co-direct or not to co-direct

dlevanchuk

dlevanchuk

One of my good actor friends just wrote a short film, that he asked me to help him to shoot it. He also mentioned that he wants to direct it, on which i had no problem with.

but as im getting deeper into preproduction on this short, im slowly
realizing that he might be under the impression that directors job is just to stand next to the camera and say "give me a bit of emotions".

he isnt really familiar with any pre production process as a director (storyboarding, planning shots, lighting etc) NOR post production (basic editing, color grading..)

instead he wants my help, as DoP to guide him through all the processes.

Would you request "Co-Director" credits, on top of DoP and Editor?
short will take about 2 days to film, mostly dialog..
 
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Perhaps it might work to have a conversation with him and let him know - "These are all the things a director typically does. Do you want to do all of these things on your own, or do you want to share the director credit with me and I'll help you through all this stuff?"
 
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Two creative heads can cause problems. A.D. may be more fitting.

Let him do his creative thing. People with no directing experience can surprise you.
 
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It is not always the directors job to storyboard, light, edit, color grade, etc. These jobs often have their own positions (storyboard artist, grip, DoP, editor, color grader, etc.). If you are doing some of these positions, then you can ask for credit for them, but I wouldn't ask for credit as co-director unless you are responsible for the overall feel, pace, and look of the piece.
 
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Thank you for your replies!

maybe I should have specified that this is, as always in my case, small production team, no more than 10 people in cast and crew.

Honestly, I dont really care if I d receive credit or not, and more than happy to share the knowledge for just "thank you" from my friend and make a movie.

Just wanted to know how should I respond on that request during much larger production, so I won't get used and abused lol
 
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Yer, there's no real reason why he should have to, as director, know about much of the technical stuff.

I think you should avoid an AD credit just because none of those jobs would typically fall under the purview of the AD. I assumed you're DOPing which should be credit enough but why not take a Producer credit as well. If you start to feel like you're doing too much of the work then I would broach the co-director issue.
 
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i think that in such small production crew there is only "director", "camera guy", "sound guy", "actors" and then there are "everyone else" because things contantly change in a small team and its extremely short production 2 days.
 
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I co-directed a film, and it was a terrific experience. I chose to take the title of DP, but I did WAY more than a DP would do, and there's no doubt that much of what I was doing would be the job of a director. When it came to choosing between "co-director" or DP, I basically decided that it doesn't matter; we made an awesome film, I built some terrific relationships with some very talented people, and that was all I cared about.

We did it for a 48 Hour Film Project. The way it worked for us, was as follows:

The director/screenwriter was 100% responsible for what was happening in the movie. I was 100% responsible for how to shoot it. I made all decisions regarding where to place the camera, what shots to get, and how many shots we needed, so that I could cut it together. From time to time, I would let him look at my shot, for "approval", but it was sort of just politeness; I was definitely the creative force behind how it was shot.

While actors were going over their lines, the director communicated to me everything that was going to happen in the scene, and what the blocking would be like. And from that, I made a shot-list.

If you're going to do this, communication is key. I mean, that's always true, but I think it's especially true in this scenario. I think you should do it. I had a lot of fun when I did it, and like I already said, it resulted in some great relationships being forged. What credit should you take? Who cares?
 
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You said you're current role is that of a DP?

I would not replace that credit for one of AD or just a thank you. Adding on to it... probably producer/line producer or something like that. If you guys have a talk and can manage to work together, co director would be the obvious choice then.
 
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There's two ways to co-direct.

There's:

Directed by: Bill
Co-directed by: John

Where the director is above the co.

Then there is:

Directed by: Bill and John

Just FYI.
 
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PaulGriffith said:
Producer might be a better title, producers can be involved in preproduction and "hiring" people and setting deadlines for storyboards, etc.
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I vote for this. Clearly the film is going to be more of a learning experience for the new director than a creation of a masterpiece. Hiding behind the producer title lessens the number of fingerpointing at you if the film turns out horrribly wrong.

Good luck.
 
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GuerrillaAngel said:
Hiding behind the producer title lessens the number of fingerpointing at you if the film turns out horrribly wrong.
Click to expand...

haha oh boy.. true Hollywood style :)

thank you for all of your replies everyone!

Im meeting the guy on sunday, to go over some stuff to get him up and going on his role as a director (as much as i could share from my little experience).

i think this project will be similar experience as cracker funk's. kind of vague border line of responsibilities.


oh well, lets put it in the can!! hope he wont be preparing for tooo long :)
 
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Hey that's pretty cool!

I think AD sounds great as well. If he is doing "most" of the actual direction part then he might not jive well with the Co-director thing.

You could also show him the ropes and hey he might really get serious and try film school. You guys could eventually become a well-oiled machine. See how he how he likes the experience of a short film and see where it goes from there.
 
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