Directing for Dummies

Welcome to the newest edition of "[insert random film crew position] for Dummies!" I'm you're host, Mike, and today we shall be delving into the world of the director. *Oooo ahhh* Now, I know what you're all thinking: "Duh! A director is the guy/girl that directs people!" You know what? You'd be correct in saying that. Go figure!

I'm sure you all know the basics of a director's job. I'm here today, though, to try to teach you a little something that you may not have already known. Let's start from the beginning. Now, after a director is hired by producers for a project, the director must then work side-by-side with the producers to cast actors for the film. This can be an extremely long and tedious process, but it's one that simply must be done. Clearly. Without quality actors, you can't possibly dream to have a quality film. Well, I guess you could, but that's all it would be: a dream.

Next up on the list of things to do, the director has to organize and select shooting locations. Of course, the director has location scouts working for him to truly find the best locations for shooting, but he has creative control and authority as to which locations will appear in the film. At the same time, the director interprets--and sometimes even writes or selects--the script for the film. The director rarely ever writes the script himself, but if he's not hired by a production house to direct the film, the director will often go out and find a script he'd like to work with. The location selections are hugely dependent on the script and the way the director interprets it, so the two steps are pretty much synonymous.

The director's next job is the last step before filming can begin. He must approve the sets, costumes, choreography (not present in most films), and music. These aspects of film are usually completely invisible to the untrained eye, or ear, because the only time most people will find them noticeable is when they are done incorrectly. If a film is set on a 1950s Japanese farm, and the actors are wearing tuxedos and sneakers with Kanye vaguely playing in the background, something went wrong...very, very wrong. It's the director's job to make sure mistakes like this never happen.

What else does the director do? Well I'm glad you asked! The rest of the director's work is pretty straight forward and most of you already know all of these things. But guess what! I'm going to tell you about it anyway! The director has a whole lot to do during production. The most obvious task is directing the actors. Whether it's explaining to actors how he wants them to portray their character in a given moment or if it's simply helping actors get into character, the director is the guy doing it. While doing this, the director also keeps the crew on track and makes sure everyone's doing what they need to be doing. Film shoots are generally tightly scheduled, so there's no time for excessive screw-ups and messing around. While doing this, the director also works with the cinematographers on shot composition and makes sure he likes what's in the frame.

Production is quite a daunting time for directors. They're basically the ringleaders for the wildest circuses on the planet. If they crack, the film is doomed to fail. The director must keep his cool so that everyone else does.

So now the film is shot. Yay! The only thing that's left for the director to do is work with the editors on creating first a rough cut and then a final cut of the film. The director gives his input throughout the process on what he thinks looks and feels better. Sometimes, this leads to reshoots of scenes or even cutting entire scenes from the film. But hey, who ever said directing was easy?

How the film boyhood was written

So we all know about the stunning movie that took 12years make known as "Boyhood". Well if you're interested in how such a story gets created, you've come to the right place. An exclusive interview with the writer of Boyhood, Richard Linklater, will let us learn the way to create such a film ourselves... or at least appreciate the creative genius behind it. Attached is a 9minute interview explaining how Richard wrote this film but I will divulge a few details prior to taking a gander. Richard knew the ending of the film 11 years before he was finished writing it, but he needed to know how to get to that end.

Initially Richard wanted to make a film about childhood but he did not know how to incapsulate but all the sudden wants his finger hit the keyboard the idea came to him. From the beginning he knew the idea was impractical but he decided to keep pursuing it. When he decided to start filming it he said he spent about 3 days a year filming it but it took about 2 years of preproduction before he could start filming. He also had the luxury of spending two years in post production so he had a lot of time to perfect his production.

