Hi guys,
I currently only know of two directors that don't really rely on storyboards or shot lists: Christopher Nolan and Clint Eastwood. Further Evidence to support this below:
Regarding Nolan:
Regarding Eastwood:
ON THAT NOTE: if Clint doesn't say Action or Cut what does he say??
So In summary both directors visualize how the finished movie will look in their head while on set (with Clint being further open to suggestion) and then work from there. Are there any other directors who do this? Do any of you guys follow this methodology and if so what tips do you have? or do you all prefer to be meticulous with your previsualization?
I currently only know of two directors that don't really rely on storyboards or shot lists: Christopher Nolan and Clint Eastwood. Further Evidence to support this below:
Regarding Nolan:
"In the DVD commentary you mention that you often work without shot list or storyboards. Do you find it difficult to communicate to the crew what your intentions are?
I don’t think I do. No, that’s probably why I don’t tend to use them that much. I use storyboards for action scenes because obviously when you’re dealing with stunts and intricate physical effects you have to be pictorially demonstrating to everybody exactly what it is you’re after. I find beyond that I’m able to communicate to the crew and to the actors what I’m after using words, blocking, and actually being there on the set and showing them what’s going on. To me it’s a slightly more spontaneous way of working for most sequences in the film, particularly one that’s very dependent on the performances than the pyrotechnics. I think that it’s very important to be open to changing the way you shoot the scene depending on what the actors want to do in moving around the scene. The physicality of the scene is very important to the actor. I like to try and give them room to maneuver so that in our rehearsals we can find the best way to play a scene and the best way to photograph it."
--From: http://www.dvdtalk.com/insomniainterview.html
"The editing-driven, somewhat catch-as-catch-can approach to staging and shooting is clearly Nolan’s preference for many projects. He doesn’t prepare shot lists, and he storyboards only the big action sequences. As his DP Wally Pfister remarks, “What I do is not complicated.” Comparing their production method to documentary filming, he adds: “A lot of the spirit of it is: How fast can we shoot this?”"
--From: http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2012/08/19/nolan-vs-nolan/
"Q: Without shot lists or storyboards, how do you keep track of everything?
A: In my head. I've always been able to visualize what I want mentally, and I can lie there at night and cut the film in my head, one shot at a time, all the way through the whole thing. Watching dailies, which everybody used to have to do but now seems to be much more of an option, is an important process for memorizing the material. After memorizing it, you can then cut it in your head as you proceed, and when you get into the edit suite you know exactly where to find things. I can say to my editor, 'You know, we shot a different angle on this' or whatever, and tell him where to find it."
--From: http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1202-Spring-2012/DGA-Interview-Christopher-Nolan.aspx
Regarding Eastwood:
"He has made Clint Movie after Clint Movie, but the Clint Movie is itself defined by what he won't do. He won't go over budget. He won't go over schedule. He won't storyboard. He won't produce a shot list. He won't rehearse. He doesn't say "Action" — "When you say 'Action' even the horses get nervous" — and he doesn't say "Cut." He won't, in the words of his friend Morgan Freeman, "shoot a foot of film until the script is done," and once the script is done, he won't change it."
--From: http://www.esquire.com/features/clint-eastwood-profile-1012#ixzz2O3pjBSiV
ON THAT NOTE: if Clint doesn't say Action or Cut what does he say??
"Eastwood only uses storyboards when special effects are involved, such as on Firefox and Space Cowboys and doesn't prepare shot lists either. Instead, the film is in his head. "You visit the set. You get ideas. You say, 'You know, I could bring the person in there and I could come around there.' You kind of rough it out in your mind," Eastwood explained. "When you come back, a month or so later, to actually be on the set, you might notice the art director's got some nice things that you didn't know he was going to have. If you don't like them, you can move them around. But if you like them, you think it'd be nicer if the actor came in another way. It evolves. It's like clay. If you're locked into something, if it has to be an exact duplicate of the mold that you had in your brain and you can't deviate from it, then you're going to be locked in. Sometimes people aren't comfortable. Or an actor comes up with a splendid idea, which sometimes they do. They say how about if I do this? And I say let's do this one, and after I make sure we have it say, 'OK, that sounds good. Try it.' I'm very sympathetic to actors trying things because that's the way I like to be directed myself.
"You've got a bunch of creative minds on the picture — the art department, wardrobe department — everybody has good ideas. You take those good ideas and it all goes into the pot and it becomes the final. Don Siegel always used to make fun of himself and say, 'God, I don't care who comes up with a suggestion, if it's a good one I'll take credit for it. If it's a lousy one, they can have it back.' He used to joke about it. In essence what he was saying is that there are an awful lot of people who could have input and you might as well not stifle them. Try to encourage them. I know there are some directors I've worked with who say, 'Don't change.' I say, 'OK.' If they want to do that and it works for them, that's fine."
"You've got a bunch of creative minds on the picture — the art department, wardrobe department — everybody has good ideas... there are an awful lot of people who could have input and you might as well not stifle them. Try to encourage them.""
--From: http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/0309-Sept-2003/Clint-Eastwood.aspx
So In summary both directors visualize how the finished movie will look in their head while on set (with Clint being further open to suggestion) and then work from there. Are there any other directors who do this? Do any of you guys follow this methodology and if so what tips do you have? or do you all prefer to be meticulous with your previsualization?