take them into our hopes, and desire them to have success... or failure.

A director is open to the creative thoughts of cast and crew semipermeably, gleaning what is useful to the story and kindly limiting what is not. A great director takes a good script and makes sure that the audience enjoys that story to the fullest extent possible. A great director will assemble an equally creative team of professionals who will know what he/she wants, and understanding, will loyally produce an excellent product consistently.

Knowledge of craft, divergent thought, creativity, malleability, vision and leadership are traits of a great director. I have had the blessing of working for a few like this.
 
Well said, poe.

poe said:
And let's not forget director's are not an island to themselves. They need the RIGHT creative team and administrative team to support them. Pair up the right director with the wrong DOP, the wrong editor, the wrong actors or even the wrong producer and there will be nothing the director could do to save the film.
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I think one of the CRUCIAL characteristics of a great director is knowing how to assemble a good team to work with. This sounds simple but it means being able to do an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, working out effective communication, being able to communicate a vision (as a previous poster said, vision is absolutely key – but it's also absolutely worthless if you can't describe it to others). Great directors know how, and when, to delegate.
 
A good director is, among many other things, a lot like a good parent. He or she knows when to praise when it's appropriate, and (much more difficult), when to be very tough (but very fair) when appropriate.

Kids know when their parents are easy to push around, and even though it means they get their way a lot, they actually hate it. So does a film crew, most importantly the actors.

Just *one* facet of a very complex dynamic...

My $.02
 
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"SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is an interesting example for me. Personally I can't stand the film, but I will happily agree that it was brilliantly directed. An interesting dichotomy - hate the film, but love the direction?

It makes sense if you think about it - the film is a cliche war movie with an uninteresting story and dismal, paint by numbers script and characters."

Couldn't agree more wit that, but I haven't met anyone else who feels like I do about the film, haha. Besides technically it's just not a great movie. When people say how great it is, I wonder if they've ever actually watched any great war movies, because you won't find many with plots that bad, honestly. It's just boring. A really weak effort from Spielberg, I thought, and yet it has done so well.

I think a great director is definitely someone who knows when to rely on the creative professionals he has hired, and when to sort of take a bit more control. It's a delicate balance, when to trust other people to do their jobs and when to micro-manage. Careful planning, communication, and a lot of hard work go into being a great director I think.
 
One of the many reasons to avoid micro-managing is that you run the risk of depriving your (presumably talented) collaborators of the joy of their own contribution. Sounds a little touchy-feely to put it that way, but the best approach is to *empower* them creatively (and appropriately - there's that word again), which is what gets the creative sparks to fly. A mentally engaged, creatively empowered, team-spirited cast and crew is the ideal.
 
A good director drives a BMW, smokes a cigar, talks on his cell phone while yelling at people when things don't go his way AND starts drinking scotch at 10 AM.
<true story>
 
JonathanLB said:
"SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is an interesting example for me. Personally I can't stand the film, but I will happily agree that it was brilliantly directed. An interesting dichotomy - hate the film, but love the direction?

It makes sense if you think about it - the film is a cliche war movie with an uninteresting story and dismal, paint by numbers script and characters."

Couldn't agree more wit that, but I haven't met anyone else who feels like I do about the film, haha. Besides technically it's just not a great movie. When people say how great it is, I wonder if they've ever actually watched any great war movies, because you won't find many with plots that bad, honestly. It's just boring. A really weak effort from Spielberg, I thought, and yet it has done so well.

I think a great director is definitely someone who knows when to rely on the creative professionals he has hired, and when to sort of take a bit more control. It's a delicate balance, when to trust other people to do their jobs and when to micro-manage. Careful planning, communication, and a lot of hard work go into being a great director I think.
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I'm curious, what is so cliche about SPR? Your critique on war movies has me wondering what I've missed over the years that is so much better, please enlighten me.
 
Sean Smith said:
A good director drives a BMW, smokes a cigar, talks on his cell phone while yelling at people when things don't go his way AND starts drinking scotch at 10 AM.
<true story>
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I thought you were talking about me until the part about the scotch.....true story:D
 
Sean Smith said:
A good director drives a BMW, smokes a cigar, talks on his cell phone while yelling at people when things don't go his way AND starts drinking scotch at 10 AM.
<true story>
Click to expand...

And he must do all of those things at the same time... while reading a script.
 
Ted Spencer said:
A good director is, among many other things, a lot like a good parent. He or she knows when to praise when it's appropriate, and (much more difficult), when to be very tough (but very fair) when appropriate.

Kids know when their parents are easy to push around, and even though it means they get their way a lot, they actually hate it. So does a film crew
Click to expand...

Totally agreed.

A good director is also one with a bold vision, one who knows what the final picture should look, sound and feel like, and one who can communicate with his crew well enough to let them see, hear and feel that. A good director is also a charismatic person who has the power to motivate people and push them to new heights (it's a win-win scenario), so they could do their job on the best side possible, on time, and very important, also be able to enjoy the process.

Eventually, I like to think of film directors as the ones in charge of the making of a giant puzzle from a scratch. They've got, in their minds, a homogeneous image that they'd like to see at the end of the process, and now they have to give directions to dozens of people and departments whose job is to create their own, homogeneous piece in that puzzle. You want no irrelevant pieces, no pieces that won't fit in (mostly because they're too large), and by the end of the day, you also don't wanna discover empty holes in your puzzle. It's a very challenging work of multi-skills, where imagination and communication are the leading keywords.

That's my take on this. I hope you have a wonderful day!
 
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Great directing is about 70% luck. There are simply too many variables to be able to control everything. Therefore, a lot of what happens is out of your hands. It is why the same director of American Beauty can make Jarhead and why the majority of directors make only one good film.
 
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