When making the film he decided he did not just want to show content that built upon the characters but just to show daily life during the time of production. He believed that this build up of information would naturally be impactful. Richard tried to take those little forgettable moments and make them memorable. The child she chose to be in the film was someone from his town who he now views practically as his nephew. He told the kid to write down his life events when something significant happened and utilized those memories to write his script. At the begging of the film the now adult was 7 years old. Richard made sure to think about the current time period when writing the script rather than the future or the past. It took creative genius and determination to create such a script, for more details I urge you to watch the short interview which can be found at the attached link.

http://nofilmschool.com/2014/08/write-movie-12-years-richard-link-later-boyhood

Lincoln

Over break I got the chance to see the film Lincoln. I thought that it was very well made, the lighting was great, and the acting was spot on. After the movie was over my parents and I always discuss what we liked and disliked about the film. The thing that stood out to me the most was how they showed all the famous event about lincoln and the civil was, such as his death. Everyone knows that Lincoln was shot at the theater so they decided to show that event taking place from a different perspective. Instead of showing Booth shooting Lincoln they showed his son finding out the news. I feel that it made it much more powerful by seeing his sons emotions then the actual shooting of Lincoln. All aesthetics of the film were amazing and you could tell that a lot of research had taken place inorder to make this movie what it is. I would recommend this movie to anyone and I consider it a must see!!!

Tori

amateur directors, directing amateur actors

As it gets closer to the day of our film shoot, I realized myself and my group members  face a huge challenge getting our recreated footage to meet the original. A major factor in the success of this project is being able to tell our actors their exact physical and emotional actions.

Since my last blog post was such a hit, I decided I would do another informational post. I found a really great article on helium.com, written by David Shakespeare, that provides tips and advice to directors when working with amateur actors. I recommend that you check out the article, but here is an overview of Shakespeare's tips. Check out the article http://www.helium.com/items/1783328-filmmaking-how-to-direct-amateur-actors.

1. Rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal- It is important that your actor is familiar with the film environment and the backstory of their character. Backstories allow actors to become apart of their character and will allow the director to capture characters that feel natural and easy for the actors to portray.

2. Know the script- Make sure that the actors know the script before you begin filming and allow some leeway in the character development to allow actors to customize the characters. Also, listen to how your actors believe a character should be portrayed, sometimes they may read the character differently. It is important to listen to how your actors read the script and don't be afraid to tell them how you want the character or story to be portrayed.

3. More takes, the better- Make sure your actors know that it is okay to make mistakes. When mistakes occur, encourage the actor to stay in character and continue with shooting. It is important that the actor responds to the error, as if they were the character and not just an actor. Do not stress over the mistakes that happen because sometimes they can make the acting seem more natural and may provide a new perspective of your script.

4.Show the performance- Show the actors the captured footage. This provides you the opportunity to comment on the actor's performance and make suggestions to enhance their performance. It is also very beneficial for the actors to seem themselves as the character so they can make appropriate changes. Constructive criticism is vital.

PRACTICE!!!!!!

This article provided me with some really great advice about communicating with amateur actors, so i encourage you all to check it out at the link listed above. Hope you learned something.

Peace,

Brie

A Great Show

One televisions show that I enjoy and I think a lot of other people on this campus enjoy is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  This is a show about 5 friends that own a bar in philadelphia and go on crazy antics with different schemes each episode.  Each character is funny in a different way and they are all very self-centered.  With the Emmy awards coming up, I was surprised to see this show not nominated for Best Comedy.  I wondered why, because it has gotten a lot of critical praise.
     One thing about this show is that it is not flashy.  Aesthetically, it is nothing special.  The low budget probably plays an factor in this.  But there aren't any crazy camera shots or special effects or zooms that make this show special.  To sum it up, the show is shot in a very simple, unchallenging way.  Now I'm sure there are difficulties with filming and that not every shot is super-easy, but in comparison to other shows, this show is shot in a very basic way.  What separates this show from others is its writing and acting.  Its writing is what makes it so funny.  And the actors are brilliant with their characters.  This proves a belief that good acting and good writing can trump something that is aesthetically pleasing.  That the writing and acting are just as if not more important than the way it is filmed.  Here is one of my favorite clips from the show.

