Law of Attraction Wisdom from Will Smith
Nine Routes To Consider When Launching Your Career As A Director
Friday, November 5, 2010
2:40 PM
Labels: Nine Routes To Consider When Launching Your Career As A Director , 0 comments
Labels: Nine Routes To Consider When Launching Your Career As A Director , 0 comments
Before you decide which route to take, research the careers of directors you admire and see if you can see which route they followed.
Remember that there is no such thing as a route - only a route that is good for you: one that allows you to maximise you abilities and talent.
1. Studio/Guild Route
After securing the necessary minimum days of on-the-job training, join the Directors Guild with a signatory production company and work your way up the ladder. Some companies allow you to shadow a director, which gives you valuable training.
2. The Independent Route
Learn how to identify or create a low budget, 90-page script which you feel has something controversial to say. Scrape together some money and execute a 4:1 or 6:1 shooting ratio with high production values. Hire a sales agent and sell the film at AFM, Cannes, MIFED or Raindance, and make a profit for your investors. Repeat this process until you are discovered, or are considered a worthy risk for investors. Examples: Woody Allen, Steven Soderburgh (Sex Lies and Videotape), Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), Hal Hartlyey (Swoon).
3. Screenplay Option Route
Write or purchase a script/story and sell it, releasing the screen rights only when you are hired as director. This technique is called holding your script hostage. Example: Return from Alcatraz
4. Student/Festival Route
Make a short film or ultra low budget feature and enter festivals, demonstrating your talent, gaining exposure to future clients and agents on the lookout for emerging talent. Hire a publicist to promote yourself,even if it is at the expense of your film. You are aiming to achieve notoriety or celebrity status. Examples: Buffalo 66, Trees Lounge, Blair Witch Project
5. Agency Packaging Route
After associating with celebrity actors or writers from a common agency, convince the agency to represent you as part of a package that they sell directly to production companies with you attached as director. The agency will usually attach name stars to your project as well. Example: Copland
6. Establish Yourself in Commercials
By offering to direct test commercials or pop promos for unknown bands,demonstrate your talent and original ideas,and convince a producer to hire you to direct. Examples: Ridley Scott, Tony Kaye (American History X).
7. Become a Master of the Short Form
Write and/or direct short films which demonstrate your talent. Enter festivals and competitions. When you have gained confidence,select several of your short films and approach either a production company (number1 above) or talent (number 5 above) and convince them to let you direct a long form film (feature). Example: Shane Meadows
8. Start as an Assistant Editor
This has been the classic route to directing used by many directors in the1940s
- 70s.Offer your services for free as an assistant editor:log shots, sync sound, until you are promoted to editor. When you have cut several films and impress with your knowledge of shots, get hired to direct a feature. Examples: David Lean, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese.
9. Become a Successful Stage Director
Most stage directors do not realise how well equipped they are to direct film. Blocking, timing, storytelling and working with actors are all essential directing skills that many film directors lack. Why not start a theatre group with a few close friends (like Steppenwolf in Chicago, or Second City in Toronto) and build a reputation for exciting stage shows. Invite reviewers and agents, and wait to be discovered by a producer,or turn a stage show into a movie yourself. Examples: Sam Mendes, Stephen Daldry, Andrew Shea. on services film and video production services film and video production services film and video production services film and video production services film and video production services
Write Screenplays That Sell - The Ackerman Way
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How to Write a Selling Screenplay
Here It Is..
THE FOUR WAYS TO BECOME A DIRECTOR
1) Film Schools
They can be very useful. Some schools only teach video/television production and that's fine if you want to go into television although television training can also be a useful starting block to a feature film career. Film schools teach you the basics of editing, camera operation, sound, lighting and screenwriting. They should then allow you to specialize in the field that you are most interested in. Few will teach Directing per se - although most courses will require you to direct at least one short film.
You probably won't really learn a heck of a lot of practical information in classes but you will when you begin to make your first film or video project (which should be a requirement in every school). As much as you will learn here - the old adage that you will "learn more in one day of a professional shoot than the entire time at film school" is somewhat exaggerated but in part true.
Ultimately when you leave film school you will be just another jobless shmuck along with the few thousand people around the world who've also graduated from film schools. The graduation certificate is ultimately not worth a great deal. Producers are not very keen on putting large amounts of money at the disposal of inexperienced graduates no matter how qualified they may be.
