The director should be concerned about all aspects of the movie they are directing.

The lighting, the costumes, the sets, the set dressing, the makeup, the food being
served to the cast and crew, the audio are all things the director should be concerned
with.

That doesn't men the director should be an expert at all these things - it means these
are things that should interest and be important to the director.

A little story: Like most of you people when I was working my way up to my first feature
I was obsessed with the camera and lighting and thought a little about sound. I asked a
lot of questions and got a lot of great advice. During pre production of my first feature
the costumer came up to me with four pairs of shoes and said, "For Mona in the first
scene. Which shoes do you want?"

I have never obsessed over costumes, never asked how concerned I should be about
costuming or got advice on how to work with the costumer.

Her question threw me. And the truth was, the shoes Mona wore in her first scene
were as important as the lighting.

The director should be concerned about all aspects of the movie they are directing.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

quote:

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Originally posted by Spokane36

I know that lighting is a part of the cinematographer's job, but I'm just wondering, as a writer/director, how concerned should I be with lighting? Are there certain things a director should be concerned about involving lighting, and if so, what are those things?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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As already mentioned, the Director is responsible for "directing" the creative and technical aspects of the entire production so that everyone is making the same movie. There are some Directors out in the world who are too Actor-centric and others who are too Camera-centric. While those are important, so is everything else and guiding everyone involved is what the job of directing is all about.

Specifically regarding lighting, there should be a greater thematic discussion between the Director and the Writer, the Production Designer, and the Director of Photography. It is important that everyone who is "designing" aspects of the movie that will be seen are all understanding what the movie is supposed to look like. So the time to discuss what a scene should look like shouldn't be taking place on set on the day of the shoot.

Assuming you, as the Director, truly understand the script for yourself, you should be able to communicate your concepts of the visuals to the DP for each and every scene. Make notes for yourself as you need to. It isn't necessary that you know HOW the DP will achieve the looks, but the two of you must discuss what your point of view is so that he A) can understand and B) is able to have the proper resources to achieve it.

Of course, the more you do know about what it takes to achieve a shot... the different cameras, what they can do, filmstocks, lenses, lighting logistics, crewing necessities, and everything else that it takes to create the shots that make a movie.... the better Director you'll be. Again, you don't necessarily have to know HOW to do things the specialists do, but the more you DO know, the better choices you can make as you balance your creative desires with the technical and logistical parameters you have to work within.

Imagine this scenario: you show up on set and tell/ask the DP for a moody living room and you want the shot to be moving from left to right. Then you leave. What do you think the crew will set up? Maybe it will be what you hoped for and maybe it won't. But as the crew struggles to figure it out, they are eating up valuable time...and the more time it takes per setup, the less setups you can do per day and that means you can't do all the shots you want and your movie will suffer.

OR you do this: "I'd really like the room lit dimly, but a couple of shafts of light motivated by the streetlights outside. Let's put A Camera low-mode on the dolly..let's try a 40mm, starting on the Actor's feet then rise as we cross from left to right. Please set that up and let me see the shot with Second Team as soon as the camera is ready. I've got three more setups I need to finish before lunch... the turnaround on this, and two 'overs."

In scenario two, now the crew has a very good idea what you're wanting and they will waste no time in setting it up. AND they also know what is coming up next so if they can preset anything or create shortcuts during this setup, now you'll likely get this setup on time AND get through the other setups on time...which gives you more time for more takes or for extra setups in the day.

Directing is all about communicating. You'll be answering questions throughout pre-production, all day long through production, and again in post. Your "tools" are the people who have the creative and technical skills to carry out the "art" that creates a movie. So, the more YOU know about EVERYTHING, the better off your movie will be.

Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com

OK, got the message. I guess there are some questions on my mind now. Where do you suppose is a good place to start on getting some knowledge and information on, well, everything, for starters? I've read a couple books on directing, I've also been reading some books on writing as well. Is that not enough? Do I need to go farther than that?

quote:

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Originally posted by Spokane36

OK, got the message. I guess there are some questions on my mind now. Where do you suppose is a good place to start on getting some knowledge and information on, well, everything, for starters? I've read a couple books on directing, I've also been reading some books on writing as well. Is that not enough? Do I need to go farther than that?

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Yes, the more you know, the better your chances of success and being better once you get there.

I'll contact you through your screenname with some suggestions on additional resources that will help you.

Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com

quote:

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Originally posted by Spokane36
Is that not enough? Do I need to go farther than that?

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That's not enough. Learning never stops. A couple of books on directing
and some on writing as well is hardly brushing the surface of the knowledge
needed. You need to go MUCH farther.

Never think that you have enough knowledge on any subject.

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

I had a great working relationship with the DP, Matt, on my most recent film, Out The Window (color 16mm): http://portfolio.exgfilms.com/videos/out-the-window.mov

I was having discussions with him about the look of the movie long before I started casting--we decided to base the look loosely on the paintings of Vermeer, which often rely on soft, semi-overhead daylight and a considerable amount of fill in the shadows. He came with me on all the location scouts so that we could discuss lighting solutions and camera placement on-the-spot in order to decide if the location would work. We also determined our workflow well in advance, deciding that although we were shooting full-frame 16mm, we would be cropping to 16x9 and scanning the film in HD--this, and the fact that we would be using some outdated stock and short ends, was very important to know well in advance because of the very specific considerations this workflow required.

After initial discussions about look and the requirements of each lighting setup (this has to be both romantic and foreboding, this has to convincingly replicate sunset, this just has to make our incredibly boring kitchen location look halfway-presentable, this has to be ready RIGHT NOW), I usually just let Matt run with whatever lighting scheme he wanted, with only a few exceptions. Occasionally when a setup was nearing completion I might make a comment about a problem I saw or offer up a harebrained suggestion (and I was always riding him about using too much frontal light), but I never vetoed any setup outright. Sure, I sometimes got a bit anxious, especially since we were shooting film and wouldn't know for weeks whether or not the lighting worked, and it took all the directorial grit I could muster not to force him to change his setup when he told me, "I'm intentionally underexposing their faces by a stop and a half in this scene," but it's a good thing I didn't because, turns out, he knows way more about lighting than I do, and the scenes where I was least involved in the rigging and technical considerations of the lighting are the ones that look the best.

I find that every pairing of DP and director has a different dynamic. I found myself directing Matt a lot like I was directing my actors; rather than focusing on specific technical points, I spoke a lot to emotion and the underlying meaning of the scene and then left it up to them to determine what specifically it meant for their work.

I think there's a tendency for directors to either ignore the lighting (which is infuriating when you're the DP, I can tell you from experience), or they feel like they should be 'involved' in the lighting decisions and so they wind up telling the DP things like, "put a 1K over there and gel it half-amber," which sort of defeats the purpose of having a skilled technician/artist as a DP. The trick is to strike a balance, have a good understanding of the lighting philosophy for the scene while giving the DP plenty of room to work, and ultimately--here's the magic word--you need to collaborate.

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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com
and my reel at http://portfolio.exgfilms.com