Film director: Difference between revisions

[[File:Badham Palance 1974.jpg|thumb|Film director]]

 

A '''film director''' controls a [[film]]'s artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the [[screenplay]] (or script) while guiding the [[film crew]] and [[actor]]s in the fulfilment of that [[Goal|vision]]. The director has a key role in choosing the [[Casting (performing arts)|cast members]], production design and all the creative aspects of [[filmmaking]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://careertrend.com/average-film-director-salary-per-movie-7732.html|title=The Average Film Director Salary Per Movie|last=Bean-Mellinger|first=Barbara|date=December 27, 2018|website=Career Trend|publisher=[[Leaf Group]]|access-date=February 28, 2019}}</ref> Under [[European Union law]], the director is viewed as the [[auteur|author]] of the film.<ref name="Kamina2002">{{cite book|author=Pascal Kamina|title=Film Copyright in the European Union|url=https://archive.org/details/filmcopyrightine0000kami|url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-43338-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/filmcopyrightine0000kami/page/153 153]}}</ref>

There are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as [[screenwriter]]s, [[cinematographer]]s, [[Film producer|producers]], [[Film editing|film editors]] or actors. Other film directors have attended a film school. Directors use different approaches. Some [[Outline (list)|outline]] a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue, while others control every aspect and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners. Some directors edit or appear in their films or compose the music score for their films.<ref name="career">{{cite web|title=TV or film director|url=https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/job-profiles/tv-or-film-director|website=National Careers Service|publisher=British Government|access-date=May 10, 2017|location=[[United Kingdom]]|date=April 2017}}</ref>

Because the film director depends on the successful cooperation of many different creative individuals with possibly strongly contradicting artistic ideals and visions, he or she also needs to possess conflict-resolution skills to mediate whenever necessary.<ref>{{cite news |title=I Want Your Job: Film Director |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/getting-job/i-want-your-job-film-director-480500.html|access-date=March 3, 2013 | location=London |work=The Independent |first=Alex |last=McRae |date=June 1, 2006|quote=You have to be a diplomat. You have to marshal a whole load of creative people, who often don't get on with each other, and your job is to stop things turning into a bun-fight.}}</ref> Thus the director ensures that all individuals involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film.<ref name="Studentpulse"/> The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as "a multi-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with egos and weather thrown in for good measure".<ref name="Directors UK">{{cite web|title=What is a Director?|url=http://www.directors.uk.com/about-us/what-director|last=Thomas|first=Delyth|website=[[Directors UK]]|access-date=March 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117082526/http://www.directors.uk.com/about-us/what-director|archive-date=2013-01-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when and how they will work again, if at all.<ref>{{cite web|title=Producers and Directors:Occupational Outlook Handbook|url=http://www.bls.gov/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/producers-and-directors.htm|website=U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics|access-date=March 3, 2013|quote=directors work under a lot of pressure, and most are under constant stress to find their next job.}}</ref>

Directors also play an important role in [[post-production]]. While the film is still in production, the director sends "[[dailies]]" to the [[Film editing|film editor]] and explains his or her overall vision for the film, allowing the editor to assemble an [[editor's cut]]. In post-production, the director works with the editor to edit the material into the [[director's cut]]. Well-established directors have the "[[final cut privilege]]", meaning that they have the final say on which edit of the film is released. For other directors, the studio can order further edits without the director's permission.

Under [[European Union]] law, the film director is considered the "author" or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of [[auteur|auteur theory]].<ref name="Kamina2002"/> Auteur theory is a [[film criticism]] concept that holds that a film director's [[film]] reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the [[French language|French]] word for "author").<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/auteur-theory|title=Auteur theory {{!}} Definition & Directors|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-02-08|language=en}}</ref> In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the auteur's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through studio interference and the collective process.

{{Also|List of female film and television directors}}

According to a 2018 report from [[UNESCO]], the film industry throughout the world has a disproportionately higher number of male directors compared to female directors, and they provide as an example the fact that only 20% of films in Europe are directed by a woman.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.unesco.org/creativity/news/mind-gap-gender-equality-film-industry |title=Mind the Gap: gender equality in the film industry |website=[[UNESCO]] |date=25 February 2019 |access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> 44% of graduates from a sample of European films schools are women, and yet only 24% of working film directors in Europe are women.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002605/260592e.pdf |title=Re-Shaping Cultural Policies |last=Joseph |first=Ammu |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |date=2017 |chapter=Gender Equality: Missing in Action |isbn=978-92-3-100256-4 |page=191 |access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> In Hollywood, women make up only 12.6 percent of film directors, as reported by a [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] study of the 200 top theatrical films of 2017,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/UCLA-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2019-2-21-2019.pdf |title=Hollywood Diversity Report 2019 |website=[[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] |last1=Hunt |first1=Darnell |last2=Ramón |first2=Ana-Christina |last3=Tran |first3=Michael|date=2019 |page=3 |access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> but that number is a significant increase from 6.9% in 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/UCLA-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2019-2-21-2019.pdf |title=Hollywood Diversity Report 2019 |website=[[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] |last1=Hunt |first1=Darnell |last2=Ramón |first2=Ana-Christina |last3=Tran |first3=Michael|date=2019 |page=29 |access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> As of 2014, there were only 20 women in the [[Directors Guild of Japan]] out of the 550 total members.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/japans-female-directors-making-mark-692070 |title=Japan's Female Directors Making Their Mark in Patriarchal Industry |last=Blair |first=Gavin |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=1 April 2014 |access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> [[Bollywood]] film directors are also greatly underrepresented by women, even compared to other countries, but there has been a recent trend of more attention to women directors in India, brought on partly by [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] and [[Netflix]] moving into the industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-female-filmmakers-are-transforming-indian-cinema-1006036 |title=How Female Filmmakers Are Transforming Indian Cinema |last=Bhushan |first=Nyay |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=21 May 2017 |access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> Of the movies produced in [[Nollywood]], women direct only 2%.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nollymania.com/nollywood-movies-directed-by-women/ |title=The Remarkable Triumph of Female Nollywood Directors |author=Christina |website=Nollywood Mania |date=13 February 2019 |access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref>