What does a movie director do? For a viewer, a director very often remains behind the scenes of a film or a production. All the fame goes to the actors, and those people whose artistic vision is embodied in movies remain only a fleeting line in the credits.
In total, a few representatives of this profession manage to earn worldwide fame and widespread recognition. But still, we offer to get to know these people better. So, who are directors?
WHY A DIRECTOR IS A KEY FIGURE ON SET
According to the director definition, this person is the most important on set. This man or woman is directing everything that happens there: manages the filming process and supervises the work of the crew. And most importantly, they give the film, music videos, and created commercials a unique style, bringing together everything related to the production. If the director is not a professional, then it is immediately noticeable: as a rule, in such works, there are no emotions, drama, and accents. After all, it can hardly be called ended. And even a good actor’s game and a professional camera don’t save it.
What does a director do? This specialist is in demand not only for staging theatrical performances, films, and variety or circus performances but also for organizing various mass events. Undoubtedly, this profession belongs to the category of creative. Unlike the producer, the director is not responsible for the financial and technical side of the production. Director’s duties directly depend on the specifics of the creative process and the number of specialists involved.
If we are talking about commercial directors, then not everything depends on them, but still, these people play a big role in it. A good director can draw out an average idea, and a bad director can ruin an excellent idea. By the way, these directors never work alone. For them, the ability to work in a very «concentrated» environment as a team in a short time is important.
WHO IS THE MAIN DIRECTOR?
The main director is more than just one of the crew workers. This person finds a common language with capricious actors and can achieve an increase in the budget and attract people through non-standard advertising. The film director directs not only the actors; they also give recommendations to the director of photography, instruct the main technical staff, solve budget issues, and protect production from external force majeure circumstances. The director is the main person in charge of everything that happens.
Main responsibilities:
- Implements video directing;
- Ensures a continuous production process in accordance with the deadlines;
- Works with new and old productions, updating and improving them;
- Casts the actors, distribute the roles, make suggestions for updating and expanding the cast;
- Takes part in the creation of sketches and layouts for the design of future productions, costumes, sets, special effects, constantly monitoring all processes;
- Holds regular rehearsals;
- Interacts with the staff responsible for production.
WHO IS THE EDITING DIRECTOR?
Many people asking the question of how to become a director who edits projects and looking at the profession from the side think that there is nothing exciting and important in it. But this is only at first glance. In fact, an editing director is a person who determines how viewers will see the film, music video, and so on. As a result, the joint work of the acting team and the editing director leaves mountains of all kinds of records and pieces that are not connected with each other. It is this mishmash of audio and video files that needs to be edited by the editing director. And this is sometimes a very difficult task.
Main responsibilities:
- Monitors and oversees the filming process;
- Studies the resulting video material before the upcoming processing;
- Designs existing files into a complete product;
- Eliminates «shortcomings» committed directly during the filming process;
- Complies with technical requirements and acts that are indicated in the instructions.
WHO IS THE PRODUCTION DIRECTOR?
This person is responsible for the artistic component of the work. Under this director guidance, actors, cameramen, sound engineers, a production designer, and others work. What is directing from the point of view of the production director? The production director is responsible for what viewers see. The success or failure of the project will be associated with their name. The director may specialize in staging feature or documentary films, theater performances, circus programs, music shows, and public events.
Main responsibilities:
- Carefully selects the script;
- Participates in the development of scripts;
- Draws up the cost estimate and the production schedule;
- Works with the actors;
- Takes part in creating sketches on the sets, costumes, and props;
- Approves music and lyrics songs;
- Directs the filming process or rehearsal.
WHO IS THE SCREENWRITER?
A feature of the work of the screenwriter is that they need to create a work not for reading but for its implementation in action. Since in cinema, unlike literature, the motives of the characters are most often not explained, the text should be arranged so that the cause-effect relations are understood from the behavior of the actors or their replicas. It is also required to describe in detail the appearance of the main characters.
Main responsibilities:
- Develops ideas for films, performances or events;
- Forms relevant content (descriptions, scripts of actors/presenters, tasks, tips, etc.);
- Creates video scripts;
- Writes press releases and promotional articles.
WHAT IS A UNIQUE DIRECTOR’S STYLE?
Each director has their own unique filming style. The work of professional film directors is really guessed from the first minutes. Characteristics of the main characters, plot features, how the camera shots, and the atmosphere of the film as a whole – all this together forms a unique author’s style, which can be called the director’s calling card. For example, Tarantino’s favorite trick is looking from the trunk when the camera focuses on the heroes from the bottom up. And almost all of his films contain a scene, in which three or more characters direct weapons at each other at the same time. And if you see landscapes of New Zealand, with three-dimensional characters in secondary roles, and the main characters speak like elves, then you are most likely watching a film by Peter Jackson. And as you know, these two are the best movie directors.
PRODUCER VS. DIRECTOR: THE DIFFERENCE
Let’s start with the producer. If you summarize the main features, then you can see that this person performs functions related to the preparation of the filming process and the financing of the project and its release. The producer may have more authority and even perform a significant part of the functions of the director of expensive Hollywood-style films and solves problems related to the payback.
The director solves problems related directly to the filming process. They determine how exactly one or another scene should be shot, which actors to invite, and where to shoot from the point of view of achieving the best entertainment results. The director’s competence is the implementation of the creative component of the project, as well as the features of the functional environment for filming prepared by the producer.
The main difference between the producers and movie directors is in the tasks they solve. But in most cases, these are tasks of similar categories, often solved at the same time and requiring active interaction of people who occupy the corresponding key positions in the process of creating a film.
In fact, best film directors are known to everyone. They are the most important people on set. Such things as acting, type of scenery, quality of the film, correct cast, the composition of the scriptwriters, voice acting, special effects, and so on depend on them. This profession means continuous communication with many people and their management. It is impossible to get a nice video or film without this professional.