Film director

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The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London.

A film director is a person who directs the making of a film.^[1] A film director visualizes the script, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision.

However, the director doesn't always have absolute artistic control. The director is usually selected by the producer, whose job it is to make the decisions that are in the best interests of the production company or studio or network. As such, the producers have veto power over everything from the script itself to the final cut of the film, often in anywhere from slight to extreme opposition to the director's vision.

People such as Anthony Minghella and Paul Greengrass, like Ken Loach and Mike Leigh before them, achieved much of their fame after leaving TV to make films for the big screen. Those directors who choose or are chosen to work in TV traditionally have had to accept that they will not be as lauded, and definitely will not be as well paid, as their big-screen counterparts.^[2]

1 Responsibilities
2 Methods of film directing
3 Professional organizations
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Responsibilities

The role of a film director in the creation of a movie is a large one, and typically includes completion of the following tasks:

Realizing the overall artistic vision of the film.
Controlling the content and flow of the film's plot.
overseeing the performances of actors, both by putting them in certain positions and by eliciting the required range of emotions.

Often directors choose to delegate many of these responsibilities to other members of their film crews. For example, the director may describe the atmosphere he wants from a scene, then leave it to other members of the film crew to find a suitable location and/or to set up the appropriate lighting.

[edit] Methods of film directing

How much control a director exerts over a film varies greatly. Many directors are under the control of the studio and producer. This was true from the 1930s through the 1950s, when studios had many directors, actors and writers under contract.

Meanwhile, other directors have far more control and bring their artistic vision to the pictures they make. Their methods range from those who:

Outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue.
Control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely.
Write their own scripts (such as Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, Hayao Miyazaki or Robert Rodriguez).
Collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners.
Act as their own cinematographers and editors.
Star (often in leading roles) in their films, such as Orson Welles, Connor Anderson, Woody Allen or even Ed Wood, Jr.

Directors work closely with film producers, who are usually responsible for the non-artistic elements of the film, such as financing, contract negotiation and marketing. Some directors will often take on some of the responsibilities of the producer for their films. Both Orson Welles and Ed Wood, Jr. are infamously known for writing, directing and producing their films while the early silent film director Alice Guy Blaché not only produced her own pictures but actually created her own highly successful studio.

[edit] Professional organizations

In the United States, directors usually belong to the Directors Guild of America. The Canadian equivalent is the Directors Guild of Canada. A director at the start of his/her job would earn about 20,000 every year, as his/her job progresses throughout the middle of it earns about 40,000. at the very peak of his/her job as a director you would earn around 200,000 for a blockbuster movie.