Directing Tips

What it really means to be a director

by Mark Travis | Published January 15, 2007

(THIS ARTICLE IS TAKEN FROM WWW.MOVIEMAKER.COM)

Many of us have made films (short films, long films) and we take great pride in saying, “I made that.” But did we really? We say we’re “directors.” We say we “make films.” We may even call ourselves “moviemakers.” But what do we really do?

Think about it: You had a script, maybe you wrote it, and you decided to turn it into a film. You found some money and then you began the process. You worked with the writer, found yourself a producer, hired or begged for the services of a cinematographer, production designer, casting director and a crew. You cast some actors and found an editor. Then you went into rehearsal and production. You shot for as many days as you could and then there was post-produc-tion. By the end, you had worked with many people: Writer, producer, cinematographer, actors, sound mixer, production designer, wardrobe, hair, make-up, special effects, editor, composer, mixer, etc. When it was all done and up on the screen you pointed at it and said, ‘I did that.’ But what did you actually do?

Chances are you did not operate the camera, play all the parts, build or dress all the sets, find all the locations, do all the lighting, mix all the sound, do all the editing, composing, mixing and color correcting. In fact, there’s a good chance you did none of these things, yet you get to say ‘I made that film.’

The real challenge of being a director is that you have to do so much—yet you get to do so little. It is your vision that is shaping the movie. It is your passion that is guiding and inspiring all of the other artists. You are a storyteller and you have elected to tell this story through the medium of film, which means you must collaborate. You must rely on the skills and artistry of others in order to achieve your goal.

So the question is: What do you do? Well, mostly you talk. That’s it. A voice is the director’s main and most powerful tool. You talk to actors, writers, producers, designers, cinematographers, editors and composers. You can literally “talk” a film into existence. Your job is to inspire each artist to do his or her best work on your film, with your vision as the guide. But in order to do that, you have to understand these artists’ language.

How do you talk to a writer? A producer? A designer? An editor? An actor? It’s a virtual tower of Babel. This is the challenge that you face every time you make a movie, whether it’s your first, fifth or fifteenth effort. How do you articulate to all of these talented artists what it is you see and hear in your head and feel in your heart?

I make films in order to make an emotional connection with my audience through a story. I know that in the moviemaking process it is my sensibility, my emotional connection to the characters and the story, that is the guide for every choice made.

Rather than tell my DP that I need a low angle, 50mm shot framing the house on the right and the lamppost on the left, with the moon cutting through the trees… I tell him ‘I need this shot to scare me. I want to feel that I am not safe, that no one in that house is safe.’ I know the audience doesn’t care about the camera angle, lens size, framing or depth of field. They care about the emotional ride. The audience is an open vessel, ready to respond. And they will respond to every-thing I put up there on that screen. My job is to stimulate that response as best as I can, using myself as the surrogate audience during the process of making the film.

You must communicate the result you want to your creative team. Let the costume designer know how a particular dress should affect the audience’s perception of a character. Let the production designer know how the audience should feel when they are first inside the boss’ office. Let the editor know how you want the audience to react when he cuts to the lead actor’s reaction to some devastating news. Let the composer know how you want the audience to respond to the music in connection with the events of the scene.

“What do you want?” is the most difficult question to answer—ever. Do you really know what you want? Not the shot, the angle, the performance, the texture or color. But do you know what you want to happen in the hearts and minds of the audience at this particular moment? This is what directing is really all about. As directors we are storytellers, and as storytellers we are constantly manipulating the audience. The audience expects it and we had better deliver. If you know what you want, if you know the results you want, you will be fine, as long as you can articulate your desires to the individual artists.

This is “result directing” and this approach will work well for almost everyone. Tell the cinematographer how you want a shot to impact the audience and he will be able to deliver. Tell a production designer how the set needs to affect the scene, the characters and the audience and she can deliver. (The same holds true for editors, composers, sound mixers, etc.)

But there is one area of cinematic storytelling where result directing will not work. In fact, it will be totally counter-productive—perhaps even disastrous. That is with the actors. Working with actors is arguably the single most important aspect of directing.

At the core of every film is a story and it is the characters in the story that captivate us, hold us and take us on a journey. This fact makes the actors the most important element in your film. All directors know this to be true and many directors struggle with the complex challenge of working with actors.

Here are some realities of working with actors that cannot be ignored:

1. Actors have the most difficult and the most dangerous job on the set.

2. Actors, in order to do their best work, must be working in a safe environment.

3. “Safe” means that only one person will be talking to an actor regarding his or her work—and that is you, the director. All actors will look to you for direction, guidance and inspiration and will expect you to protect them from the comments, criticism or suggestions of everyone else.

4. Result directing does not work with actors.

The reason that result directing does not work with actors is clear: We do not go through life trying to create emotions and responses. We go through life trying to achieve our personal objectives, to avoid as many conflicts and obstacles as possible and to remain in areas of comfort. To ask an actor to simply express the result of a frustrated or foiled attempt to fulfill an objective is to ask him or her to focus only on the result of the action, not on the action itself.

The solution to this challenge is difficult to achieve yet always delivers the most powerful performances imaginable. Stop directing the actors and learn how to direct the characters. Only then have you earned the right to call yourself a “moviemaker.” MM

PITCHING FOR FILM

Hai friends! I have just gone through a site on film script pitching and to me it seems quite useful so i am sharing on my blog. Just go through it you may like it.

