Film director

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A film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film.^[1] Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker^[2].

A film director is a person who visualizes the script, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision. In some cases, film directors do not have absolute artistic control. The director can also be selected by the producer. The producer can in this case have veto power over everything from the script itself to the final cut of the film, often in anywhere from slight to extreme opposition to the director's vision.

When directing episodes for a television show, a director's responsibilities are somewhat diminished, as the visual look and feel of the series is already established, usually by the person billed as the show's creator or executive producer. Those directors who choose or are chosen to work in TV traditionally have had to accept that they will not be as lauded, or as well-paid, as their big-screen counterparts.^[3]

Responsibilities

Film directors are responsible for overseeing creative aspects of a film. They often develop the vision for a film and carry the vision out, deciding how the film should look. They also direct what tone it should have and what an audience should gain from the cinematic experience. Directing a film is a kind of storytelling. Film directors are responsible for approving camera angles, lens effects, lighting, and set design, and will often take part in hiring key crew members. They coordinate the actors' moves and also may be involved in the writing, financing, and editing of a film.

The director works closely with the cast and crew to shape the film and may often take suggestions on pertinent issues. Some like to conduct rigorous rehearsals in preproduction while others do so before each scene. In either case this process is essential as it tells the director as well as other key members of the crew (Director of Photography, Stunt Choreographer, Hair Stylist etc) how the actors are going to play the scene, which enables them to make any necessary adjustments. Directors often use storyboards to illustrate and a directors viewfinder to set up camera angles.

The director also plays a key role in post-production. He/she works with the editor to ensure that the emotions of the scene and the close ups, mid shots and wide shots appropriately reflect which character is driving the narrative. The director also advises on the (colour) grading of the final images, adding warmth or frigidity to the composition of the shots to reflect the emotional subtext of the character or environment. They also participate in the sound mix and musical composition of the film.

Methods of film directing

Ingmar Bergman through lighting conditions, apparently examines an x-ray film, during work on Wild Strawberries.

The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, while filming a costume drama on location in London.

Directors have different methods of filming. Some styles include:

• Outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue. Notable examples include Christopher Guest, Spike Lee, Jim Wong, Wim Wenders, Tim Story, Mike Leigh, Jean-Luc Godard, Miklós Jancsó, Gus Van Sant, Judd Apatow, David Cronenberg, Ben Affleck and occasionally Robert Altman and Federico Fellini.

• Control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely. Notable examples include Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, David Fincher, Guillermo del Toro and Alfred Hitchcock.

• Write their own scripts. Notable examples include Woody Allen, John Cassavetes, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, James Cameron, George Lucas, J. F. Lawton, David Cronenberg, Charles Chaplin, Billy Wilder, David Lynch, the Coen Brothers, Pedro Almodóvar, Nick Park, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Todd Field, Paul Thomas Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Satyajit Ray, Oliver Stone, Terrence Malick, John Singleton, Spike Lee, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki, M. Night Shyamalan, Paul Haggis, Billy Bob Thornton, James Wong, and Robert Rodriguez.

• Collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners. Notable examples include Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown/Tony Grisoni, Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson/Noah Baumbach, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, Martin Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi/Paul Schrader/Jay Cocks, Yasujiro Ozu and Kôgo Noda, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, or Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière/Luis Alcoriza, Krzysztof Kieslowski/Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Frank Capra/Robert Riskin, Michelangelo Antonioni/Tonino Guerra, Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan.

• Be the cinematographer and/or editor. Notable examples include Nicolas Roeg, Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Soderbergh, Josef von Sternberg, David Lean, Don Coscarelli, Robert Rodriguez, James Cameron, Gaspar Noe, Takeshi Kitano, Andy Warhol, Shinya Tsukamoto, Kenneth Anger, and the Coen Brothers.

• Appear in their films. Notable examples include Orson Welles, Mel Gibson, Martin Scorsese, Peter Jackson, John Waters, John Carpenter, Spike Lee, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Anger, Michael Bay, Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, Jon Favreau, Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth,Mel Brooks, Ben Stiller, Charlie Chaplin, Sam Raimi, Roman Polanski, Billy Bob Thornton, Sylvester Stallone, M. Night Shyamalan, Will Hay, Harold Ramis, Robert de Niro, John Woo, Kevin Smith and Edward D. Wood, Jr., Kenneth Branagh; Alfred Hitchcock made memorable cameo appearances in his films.

• Compose a music score for their films. Notable examples include Charlie Chaplin, Stanley Kubrick, Clint Eastwood, John Carpenter, Alejandro Amenábar, Satyajit Ray and Robert Rodriguez.

Directors work closely with film producers, who are responsible for both artistic and non-artistic elements of the film, such as, script approval, financing, casting notes, contract negotiation and marketing. Some directors will take on some of the responsibilities of the producer for their films. Directors like Orson Welles, Charles Chaplin or Stanley Kubrick are famously known for writing, directing and producing their films while the early silent film director Alice Guy Blaché not only produced her own pictures, but actually created her own highly successful studio.

Professional organizations

In the United States, directors usually belong to the Directors Guild of America. The Canadian equivalent is the Directors Guild of Canada. In the UK, directors usually belong to Directors Guild of Great Britain. A new director might earn as little as $20,000 a year, while the most successful can earn over $500,000 or even millions per film in some cases.^[4]

Bibliography

• Spencer Moon: Reel Black Talk: A Sourcebook of 50 American Filmmakers, Greenwoood Press 1997
• The St. James Women Filmmakers Encyclopedia: Women on the Other Side of the Camera, Visible Ink Press, 1999
• International dictionary of films and filmmakers, ed. by Tom Pendergast, 4 volumes, Detroit [etc.]: St. James Press, 4th edition 2000, vol. 2: Directors
• Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide (Wallflower Critical Guides to Contemporary Directors), ed. by Yoram Allon Del Cullen and Hannah Patterson, Second Edition, Columbia Univ Press 2002
• Alexander Jacoby, Donald Richie: A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day, Stone Bridge Press, 2008, ISBN 1933330538
• Rebecca Hillauer: Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers, American University in Cairo Press, 2005, ISBN 9774249437
• Roy Armes: Dictionary of African Filmmakers, Indiana University Press, 2008, ISBN 0253351162
• Philippe Rege: Encyclopedia of French Film Directors, Scarecrow Press, 2009

Notes

See also

• Auteur theory
• English Film Directors
• Federation of European Film Directors
• List of directors
• List of female directors
• List of Austrian film directors
• List of Bangladeshi film directors
• List of Belgian film directors
• List of Brazilian directors
• List of Burmese film directors
• List of Chinese film directors
• List of Danish film directors
• List of Directorial Debuts
• List of film directors from Italy
• List of French film directors
• List of Hungarian film directors
• List of Indian film directors
• List of Irish film directors
• List of Japanese film directors
• List of Khmer film directors
• List of Korean film directors
• List of New Zealand film directors
• List of Portuguese film directors
• List of Quebec film directors
• List of Slovenian film directors
• List of Swedish film directors
• List of Thai film directors
• List of Turkish film directors
• List of Welsh film directors

• Alan Smithee

External links

• Federation of European Film Directors
• Filmmakers - Free Filmmakers Forum
• Directors Guild of America
• Directors Guild of Canada
• Directors Guild of Great Britain
• A comprehensive collection of interviews with a century's worth of European film directors
• Films101 The best directors picked by critics and filmmakers
• Senses of Cinema - Great Directors