Therefore the most important aspect of film school is the opportunity to gain experience. The short you have to make to graduate should not be your only practical experience. Most schools will house a stack of equipment that probably spends most of the year not being used.
Use it! Any good film school will let you use their equipment during down time. Take advantage of the opportunity to make as many short films as you can. While most people will only do the work doled out to them by the school, the students working weekends on their own projects with school equipment and resources are the ones who will probably get work when they graduate. Never again will you have access to equipment at no charge, making anyone that doesn't make use of the opportunity an idiot. If you come out of film school with a kick arse showreeel and experience you'll have a much easier time getting work in the real world.
(Though don't expect it to be easy - it rarely is).
Also, while at film school, try and get onto as many film sets as possible - as an observer as runner/production assistant. Don't expect to get paid and many production companies will take you on. Chalk it up as valuable experience. If you got into this business to get rich - think again.
2) Just Do It
Some directors have never been to film school. They might have had an idea for short film, written a script, picked up a camcorder and convinced someone to fund its production. By financing their own small projects, taking in as many one-off film seminars as they can and directing memorable films they gain experience. Producing their own films becomes a film school in itself. By sending their projects to film festivals, they may get noticed. Once one of their projects is successful - critically or commercially - they may be able to raise the money to direct a feature film or just continue making short, experimental films if that is what they desire. They may even be able to make a living doing this.
While this approach as been known to work - it's very unreliable (do you feel lucky?) and takes a great deal of work and sacrifice. You'll probably have to hold down another job while trying to make your shorts and forget any kind of romantic relationships. Those weekends are for making movies!
3) Climb Up The Ladder
Another popular option that can be taken either with or without film school experience is to get into the film industry from another position such as a production assistant, or an apprentice or camera assistant to the director of photography or even an editor. This could be long slog leading eventually up to a directorial position. For example starting out as a production assistant, moving to camera assistant, moving to cameraman/DOP, and then finally to director.
A film school graduate could probably jump in higher on the ladder as an assistant director or camera assistant on lower budget productions. This climb up the proverbial ladder can sometimes take years, sometimes less. Many directors in South Africa were directors of photography before they became directors (then again many of them work largely in commercials which concentrates on the image and less on plot and characters).
The problem with the Ladder option is of course that you may spend a large portion of your life doing a job which you may not like in the hope that you will be allowed to direct. If the right people see you as hugely talented you may be given the opportunity to leap across that ladder at a rapid pace. Then again you might not. You might be seen to be so good a lighting cameraman, that no-one wants to hire you as anything else.
4) Be Very Lucky
Ala Quentin Tarintino Write some scripts, work in a video store and convince a well known actor who raises the financing that you can direct. Then do it. If you happen to know the right person, have an incredibly magnetic personality, are very wealthy or are adept at hypnosis then you may be able to convince someone to fund a movie for you to direct. This is not for the faint hearted. Nevertheless, even if you take any of the other routes above pray that luck is on your side - you'll still need it.
CONCLUSION
The reality is that it is very difficult to become a director - no matter which route you may take. It also relies on a great deal of luck as well as chutzpah (and yes, you might need some talent too).
If you want to be a film director do it only if it is in your blood - the journey is long, hard and often lonely. Can you handle rejection? No? Then plumbing is a much better option.
And remember - one of the best ways to learn about directing is simply to watch a lot of films and take note how they are constructed.
The author of this article is filmmaker Luiz De Barros
Luiz runs the prestigious South African Independent Film Site
Four Ways To Become A Director..
Yeah , But..How Do I Become A Director ?!....
There is no pat answer to this question. The easiest response is that you can become a film director by simply picking up the nearest camcorder and starting to direct. Voila, you're a director! Sounds simple but it's probably not the answer you were looking for. You probably mean, "how do I become a professional, paid film director".
Many people new to filmmaking are not really sure what a director does. Strictly speaking the director is the man or woman responsible for the way the film looks, sounds, moves as well as how the actors perform. He or she is the person in charge on set. The director makes decisions on almost every aspect of the making of the film - from approving costumes, auditioning actors, choosing camera angles, deciding on mood, atmosphere, style of performances - almost everything creative that goes into a film. This does not mean that the director does all of this by himself. He usually has heads of department (such as camera, lighting, costume, art, etc...) that do most of the actual work - but they do so according to the director's wishes.
