Directing methods

[David Mullen ASC]

Just a description of some of the styles of directing I've come across, regarding being organized:

One director drew his own storyboard on index cards, white for day and blue cards for night scenes. At the start of the day, he'd lay out all the cards and we'd shuffle them around in what we (the AD, DP, and director) thought was the best order. The director would label some cards as less important than others (some he would tear-up right on the spot). During the day, he kept the cards on a metal binder ring on his belt loop and would flip through them, crossing off the ones we finished.

I've done a number of movies where the director and I would sit down and draw up a shot list for the week's work, for each day, and try and put them in shooting order. This was a quick way of seeing if the days were balanced properly, that we didn't have an excessively heavy day that perhaps could be re-organized, a scene moved to another day. I've even done a shot list for an entire feature during prep, but that's almost too much work.

When I did my first feature, I asked Allen Daviau, ASC for some advice and he said "Know your first week backwards and forwards." It's the best advice I've ever gotten. After the first week, you fall more into a groove where you can deal with upcoming work and know how long things take to do with this particular cast and crew, but it's great if you start the shoot out running, and know where you want to be minute by minute during the day, know exactly how you want to shoot every scene, etc. It also impresses the crew and cast when they see how organized the director and DP are and sets the right tone. By the end of the shoot, though, you are more in a reactive phase where you are picking up the pieces of what's still missing, etc.

On the TV series I just did, I worked with seven directors and they were all very different in style and temperament.

One director used little Post-It notes on his script for storyboarded shots and ideas, so he could transfer his notes to each draft of the script that came along. Other directors would email me and the AD a shot list for the next day's work. With the alternating DP approach, I could walk all the sets and locations with the new director a few days before the shoot began, and plot out how we were going to shoot each scene. But some directors didn't want to be nailed down too much, and some directors wanted more time to think. I had one director who wanted the key people on the scouts (DP, production designer, AD) to be quiet for stretches of time and just contemplate the location, rather than spit-out ideas quickly. Other directors would just march into a new location and start saying "the camera goes here and then here..." immediately without discussion.

I have worked with very inexperienced directors too -- I remember one guy who would constantly ask me whether we should cut the camera once the scene was over and the actors had left the frame and we were rolling on a blank wall for a minute. And then ask me what we were doing next. But when it came to talk to the actors about performance or story, he was one of the best directors I've ever seen at work.

[Shawn Nelson]

Thanks David! I really appreciate these kinds of tips.

[feb31films]

Nice post David, thanks. It's always fascinating to see how other people work and hopefully get some ideas on how to improve one's own methods. As a DP, what are your best and least favorite traits in a director? (Don't worry, I'm not asking you to name names.:detective2: )

[number6]

David, you are going on my Buddy List and I'm goin' to follow you around REDuser.net like a little puppy (not the cute kind... sort of mangy and dog-smelly, but attentive). You do those of us who haven't been where you have a real service. I will only be shooting unbudgeted, small-crewed movies and will allow them to float and find their level when finished. But just knowing how the pros make movies may help me to incorporate some of those same techniques into my oun ventures. Just thought I would let you know that what you do here is appreciated, at least by me.

[Erik Rangel]

During the day, he kept the cards on a metal binder ring on his belt loop and would flip through them, crossing off the ones we finished.
I really like this idea and am totally going to steal it. Many thanks David.

[Jeremy Torrie]

David -you're exactly right about the first week. Makes a HUGE difference.

[overlandfilms]

David,

Where do you find the time? Great tips that truly reflect what happens in the real world.

[Robert Sanders]

I really like this idea and am totally going to steal it. Many thanks David.

You and me both. ;)

[Bruce Allen]

Thank you again, David!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[krd]

Just a note on storyboards: it's so easy these days to create focally correct and properly scaled storyboards with a tool like

frameforge3d.com

which even shows DOF, based on the lens you choose, that a first-time director would be mad not to explore the script in advance of the shoot, shot by shot.

Design a room or a set, and you see exactly what you can do within the scope of it. Misconceptions and physically impossible shots are quickly revealed. And you see immediately whether your shot structure will work.

There's also (or used to be) a highly functional downloadable demo.

[Chris Nuzzaco]

I have frame forge 3D. Haven't learned it yet, but it looks really cool. It's just so hard to storyboard camera movements like dolly shots and cranes, etc...

[David Mullen ASC]

I've been interested in those storyboarding software programs, though once a director said something interesting to me about my hand-drawn boards, that he preferred the inaccuracies of drawings because they suggested the mood and dramatic intent of the shot without having pretentions to optical accuracy, which allowed the director more freedom to interpret the storyboards rather than follow them exactly.

