David Fincher – An Observation – Finding the Meaning Behind the Movement

One thing you have to admire about David Fincher’s directing style is his constant dedication to finding the meaning behind everything that is seen or heard on screen. It is why, as I talked about in my last Fincher Observation post, he so thoroughly explores his scenes. Fincher wants to talk about every little detail of his films with all the key crew he works with. Everything needs to have a reason behind it. The acting,  props, visual effects, composition, lighting, sound, and cutting all are in efforts for something greater.

For the movie The Social Network Fincher held a three week rehearsal session with some of his key actors and his screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. You would think there would be a lot of staging and going over lines in a rehearsal, not the case with Fincher. Andrew Garfield (key actor in The Social Network) said they only read over each scene once, the rest of the time was spent going into depth on what they thought of the story. Fincher debated with Aaron and the actors about every key movement and every key piece of dialogue.  Because the movie was so heavy in dialogue, the actors needed to know why they were saying what they were saying. Fincher said The Social Network was just as much about the reactions as it was about what was verbally being said. Fincher wanted to have a clear idea of what the characters thought of each other and how the dialogue and movement would enforce the meaning behind those things.

Jesse Eisenberg, the star of The Social Network, talked about his first meeting with David Fincher. He said he was extremely nervous about meeting Fincher so he memorized about half the script in just a few days. He arrived to his meeting only to find out Fincher didn’t want to hear anything he had memorized. What Fincher wanted to talk about was what Jesse thought of his character and the overall story. They spent four hours just talking about the arc and qualities they saw in Jesse’ character and how they could best express those things visually on screen.

One key documentary to watch in order to observe David Fincher’s directing process would be the one and a half hour documentary on the making of The Social Network (here are the links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4). There are many people who do not understand why Fincher’s production time is so much longer then normal directors and why he makes his actors go about even the smallest of scenes several dozens times before moving on. One thing to realize is Fincher has a very precise idea of what he wants and thus he will work his actors and the rest of his crew until he gets it. Everything has a purpose for Fincher thus everything is scrutinized by him.

David once compared directing to painting. However, rather then being able to hold the brush and paint on the canvas himself he needs to rely on his crew to do the actual painting. He said to imagine the canvas as the size of a football field. Then he said to imagine the crew holding the brush while he stood several dozen yards away shouting out extremely specific directions. It is a long tedious process, but if done correctly he and the crew will create something that will last much longer then any one of them.

It is important for us all to know why we want to see what we want to see on screen. There are directors out there who are very talented in many areas of film. They know how to create excitement through camera moves and cutting. They know how to use special effects in order to give the audience an immediate thrill. However the excitement and thrill goes away quickly and the audience usually goes away unsatisfied because the directors had no meaning behind what they were showing on screen.

Fincher’s goal is not to make us feel happy all the way through the film. He doesn’t even like giving us happy endings in his films. In Fincher’s films there seems to be something that goes beyond the immediate  feeling of happy or sad. His films often have characters that provoke thought. His camera movements and special effects are often subtle but have a purpose. The relentless conversation and debate he has with his film crew is in order for him to figure out what the overall meaning of his film will be. As a director Fincher needs to know exactly what he wants so he can clearly express to his crew how they should handle the brush. His goal is to create something with meaning, which makes us think, and encourages us to come back again.

(Here is a link to my other Fincher Observation posts. 1.Exploring the Scene 3. A Cynical Man 4. The “B” Movies)

Danny Boyle – An Observation – Confidence

Danny Boyle said something about his way of filmmaking that I originally thought was lame. He told a interviewer that he NEVER goes away from the script. He said his greatest job as the director is to serve the script. I originally felt Boyle was limiting himself by saying this. I was thinking he probably was losing out on a lot of opportunities because he was so one track minded. What if in the middle of shooting he or one of the crew members came up with a revolutionary idea that would make that scene turn out ten times better? What if he felt after a while the script wasn’t funny enough? What if the script didn’t have enough drama or contrast between the characters? Bottom line I thought, what if the script was simply not good enough?

