by Ray Morton
A director needs to understand dramatic structure so he can analyze the story he is telling and devise the imagery, action, staging, and cutting that will highlight, emphasize, and communicate the key narrative elements to viewers, so they can clearly comprehend the tale.
2. Genre conventions and clichés
Most film stories are genre stories. Major movie genres include: Action; Adventure; Thriller (Crime, Caper, Psychological); Comedy (Romantic, Screwball, Buddy, Underdog; Spoof); Drama (Social Issue, Courtroom, Medical, Family); Mystery; Horror (Monster, Supernatural, Slasher); Science Fiction; Fantasy; Western; Sports (Comedy or Drama); and Biopic. Every genre has certain specific narrative and structural elements and conventions that must be included in a movie’s plot for that movie to be considered part of that genre. For example:
•Romantic Comedies must have a “cute meet”—a scene in which the two leads first encounter each other in some quirky or amusing fashion. The leads must take an immediate dislike to one another. Later they must overcome that dislike in a sequence in which the pair is forced to be together under trying circumstances, at which point they warm to one another and eventually fall in love. There must then be a silly misunderstanding that causes the two leads to break up at the end of Act II, and they must get back together at the end of Act III.
•Sports movies always feature an underdog player or team no one thinks can win; an unconventional coach who is the only person who believes in the player or the team; a rival player or team that appears to outmatch the underdog in every way; a training sequence in which the underdog player or team gets up to speed; and, of course, a final game or match in which the underdog takes a terrible beating before coming from behind, against all odds, to win.
•Fantasy films usually present a callow young hero who receives a call to adventure that he first rejects, and then later accepts; a mentor who informs the hero that he possesses some sort of amazing power and then teaches him to use it; a villain with powers that rival the hero’s; a beautiful young woman for the hero to rescue and romance; and a final battle in which the forces of good clash with and eventually triumph over the forces of evil.
•Mysteries always have a crime (usually a murder), a red herring (a character that appears to be guilty of committing the crime but eventually turns out to be innocent), and a “revealing the true culprit” scene; Courtroom Dramas always climax with a big trial; Thrillers and Action movies usually feature car chases, fistfights and gunfights, and a valuable MacGuffin (an object everyone is searching for or fighting over); and so on.
When making a genre story, a director must incorporate these elements and conventions into the film in some fashion so as not to disappoint viewers who—consciously or unconsciously—are aware of all of these obligatory elements and conventions and are expecting them (because part of the fun of watching a genre film is to see how the conventions will play out). The director must decide when to incorporate these elements and conventions as expected and when to twist them in clever or unexpected ways. Likewise, a director must be aware of all of the clichés of a particular genre so he can decide when to embrace them, when to avoid them, and when to subvert or exploit them.
3. The language of film
Over the century of its existence, the cinema has developed its own very specific language. Just as words, grammar, and punctuation have specific meanings and purposes in written language that, when employed properly, allow authors to communicate their ideas to readers, the shots, transitions, and editing in movies also have specific meanings and purposes that let filmmakers communicate their ideas to viewers. Just as a writer needs to know the language he is using to properly tell his stories, a director needs to know the language of film to properly tell his. And so a director needs to be well versed in:
a. The four basic types of shots:
•The Close-up—a shot used to create a sense of intimacy or intensity by emphasizing a character’s face or by highlighting a specific action or detail.
•The Medium Shot—a shot used to show characters and action in waist-up views that approximate the usual way we see people and events in real life.
•The Wide Shot—a shot used to show characters and action in full body, to introduce and orient the audience to a setting or location, or to establish the position and relationship of various elements within a scene.
•The Long Shot—a shot used to give an overall view of an immense setting or of large-scale action, to depict landscape, or to convey a sense of massive size and scope.
b. Specialty shots:
•Single—a shot used to highlight or isolate one specific character in a scene.
•Two-shot—a shot used to show two characters relating to one another.
•Over-the-shoulder Shot—a close-up or medium shot of one character filmed over the shoulder (which is visible in the frame) of a second character. An over-the-shoulder shot is used to highlight the featured character while maintaining her/his relationship with the second character and thus create a sense of connectedness and intimacy.
•Low-angle Shot—a shot that frames a character or an object from a low vantage point to create a sense of great size, height, mass, or threat.
•High-angle Shot—a shot that frames a character or an object from a high vantage point to create a sense of diminished size or power.
•Dutch Angle—a tilted shot used to create mystery, tension, uneasiness, or suspense. The Dutch angle gets its name from German (“Deutsche”) cinema because it was first used in the German Expressionistic films of the 1910s and the 1920s (films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, and The Last Laugh). For this reason it is also known as the German angle.