Made me wonder if it would be better to draw my boards with a more expressionistic hand... Sometimes I've done that to suggest lighting effects, using a Sharpie and creating very black areas in the frame.

In terms of directors, I tend to like the "pros", the organized and well-mannered types, just in terms of the working environment, not necessarily because they are the best artists out there. I worked with this one guy who during prep was very careful to visit every department head on a regular basis, plus the screenwriters, to keep on track with what everyone was doing. He had impeccable manners too but could fight for what he felt was important. It was nice to work with someone who wanted to make sure that every detail in terms of sets, costumes, lighting, sound, was coordinated to a common vision. I mean, several directors that I've worked with have been like that, but this guy was particularly organized about the prep process, which helped on our low budget.

In terms of personalities, I've worked with all types, the screamers, the mumblers, the stoics, the comics, the drill sargents, etc. The ones that can keep a sense of humor when things are going wrong tend to be my favorite.

[Dan Blanchett]

Read somewhere that Google's Sketchup (http://www.sketchup.com/) makes a decent (and free) storyboarding tool. It creates what looks like a hand sketch, but with 3D drag and drop objects. Haven't tried it yet though.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

I'm a huge fan of the 12x18 topdown day plan myself. Not as useful for communicating with the DP as a storyboard but invaluable for helping all of the department heads know exactly what's happening. I can usually draw a full location's worth of shooting in about an hour. If you know what lens you want you can use a protractor and include accurate FOV diagrams for each setup as well. Let's everybody know exactly what will be frame. Where on location you'll be when and gives an overview of usually a full day's worth of shooting on one page that's visual and easy to read.

I'll usually also tack on a my Fischer Price People quality storyboards to show the framing of the actors along the side numbered with the coresponding cameras so that they can be checked off as you go. When not in use. Fold'er up and stick it in your pocket.

Down side is Xeroxs are effectively impossible.

Of course if it's a spec spot and I have time to think about it. 3D Studio max is the weapon of choice. Just shoot it virtually and show people what it'll look like.

[sopwith]

SketchUp is definitely worth looking into because (a) it's free (b) there's a Film & Stage add-on that gives you multiple cameras (each with its own FOV), common film equipment components, and such (c) there's a huge user community that builds tons of models & components that can be useful for storyboarding.

It doesn't give you DoF, shot management, or other specialty features that frameforge3d has.

Hope this helps,
-- Elliot

[Mardi_Gras]

Thanks for the invaluable tips, David.

I have Frameforge 3D and yes, it is everything they claimed and then some. I mean, for 1st time directors, you can pretty much "cover" your scenes in full color 3D images, then share the info (complete with exact camera placements, distances, DOF, FOV etc) with you HODs during prep and then walk into the set with one less non-given... effective/time saving communication b/w Director, DP and other major crew.

[Jaime Vallés]

Great thread, David! Thanks for posting this.

[pat@hpnc.com]

As always thanks for the advice and insights David. By the way any one use animatics? I have 3DS Max so its rather simple to make them. I am just not sure its worth the trouble for most scenes.

[P Andersson]

yes, a great thread,

love filming a wall for a minute, very zen

maybe it is possible to find clips of peoples different working styles, like Coppola on the phone in "hearts of darkness"

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

This is a great thread, thanks so much David!

I was going with Storyboard Artist from PowerProduction.com -- expensive, but I like what it does and it seems quite powerful. I cannot draw at all, like, worth anything. So I have to have something like that where I can get the idea across another way.

David, as far as trying to plan a feature film's schedule, and how much can be shot per day given how many hours per day there are to film, what is the best way to do that? Would the director sit down with the DP and figure out basically what is realistic? My dilemma is trying to figure out enough time for this feature (it'll be a while from now so hopefully I learn much between now and then, otherwise it won't happen) so that I am not totally crammed and might even have a day or two at the end of the shoot (mostly using my own equipment so I don't think the rental issue will be a huge problem; will probably rent a professional dolly), but for me it's still difficult to figure out how much can be shot in one day. This particular feature is at one large location, a house, and therefore the transportation time to and from sets is non-existent because it will all be in one place. I'm also thinking that as long as the production designers have the next area ready to go, the camera department and lighting can setup their stuff while the actors would be rehearsing, etc., so maximize efficiency. I believe that a 90 page script could be done in 15 to 20 shooting days that way, but I can't just be going on some general idea of how long it will take. I would need to nail down a better approximation than that I think. Right now, that's what worries me the most about the whole enterprise.