After looking into Danny Boyle a little bit more I found out he has always been a big part of the script development process. In all his movies he has pushed the writer to go as far as possible. Boyle’s philosophy is to make sure the problems are taken care of before the production begins. Boyle’s main concern however is remembering how the script first influenced him. While shooting Boyle tries to remember the way he first felt when reading the script. The script is the reason he is doing the project, because of this his main obligation is to recapture the same feeling he had when first reading the material. This to me made sense. Boyle knows his job as a director is not to be the dictator to what happens in the story. His job is to figure out the story and be the guide to how it is visually told.

But what if they figure out a way to make the scene better? What if they come up with a much cooler idea on any given day of shooting? Even though a idea might be cooler or more revolutionary for that day, it doesn’t always mean it is better for the story as a whole. A script does not consists of many individual scenes that just happen to be combined into the same script. A script is about how each scene connects to each other. The script is not emotionally impacted by the days shoot, it is the only thing that sees the complete story. Directors can easily get caught up in the moment while shooting and forget about the overall arc of the story. Following the script solves this problem.

There is also the second guessing that always comes into play. After watching something again and again, take after take, it starts to not be as stimulating as it once was. There is only a curtain amount of times you can listen to a joke before it stops being funny. This is just another crucial reason to have confidence in the original material. It is key to remember that you committed to the project because it stimulated you. The script is not influenced by the ware and tear of the production process.

If you have a tight budget, sticking to the script will help stop you from using unnecessary money. Boyle said, “Money can go a long way by being disciplined”. Boyle is one of the most disciplined directors in the business because of the confidence he has for the script. Danny is known for making low budget movies go a long way. Boyle’s movie Slumdog Millionaire had a production budget of 15 million dollars and earned over 377 million dollars in the box office worldwide.

I still do not think it is a bad thing to go away from the script at times. Sometimes you do see things that aren’t possible to see while writing. The acting, the locations, and the crew all influence the way you shoot. However, when filming the director needs to never forget about the underlined reason he committed to the project. The dedication needs to be about bringing the script to life. There are many ways to do this and it is all up to the director to figure out what way is best. Boyle has a very unique way he looks at a script. The life he brings into a film through the way he directs is simply amazing. The life we see all comes from the confidence Boyle has in the story he is telling.

DP/30 Slumdog Millionaire Director and Writer

If you look to the right in the Blogroll section you will see I have a link to Movie City News’  DP/30 section. The DP/30 section of Movie City News consists of dozens of thirty minute interviews of some of the top filmmakers in Hollywood. I ran across a especially insightful interview of  the director and writer of the award winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. The director is Danny Boyle, someone who I have just began to study. I hope to have some papers up on him soon. The writer is Simon Beaufoy, a critically acclaimed screenwriter who won an academy award for his screenplay of Slumdog Millionaire. You do not see interviews much better then this one. These filmmakers are very upfront about their philosophy on filmmaking and they give us some very good information about the film industry and their personal process. I especially liked hearing what Danny and Simon thought of going to India to film the movie and the energy that they felt they caught. They talk about how filming in India changed their entire way of looking and filmmaking. We also see the passion Danny has for filmmaking and we hear about the trust he puts into the screenplay. Slumdog Millionaire had a great partnership between writer and director which resulted in a incredible movie. I hope you enjoy and find this interview as informative and as enjoyable as I did.

Clint Eastwood – An Observation – King of the Atmosphere

It is amazing the kind of atmosphere Eastwood is able create on set. There have been many actors who describe it as being like going into a Church, where everyone is focused and you hardly hear anyone speak above a whisper. Eastwood has been described as a man with a very even temper. He has said in many interviews that as a director he has the job to set a tone, if he can’t stick to that tone he can’t expect anyone else too.

When you visit a Clint Eastwood set you don’t really hear a lot of talking or commotion. You don’t hear anyone on a amplifier, you don’t hear someone screaming “ACTION”, in fact you sometimes don’t hear someone say “action” at all. The way Eastwood directs is very laid back. He wants to create a atmosphere where everyone could be in the mindset that allows for the best performance.

Eastwood believes that using a amplifier or screaming “action” takes actors out of the characters they are trying to portray. Eastwood has explained that he wants to be the last person to stop the actor from concentrating on the performance at hand. Instead of screaming “action”, Eastwood speaks gently when he wants his actors to go into motion sometimes just saying “commence”, or if he wants to lighten the mood he has fun with it by saying something like “actioni”. Because Eastwood wants to get the most out of his actors he sometimes leaves it to them to start a scene by just telling them “any time”. Eastwood has talks with the man holding the clapper board for his movies, making sure they know how to snap it in a subtle way that won’t distract anyone from what they are doing.

