Film Directing Tips

1. Script facts are situations, actions or events that happen in a story before a scene starts

2. Facts are not subject to interpretation because they have already happened (they are in fact, FACT!)

3. Facts are a great way to give direction. They can help you avoid arguments with actors because you can actually point to the “fact” in the script

4. Anytime there is more than one possible explanation for something in the script, it is not fact. Therefore, it is open to interpretation between the actor and the director

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Want to Learn More Film and Television Directing Tips and Techniques? Check out Peter D. Marshall’s 2008 multi-media reference guide for filmmakers, “The Art and Craft of the Director 10-Day Audio Seminar“ - a 162 page eBook packed full of insider film directing tips and tools supported by over 500 film making reference links, 26 mp3 audio files, 28 video links and 23 pdf special reports all designed to help you become a successful, working film and television director.
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1. When you first get a script, the first thing you should do is read the entire script through once without making any notes. This is important because it lets you find out what the story is about and what happens to the characters.

2. Read the script over several more times

a. this begins the process of understanding the characters and the events of the script

b. you start to feel things and see things about the characters

c. this process gives you ideas for backstory and subtext

d. anytime you find a line of dialogue or an action that is confusing or doesn’t make sense, make a note of it.

3. Find the facts behind the words. Always look for the fact or the reality behind a line (what does it REALLY mean)

NOTE: If something doesn’t make sense when you read the script, it won’t make sense when you shoot it. Which means  it won’t make sense to the audience when they see the finished film either (and this is bad!)

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Want to Learn More Film and Television Directing Tips and Techniques? Check out Peter D. Marshall’s 2008 multi-media reference guide for filmmakers, “The Art and Craft of the Director 10-Day Audio Seminar“ - a 162 page eBook packed full of insider film directing tips and tools supported by over 500 film making reference links, 26 mp3 audio files, 28 video links and 23 pdf special reports all designed to help you become a successful, working film and television director.
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Here area two quotes I wrote down years ago (I forgot where they came from) that sum up very nicely the difference between a good script and a bad script:

1. “Good scripts are complex with a rich subworld hinted at and not over explained.”

2. “Bad scripts are often over explained and obvious.”

There are usually up to five kinds of scenes in any script:

1. Key Scenes (Could be dialogue or action scenes) These scenes set the mood of the story and they may require more time to shoot than regular scenes. EXAMPLE: most scenes in Act One that introduce characters and scenes that contain major story points

2. Dialogue Scenes (talking, talking and more talking!) These scenes usually move quicker and take less time to shoot than action scenes

3. Action Scenes and Special FX Scenes (action/stunts/special effects) These scenes require more shooting time than dialogue scenes

4. Visual FX Scenes (green screen, motion control, visual effects components) These scenes require a lot of prep work and shooting time is longer than dialogue scenes

5. Act Break Scenes (only in TV) These scenes are important because they are used to keep the audience “hooked” into coming back after the commercial. Soap operas are a good example of this kind of hook into a commercial break.

NOTE: to determine how long it will take to shoot a scene, it’s not the page count per day that matters, it’s the camera set ups per day that matter. EXAMPLE: a 4 page dialogue scene should be easier and faster to shoot than a 2 page action scen.

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Want to Learn More Film and Television Directing Tips and Techniques? Check out Peter D. Marshall’s 2008 multi-media reference guide for filmmakers, “The Art and Craft of the Director 10-Day Audio Seminar“ - a 162 page eBook packed full of insider film directing tips and tools supported by over 500 film making reference links, 26 mp3 audio files, 28 video links and 23 pdf special reports all designed to help you become a successful, working film and television director.
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A “sequence” in a film script is defined as a group of common scenes that are used to portray a specific event in the story. Examples:

a) The Teaser (Episodic TV)

b) The Tag (Episodic TV)

c) The Chase Sequence (”Bullit”)

d) The Love Scene (”Postman Always Rings Twice”)

e) The Wedding Sequence (”The Deer Hunter”)

f) The Battle Sequence (”Legends of the Fall”)

g) The Assassination Sequence (”JFK”)

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Want to Learn More Film and Television Directing Tips and Techniques? Check out Peter D. Marshall’s 2008 multi-media reference guide for filmmakers, “The Art and Craft of the Director 10-Day Audio Seminar“ - a 162 page eBook packed full of insider film directing tips and tools supported by over 500 film making reference links, 26 mp3 audio files, 28 video links and 23 pdf special reports all designed to help you become a successful, working film and television director.
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Michael Bruce Adams is a screenwriter and a friend of mine. I interviewed Michael for my “Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and I have included a portion of that interview here. Part One (Monday) was about how to research; Part Two (Wednesday) was about the search for truth; and Part Three (today) is about how to write believable characters.