The director also makes creative decisions together in collaboration with his or her heads of department. They themselves are experts in their field and incorporating their advice and creative input is an important part of being a good director. The director also often works with the screenwriter at the beginning of the project as well with the editor and music composer towards the end of the process. He is often involved in the project from the beginning right to the end. Ultimately the director usually answers to the producer, the studio or the financiers.
In many cases however this definition can be less true. Sometimes the director is also the producer. Sometimes he is also the screenwriter. Some directors are not very interested in camera angles, preferring to concentrate on actors' performance, and allow their Director of Photography to make camera and lighting decisions. Others pretty much ignore their actors and focus purely on the look and images of the film.
Independent directors often have almost complete control of the film - usually if it is a project they have initiated themselves. As budgets increase financiers and studios become more rigid in restraining directors in numerous ways. While most independent directors decide on and approve the edit of their film, studio directors are often at the mercy of studio executives or producers when deciding on the final cut.
It's a profession that requires a good feel for images, music and performance as well as understanding (although not necessarily being able to do) various technical aspects of the production process. A director should also be able to communicate well with people and perhaps most importantly be able to see both the small details of the project as well as maintaining an overview of the bigger picture. It may be corny, but true - the director requires "vision". In theory the director should already have largely pieced the pieces of the puzzle together in his head before the film starts and then oversee that the pieces are correctly aligned during the making of the project. While many ridicule the concept of the director as being the "author" of a film because of film's inherently collaborative nature - the director especially in smaller, self written, independent films is the closest person one can describe as an author of a film. This is perhaps less true to some extent in big budget productions.
Directors make a living in two ways. They either freelance, flitting from production to production being hired by various producers and/or production companies, or they can join (or form) a production company and work through this same company on projects which it has initiated or been hired to produce. The second option is usually the most preferable because it offers more stability.
There is no pat answer to this question. The easiest response is that you can become a film director by simply picking up the nearest camcorder and starting to direct. Voila, you're a director! Sounds simple but it's probably not the answer you were looking for. You probably mean, "how do I become a professional, paid film director".
BUT WHAT DOES A DIRECTOR ACTUALLY DO?
Many people new to filmmaking are not really sure what a director does. Strictly speaking the director is the man or woman responsible for the way the film looks, sounds, moves as well as how the actors perform. He or she is the person in charge on set. The director makes decisions on almost every aspect of the making of the film - from approving costumes, auditioning actors, choosing camera angles, deciding on mood, atmosphere, style of performances - almost everything creative that goes into a film. This does not mean that the director does all of this by himself. He usually has heads of department (such as camera, lighting, costume, art, etc...) that do most of the actual work - but they do so according to the director's wishes.
The director also makes creative decisions together in collaboration with his or her heads of department. They themselves are experts in their field and incorporating their advice and creative input is an important part of being a good director. The director also often works with the screenwriter at the beginning of the project as well with the editor and music composer towards the end of the process. He is often involved in the project from the beginning right to the end. Ultimately the director usually answers to the producer, the studio or the financiers.
In many cases however this definition can be less true. Sometimes the director is also the producer. Sometimes he is also the screenwriter. Some directors are not very interested in camera angles, preferring to concentrate on actors' performance, and allow their Director of Photography to make camera and lighting decisions. Others pretty much ignore their actors and focus purely on the look and images of the film.
Independent directors often have almost complete control of the film - usually if it is a project they have initiated themselves. As budgets increase financiers and studios become more rigid in restraining directors in numerous ways. While most independent directors decide on and approve the edit of their film, studio directors are often at the mercy of studio executives or producers when deciding on the final cut.
It's a profession that requires a good feel for images, music and performance as well as understanding (although not necessarily being able to do) various technical aspects of the production process. A director should also be able to communicate well with people and perhaps most importantly be able to see both the small details of the project as well as maintaining an overview of the bigger picture. It may be corny, but true - the director requires "vision". In theory the director should already have largely pieced the pieces of the puzzle together in his head before the film starts and then oversee that the pieces are correctly aligned during the making of the project. While many ridicule the concept of the director as being the "author" of a film because of film's inherently collaborative nature - the director especially in smaller, self written, independent films is the closest person one can describe as an author of a film. This is perhaps less true to some extent in big budget productions.
