The role of the director during pre-production

Pre-production is the most important time for any director because that’s where we go through a “discovery process.” Here is an overview of what is expected of a director during pre-production. Keep in mind that all of these pre-production activities will vary in time and importance depending on whether you’re shooting film or television.

(1) exploration rental

Location scouting is one of the first things you’ll do in the pre-production stage of filmmaking. Once you have decided what kind of look you need for the film, a search for suitable locations begins.

Who participates in the location search: director, location manager, first assistant director, producer, production manager or production unit manager, production designer or art director, transport captain or driver

(2) The budget

During script development, filmmakers work out a rough budget to convince film producers and studios to give them the green light for production. During pre-production, a more detailed film budget is drawn up. This document is used to secure funding.

A budget is usually divided into four sections: above the line (creative talent), below the line (direct production costs), post production (editing, visual effects, etc.), and other (insurance, completion bonus, etc.). etc.).

The Director must also understand the budget. He should know where he can make suggestions about what to remove and what to add.

(3) cast

When a director first begins preparation, he reads the script several times to get an idea of ​​what the story is about and who the characters are. Then you have a meeting with the Producers and the Casting Director to discuss their ideas about the characters.

This is an important meeting for the Director, because it is where he finds out what the Producers think and if they are on the right track.

After the meeting, the Casting Director draws up a list of actors that fit the specific character traits and appearances discussed in the meeting with the Producer(s).

The casting director then has his own casting session where he records a “short list” of actors for the director and producers to see.

A director never has enough time to work with actors in a casting session, so here are the 3 most important qualities you look for when auditioning actors:

1. Do they look good?

2. Do they have reach?

3. Can they take directions?

(4) Meetings, Meetings and More Meetings

The Director will have many meetings during pre-production. These meetings are scheduled by the AD Department and range from script meetings and concept meetings with the producers to individual department head meetings.

The director must have the following meetings:

– concept meeting with producers/location director/art director

– script meeting with producers and writer

– casting meeting with producers and casting director

– Meetings of Director and 1st Assistant Director

– suits

-accessories

– set dec

– special effects

– stunts

– additional cast

– transportation

– animals

– visual effects

– Production meetings.

(5) Script and scene analysis

Because a director is a storyteller, he must understand every detail of the story he is telling. Understanding the story requires a lot of work on the part of the director because he needs to take the script apart scene by scene to know what it is about, what works and what doesn’t.

First impressions of a director are vital when beginning the script reading process. He should consider your emotional reaction to the story and what images the story stimulates in you. What you “feel” is really what counts, because it is your emotional response to something that defines it as a “Truth”.

To understand the script, a Director needs to operate in the underworld of the characters. Therefore, one of the main purposes of script analysis for a Director is to find out who the characters are and what happens to them.

(6) Character Analysis

After reading the script and taking notes on the script’s structure and scene analysis, the director must determine the goals of the characters. You do this by understanding the characters’ backgrounds, goals, and dialogue.

You want to know the answers to these questions:

– who is the MAIN CHARACTER (involved in the question)

– what is the SPINE OF CHARACTER (motivation/goal/action)

– what is the SUPER-OBJECTIVE (the main needs of the character)

– what is the OBJECTIVE (what the character wants / active choices)

– what is CONFLICT (internal/relational/social/situational/cosmic)

– what are the THREE DIMENSIONS (think/do/feel)

(7) Creation of the Visual Concept of the Show

A director’s visual concept is how you create the structure of the picture and the style of the film: it’s the “visual stamp” or look you put on the picture.

Some examples of visual styles are:

1. Decide what the audience is going to see (and not see) by deciding where to place the camera.

2. What is the pace and mood of the story? (Fast or slow, dark and moody or light and fun?)

3. What is the rhythm of the story – one scene – one act? (Each scene should have ups and downs.)

4. What is the color of the story? Colors can be used to express feelings and emotions and represent certain qualities of a character that can affect sets and costumes.

5. What is the main image to take the audience into this new world?

(8) Staging and Underworld

The French term mise-en-scène comes from the stage and literally means “to stage”. When applied to film, mise-en-scène refers to everything that appears before the camera: sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting. Mise-en-scène also includes the positioning and movement of the actors on the set, which is called blocking.

The underworld of a film is all the feelings and sensations that a Director creates to arouse certain emotions in the audience. To do this, the director directs the story “underneath” the main story by developing actions, events, and incidents that portray the deeper meaning of the story and the subtext of the characters.

– research any sources that help you (dive in)

– What do you want the audience to know or experience?

– what is the story under the story

– what generates the action for a character

(9) Shot lists and storyboards

A shot list is a description of all the camera angles in a scene and can include shot size, camera movement, character movement, coverage, and cuts.

In the movie business, there is no standard format to follow when preparing a shot list. It varies from director to director. Many directors don’t do shot lists, unlike many TV commercial directors who need to work with shot lists and storyboards.

Shot lists are very helpful because they can help guide you through the lockout process. But the thing to remember is this: A shot list is like a road map: It gives you a path to your destination, but you don’t always have to follow it.

Storyboards are a series of images displayed in a sequence for the purpose of previewing certain scenes in a movie. Some directors will want to storyboard the entire movie, but most storyboards are used for complicated action scenes and visual effects sequences.

(10) Full script reading and cast rehearsals

For any director, spending time with the actors before shooting is an absolute must. The full script reading is when the director and cast discuss the script and its characters. This usually happens in a hotel room where the available cast, director, writers, and producers sit around a table and read the script.

This full read is the first opportunity where everyone can come together to begin the process of working on the script. If the entire cast cannot be present, two other actors (one male and one female) may be brought in to read the other parts. Or, depending on your budget, the producers will also read the other parts.

After the full read, the director will want to rehearse certain scenes based on the specific needs of the director and actors. This is so they can work out character and story issues in private before standing on a set with 100 crew members watching.

Most of these cast rehearsals take place in hotel meeting rooms, but many times they can take place on actual sets or actual locations that will be used in the film.