Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Harmonia (A) on July 06, 2006 at 14:31:44

In Reply to: And once a film becomes that large posted by Revolver66 on July 5, 2006 at 14:51:14:

There are directors (even indy ones) who exert quite a bit of influence over their big budget, commercial movies, even FX domianted projects: Del Toro, Cuaron, Soderberg, Singer, Scorsese etc. These folks imprint their personal style even on their "for hire" films.

I think you see this especially where you have a cinematically articulate director with a strong visual style. Even with various departments working on a movie, even with the collaborative narure of filmmaking, strong directors *do* exert a lot of influence over the "look" and feel of the finished film, and as such they directly control how the story is told. These directors have told the DP what they want - angles, lighting etc - they've discussed with the art director in pre-production about what they're going for, same with the costume designer on what they want costuming to convey, they sit in cutting rooms working with the editors. Most directors have input into the script - what about the directors who write or co-write their scripts? Shoot their films? Even do their own special FX? (Rodriguez, Cameron, Lucas)

Some directors have virtually edited their films "in the camera" - they literally see the films in their heads while shooting. Others love to have many options in the cutting room and drive their editors crazy with variations.

OTOH, a hack for hire on a Bruckheimer produced flick - naw, that guy doesn't have as much artistic control.