A film that Michael wrote has just been released and is called “REACH FOR ME.” Michael can be reached at solperro@shaw.ca

PART THREE

Peter - What’s the trick to writing believable characters?

Michael - The trick is to turn your senses inward. Trust that the bank of sensory memories you have stored away from all the experiences in your life can help you create accurate sensory impulses for your characters. Close your eyes and put your self in a still frame from your scene. Paint that frame until it is true and accurate. Now slip into the role of your character, become that character and live the scene as it plays out. React as that character, speak, feel and think as that character. Now do the same process with each character in the scene.

As you get good at this you will be able to jump from character to character and live out the scene in real time. You will also find that the responses and actions of your characters will be frighteningly truthful and unique. You will also find that, with practice, as in dreams, you will be able to control the spin of situations so that you can rewind and try a different reaction from a certain character that might take the scene to a new and more exciting direction.

You write with all six senses, the five usual ones and the sixth sense, which for writers is transcendence. Transcendence, or the ability to rise above and go beyond the limits of normal physical human experience, is both a tool and a goal. Eventually you will so adept at slipping into your characters’ psyches that you can take your characters into any situation and create a truthful, resonant story. So when a studio says to you, “We love your story but it’s an ensemble drama and what we really need is a single character driven action piece,” you can say, “No problem. I can do that.” That’s transcendence. That’s magic.

Peter - Do you use the same technique for building characters?

Michael - Building characters comes out of the research. Remember we talked about what a benefit it is to have your characters in mind when you going through your research process? Well, it’s almost like reverse engineering. When you have the seeds of a story and an idea of what your main characters look like, then you have a pretty good idea, simply from psychological dynamics, of what you expect your character to be capable of through their journey. Then you work back.

If your character has to accomplish a near impossible goal at the end of their journey then you might wonder where that strength would come from. Was it a positively reinforced trait or negatively reinforced? And how would they react at having to use that strength? Would they be liberated, or racked with guilt? What were their parents like, the home, their upbringing? What key events impacted their lives? Did they make key decisions or let life make decisions for them? Did they have room to breathe as a child or were they hemmed in by a Brooklyn brownstone neighborhood?

All these things have an impact on who your characters are and who they will become over the course of their journey through your story, and this is called their character arc. So, when you research, you build your characters, when you write, you become what you’ve built.

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Want to Learn More Film and Television Directing Tips and Techniques? Check out Peter D. Marshall’s 2008 multi-media reference guide for filmmakers, “The Art and Craft of the Director 10-Day Audio Seminar“ - a 162 page eBook packed full of insider film directing tips and tools supported by over 500 film making reference links, 26 mp3 audio files, 28 video links and 23 pdf special reports all designed to help you become a successful, working film and television director.
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Michael Bruce Adams is a screenwriter and a friend of mine. I interviewed Michael for my “Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and I have included a portion of that interview here. Part One (Monday) was about how to research; Part Two (today) is about the search for truth; and Part Three (Friday) is about how to write believable characters.

A film that Michael wrote has just been released and is called “REACH FOR ME.” Michael can be reached at solperro@shaw.ca

PART TWO

Peter - I talk a lot about truth as well. Directors (listening for truth) Actors (truth in performance). Why is truth so important for an artist?

Michael - Well, philosophically one could argue that there is no truth, but ultimately, for the artist, truth equals the ability to connect, to relate, in our case, to an audience. There’s a great story about two men in a modern art gallery standing in front of a grey, rectangular panel six and half feet tall and two feet wide. One guy says, “I just can’t relate to this, this isn’t art”. And the other guy says. “Well, to me this represents the grayness of our existence, a celebration of the mundane. It’s brilliant”. And at that point the drill bit for the new doorknob pops through the panel from the other side.

So I guess in one sense any art that connects with someone is a success. But in film, we have to find a way to connect with as many people as possible, and the only way we can do that is to create our art with truthful human emotions. So as screenwriters, we’re not talking about truth in plot or setting, we’re talking about relating truthful human responses to the situations we place our characters in. We have to believe them. It’s our responsibility to become the audience and maintain that perspective all the way through the creative process.

A terrific yardstick to measure the success of this is in teen comedies. By basing the comedy on the truth in human nature, that we can all relate to, a straight up genre picture can become so much more and create a huge fan response. AMERICAN PIE, HEATHERS, PUMP UP THE VOLUME are great examples of putting a little bit more effort and craft into a genre picture and getting a great result.

