Do you think it's bad for the movie, if the story, the screenplay and directing is being done by the same person?

--Karri

Not if that one person is extremely talented. Some of my favorite movies come from writer-directors, who carried the project from conception to completion.

But there are certainly writers who shouldn't direct, and directors who would be better off leaving the words to someone else. For instance...

No, actually, I won't name names. But it's not hard to think of a few examples.

It may be helpful to compare the attributes of a writer to the life of a director.

I'm a young (16), aspiring filmmaker and have a quick few questions.

In my experiences, I would want as much control over a movie as would Woody Allen. I wouldn't want anyone else to take my work and interpret it and make what they think it should be. Is this view wrong?

Also, I used to watch movies like Requiem for a Dream and Spun and...well, I can't think of any other movie at the moment, but a movie with crazy angles and a fast pace and used to say "Whoa, thats crazy directing". But, I've come to the realization: Who's job is that really? Should I be saying, "crazy editing" or "crazy cinematography" or what? The reason why I'm interested is because, so far, with a few friends in backyards, I've made a few short films, and one very similar to the likes of these movies. (Wayne's World was genius, by the way.)

--Ariel

In the abundance of questions from young filmmakers that are received, I have noticed that a majority deal with two main issues: “How do I become a director?” And… “What is the role of the director?” Your inquiry obviously relates to the latter and seems to have two parts: How much control should a director have? And…. Who is responsible for the look of the picture?

There are only a few fortunate directors who have total creative control. Yes, Woody Allen is probably one of them and most likely Steven Spielberg, but it is a very short list. On the creative issues, the director is the captain of the ship, but it takes a lot of people to row the boat. The captain has to excel at seeing and overseeing the big picture and at delegating responsibilities to the department heads. At the end of the day, if the picture is a success... more often than not, the director gets the credit. On the flipside, when it fails...even if it is because of marketing or any other of the many variables...the director usually gets the blame.

When you say “you don’t want anyone else to take your work and make it what they think it should be, it makes me think that you may have the right stuff to become a director. Part of our job is to defend our vision, but it usually only works (especially if you are a woman) if you do it in a diplomatic way. There’s a lot politics that goes along with navigating this job, but if you are clever, you can keep your vision alive. If you are a member of the Directors Guild, there are certain creative rights which prevent you from being fired if you disagree too much with the producers and/or financiers. Generally, it is considered that a director may only be dismissed if he/she does something that can be proven to be malicious or negligent. Point is, you can get your way, but it will always behoove you to do it gracefully.

With regard to the “crazy editing” and “crazy cinematography”: The director is required to be present for each and every shot of first unit photography, so if the cinematography is “crazy”, then it must have the blessing of the director. Same holds true for the editing, although certain projects may have special circumstances by which a director’s cut may be perceived as not viable in the eyes of the producers or financiers and a new and different cut may be forced upon the director. Very few of us have “final cut” in our contract. It is a privilege reserved for a special few and a very difficult point to win in the contractual negotiation unless you have had precedent final cut in another contract.

The movies you mention, Spun and Requiem for a Dream, are both about drug abuse and their "crazy" style is absolutely appropriate for their subject matter. Both are brilliant in their own way by the directors’ subjective interpretations of the altered consciousness of the characters. If your “backyard movies” have subject matters for which these styles are appropriate, then go for it, but not if it is just style for the sake of style. Another film which was so innovative in its execution is Tarnation but again, the style was totally justified by the subject matter.

Thanks for your kind words about “Wayne’s World”. I remember a quote from my wonderful agent at the time, David Gersh, when I was stuck in the middle of some political situation. David said, “Penelope, don’t rock the boat until you are pay or play.” So, if you do need to assert yourself for some reason, make sure you are secure contractually for the long haul.

I'm about to make a film at university about a man driving a stolen car. My question is about how to film somebody through the front windshield. How can it be done without me getting on the bonnet and risking my life to get the shot?

-Richard

There are many ways to film a car: most of them are quite safe and a few are not – such as the idea to mentioned! Unfortunately the safest ways are the most expensive...as usual.

First of all you have to decide what kind of shot you want. Static (fixed frame) or moving (panning) or car-to-car with or without craning – the last option is obviously the most expensive but in some ways is the most versatile. As you are at university it is likely that you won’t have access to a crane on a camera car, but you can still do shots car-to-car either hand held or with a tripod in the back of a van with the side door (sliding please!) open. One of the things to remember is that if you are doing this in daylight a sunroof will make a big difference to the light level inside the car, which may mean you don’t need lights shining through the front window which can be quite tricky to rig and need fancy battery powered HMI lights, or lights than run off a small genny in the trunk (boot for UK readers).

You can also do handheld of the driver from the passenger seat, or from the back seat. The shot of the passenger is a bit more tricky unless you do this from the back seat also.

The gadget that clicks onto the sill of the window is called a Hostess tray and this is a way to fix a camera on the side of the car. Make sure the actor is a good driver before you do this! Small cameras can also be mounted with a rubber suction mount which you could borrow from any decent grip store. There are a number of small remote heads coming on the market designed for DV cameras which can pan the camera with a remote control. This kind of thing is useful if you want to pan from the passenger to the driver through the front windscreen.

Incidentally test the window with your polarizing filter before you decide on a car as some older models can do weird things with a pola filter which is almost an essential for shooting through the front window.

Lastly, you can put the car on a trailer, but this will bring it up quite high unless it is a “pro” trailer which are very expensive. The height won’t matter in the countryside but will really matter in town for obvious reasons! The advantage of a trailer is that the actor doesn’t have to drive and you have much more control over the lighting and the shots. The bad news is that very few actors can drive convincingly when they aren’t actually driving!

John August's screenwriting credits include Go, Big Fish, Titan A.E. and both Charlie's Angels movies. His current projects include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tarzan, and Corpse Bride. He also maintains a screenwriting-oriented website at johnaugust.com.

Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, John earned a degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa, and an MFA in film production from the Peter Stark program at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles.

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If you are considering working in the movie industry, Oliver Stapleton has written a brief guide available at www.cineman.co.uk.

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