To maintain the atmosphere for Eastwood’s old western Unforgiven, Eastwood did not allow any motor vehicles on set. He also had the set built on location in Alberta Canada.  There is something to actually being on location that Eastwood likes. For Unforgiven Clint wanted it to feel for a brief moment as if the whole crew went back in time. He believes that if the location feels real to the actors they will act like it is real when on camera.

Eastwood has been described as a person who takes his work seriously but doesn’t feel the need to always take himself seriously. He is willing to make fun of himself and crack a joke to lighten the mood. Just because some of his films cover dark elements, does not mean the crew needs to be bogged down by the darkness. There is a light atmosphere on a Clint Eastwood set, everyone is there to make a good movie but also to have a good time. The reason why Eastwood still makes movies in his eighties is because he has fun doing it. There is nowhere else he would rather be.

One of the greatest things Eastwood brings to the table is trust. He does not feel the need to have all the answers. Eastwood is able to put trust in the crew. One of the reasons Eastwood  trusts the crew so much is because he has worked with most of them for most of his directing career.  Tom Stern, now Eastwood’s cinematographer, and Joel Cox, Eastwood’s editor, have worked with Eastwood sense 1977 (Eastwood began directing in 1972). It is a testament to Eastwood that so many crew members come back film after film. I believe it is because the crew feels like they are recognized for the talents they have.

A good atmosphere on set is one of the most crucial things to have if you want to make good films and have a long lustrous career. Because of the consistent tone Eastwood has established on his sets the actors and crew have developed a great trust in  him as a director. Everyone knows Eastwood only expects out of them what he expects out of himself. Everyone is willing to go out on a limb for each other’ because everyone has each others backs. They are all there in support of the story.

A place where you are not easily distracted from the task at hand. A place that lets you easily fall into the role and time period you are portraying. A place where you feel you can have a good time. A place where you feel like your leader trusts you and you trust your leader. All this is needed in order to create a great atmosphere. A great atmosphere on set takes a great deal of humanity from everyone involved, especially the leader. I personally don’t think you can get much better then Clint Eastwood. Eastwood’s great atmosphere is the reason why he and his team keep on making one great movie after the next.

Taxi Driver-Extra Features Review

Taxi Driver:

Collectors Edition 2-disc DVD Review:

Martin Scorsese On Taxi Driver: 8.5 out of 10: This is a very good 16 minute interview with Martin Scorsese. He explains his feelings on the project as best as possible. Martin talks about why he wanted to direct Taxi Driver and what he got out of it. He also goes into detail on what influenced him. Martin names several directors, from Francesco Ross all the way to Alfred Hitchcock, as being strong influences for Taxi Driver. This feature is not about how Martin approached each shot or how he got the film accomplished. The feature does have a tremendous amount of information of what Taxi Driver meant to Scorsese. I think it is good that this interview is taped many years after the making of the film. He seems to have had time to think about the reasons to why he did Taxi Driver and why it was a success.

Producing Taxi Driver: 7.5 out of 10: A good 10 minute look at how the Taxi Driver film was started. You hear mostly from producer Michael Phillips on what the movie meant to him. We are told that the movie was very controversial but sadly do not hear of much detail to why. We also see why some of the filmmakers were attracted to the film. There is a nice little look at the new generation of filmmakers that were coming up from the 1960’s and 70’s.

God’s Lonely Man: 9.5 out of 10: This is a great 25 minute documentary on the origins of the Taxi Driver film. We go into the life of the screenwriter Paul Schrader and see how the film was created from his own personal experiences. He talks about the foundations of the main character Travis why he was appealing to him. Paul gives us a lot of insight to what the philosophy is behind the screenplay. He talks in detail about what he thinks the job of a screenwriter is and what it is not. This documentary is a must for anyone studying screenwriting. The documentary helps us understand Taxi Driver in a much deeper way.

