Directing: Overview.

A Director is the leadership figure in a film making collaboration.
Although working with cast and crew, the Director is breathing life into her/his vision.

 The responsibilities of the Director in each stage of the filmmaking process are:

 Pre- Production

Gathering the team

Who would you lie to appoint to Producing, lighting, edit camera, sound?

Work on/with the script – 

Most new directors under-develop the script t find all the potential has gone unrealised/unused when they come to the edit.

Essentially, there are two types of film – 

Dialogue Driven and Visually –Driven. Which is yours?

A good example of a dialogue driven film, Billy Bob Thornton's Sling Blade (1996), tells its story mainly through dialogue exchanges.



Similarly, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Dir, Milos Forman 1975) derives much of its power through the performances of the actors in a dialogue -driven film.






The Visually-Driven film  may still contain much in the way of dialogue and dialogue driven exchanges,  but will rely on visuals to convey more of the story elements than the two examples that we have just seen.

Amelie (Dir, Jeanne Pierre Jeunet 2001), A waitress discovers that by carrying out acts of kindness , she can change peoples lives. It is what she does rather than what people say that really drives the story.





Guy Ritchie uses the visually driven method of directing to great effect in his re-working of Sherlock Holmes (2009). Just because this is a 'character' based story, this does not mean that it should or cannot be visually driven. Can you identify one of his leit-motifs in the extract below?







Image composition
Storyboards
Locations
Casting
Rehearsing Actors
Ethics

Production

Artistic 'Vision'
Sound and Image
Set-Ups
Equipment
Working on Location
Working with Actors
Reviewing Material
Re-Shoots if needed

Post-production

Editing and Grammar of the Edit
Sound and Music
The Finishing Touches
Consent, Clearance and Copyright
Ethics (again)
Distribution
Promotion and Publicity

You need to carefully consider each of these responsibilities before you decide to direct a script at all.
For example, awareness of platform, audience, budget and resources will go a long way in the way that you decide to shape your vision. Working creatively within the limitations that you have is an essential quality that a Director must cultivate.