[C.H.Haskell]

Thank you David, for everything you have been contributing here...really helping out a lot of film makers like myself keep there priorities straight and aim for clean, and fun production.

I am all for hand drawn index cards, make changes on the fly (even if they are sick figures). ;)

[David Mullen ASC]

My general rule when shooting typical dialogue scenes (not special efx scene or stunts, etc.) is that you should probably limit yourself to a shot list of 20-25 set-ups for a single-camera shoot, maybe 30-35 for a two-camera shoot.

You can always shoot more than that if you have the time, but the trouble with needing absolutely 50 set-ups for a scene, for example, is what happens if you only get 40? Maybe there will be some holes in your coverage.

You can think of it this way, 24 set-ups is a set-up every half-hour in a twelve-hour day (though a typical day is not that evenly spaced because of blocking rehearsals, technical problems, etc.) That's reasonable given the time to set-up and then shoot a couple of takes.

You quickly learn within the first few days of a feature shoot what sort of pace to expect from the cast and crew, and yourself. If it's lower than you thought it would be, you have to either lower your expectations or figure out a way to save more time on the set. Maybe you've got an actor that needs talking to about how long they are taking to get to set, or needing a lot of takes for some reason, or wanting rehearsals that run too long or wanting too much discussion time between takes. Or maybe you've got a slow crew member.

The truth is that there are three people most responsible for the pace of a shoot: the director, the AD, and the DP. If there's a time management problem, it's usually the fault of one or more of those people.

Of course, sometimes you have an unreasonable schedule that the producer insisted on, despite these three key people saying that it was near-impossible to make.

[Ace]

I think nothing beats the freehand sketch. The power of the sketch is amazing. Plus the instant/real-time connection between the hand and drawing medium lets you dictate the concept in a much more fluid way. If anything, I think any concepts which emanate from a computer based process tend to lack depth and conceptual rigour.. Even if you cant draw, tiny thumbnail sketches capture the imagination much better than anything computer generated. As David said, sketches are never solid.. they tend to open up further possibilities and keep the creative process open ended rather the absolute nature of computer generated visuals.

[Ramesh Jai]

I direct a lot of TV commercials. I usually spend a lot of time on developing the concept.

The economics of producing TV commercials here in Ghana is not very conducive to creativity but we try to do our best.

Most of the time it's only the director (also acting as the producer) who has the complete picture of how the TV commercial is going to end up looking like.

The DOP, the actors, the sound men, the grip, etc. most of the time come on set not knowing anything about the script.. it's extreme sometimes but we manage.

I usually draw up a hand drawn storyboard just the night before the shoot. And I put symbols next to each shot to bunch them in the sequence they are to be shot.

The actors are not professional so we spend a lot of time coaching them on location. Seldom do our budgets allow for rehearsals.

At the moment we are facing an energy crisis so there are lights off every other day. The generators are not well maintained so sometimes we have to use a fewer lights then we have too.

The sound of the generators also makes it impossible to film location audio so we have to record dialogues in the studio but since actors are not professional we have lip sync issues but we manage.

Diffusers and gels have been overused, our 5K and 10K lights should be in the archives, our crane was imported by the British in the 1960's.

I love this business!!!! You can check out www.apex-advertising.com to see some of our humble works.

PS. How do you manage clients who insist on coming to the location?

[number6]

I direct a lot of TV commercials.

The DOP, the actors, the sound men, the grip, etc. most of the time come on set not knowing anything about the script.. it's extreme sometimes but we manage.

The actors are not professional so we spend a lot of time coaching them on location. Seldom do our budgets allow for rehearsals.

At the moment we are facing an energy crisis so there are lights off every other day. The generators are not well maintained so sometimes we have to use a fewer lights then we have too.

The sound of the generators also makes it impossible to film location audio so we have to record dialogues in the studio but since actors are not professional we have lip sync issues but we manage.

Diffusers and gels have been overused, our 5K and 10K lights should be in the archives, our crane was imported by the British in the 1960's.

I love this business!!!!



I love that last line!

[Casey Green]

In terms of personalities, I've worked with all types, the screamers, the mumblers, the stoics, the comics, the drill sargents, etc.

The ones that can keep a sense of humor when things are going wrong tend to be my favorite.

I completely agree with this approach... Often times, maintaining composure during intense moments of production with some humor really helps you get past that difficult spot. (nothing ever seems to come from yelling and screaming anyway, I don't know why people think that ever helps.)

But a good sense of humor is invaluable... I would love to work with you someday, David.