Communication is Key

One of the most important things in filmmaking is communication. Filmmaking is a collaborative art form, one of the few. You have so many different aspects and positions in filmmaking you must be certain that as a director you communicate your vision clearly.

A danger in this thought is not learning to delegate. There is a team of artists behind you that are experts in what they do, so you do not need to tell them every little thing that needs to be done. Communicating your vision clearly is far from telling other department heads exactly what to do. This is an element that takes practice and often times the effectiveness of your communication is not discovered until you reach the edit suite.

I learned this on the current film I am making. There is an amount of freedom that you need to give people who are under you, but that freedom can only be given if you have properly prepared and communicated your ideas to those department heads. Preparation leads me to another point about communication. If you have not done your homework in pre-production you risk the chance of slowing down your production and ultimately not getting what it is you want.

Pre-production is much more than just figuring out how you will be directing the actors but involves creating a shot list, blocking and, what I am finding to be a huge assistance in prep, storyboards. Film is a visual medium and shot lists and overheads of your scenes still leave a lot of interpretation to an individual. If you have an exact mood or emotion that you want to come across in you picture you can't always expect a DP or Art Director, etc. to know exactly what it is you want. This is where storyboards can become a valuable tool. Even a stick drawing can convey an idea if you are not an established artist.

Communication is key and once that line of discussion is cut, your project is doomed. You can't do it alone so don't try, but make sure your team knows what your intentions and ideas are or it is not much different that trying to do things alone.