A Quick Guide to Film Directing

by Ray Morton

  If a film receives what the studio considers an unsatisfactory rating, the director is expected to appeal to CARA and attempt to get the agency to change its mind. Failing that, the director is required to make alterations in the movie—usually cutting down on the amount of sex, violence, or coarse language (the three primary areas of CARA concern)—so that it can earn it the desired rating.

  Most directors will attempt to make the fewest changes possible (sometimes removing just a few frames here or there) to appease CARA without damaging the integrity of the film. (Directors have been known to deliberately insert material into their films that they know the agency will object to, which they will then offer to excise in the hope that the material they really want included will slip by unnoticed.) Sometimes CARA will demand more extensive changes, at which point the director either needs to comply or to persuade the studio to release the film with a more restrictive rating.

  Locking the picture

  Eventually, after all voluntary and involuntary changes have been made, the film is deemed complete and the picture is “locked”—meaning that editing is complete and that no more changes can be made to the visuals.

  Possessory credit

  As part of the finishing process, credits are added to the beginning and end of the film. All directors receive a “directed by” credit. Some directors also negotiate for a possessory credit—a separate title that further asserts their creative authorship of the movie. The most common possessory credit is “A (Director’s Name) Film,” although some helmers prefer “A Film by (Director’s Name).” The “A Film by . . .” credit is a controversial one because many in the filmmaking community feel it minimizes the contributions of all of the other members of the creative team (and because it’s pretentious).

  Timing

  The final stage of working with the visuals in a film is to time them—to adjust the colors in each shot and brighten or darken the images so that they are consistent throughout, and so that they accurately reflect the director’s and the cinematographer’s creative intent.

  Timing used to be a photochemical procedure done in a film lab, but these days it is a mostly digital process. It is supervised mainly by the cinematographer, but the director is on hand to offer his input throughout and sign off on the final result.

  Sound effects

  Throughout the editing process, the sound designer puts together the film’s sound effects—combining sounds recorded on the set during production with new effects he and his team create in post. As with all other aspects of the film, the director supervises and approves the sound designer’s work or asks for changes if he is dissatisfied.

  ADR

  Actors are often required to rerecord portions of their dialogue—to replace tracks that were poorly recorded during production or to improve their vocal performances. Sometimes they are also required to record brand-new lines—to clarify existing story points or incorporate new ones into the narrative. These new lines will sometimes be dubbed over shots of the actors speaking to replace old lines or be laid in over shots in which the actor cannot be seen speaking (over shots of the actor’s back or of another character’s face; over wide shots of the set or of a vehicle the character is riding in; and so on). This process is called Automated Dialogue Replacement or Additional Dialogue Recording, and the director is always present during this process to guide the actors’ performances in the same way he guided them on the set during principal photography.

  Scoring

  As the picture nears completion, the director shows it to the composer. Most film composers prefer to see a movie they are going to score in as close to a finished state as possible—ideally the locked picture—because their music must match the images, action, rhythms, and tempo of the final film exactly.

  Together, the director and composer will “spot” the picture—decide which sections should have music and which should not. The director will tell the composer his ideas about the music—what mood he wants it to create and how he wants it to enhance, underline, or provide a counterpoint to the images and action that appear on the screen.

  During editing, most directors will create a temp track—an assemblage of preexisting music put together to serve as a temporary soundtrack for the various cuts of the movie to give a sense of the type of music a director wants in a film and the way he wants it to function. Composers generally do not want to hear temp tracks because they don’t want them to influence the creative choices they make while composing their scores—which they, of course, want to be completely fresh and original. However, many a director will become quite attached to his temp and will directly or indirectly urge the composer to model the music he creates after it. This can create a lot of tension, so directors are urged to do their best not to fall in love with their temps.

  After the film has been spotted, the composer will go off and write the score. At various points, he will audition his ideas for the director, who will give his input. When the score is finished, an orchestra will be assembled and the music recorded. It will then be turned over to a music editor, who will painstakingly match it to the completed film.

  Mixing

  When all the film’s sound elements—dialogue, effects, and music—are ready, they are mixed together into a single unified soundtrack. This is a laborious process that can take many days and the director is there for all of it, indicating his preferences—to emphasize the dialogue in one scene; to soften certain sound effects in another; to allow the music to dominate in a third; and so on—from the beginning of the film to the end.

  Prints

  The final step in the postproduction process is to make prints of the film to distribute to theaters. For most of the past century, film prints were physical objects, but these days more and more prints are digital. No matter what the format, the director and his team check the prints to make sure they look and sound the way they are supposed to.

  When postproduction is complete, the movie is finished and ready to be sent out into the world.

  9

  The Director and the Film’s Release

  Premiere

  A movie usually begins its release with a premiere, which the director usually attends. The film then goes into general release in anywhere from a few to a few thousand theaters.

  Promotion

  The release of a film is usually preceded and accompanied by a promotional campaign. This is a key element in any film production because it is the mechanism the filmmakers use to persuade people to come and see their movie. As part of the promotional campaign, the director will do print, radio, television, and Internet interviews. He might attend screenings at which he will do Q&As and participate in panel discussions. If he’s well known enough, he might appear on talk shows.

