How can a director improve a film? (rough draft)
I am a no-budget filmmaker who got a Bachelor’s degree in TV Studio Production. I made a live-action feature film during college that was about 2.5 hours long before I did serious editing, at which I whittled it down to about 72 minutes, and I’ve spent time helping on the sets of about 20 other low-/no-budget short films and feature films in the US Midwest. I am NOT trying to break into the Hollywood filmmaking industry. Keep all of this in mind for any advice I give.
A director CAN also be a producer, a writer, a makeup artist, etc. depending on the project. Directing itself, minus all that other stuff, is basically being a “shooting day on-set host and guide.” I’ve read anecdotes that on big-budget Hollywood films directors are more like hosts for a party—if it’s a studio-controlled film, and they don’t actually control much except offer basic “big picture guidance” for actors or set workers, etc. while filming a scene. But in my small-budget experience directors both make sure the scenes get filmed on time, keeping others on track, making on-the-fly decisions about that to cut or avoid filming, and about what extra little things need to be filmed, keeping in mind the big picture and the budget. I’ve also heard “the director runs the train, the producer makes sure the train runs on time” but on low-budget films these roles can overlap.
(1) WORKING WITH ACTORS
The biggest thing a director does apart from just making sure the scenes get filmed, is give info to actors to help pull out performances that better fit the creative vision of the film. In light comedy films like I’m used to, I cast people because I think their personalities and vocal flow are great without too many performance modifications, so on-set it’s little tweaks like “this line would be funnier if delivered with this intonation.” I don’t make dramas SPECIFICALLY because I don’t think I’m the right director to get an actor riled up in a super emotional head-space, like “okay, in this scene you’ve just been raped, so imagine the worst thing that ever happened to you, and I need serious emotion.” nah. That’s not my kind of film to direct, although I respect the amount of emotion and work that goes into them.
I generally work with no-names or student actors without much experience for budgetary and simplicity reasons. My films are silly comedies and don’t need Oscar-winning dramatic actors. They’re more like Clerks; if a person comes across as real and interesting, that’s good enough. Sometimes my actors have NO experience and come across better than pros I’ve seen working because they are better able to incorporate my direction. Working with actor’s guild professional actors is a VERY different experience, and working with people who are very experienced in stage acting is very different from film acting.
The biggest piece of direction I ever need to give theatre actors is, “everything you do is multiplied by a thousand times on camera, so it’s the opposite of proscenium arch theatre acting in that you do NOT need to shout to the back seats. Film acting is MUCH more like black box theatre acting, where the audiences are sitting very close to the actors, and it’s much more intimate and realistic.” This applies to how loud actors need to be, to how much makeup they need to wear, to how they move their eyes and body and mouth, etc. My biggest task as a director for film of theatre actors is to help them strip away the artifice of theatre acting and get rid of all the extra energy and effort that is put into theatre acting. ANYTHING unnatural that you do is multiplied, so quit TRYING. “Quit with all the effort crap and just relax and be yourself.” Sometimes we need to do lines over and over again to get the right intonation and such. ALL of what I’m saying here, some professional actors even consider offensive. I don’t work with actors who are insulted by me feeding them lines. But again, I work on silly light comedy films, and the final scene is more important than egos.
Some people say “if you have to give much direction to an actor, you have cast the wrong actor, and never feed lines to an actor.” I don’t have time for those kind of traditional egos. I’m not on a set primarily to help an actor grow or show off their range on their own. I’m there to get a very exact idea of the scene onto film/video, so I will totally read a line for an actor, film it, then do the next if necessary. I think of making a film as a process of gathering necessary components to construct a beautiful machine. Many other filmmakers and actors I’ve worked with do NOT see it this way, and that’s fine, too.
Filming without rehearsal and without professional actors often becomes an acting workshop, where we spend time as we film, fine-tuning a performance together. When working with no-experience actors, I often spend time making them aware of affectations and intonations, or accents, etc. so they can tweak or reduce them. I don’t like actors blinking on-camera. Some actors blink a LOT, so I have to make them aware of that. Some actors smack their lips, or jiggle their heads side to side, which can be bad for a closeup. See Michael Caine’s acting for film video for more about this:
One actor I worked with, was an engineer in real life and had no interest in acting. he was just there to help me. He never memorized his lines. I fed him lines, and he matched the intonation. He was basically a puppet, and he was totally cool with it (as I am when helping other filmmakers in bit parts). Many actors who care about the craft of acting, would be outraged by that perspective, by the idea of being made into a puppet. it’s understandable since their whole passion is crafting a performance and a character in a really in-depth way, and in many cases I don’t have any need for all that extra effort. In other words, ALL of what you do with actors as a director, depends on what kind of project, and on what kind of people you’re working with. Luckily, I get to choose who I work with since I’m the casting director and producer and writer as well.
(2) RUNNING THE MOOD OF THE SET AND SOLVING PROBLEMS
The second main thing a director NEEDS to get good at, is keeping everyone calm when problems come up, dynamically solving problems when they arise, all while not freaking out, acting cranky, or acting like a jerk to the people who are there to HELP YOU. And specifcally, knowing when a problem comes up, if you NEED to put the filming on hold for an hour until that problem gets solved, or if you can cut around a problem, or if you need to cancel the filming day and reschedule it, or if you can change the scene so it’s unnecessary, etc.
Even if you’re freaking out inside, everyone else should NEVER know it. You are the king, the daddy or mommy, the general, the leader. If you freak out, everyone else will. You control the mood and joy and emotion of the set. Don’t use your cast and crew as therapists to rant to about your film’s problems or your problems or other drama. Giving the appearance of things going well, will help them continue to go well. It can even prevent actors from dropping out of the film. Like wearing a tie to a job interview, there are certain symbols of quality preparation that give others confidence. If you’re not confident in, passionate about, or prepared for your film, you can’t expect ANYONE else to be. And as the leader, it’s like how invited guests look to the host who is paying for the dinner, seeing what he orders before ordering food themselves, you can lift up the others on your set by acting professional and friendly. Firm, but considerate. and CLEAR. If someone misunderstands you, it’s YOUR fault, so don’t get impatient or terse. Always speak calmly, clearly, in a non-annoyed and non-condescending tone, to be clear to those you are giving directions, too. Spend time on your own trying to figure out “how would I explain this request to an actor, or even to a child actor or crew member, in a way that would make them understand the request and get it right the first time?” Staying calm and patient, and rewording to suit your audience, is an essential life skill.
You are in CHARGE of the feeling of the set, so if that gets screwed up, it’s YOUR fault. Remember that the worst that can happen is that you have to stop filming for today and reschedule. Most people are pretty understanding of that, but if you have to KEEP rescheduling to work around a flaky person who doesn’t show up, get rid of THAT person rather than risking the people who showed up on time not feeling like you value THEM.
Similarly, YOU have to stop jerks from being jerks. You have to protect others from the bad vibes of random people. Lucky for me, I can tell ahead of time if someone is likely to turn into a jerk on-set, and I just don’t cast or hire them. Being firm but considerate, knowing how to diffuse a conflict rather than escalate it, is a life skill that directors need. In the end, you HAVE to do what’s best for the film, not what’s best for your ego at the moment. That’s how you decide how to handle unruly individuals. But again, I’ve never had to handle unruly individuals because I cast well to begin with.
This is super disorganized, but I hope it’s helpful on set for directors. I’ll come back in the future and reorganize it if I can. Most of this I learned by DOING it myself, or by helping on other directors’ sets and seeing what they did well or wrong, and asking myself how I could do it better.