Peter - So what you’re saying is that knowing the truth of a scene translates into motivation for the character?

Michael - Exactly, and the opposite is also true. Characters that have truthful motivation for their actions bring out the truth in a scene. I love watching actors create characters. Most of them will get into their make-up and wardrobe then walk the sets, handle the props. You can see the wheels turning in there. The physical transformation brings on inspiration.

A few work on another level, using method techniques brought with great power to the craft by people like Lee Strasberg. They go through a similar research process that great screenwriters do. They search for the world of the character as suggested by the source material, the screenplay. So the screenwriter has to do their homework. The actors live in that character’s world until it is a part of them. This is beyond touching props and walking the sets. Believe me, these actors will let you know if you’ve done a crap job on your research.

This is where motivation starts. Motivation, quite simply, is the honest response of a character to any situation, after taking into account the entire emotional history and personality of that character.

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Want to Learn More Film and Television Directing Tips and Techniques? Check out Peter D. Marshall’s 2008 multi-media reference guide for filmmakers, “The Art and Craft of the Director 10-Day Audio Seminar“ - a 162 page eBook packed full of insider film directing tips and tools supported by over 500 film making reference links, 26 mp3 audio files, 28 video links and 23 pdf special reports all designed to help you become a successful, working film and television director.
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Michael Bruce Adams is a screenwriter and a friend of mine. I interviewed Michael for my “Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and I have included a portion of that interview here. Part One (today) is about how to research; Part Two (Wednesday) is about the search for truth; and Part Three (Friday) is about how to write believable characters.

A film that Michael wrote has just been released and is called “REACH FOR ME.” Michael can be reached at solperro@shaw.ca

PART ONE

Peter - Where do you get your ideas?

Michael- It depends on the project, but usually an idea will come to mind from a memory or something I read, or it could be given to me as a synopsis by another filmmaker. But the work doesn’t really begin for me until I can find my own spark, one scene or image related to this idea I’ve got that charges me emotionally, motivates my imagination. Until I have that, I can work the idea all I want, but the story will never reveal itself. Once I have the spark, I use that as a springboard into the research and that’s where the story really comes to light.

Peter - Do you research every script?

Michael - Absolutely. Research is how you build the world your characters will eventually bring to life. Some projects are easier to research; the old adage ‘write what you know’ plays a huge role here. Not that I’m advocating that, but as a new writer, telling stories that are close to your heart or past experiences means that YOU are the prime research material, what could be easier… right. It’s also very safe.

Those experiences are a good place to start as a new screenwriter, but, the nature of screenwriting means that we have to go beyond that safety zone. And going beyond the safety zone is the joy of being a screenwriter. We get to experience emotions that we wouldn’t ordinarily allow ourselves to experience, and create situations that we would never physically enter into.

If we’re good at creating these worlds and we enter them honestly with our characters, we will experience everything our characters do with emotions just as intense. This is the gift, and the curse of being a screenwriter. Those who don’t have the courage to dig deep enough into their own emotional well rarely create anything out of the safety zone, and those types of projects just don’t resonate with audiences. Research is a gathering of knowledge, and an emotional mining process. It’s a search for truth.

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Want to Learn More Film and Television Directing Tips and Techniques? Check out Peter D. Marshall’s 2008 multi-media reference guide for filmmakers, “The Art and Craft of the Director 10-Day Audio Seminar“ - a 162 page eBook packed full of insider film directing tips and tools supported by over 500 film making reference links, 26 mp3 audio files, 28 video links and 23 pdf special reports all designed to help you become a successful, working film and television director.
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In order to understand the script, a director needs to be able to operate in the sub-world of the characters. Therefore, one of the main the purposes of script analysis is to find out who the characters are and what happens to them.

Read more about Script and Scene Analysis

1. Man against Man
Movie Example: “Hell in the Pacific” - Lee Marvin

2. Man against Himself
Movie Example: “A Beautiful Mind” - Russell Crowe

3. Man against Nature
Movie Example: “Twister” - Bill Paxton

4. Man against Society
Movie Example: “Philadelphia” – Tom Hanks

5. Man against God/Principle
Movie Example: “The Mission” - Robert DeNiro

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Want to Learn More Film and Television Directing Tips and Techniques? Check out Peter D. Marshall’s 2008 multi-media reference guide for filmmakers, “The Art and Craft of the Director 10-Day Audio Seminar“ - a 162 page eBook packed full of insider film directing tips and tools supported by over 500 film making reference links, 26 mp3 audio files, 28 video links and 23 pdf special reports all designed to help you become a successful, working film and television director.
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