My day as a film director starts by evaluating the script we are shooting for the day in the morning. I go over my director notes which include my shot list which are specifically the type of shots or camera angles I would like to shoot for each particular scene that day as I cross reference check this with my art storyboard charts that were prepared way in advance before the shoot day.

Next, I review my notes for each actor and the emotions each character has to display or journey in their scene, then I review all this with the Cinematographer to make sure he/she is in agreement with my vision for the day and with my first assistant director to make he/she will make sure we stay on schedule for the day because of so much to cover.

While the cinematographer is having the team set up camera and lights, I review what the hair stylist and makeup artist is doing for the actors as well as say hello to the talent and give any notes only if needed. After that, I would check on what the production designer and art director are doing with respect to decorating the set the way I envisioned the scenery to look like to achieve a certain aesthetic. I also make sure the wardrobe stylist has the correct outfits for the talent for the scene we are filming that day.

When everyone is ready, my assistant director calls the talent to set and starts prepping the entire film crew to get ready, we then start filming the scene, if the actors don’t deliver the right performance, then we stop camera and sound recording I provide my director notes to the actors to help them get to the right state of giving the correct performance both emotionally and physically. We do this until we get the right performance and then change camera angles for the same scene until we have finished all the shots for that scene on the shot list before changing to film a different scene set on the schedule for that day.

Pros

The pros are that I get to breathe my artistic vision into life during the filming process and I get to work with very gifted and talented people in their skill sets as part of the film crew.

Cons

The cons include, actors running behind, actors not knowing their lines therefore we have to do more takes to until the scene is right upon my final approval, equipment failure say for example a light goes out we have to get a replacement, or there is an issue with the camera, unwanted noises such as an airplane flying above and interrupting the sound recording of the voices of the actors so we have to reshoot the entire scene since safety is so important if a crew member gets hurt we have to stop everything to make sure that person is taken care of.

Usually the cons are the unexpected things that occur that we have to deal with immediately to keep the production on track and going to make sure our schedule is complete with respect to the plans we made for the filming process that day.

There are so many moving parts during the filming process that as a director I have to oversee and it can be stressful and fun at the same time. At the end of the day as long as I’m able to tell the story that I want during the filming process, then I am happy.

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