It's All About Direction

When a video project fails, there's no one to blame but the director.

That's the bad part.

The good part is that when it succeeds the glory is the director's alone.

We've all seen poorly directed films. They wander aimlessly, camera pointed at nothing in particular, actors sleepwalking through their roles. You find yourself wondering, "Where in the heck were they trying to go?"

It's the director's job to know the answer to that question. If you are unclear about a project's direction, the crew, the actors and the audience will be, too. You'll end up with a sloppy mess no one can sit through.

In the paragraphs that follow we'll explore some basic directing mechanics. The more you know about these, the less time you'll spend worrying about them.

The People

Still, they're your responsibility as director.

Sometimes you get to audition and pick your show's talent. Sometimes circumstances force them on you (a company president wants to be the talent in her marketing video, for example). However they get there, it's your job to make them look and sound as good as possible.

We'll delve into this further when we're on the set.

The archetypal director is a guy in jodhpurs yelling "action" and "cut" through a megaphone. The costume has changed, but the director still uses these phrases. The first couple of times you yell "action" on a set you'll feel goofy, hut it soon becomes second nature.

But the director doesn't just walk onto a set and start barking orders. The steps before the shoot are the most important aspect of directing. Skip them at your peril.