Directors make a living in two ways. They either freelance, flitting from production to production being hired by various producers and/or production companies, or they can join (or form) a production company and work through this same company on projects which it has initiated or been hired to produce. The second option is usually the most preferable because it offers more stability.
Why You Should Take Filmmaking Lessons
If you want to become the next great Hollywood filmmaker such as Steven Spielberg or George Lucas, you might want to look into taking some filmmaking lessons. Taking lessons will help you a great deal as you learn the ins and outs of the movie industry. You will find there are many businesses and schools that can help you out.
There are many filmmaking classes and courses available throughout the country at various colleges and universities. There are also some film-specific schools around. You should be able to find quite a few by conducting an internet search for 'filmmaking schools.' Online schools are becoming popular as you can learn at your own pace.
You can take filmmaking lessons in person individually as well as in a class setting. You can also take online filmmaking classes and courses that teach you with a series of videos. If you're serious about becoming a filmmaker you'll need to take several courses. These will deal with screenwriting, directing, producing, casting, cinematography, and editing etc.
Many movies are made with the help of computer-generated effects and animation these days, so you may need to spend some money on special types of computer software. These may help you out a great deal when it comes to creating special effects.
The courses generally require you to combine several different careers all into one. Independent filmmakers need to know each and every aspect and skill of making a movie. This will prepare them in case they need to make one from scratch all by themselves.
The cost of taking filmmaking lessons will vary. It really depends on what type of lessons you're taking, personal or over the internet. Personal lessons will generally cost you more. You should do some research on any company or school who is offering to teach you to make sure they're reputable and qualified.
The Master Course In Film making
Power Filmmaking Kit
Naked Filmmaking: How To Make A Feature-Length Film - Without A Crew - For $10,000 Or Less
how to write a script.
Below is a short and concise - but hopefully useful outline on how to write a script. It is by no means comprehensive and is a mish mash of various teachers' and theorists' ideas and work. See this as a simple crash course. Hope it helps. Here we go...
Writing a script (especially a feature length one) is not as easy as many seem to believe it is. Compared to the novel or traditional prose, the script is a unique animal. Ultimately most see a script as not a thing in itself but rather like an architect's plan for a building. In the same way that a building's plans are not the building itself - the script is ultimately an aspiration towards making a film. However increasingly scriptwriting is being considered by some as an art unto itself and one that is often read and appreciated regardless of whether it is produced or not.
There are a considerable amount of rules and conventions you are expected to follow when writing a script. Some are annoying and some are downright stupid. But if you want to have your script read you should try and follow as many of these conventions as possible. Script readers, commissioning editors and producers who have an intimidating pile of scripts on their desk tend to first throw "unconventionally" formatted and styled scripts straight into the dustbin without even reading them. To them this is a time saving way of weeding out the amateurs from the professionals or serious writers. Never make it obvious you're new to the game - even if you are.
Many of these conventions are largely based on Classic Hollywood Realism - the style of the vast majority of American films. But even if your script is to be the ultimate surreal, Dadaist, art-house experience, conventional wisdom tell us that it's nevertheless useful to learn these "rules" anyway. The logic is that you've got to know the rules before you can subvert them.
THE PLOT
The first thing to do is to work out what your script is going to be about. This is your business so figure it out yourself. (Although bear in mind what is written below because it does impact in the type or idea you will want to develop). Then you need to create a plot - i.e. basically what happens in your story and in what order.
The traditional Hollywood script plot structure is often called the three-act structure. Another way of looking at it is what I call the "balance-imbalance-balance" concept. These concepts work pretty much the same - focusing primarily on a central character. The Balance/Imbalance/Balance structure works in the following way. (We'll call our central character "X").
1 - Balance: This is the initial state of your main character: X is a content dog trainer living with her dog Shoop. She avoids men because of previous affairs gone sour.
2 - Imbalance: A challenge or obstacle is foisted onto our hero which she undertakes to do something about. This changes her life: Shoop is stolen by a rival dog training company. Lonely and her spirits low, X spends her time searching for Shoop. She begins to lose customers as a result. Along the way she meets a helpful, sensitive policeman with buns of steel who embarks on the dog searching journey with her. Eventually she and Mr Buns of Steel track down Shoop and rescue the canine.
