Why am I so obsessed with directing?

jpbankesmercer

jpbankesmercer

Director Mod
Why am I so obsessed with directing? I’m in my fifth year now, six before that acting. As soon as I latched onto directing it started to consume my life. I can’t watch anything without thinking where the line is, or admiring that long handheld sequence, (must have been hard to block), no he cut too soon to the close-up and when I’m not critiquing others work I’m bashing my head against the wall chanting:- Magic Bullet, aspect ratios, too much gain, inserts, not enough gain, subtext, cutaways, title manager no Photoshop, Actors, room tone, tungsten, f5, input one on, no f6, focal length, crushing my blacks, DP's, defusing my whites, crossing the line (only if physically), bubbling, billying, dollying, trollying and I really should get that mini jib!
Obviously no-one knows how bad I really am, anyone else got a problem??
J.P.
 
I woudn't say I'm that bad at all...

Haha, but I cant watch a movie, without thinking about the image 180 degrees around what we're seeing, and picturing the crew, director, and DP getting each shot... Being an editor, I often notice different techniques and mistakes. Then again, I notice the same mistakes watching my own work...

It's a curse, but its fun :)
 
I just have problems with authority. I used to DP but I always thought I could block the scene better or push the actors further than the guys I shot for. Now I'm trying to prove I can. It's going good but it takes time to learn what's really possible with all the comprimises one makes to bring a show in on budget and still make it good. I think Robert Rodriguez has the best philosiphy about this. Do as much yourself as you can and try to solve your problems creatively instead of throwing money at them.
 
evinsky said:
I just have problems with authority. I used to DP but I always thought I could block the scene better or push the actors further than the guys I shot for. Now I'm trying to prove I can. It's going good but it takes time to learn what's really possible with all the comprimises one makes to bring a show in on budget and still make it good. I think Robert Rodriguez has the best philosiphy about this. Do as much yourself as you can and try to solve your problems creatively instead of throwing money at them.
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Defo. I love Rodriquez. Likes to shoot himself/ edit. All for HD. gets out and makes movies. Top bloke.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
because you're aces at it.
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Agreed.

I just kind of point actors in a direction and let them do their thing. There's a lot I need to work on as a director. I'm more of a DP at heart (and I have a long way to go with that, too).:)
 
Actually, I am very new to the game and started getting into basics only about 8 months ago but I am already obsessing about things day and night driving everybody around me crazy. sometimes I think, if the start is like this what will happen to me in five to 10 years?

oh well, I just read some quotes like the following and strangly feel happy.


"Single-mindedness is all very well in cows or baboons; in an animal claiming to belong to the same species as Shakespeare it is simply disgraceful."

Cheers mate.
 
Magic Bullet, aspect ratios, too much gain, inserts, not enough gain, subtext, cutaways, title manager no Photoshop, room tone, tungsten, f5, input one on, no f6, focal length, crushing my blacks
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those have really nothing to do with directing.
 
Even if you are not, they all still do.
Whether you are responding to some cool color correction that your editor or color timer came up with on their own, that you would have never thought of in the first place, and saying "wow, that looks great let's go with that" (or the contrary), whether you are dictating precisely what the CC should look like, or whether you are finding a collaborative middle, Color Grading, Editing, and the rest of the list all have to do with directing because the director's job has to do with translating the screenplay into the visual medium and if you aren't taking strategic advantage of the editing, cinematographt, acting and various details to best realize that story and just leaving that up to others ... then why have a director. Just get an acting coach and a DP and call it a day.

From wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directing
"film director - the person responsible for orchestrating the artistic and dramatic aspects of a film."

 "A film director is a person who directs the making of a film.[1] Generally, a film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, and visualizes the script while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision. It is the director's sense of drama, along with the creativescreenplay into a well-made motion picture"
visualization of the script, that transforms a screenplay into a well-made motion picture.
 
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well said, dr. jack, and said for the right reasons. encouragement is so much more impressive than trolling.
 
Magic Bullet, aspect ratios, too much gain, inserts, not enough gain, subtext, cutaways, title manager no Photoshop, room tone, tungsten, f5, input one on, no f6, focal length, crushing my blacks
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Those are tools. Not directorial Choices.

Means to an end. They aren't choices in and of themselves.

I am no stranger to directing and don't need a lecture on what a director does. I consider all parts of filmmaking part of the directorial process, whether it is the look of my work, or how a the scounscape works with the film etc.. part of my job as a director.

Those are tools. Calling me a troll doesn't change my view on the set of tools listed. If anyone noticed, I did remove 'actors' from that list to be clear.

But I will get back to trolling I guess.


Aside: I very much enjoyed your entry in the horrorfest Jack. Head and shoulders above much of the dreck I saw.
 
I didn't think you were trolling and I meant to chime in and say so, that you must have been in a hurry or we misunderstood you, as I know you are a good guy and go way back here, but I just got distracted, with emails and editing and what not, sorry. :beer:

It did seem a littke like you were just dropping by to say a guy that does know what he's talking about (j.P.) and was just sharing his excitement for it, did NOT in fact know what he was talking about. But as you concede that those are tools used in areas that the director oversees, I guess you were just raising a semantic issue, I think. But it was a confusing post IMHO, I think since you said "those really have nothing to do with directing"and not that they were tools as opposed to choices.
 
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jpbankesmercer said:
Why am I so obsessed with directing? I’m in my fifth year now, six before that acting. As soon as I latched onto directing it started to consume my life. I can’t watch anything without thinking where the line is, or admiring that long handheld sequence, (must have been hard to block), no he cut too soon to the close-up and when I’m not critiquing others work I’m bashing my head against the wall chanting:- Magic Bullet, aspect ratios, too much gain, inserts, not enough gain, subtext, cutaways, title manager no Photoshop, Actors, room tone, tungsten, f5, input one on, no f6, focal length, crushing my blacks, DP's, defusing my whites, crossing the line (only if physically), bubbling, billying, dollying, trollying and I really should get that mini jib!
Obviously no-one knows how bad I really am, anyone else got a problem??
J.P.
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Because you are:)
 
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