Influence and Appreciation: Martin Scorsese Tribute: 8 out of 10: This is a great 18 minute documentary on Martin Scorsese. It talks a little about how he got associated with Taxi Driver. They talk about him as being a student of film who always had a independence and exhilarating energy for filmmaking. We hear a lot about the kind of influence Martin was on the rest of the Taxi Driver crew. It is a documentary about why Martin is such a good director, only concentrating on the making of Taxi Driver and before. I wish they used the Taxi Driver as an example more often. I wish they went into more specific examples of how Martin’s shooting was revolutionary for his time. All in all a very good documentary. It was very well told and I liked hearing about the revolution in the 70’s for Hollywood filmmaking.

Taxi Driver Stories: 7 out of 10: A interesting look at a few New York taxi drivers. They talk about what taxi driving is all about for them. We hear how the business has changed from the 70’s to the present times. They explain what drew them to the job and some of them explain why they chose to leave the profession. It is a 20 minute documentary on some unique peoples lives as taxi drivers. Does not really have anything to do with the making of the actual film Taxi Driver.

Making Taxi Driver: 8 out of 10: This is a well made 1 hour and 10 minute documentary on all the stages of making Taxi Driver. All the way through the documentary we hear about the philosophy behind the film and how it resonated with the cast and crew. Many people talk about their role in the film and specifically how Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, and Robert De Niro pushed the film to be the classic it is today. Jodie Foster has some good things to say about her role as a 12 year old prostitute. She talks about what both Martin and Robert did to take her acting to a whole new level. Paul brings us a lot of insight into the meaning behind the movie. I would have liked to hear from Martin a little bit more. They never really get into much detail about the conflict that came with the film. I did enjoy hearing about Robert De Niro’s contribution to the film and what his attitude was as an actor back then. A good all a round look at the film making process.

Travis: New York: 5 out of 10: This was a okay look at New York in the 1970’s and how it has changed to present times. The documentary was very short however and not nearly enough of an explanation was given on how Now York has changed. We are told by some high up officials that the City has changed from back then to now. But, we don’t hear how it has changed or much of why. We are told that the City is Rich, but never are given a explanation. We also are not told why New York City is the place of opportunity, even though there are some interviews who say it is.

Story-Boards by Martin Scorsese: 8.5 out of 10: This is a fantastic 4 minute explanation by Martin about the beauty of storyboards. I really enjoyed it and think he explains well the general benefit of self made storyboards. We are given good explanation to how the storyboards help both him and his cinematographer understand how to go about shooting the film.

Commentary: By Professor Robert Kolker: 8.5 out of 10: Professor Kolker seems to have done his research on Martin Scorsese and Taxi Driver in this commentary. He makes us understand to a much higher degree why Taxi Driver is considered by many to be a great piece of Cinema. He goes into detail on how Martin uses the camera to push the story and it’s meaning forward. He talks about Travis and explains his view on many of his scenes for us. Sometimes it feels like he is trying to put meaning into things that never had any. But, for the most part we dissect the Taxi Driver movie and see a lot of the fine details that make the film great.

Commentary: By Screenwriter Paul Schrader: 7.5 out of 10: I have some mixed feelings about this commentary. First off, Paul does a good job giving us his unique and valuable perspective on the film. He mostly sticks to his thoughts on the script. One of the frustrating things was the long gaps without him saying a word. It really felt like he was only talking half the time or less. There were several scenes I very badly wanted him to talk about that he just skipped over. He does a good job when he does talk. Paul is very honest. He tells us what he thinks a screenwriters job is and what he thinks is not a screenwriters job. He has experience with both directing and writing, so his comments on what the directors job is and what the screenwriters job is, are very valuable. Overall I did get some valuable information from him, but wish he talked and discussed much more then he did.

From these extra features I think we get a very good view on the making and importance of the Taxi Driver. We hear a fair amount from all the major people who took part in the making of Taxi Driver. For me it was a great introduction to Martin Scorsese. I was able to see some of his passion for film. I was also able to see what got him started in the film business and how his philosophy started to change the rest of Hollywood. Paul Schrader and Robert De Niro were also interesting people to look into. Paul Schrader’s screenplay really was something else. This is just as much Paul’s movie as anyone else’s. I respected the trust that Paul seemed to have with Martin, it is a good look at how a screenwriter and director should work together. These extra features explain very well the reasons to why Taxi Driver is considered one of the greatest films ever made. It also inspires the independent artist to make his own film, no matter how gutsy the story is.