•Crane Shot—a shot made by mounting a camera on a hydraulic lift that can raise the camera from ground level to a point high in the air. It is used to move from a ground-level view of a character or action to a high view or vice versa in a single unedited take.
•Tracking Shot—a shot in which a camera mounted on a moving pedestal (called a dolly) follows a character or an object as it moves through a setting.
•Pan—a shot in which a camera on a fixed pedestal (usually a tripod) is turned from left to right (or vice versa) across a setting to provide a panoramic view of a scene or a setting.
•Tilt—a shot in which a camera on a fixed pedestal is tilted up or down.
•Zoom Shots, Push-ins, and Pull-outs—shots used to move from a wider view to a closer view (or vice versa) in a single shot. Zooms are accomplished by moving a parfocal or varifocal lens to change the view while the camera remains static. Push-ins and pull-outs are accomplished by moving the camera while the lens remains static.
•Insert—a brief close-up of a specific prop (e.g., a newspaper headline) or action (e.g., pocketing a rare coin) that is cut into the main action to make a specific story point.
c. Transitions.
•Transitions refer to the movement from one shot in a movie to the following shot, and from one scene in a movie to the following scene:
•Cut—a straightforward transition from one shot to the next or one scene to the next—one shot or scene ends and the next immediately begins. When a film cuts from one scene to another, it is assumed that the second scene occurs consecutively after the first, with little or no passage of time.
•Dissolve—a transition in which the content of one shot overlaps and is mixed with the content of the following shot for a few seconds until the content of the second shot comes completely to the fore. A dissolve is a more gradual transition than a cut and is usually used to connote the passing of time.
•Wipe—an alternative to a cut or a dissolve in which the content of one shot moves across the face of the previous shot, “wiping” it off the screen.
•Jump Cut—a cut within a shot that removes the middle of the piece and so causes the action of the shot to “jump�
� from the beginning to the end. A jump cut is a frenetic way to indicate the passage of time.
•Fade In—a shot that begins in black and gradually lightens until the content of the shot is visible. Most movies begin with a fade in.
•Fade Out—a shot in which the image gradually darkens until it becomes black. Most movies end with a fade out.
•Fade Out/Fade In—a transition in the body of a film in which one shot fades to black, which holds for a few seconds and then gradually lightens to reveal the content of the next shot. Fade out/fade ins are usually used to denote the passage of a very long period of time.
d. Montage
Shots are the words of the cinematic language. Transitions are the punctuation. Montage—film editing—is the actual writing. Individual shots can be cut together to create a feeling or an effect (sentences). A series of individual shots can be cut together to form scenes (paragraphs). Scenes can be cut together to form sequences (chapters). And sequences can be cut together to form the entire story. Montage is the process that transforms cinematography into cinema.
4. The core crafts of filmmaking
A director doesn’t need to be able to do all the jobs involved in filmmaking, but he does need to be familiar with them and how they can be used to help him tell his story.
•Cinematography—Cinematography is the art and craft of photographing a movie. A director needs to know how shot composition, lighting, and camera movement can be used to convey story points and to create emotion.
•Editing—Editing is the art and craft of assembling individual shots into a complete film. A director must understand how images can be cut together to convey story points and to create emotion.
•Acting—Acting is the craft of portraying a character on-screen. A director does not have to know how to act himself (although many directors begin as actors), but he should be familiar with basic acting techniques so that he can work productively with his cast members to get the best performances possible.
•Production and Costume Design—Production design is the craft of creating and dressing the sets and choosing and dressing the locations where the film will be shot. Costume design is the craft of creating original clothing or selecting preexisting clothing for the actors to wear on-screen. A director needs to be aware of how design can be used to establish setting, tone, and time period and to reflect and enhance characterization.
•Makeup—Makeup is the craft of using cosmetics and other materials to enhance or transform an actor’s appearance. A director should have a sense of how makeup can be used to express and reflect character and how it can be enable actors to play various ages, different races and genders, and fantastic or horrifying creatures.
•Special Effects—Special effects are physical gimmicks (bullet hits; explosions; floods; breakaway glass and furniture; flying people on wires; constructing full-scale mechanical sharks and dinosaurs; and so on) deployed on set during filming. A director needs to know how to employ these gimmicks to help tell his tale.
•Stunts—Stuntmen and stuntwomen are specialists who perform actions that are too dangerous or demanding for the actors to attempt themselves without risking injury. A director needs to know how and when to employ a stunt crew to create exciting scenes and sequences without endangering his cast.
