This teaching guide is designed to complement the 20-minute video, Think Smart.  Click here to request the video.  Please note that video supplies are limited and may no longer be available.

A night at the movies is one of the great American pastimes.  We line up at the box office, get a large tub of popcorn and a cold drink, and if it’s a particularly exciting feature, maybe a box of candy.  After finding a good seat and watching the coming attractions and enticing ads, it’s time to settle back and be entertained for a couple of hours.

Once the lights go down and the movie starts, we’re through with the decision-making process for awhile.  After all, we had to choose which movie to see, which time was best, what snacks to consume and where to sit.  But the film flickering up there on the screen represents a whole world of decisions foreign to most of us.

Creating a motion picture or a similar project like a video, documentary or commercial starts with the idea.  What does the filmmaker want to say?  What emotions will he or she convey?  Will the film be dramatic or funny? Realistic or fantastic? Take place in the past, present or future?

After the intangible elements are chosen, the practical side has to be considered, starting with the bottom line: how much is this going to cost?  The size and type of the project will be the main considerations.  Is it a feature-length film or a 30-second commercial shot on videotape?  The talent can be a cast of one or thousands - how much money will that require?  Will the film be shot indoors in a studio or outside on location?  The list of variables can be lengthy.  Will the budget support the vision? 

Mechanics of Making a Dream
A film subject can be events from any time period; people - from an individual to a family to a large group; a portrayal of social conditions, the influence of an idea or philosophy or just a mood.  The events can be fictional or based on a real occurrence - or even a mix of the two.  The subject can be treated any number of ways - the style can be romantic, analytical, subjective or objective.  It may be realistic, fantastic, serious or humorous or an interpretation of the filmmaker’s viewpoint.

While some motion-picture stories are original, written specifically for the film, others are adapted from stage and television plays or series, novels, short stories, biographies and other published materials.  A movie studio or filmmaker buys the right to adapt or use these sources for the screen.  Some studios even use scouts or readers to search for stories that might be used as a basis for a movie.  The hunt for new scripts and ideas can be intense, considering the number of feature films, television movies, original cable network movies and direct-to-video productions that are made each year.

Taking a story through the process of adaptation for a script is usually done by a screenwriter or group of screenwriters.  Watch the credits at the end of the next movie you see - several people can be acknowledged in a number of ways - “written by,” “from an original story by,” “additional dialogue by,” etc.  As with many parts of the creative process, sometimes there are disagreements.  More than once a movie has made it to the screen only to have the writer see his or her name pulled from the project over “creative differences.”

There are also the daring few who don’t use a script but improvise as they go–usually an independent filmmaker who has a lot less of a large studio’s money to consider.  Check out the 1999 surprise hit, “The Blair Witch Project.”  The filmmakers left their cast alone out in the woods with a camera and some story guidelines.  Most of the action was spontaneous.  The budget was tiny compared to many mainline studio productions, so the box office profit was considerable.   

Calling the Shots
Some of the best-known names in movie making have been and are the directors.  An individual who puts a strong personal stamp on his/her films can become identified with a particular genre or type of movie. A prime example is Alfred Hitchcock, whose suspenseful films with unusual camera angles have been emulated and imitated for many years.

Traditionally, directors have almost total control of the production of a film, from translating the material in the script, deciding the shots to use, getting the desired performance from the actors involved and overseeing the final “cut.”  Some directors also write their own scripts, making the finished film even more their personal vision.  (A well-known recent example is the huge hit, “Titanic,” written primarily by director James Cameron.)

The director must be able to envision the film as a finished whole, and must be able to make the sometimes-tough decisions needed to achieve that goal.  He/she’s the person who’s going to get a lot of credit if the movie is a hit and a lot of the blame if it goes down in flames at the box office.  And if the project is financed by a studio or group of investors, the director usually will have to answer for cost overruns.

With a film for television or theatrical release averaging 90 minutes to 2 hours and with film using 24 frames per second, a major cost can be the film stock and processing.  A director has to aim for a shooting ratio that will give him/her enough choices in the editing room to make the desired film, and at the same time, keep costs under control.  Shooting ratios can average as much as 35:1 (35 feet of film shot for each foot used in the movie).

Much of the film used is to “cover” a scene or shoot from several different angles.  The next time you’re watching a movie, notice how many different angles are used in one scene.  What looks like a simple scene with two actors can involve a wide shot with both characters in the frame, a close-up of one actor, a close-up of the other actor, an over-the-shoulder shot of the first actor, the same for the other actor and so on.  Which angles will appear in the movie is a decision the director and the film editor will make in the cutting room.  (This leads many actors to complain that their best work ended up on the floor there.)

The director and the editor will make a rough cut of the movie to see how it looks as a whole.   This version usually doesn’t have sound or visual effects or a sound track but is a work in progress.  During this process, a director can change the order of scenes to help the flow of the movie, or even delete whole scenes that just don’t work as planned.   The final product, with effects and music added, can differ a little or a lot from the shooting script.

Although the director exercises a lot of control over the look and content of a film, he/she may have to bow to some pressure to make a movie more for commercial success than artistic acclaim.  Take a look around a video store and you’ll often see a movie reissued as the “director’s cut.”  The director most likely had this film in mind before other considerations came into play.  If too many of a director's films don’t make money, he/she may wind up unemployed.  The marriage of esthetic ideals and financial considerations can be a rocky relationship at times.

So the next time you’re leaning back, popcorn and soda in hand, watching the story unfold on the screen, have a little more appreciation for all of the decisions that had to made for that epic to appear.  Notice the names on the credits, the angles and shots the director chose, the realistic or fantastical or romantic or funny feel of the movie.  But mainly enjoy -- that’s the reason all those decisions were made in the first place.

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Last Updated: 02/16/03
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