Some writers and filmmakers love to pitch their films. In fact, they can hardly wait to talk about their projects and whatever they have to say seems to result in big breaks and passionate support. Other folks struggle to pitch their projects, stumbling over sentences that sound like haiku and communicate about as much. If you're one of the many who just can't seem to get their pitch right, you'll find the following suggestions helpful. They are culled from years of pitching and watching others pitch, and they are guaranteed to help you pitch more happily and effectively in a short period of time.

1. Pitching is All About True Love

The first thing to understand about pitching a project is, it's all about True Love. When you are pitching someone on a screenplay or a film project you want them to invest in, you are really asking them for the world. It usually takes millions of dollars and several years to get a film to market. The vast majority of the people you pitch to are not going to be investing their time and money in your project. The only folks who will make that investment are folks who really love the thing as much as you do. At least, you hope so. If you honestly love your project, the worst thing that can possibly happen to you is to get someone involved who is only in it for the money. Because those folks will want you to add a moose to your project because one of their potential investors owns a hunting lodge. When you pitch you are looking for people who want to make the film you want to make, who understand intuitively what the film is about and why it is important.
Knowing that you are looking for true love makes things much easier. Because when you tell someone about your project, in the natural course of a conversation, you can "sell" it based on why you love it and not the millions its going to make them. Your first sentence will tell them what it is about, and from that moment on you'll know if you've found someone "cool" enough to know what's good. For those of us who would have invested in APOCALYPSE NOW, Coppola couldn't have gotten through "Its Conrad's Heart of Darkness set in Vietnam" before we were wondering how much money he needed to do it. Its just that simple. You can identify folks who are not good partners just as easily. You pitch APOCALYPSE NOW and they say stuff like "Why are you making a film about war? There are so many nice things to talk about." Send those folks off with a smile and a handshake. They are on this planet to make someone else's film and the sooner they find them the better.
Always remember that pitching has far more to do with the story you are trying to tell than it does with coming up with some way to trick people into liking it. Just come up with a sentence that describes your film the way you'd describe to friends if you saw it in a movie theater. That's your opening line.

2. After You Fall In Love, You Can Talk About Getting Married

After love comes marriage. A good pitch naturally leads to questions like "What's you budget", "Do you have any talent attached", "When do you want to shoot".
If you are really dedicated to having your project made, you'll have answers to these questions. Because the truth is all you'll want to do on God's Green Earth is make this film. Someone, somewhere has to love a film that much for it to get made. Someone has to be willing to paddle that canoe right up the river to the silver screen. If you can't answer hard questions about your film now, invest some time in getting answers to the questions most people ask. No one else is going to answer those questions if you can't.
Those pitching screenplays should have some idea of who they'd like to play the lead roles. Even if those folks never get cast, it helps people "see" and understand the film better. Those who want to have someone invest in their film have to have lots of answers because they are asking for lots of money.
In very rare cases the "right" answer to a question is "Well, what do you think?" Sooner or later a good partner will have thought about some aspect of your project you never considered. When that happens, its time to ask them for answers. After all, film is a collaborative medium. People who participate in the development of a film expect to play a role in its . . . development.

3. The Right Pitch Varies from Person to Person, Moment to Moment

The interesting thing about pitching is how often you have to do it, and how often what you say has to change. A writer, even when a producer is on the scene, is often called upon to pitch their script to actors, directors and investors. Why? Because they understand it best. Filmmakers will have to pitch actors, directors, investors, UPMs and members of the press. Your pitch will vary based on who you are speaking to and when in the development process you are speaking to them.
Actors tend to like to hear about the unique importance of their character in a project, while line producers want to know how many days you plan to shoot. They'll all want to know the overall story of the film, but in every case what comes next will vary. This is one reason why a "one size fits all" approach to pitching is invariably unsuccessful.

4. Your Pitch Has to Ring True

Another interesting thing about pitching is that if you have concerns about your project, they'll invariably turn up in the pitch. You can't pitch "around" a problem. If there is something that bugs you about your script or film project, fix it. The reason to make your script as good as it can be, and your business plan as accurate as possible, and your budget as complete as can be, is because it frees you to make impossibly good pitches. Frankly, I've seen actors handed scripts that had two errors on every page, and it never got mentioned because the writer was so passionate about the project that the actors just wanted to find out what all the excitement was about. This is not about the freedom to deliver a sloppy script. It is about the freedom to make a perfect pitch because you know what you are giving people is something you have every confidence in.

5. Your Pitch Has to Endure

One of the most amazing things that will happen to you when you pitch a project well is that people will become passionate about it. When that happens, you will start to hear other folks pitching your project for you. Your passion will have become their passion. Some words will change, the emphasis may be different, but a good pitch is as memorable as a good film. When you hear other people delivering your pitch you'll know you've done it right. Your pitch has given your project a life of its own.

A Final Note

Friends and relations are rarely the best folks to try your pitch on unless your last name is Scorsese and your uncle's name is Martin. Most folks can't imagine anyone buying anyone's film and their responses to a pitch are disheartening as a rule. So practice your pitch on folks that you want to help you on your film. Early on, you can pitch actors so they'll help you with table readings that let you fully explore your characters. Later you can pitch other screenwriters so they'll read the script and give you notes. As time goes by you'll develop a pitch that gets you whatever you need to make your film. That, by definition, will be a perfect pitch.