3 - Balance: Things are restored back to order but with something gained: Having rescued the dog, X returns to her life of contented dog training now with the addition of a well hung policeman in her bed. She has also overcome her fear of taking romantic risks. Together with the help of her beau her business has taken off like never before. Our hero has learnt something and gained from the experience. In other words, she has developed.
The most dramatic elements occur in the "imbalance" section. The challenge and what our hero does to overcome it is the "meat on the bones" of our story.
If I were to ask what X's primary challenge is, you might say that it is to find her dog. I might disagree and say that her primary goal is actually to overcome her loneliness and fear of men. In this way scripts can have different levels of meaning.
X's story could be a comedy, a serious drama and even a feminist comment on the way women are expected to conform to patriarchal society in which life without a man is seen as meaningless. It's your choice.
Now how does the plot become a script? Follow the easy steps below.
STEP ONE
Clearly write out your concept in a couple of lines: eg: "This movie is about "X, a happy dog trainer whose life is thrown into disarray when her faithful doggy companion Shoop is abducted by a rival dog training company." This sets out what your story is about as well as who your primary characters are. You should also try and figure out if this will be a comedy, a drama or horror story. This is called the "genre" of the film. (Producers need to know this or they get very confused.) However today we see more and more mixing of genres in the same film. No dialogue should be added until STEP SEVEN
STEP TWO
Write a paragraph outlining the story in a little more detail - this time adding in a few more characters and important events. Get a stronger feeling for how the thing will play out. We find out X has actually been rather lonely, we learn that there's a hot policeman in there too and there's a climatic shootout towards the end when Shoop is rescued. One could call this paragraph a short synopsis of your story.
STEP THREE
Write a longer outline of your plot. Depending on you, this can be anything from two to twenty pages. (You can also break this step into more steps and write increasingly longer outlines before proceeding to Step Four.). This pretty much establishes the basics of your plot and many of the twists and turns that may take place. Some also call this the "beats" of your script. You can add in stuff about the bad guys, who they are and their motivation for their actions.
STEP FOUR
Take your long outline and begin to break it up into one-or-two line paragraphs. Each paragraph should be a particular unique event. Eg:
What once was:
"X is woken up in the morning by Shoop's long tongue in her face. Later X drives to her dog-training school with Shoop panting in the back."
Becomes:
Paragraph one: X is woken up in the morning by Shoop's long tongue licking her face.
Paragraph two. X drives to her dog training school with Shoop panting in the back.
STEP FIVE
Fill in more paragraphs to make the story flow well and add any other paragraphs needed to fill out the story and expand elements that need it. The paragraphs should include more detailed actions on how things happen.
STEP SIX
Turn these paragraphs into scenes. The concept of a scene is very difficult to explain and almost needs to be intuitively understood. I've never seen an adequate explanation or definition to-date. It helps a great deal to read as many scripts as possible to get a feeling for this. Nevertheless, roughly, a scene is an event that happens in a unique place and time. E.g. The paragraph description:
Paragraph Sixty Five X arrives at the factory and after looking around discovers Shoop's dog leash in the bathroom.
Could be broken down into:
EXT. ABANDONED FACTORY. DAY X looks up at the front of the abandoned factory. A sign atop reads "NUWARE TILES". X walks up to the front door and opens it.
INT. ABANDONED FACTORY FLOOR. DAY Walking through the dark factory building it becomes clear that there is no-one here anymore. Rubble and trash are strewn all over the floor.
INT. ABANDONED FACTORY TOILET. DAY X opens the door to a filthy toilet and looks in. About to walk away she sees something. A dog's leash. Bending down she picks it up and realises that it is Shoop's leash.
INT/EXT: This refers to the location of the scene. If it is inside it is INT (for interior); if it is set outside it is EXT (for exterior). This should be followed by the location e.g. ABANDONED WAREHOUSE.
DAY/NIGHT: This refers to wether the scene occurs in the day or night. This follows the location.
STEP SEVEN
Start filling in dialogue as well as more detail under each scene. You should have a first draft completed by the end of this process.
STEP EIGHT, NINE, TEN, ELEVEN etc... There's a corny but valuable saying about writing that goes: "Writing is not about writing - but about re-writing". The first draft will almost always be shit. It's in the refining, re-writing, re-plotting and fine-tuning that great scripts get made. Congratulations - you've written a script! Now wasn't that fun?
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