How to direct your movie:

"With great power comes great responsibility", Spiderman 1

That's true. When you take on the task of directing don't think that you will just be in control. If anything goes wrong, you have to take all the blame.

Read the script many times, then go scene by scene. Read a scene, close your eyes and visualize it. Now think. In order to get the result you just dreamed:

• Where should the camera be?

• Where should the actors be?

• What effects will be used?

• How many takes will it need?

• ...and whatever comes in your head then

Now write those things down. Calculate the time it should take, things you should have ready and things you should buy. Never leave anything for the day of the shooting.

An essential thing to do is plan everything from the beginning. Don't just call your friends and say come to my house to shoot a movie. You should schedule when you shoot, when you take a break and everything to the tiniest detail or else you will end up with most of the footage badly shot.

So gather your actors and as the director, convince them that they have to be serious and stop them from doing stupid things if they are not in the current scene you're filming. For example, I was filming a major scene for one of our films and my little brother started playing with the gun replicas we use and screamed: "Die Nazis, die".

Let's now go at the time of the shooting. Everybody should be there on time. If someone is going to be late, don't panic and be creative, change the order of the shots so you do shots he is not in until he comes.

"Scene 5, Take 1, Action"... Whoa, hold on. Nobody knows what he is doing.

No.1 Gather the actors that are in the scene and review the script with them. Explain exactly how should everything be said.

No.2 Tell them to rehearse it. As they say their parts, interrupt them when you see or hear something you don't like.

No.3 When you are finished correcting them, take the camera in your hands and tell them to do it again. As they are talking zoom in and out, try different angles and see how they look on camera.

No. 4 Explain to the camera-man the way you want him to shoot

No.5 "Scene 5, Take 1, Action".

Actors always have ideas. As I was explaining once her part, my friend #### had an idea. We sat down and she told me that she thought it would be better to shoot the two actors conversation from the top of their heads. I tried explaining that we couldn't highlight emotions that way and one angle is not nice, but she insisted. I had the video already in my head and I wouldn't change it for anything. So I told her politely no, because if she got angry, she would ruin it all. Your actors always think they know better, but remember YOU do the thinking, THEY do the acting. Listen to them and if you like their idea keep it, if you don't say no, a polite but solid no.

Remember everything should be done under your supervision. Acting, filming, editing, everything. Never, ever, trust anyone else to do what you do. Even if you describe something to the tiniest detail, it just won't be yours.

Keep on dreaming,

SavouroFilms Productions