•Special Visual Effects—Special visual effects are images used to modify or supplement on-set photography to alter or enhance the appearance of the actors, settings, or cinematography, often to conjure up fantastic worlds, creatures, and action. In years past, special visual effects were created by combining miniatures, models, and matte paintings with various optical processes. In the modern era, they are generated mostly by computer. Computer-generated imagery has become such a ubiquitous and indispensable element in modern filmmaking that no director can do his job properly without having at least some understanding of the techniques of and possibilities offered by CGI.
•Sound—Movie sound is recorded on the set and then augmented in postproduction by additional stock and specially recorded sound effects. A director must know how sound can be recorded, edited, augmented, and mixed to enhance a mood or create an aural setting.
•Music—Film music can be an originally composed and conducted score, existing pieces such as pop songs and classical pieces, or a mixture of both. A director does not have to know how to compose music, but it is helpful if he has a feel for how music can be used to enhance the mood and pacing of a scene, a sequence, and an entire movie.
4
A Few Skills a Film Director Should Have
There are a number of personal skills that are useful for a film director to have.
1. A director should be organized (or hire someone who can organize him)
There are a lot of things to do and a lot of things to keep track of during the making of a motion picture—meetings, script notes, more meetings, storyboards, even more meetings, auditions, screen tests, location scouts, still more meetings, shoot days, edit days, screenings, meetings, and a lot more meetings. The better organized a director is, the more he will be able to stay on top of his tasks and meet his responsibilities and avoid the feeling that he is—as Francis Ford Coppola once described the hectic quality of making a movie—constantly running down the track in front of a speeding locomotive.
2. A director must be able to prioritize
When juggling all his tasks and duties and responsibilities, a director needs to know which of these things he needs to give his attention to at any given moment and which can wait. For example, sometimes it is more important for a director to consult with the production designer, so that set construction can get under way, than it is for him to cast a supporting part that won’t shoot for several more months. Prioritizing is the only way to keep a production running smoothly and efficiently—and the director from being hit by that speeding locomotive.
3. A director must be decisive
The director is a leader of a team. It is the job of team members to suggest ideas to help the director tell the story he wants to tell—the cinematographer suggests ideas about the images, the designers suggest ideas about the sets and costumes, the actors suggest ideas about characterization, and so on—and it is the director’s job to accept the ideas that support his vision and veto those that do not. In other words, it is the director’s job to decide. Because there are so many people working on a movie and there is so much that has to be accomplished, a director has to make literally hundreds of decisions every day. And he has to make them quickly, or else the entire production will grind to a halt. So a director has to know what he wants and be able to say what he wants without too much dawdling or dithering.
Because the director spends so much of his time dealing/interacting with others, he must also have strong interpersonal skills.
1. A director must be able to communicate
The director must be able to clearly convey his ideas and wishes to the various members of his team so that they will understand what he wants. A director must also be a good listener so he can hear and clearly comprehend the suggestions his team members make, so that he won’t miss out on any excellent ideas that can improve the final product.
2. A director must be able to motivate the members of his team to do their very best
Some insecure helmers attempt to motivate their people through fear—by yelling and screaming, berating them, and throwing tantrums (thus giving rise to the caricature of the raging tyrant director seen in so many Hollywood spoofs), but it’s probably safe to assume that people don’t do their best work when they are being traumatized. When interviewed, most cinematic craftspeople and technicians confirm they are motivated to do their best work for directors who nurture and inspire them, rather than for those who terrorize them.
3. A director must be able to delegate
Unless it is a micro-budget shoot or a student film, there are si
mply too many jobs that need to be done in the course of making a movie for one person to do them all. Therefore, a director must hand off vital tasks to others. Because most directors have control-freak tendencies (they wouldn’t be directors if they didn’t), many of them find this hard to do. While it is not unexpected that directors would want to involve themselves in all aspects of a production, it is best if they can avoid the temptation to micromanage, because doing so can create resentment. (Film crews are made up of working professionals, often with many years of experience in their field. They know what they are doing and object to the impression, created by micromanaging, that they do not. If a director does not trust a member of his team to do a good job, he should replace that person with someone he does trust and let them get on with it.) Like indecision, micromanaging can cause the production process to grind to a halt. On most projects, effective delegation by the director makes for a smoother production, a happier crew, and a better final product.
4. A director must be politically adept
Moviemaking can be a very political endeavor. There are often many different factions at work on a film—from the studio level to the production offices to the floor of the set—each of which wants something for itself (money, control, creative satisfaction, credit and acclaim, etc.) out of the process. These blocs and their agendas can interfere with the director’s ability to make the movie he wants to make in the way he wants to make it, so it behooves the helmer to be able to recognize the various cliques at work inside and outside the production and to know how to charm, coax, cajole, persuade, unite, and sometimes even bully them into letting him do what he wants and needs to do.
5
Getting the Job