  Alternate versions

  In addition to the release print, several alternate versions of a movie are also produced:

  •Foreign releases—versions of the film dubbed into various languages and sometimes edited to meet the requirements of local censor boards.

  •An airline edition—since both adults and kids are part of the audience on a plane, PG-13 and R-rated films are cut to remove objectionable material and sometimes redubbed to remove objectionable language.

  •A television version—edited and redubbed to remove objectionable material, a TV iteration may also contain alternate takes of potentially offensive shots that do not contain the inappropriate material. The movie’s running time might also be cut or padded (with shots and scenes deleted from the theatrical cut) so that it will be able to play in rigid network time slots.

  These variations are usually prepared by the producer or the studio. Some directors have the right to approve any alternate versions of their films written into their contracts and can veto any changes they don’t like. If a director does not have this right and doesn’t care for the alterations, he has the option to remove his
name from the film and use a pseudonym on the offending variation (welcome back, Alan Smithee).

  DVD/Blu-ray

  After a film’s theatrical run concludes, it is released on home video on DVD or Blu-ray discs. For this release, the director may record an audio commentary track or participate in supplemental features (such as “making of” documentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes). He may also select or approve the selection of any outtakes or deleted scenes featured on the disc. If the movie is also being issued in an extended version (sometimes identified—not always accurately—as a “director’s cut”), the director will usually supervise the preparation of this longer edition.

  Once a film has been released in all of its various incarnations, the helmer’s formal involvement with it is over. However, a director’s relationship with his movie never really ends. It becomes part of his professional and artistic oeuvre, and he may (depending on the terms of his contract) continue to derive income from it. If the movie is a success, the director may be offered more helming work because of it, and so the film can either start or further his career. If the movie becomes especially popular or well regarded, the director may be asked to speak about it—informally and in academic, professional, and cultural settings—for years to come. Decades later, he may become involved in restoring and preserving the film’s physical elements and transferring them to new media so that the movie can continue to live on. So, while the director may no longer be making the film, he will forever be its maker.

  10

  Directing in Other Modes

  The primary focus of this book has been on directing the narrative feature film, because it is the most common type of movie. There are, of course, other kinds of films and, while the core task—to conceive and execute a specific vision—is always the same, there are some differences in how these types of movies are directed.

  Short films

  All the tasks involved in directing a narrative short are the same as those involved in directing a feature, except that the length of everything—the schedule, the script, and the film itself—is obviously much shorter (and the budget is much smaller).

  Animation

  For an animated short or feature, the director works with the actors during preproduction, which is when they record their voices for the film. And obviously there’s no physical production—no sets or costumes (although there is set and costume design) or lights or special effects. Instead, the director spends the majority of his time supervising animators as they craft the film’s shots using cells and animation stands or (more likely these days) with a computer.

  Documentaries

  Documentaries don’t have screenplays or actors or sets. However, the director still must have a strong central concept and vision for the film he wants to make to bring focus to the reporting, to the interviews, and most important, to the editing process. Editing is really where a documentary is directed, as the helmer works with the editor to shape, illustrate, and explain the film’s central thesis. The documentary director must have as keen a sense of narrative and drama as the helmer of a fictional feature if he is to transform his collection of facts, figures, and talking heads into a compelling and involving movie.

  Experimental films

  There is no one type of experimental film (by definition, each project is pretty much sui generis), but most tend to be not overly interested in narrative and are more focused on using abstract imagery and vignettes to provoke a reaction or to create an effect than in telling a story. Therefore, the directors of experimental films tend to concentrate more on the design, the photography, the editing, and the sound work, and less (if at all) on performance and dramaturgy.

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to thank Andrew Morton, Raymond J. Morton Sr. and M. F. Harmon for their input and assistance with this book.

  Thanks to John Cerullo and Marybeth Keating at Hal Leonard for sparking this project. Thanks also to my agent, June Clark of FinePrint Literary Management, for her ongoing support and encouragement.

  My deepest love to my family: Raymond J. Morton Sr. and Rita K. Morton; Kathy, Dan, and Caitlin Hoey; Nancy and John Bevacqua; Kate, Maddie, and Carrie Lutian; Rich and Kendra Morton; William Morton; Ken Morton; Claire, Derek, and Aiden James Masterbone; Andrew Morton; and Tom, Lindsey, Erin, Jack, and Sean Morton.

  Love and appreciation also to my wonderful friends: Maggie Morrisette; M. F. and Linda Harmon; Carmen and Dan Apodaca; Terri Barbagallo; Dharmesh Chauhan; Jim DeFelice, Gina, David, Eva, and Hugo Fénard; Brian Finn, Faith Ginsberg; Tara, Kurt, Mia, and Mattius Johnson; Richard H. Kline; Michael Larobina, Alison, John, and Bethany Aurora Nelson; Deborah McColl; Roger Nolan; Tim Partridge; Gary Pearle; Donna and Joe Romeo; David Shaw, Stephen Tropiano and Steven Ginsberg.

  All my love to Ana Maria Apodaca, who is always front-row center.