From the Director: Project Updates
Being a director this early in the process can be a vague thing. It also meshes together with other responsibilities when you’ve written what you’re directing and when you’re knocking out an independent film.
Writing and directing are two totally different skills. When you write a script for someone else to direct, in a way, it’s easier. While there are points you may want to emphasize in a moment or a line of dialogue, rule number one is that you don’t direct on page. When you do that, you can step on the director’s and the actors’ toes, compromising their ability to interpret things in their own way. You can also be isolated from the practical realities of shooting, especially if you’ve never been on set before. You don’t necessarily have to worry too much about shots, angles, lighting, or cutting. Your focus is (primarily) character and story.
Being a writer/director is much different. You still want to be able to focus on character and story when you’re writing, but it’s hard to not have “director brain” creep up on you. Or to discount logistics. You’ll write something and then immediately think, “yeah, no, this would be such a pain in the ass to swing, and it’s not worth it, do it this way.” You can’t really wear two different hats.
Until you close out your screenwriting software window and get down to directing!
One of the first steps when you are directing or producing an indie film is securing your keys (department heads). To our credit, Katie and I have been checking keys off at a rapid pace. As a director, the most important key to lock down is the director of photography (DP). I immediately knew who my DP would be, my buddy AJ. There’ll be another post down the road about the relationship between director and DP, but suffice it to say, I look at it like a ‘work spouse.’ And AJ is my main squeeze, so to speak. We get each other.
When it comes to directing jobs during pre-production, having a DP is a necessary component to assist in the primary director responsibilities of shot listing and storyboarding. I prefer to do that with my DP during the location scout so that our shots can be mapped directly to our location (more on that later, too!).
In the meantime, I’ve created a Director’s lookbook. No lookbook is the same, there are no rules as to how they’re made. Basically, you create a document with references that help you and your keys understand the aesthetic you’re shooting for. You can use images, poems, or screenshots from other movies. They can be literal or figurative. Everyone is different.
My lookbook process goes a little something like this: I’ll start by using my photo research skills (my day job) to collect a bunch of images from the internet and from stock photo agencies that relate to the project. Then I’ll start a Google slide document for the lookbook.
With lookbooks I like to start big and then hone in on specifics. I start with an overview of the story and the world, using images that convey the mood, look and/or tone I want the project to convey. Next, we hit themes and motifs: are there recurring images? What are we trying to say with the film?
From there we pare down further to the characters. What are they supposed to look like? I like to focus on art in my lookbook because it’s one of my big weaknesses, so I want to pay extra attention to those details. What should the hair and wardrobe look like? For Oakdale, that took a bit of research in period clothing catalogues and hair advertisements. What are some key props? What are the color palettes for different scenes/locations?
AJ is also a fan of creating lookbooks where he uses screenshots from other films to cover the look and feel of what he/we want to go for. I’ll be talking to him soon about whether he wants to make one, or if we should work on one together.
Soon, we will be casting and breaking down the script. Speaking of which, stay tuned for my next entry about writing!