by Anthony MacGregor

Created on: February 09, 2009

Film directors are essentially decision makers, and the most successful directors are the ones that make the right decisions consistently. Directors are ultimately responsible for every single aspect of the film, and they have final say on any creative decision (except of course when studio executives make a change because they think the movie won't make enough money.) Below is an outline of the film director's role in every step of the film making process.

PREPRODUCTION

A director gets contacted by a producer, saying he has a great script he wants him to read, that he thinks would be great for him to direct. Alternatively, a director writes a script he wants to direct, and calls up a producer to help him pull it off. Whatever the case is, the decision making starts at that point.

First the director and producer must assemble their team, the cast and crew. This includes Director of Photography and camera team, G & E (grip and electric), Actors, Make-Up, Assistant Director, Location Sound team, Editor, Visual Effects artists, Sound Designers - the long long list of credits we see at the end of the movies. It is important to pick the right team - the director by this point has read and analyzed the script, and has formulated his "vision" - how he wants the script to be represented visually on film. This includes a particular style of cinematography, particular sounds and music, whether its fast-paced or slow-paced - all of these decisions must be made by the director, and the team that is assembled must fulfill his expectations.

Then, once the team is assembled, more decisions are made - what location to shoot in, what should the actor be wearing, is this scene going to happen during the day like it says in the script, or would it work better for the story (and for the budget) if we shoot it at night? The director shares his vision with his team, and they each dedicate their attention to their particular area of expertise, presenting to the director different ideas and possibilities on how to approach each task.

Once everything has been planned, costumes are made, locations secured, and the food service has been scheduled for every day of the shoot, then production begins.

PRODUCTION

More decision making. Should the actor read his line as he did, or should he show more anger? Do we really need this line, or can it be cut out? Ideally enough planning was done in preproduction that most of the decisions on set have been predetermined and need no further discussion,

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