You’ve probably seen plenty of behind the scenes footage of director’s wearing fancy berets and showing “Action!” into megaphones. But you’re probably thinking besides all that, what does a movie director do exactly? So let’s go over all the various things a movie director does both on and off set.
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First, let’s define what it means to be a director and why you need one. You see directors are kinda like the captain of a ship, they are the main person in charge of steering the ship and making all the creative decisions. And this is important because filmmaking is art and in order to make good art, you need one cohesive vision for the film.
However, much like a producer, the exact role of the director can be different depending on the film and the director themselves. Some directors might want to be super hands on while others might be more hands off. In some situations the studio might have a lot of say in creative decisions while on indie sets the director might have total creative freedom.
It’s also worth noting that film directors and TV directors are different roles, because in TV the show runners are actually more of an over seeing creative director than the director themselves. Directors on TV shows often come in for just one episode and their role mainly is to direct in the very basic sense of the word, that is to direct the actors and crew while on set. This way, the show’s visual consistency is maintained, and you don’t get TV show episodes that are wildly different one episode to the next.
Ok now that you know what a director is, let’s go over exactly what a director does, starting with pre-production. In pre-production Directors can either be hired to direct a script, choose to direct someone else's script, or sometimes they are also the writer of the script. The director is often the one hiring the other key creative positions.
While prepping for the film, the director is also responsible for creating any assets needed to convey their vision to the rest of the cast and crew. This could be storyboards, shot lists, or even vision boards with other graphic examples that have a similar vibe.
During the pre-production process, the director will also check in with these department heads to answer questions and make sure each department is heading in the right direction. If they aren’t, it’s up to the director to course correct by again communicating their vision.
Most importantly out of these is the cinematographer. In pre-production the director and cinematographer will work together to create a visual look for the film, through storyboards and shot lists.
Once the film is cast, the director conducts table reads and rehearsals with the actors. This is also where the director and the actors begin to shape the characters in the film and the director usually have the creative freedom to make script changes if need be.
Then in production, the director works closely with the cinematographer to make sure the visuals for the film are again conveying their overall vision. Since filmmaking is an unpredictable beast, this can sometimes include last minute changes too shots and thus it’s up to the director and cinematographer to work together to find solutions. When everything is ready to shoot a take, the director then finally does what most people think of when they think of a director, they direct the actors.
Once the film is finished being shot, the director works closely with the post production team to oversee cuts, visual effects, musical scoring, sound design, and any other elements that might be needed to complete the film. Here again they make ultimate creative decisions and changes if need be. Here again the unpredictable beast of filmmaking can rear its ugly head and thus sometimes the director might decide they need to do reshoots in order to make the film work.
So now that you know what a director does, hopefully you’ll have more appreciation for all the work they do behind the scenes.
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