Mark Wahlberg shoots stuff.

Mark Wahlberg is, in my opinion, one of the great actors in modern cinema today. The Departed, The Fighter, Ted, The Italian Job, Four Brothers. All fantastic movies and fantastic acting jobs (at least, in my opinion. Maybe others would disagree). And I don't think its always easy to stand out as a great actor in the world of action movies, where flashy special effects and explosions make up for what's lacking in the story and talent of the actors. Marky Mark still manages to shine.

"Shooter" is the story of Bob Lee Swagger (yes, 'Swagger'), a marksman living secluded in exile after a failed mission left one of his partners and best friends dead. He is recruited by the US Government via Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) to help stop an assassination attempt of the president. However, Swagger doesn't realize that he is soon to be double-crossed by the very country he risked his life for, and framed as the would-be killer. After surviving the double-cross, Swagger goes on the run from the police. Using his special training and skills with a firearm (or in this case many, many, many firearms), he hunts down the real shooter and tries to find out who exactly set him up and why.

Sounds pretty cool, eh? Yeah I thought so too. "Shooter" was one of those movies that looks great on paper but just fails to deliver what I hoped for with the story. I found it to be pretty damn predictable and cheesy. Not to mention, Danny Glover and the majority of the supporting cast just stinks up something awful with their performances. The portrayal of the corrupt head-honchos of US intelligence  was way too cliche. I just wasn't convinced that the actors were really consuming themselves in their roles. They seemed to just play their roles to the most basic characteristics. Not enough feeling, not enough emotion.

And seriously....Mark Wahlberg's characters name is Swagger? Where the hell did they come up with that one?

I wouldn't call it one of Marky Mark's best performances either. But this is one of those movies that really does a GREAT job of making up for the places it lacks in, ... with
ACTION ACTION ACTION ACTION ACTION. 

Any scene where Swagger was wielding a gun was pure excitement. He pops headshots on guys from thousands of yards away, takes out like 20 dudes without getting a single scratch on him. This may be typical of any action movie. But they did it damn well. "Shooter" receives praise from me for its kick ass action sequences.

-Nick

Editing and Acting!

Given that this week we have gotten really in depth into acting and ways actors should express emotion in front of a camera, I decided to make my post on the Kuleshow effect. Over the summer I decided to watch 2001 Space Odyssey again (last time I watched it I was 13, of course I didn't like it) because I felt that analyzing this movie would be really beneficial for me. After watching the movie I decided to research more about it, and this is when I found out about the Kuleshov effect. This effect was "discovered" by russian director Lev Kuleshov (hence the name). It is basically a technique of editing in which he alternated an emotionless shot of famous russian actor, Ivan Mozzhukhin, with three other different shots. After showing the same different montages with the same shot of Mozzhukhin to different audiences, Kuleshov demonstrated that in film acting the audience is the one to attributes an emotion to character, depending on the different shots the director decides to cut to.

Here is Kuleshov experiment video:

According to the different audiences, in the first shot Mozzhukhin looks hungry when he the shots cuts to the plate of soup. on the second shot he looks sad, and on the third one they said he had desire for this woman.

Here is Alfred Hitchcock explaining the effect. I feel he makes a better job trying to explain the effect.

I think it is really interesting how this effect has influenced the acting and direction in the history of films. Going back to 2001 Space Odyssey, we found the effect in most of the shots of the computer Hal. Given that he is a computer he cannot show any kind of emotion, but the audience gives the computer human emotions by the way Kubrick intercuts between him and the crew members of the Discovery one.

The last part this video reveals to us that Hal feels betrayed and angry with the crew members just by the way it was edited. The shot of Hal is just a red dot, We don't even see any facial expression, but when it is intercut by Hal reading the crew members lips, the shot of Hal is more powerful. I feel that we can take this kind of editing in mind when we direct our actors during a scene.