Here is a practical, comprehensive film directing manual. It will prepare you like no other for the methods, thought processes, feelings, and judgments that a director must use throughout the fascinating experience of creating a film. By talking to you directly and respectfully as a colleague, and by offering hands-on projects as learning tools, it recognizes that you learn best from doing. Making films that speak with your own voice and identity will engage your head, your hands, and your heart, and enhance every aspect of your waking life. Film makes extreme demands on its makers so this book makes an ideal companion for the self-taught or for anyone going to film school. There, coursework of necessity focuses on surmounting technological hurdles, and courses will always leave significant gaps in the conceptual and authorial side of filmmaking. These the student must bridge alone. Commonly he or she can get no clear sight of the pathway from beginning to end of the artistic process, and find nobody to give help at moments when it’s most needed. This book makes accessible the context, explanations, and mentorship that everyone needs
[...]... assistance; my son Paul Rabiger of Cologne, Germany for our regular phone discussions and his advice on music for film; to my daughters Joanna Rabiger of Austin, Texas and Penelope Rabiger of Jerusalem for our far-ranging conversations on film, education, and so much else Over four decades their mother Sigrid Rabiger has also influenced my beliefs through her writings and practice in art therapy and education Lastly,... only in a new print projected in a well-equipped, well-run film theater—most being neither Film s advantages are moot unless writing, acting, and staging are of a very high order Directing methods are identical, and only the scale of operations and path to completion are different Thirty-five-millimeter film is special and wonderful, but the digitizing, editing, and matchback processes (in which digital... Art, Identity, and Competitiveness Identity, Belief, and Vision Find Your Life Issues Subjects to Avoid Displace and Transform Projects Project 2-1 : The Self-Inventory Project 2-2 : Alter Egos 16 16 18 19 22 22 23 23 24 2 Project 2-3 : Using Dreams to Find Your Preoccupation The Artistic Process How Writers Work ARTISTIC IDENTITY AND DRAMA 24 25 25 CHAPTER 3 DRAMATURGY ESSENTIALS 27 Duality and Conflict... negative) are expensive and complex for the beginner, and are prone to ghastly and irreversible mistakes Let’s look at ground zero, where everyone starts Shooting fiction on DV or HD video saves 20 to 35 percent of the time, and slashes to near zero the huge budget mandated by film and its laboratory costs Video lets the filmmakerin-training shoot ample coverage and edit to the highest standards without regard... become obsolete; and possessed of endless tenacity when searching out great ideas and performances The better directors are able to be articulate and succinct in communication; make instinctive judgments and decisions; get the best out of people without being dictatorial; speak on terms of respectful equality with a range of specialists; and understand technicians’ problems and co-opt their best efforts... therapy and education Lastly, my deep appreciation to my wife and closest friend Nancy Mattei, who puts up with the solitary and obsessive behavior by which books get written, and whose humor, values, and advice keep me upright and keep me going With all this help, the errors are truly mine Michael Rabiger, Chicago, 2007 PA R T 1 ARTISTIC IDENTITY AND DRAMA Part 1 (Chapters 1 through 3) deals with the film... OF THE FILM DIRECTOR CINEMA ART AND YOU Cinema is the great art form of our time It provides popular entertainment and is the preeminent forum for ideas and self-expression Occupying the place of the theater in Elizabethan times, or the novel in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the cinema is where dreams of every shape and meaning take hold of the contemporary mind The cinema leaps national and cultural... low-budget success lies in a development process long familiar in the theater, as we shall see FILMMAKING TOOLS AND FILM EXHIBITION High-definition (HD) camcorders, digital audio recorders, and computerized editing have massively accelerated the learning process and slashed the outlay and labor of filmmaking Films produced digitally that are meant for projection in cinemas must presently be transferred... making art ART, IDENTITY, AND COMPETITIVENESS Some enter the arts in search of self-expression or self-affirmation This is treacherous ground, for it suggests that art and therapy are synonymous They overlap, 2: IDENTIFYING YOUR THEMES but have different purposes Art does work in and for the world, whereas therapy is self-directed and seeks relief from doubt or unhappiness Self-affirmation in the guise... enough, and some of the group work in film schools exists to sort through and conquer these problems, and to help students locate their best partners George Tillman, Jr and Bob Teitel, the writer/producer/director team responsible for Men of Honor (2000) and the Barbershop films (2002, 2004), were a black student and a white student who met in my college’s second-level production course (Figure 2-1 ) After . Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rabiger, Michael. Directing : film techniques and aesthetics / by Michael Rabiger. — 4th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 97 8-0 -2 4 0-8 088 2-6 . DIRECTING FILM TECHNIQUES AND AESTHETICS Fourth Edition Prelims-K80882.qxd 7/31/07 5:24 PM Page i This page intentionally left blank DIRECTING FILM TECHNIQUES AND AESTHETICS Fourth Edition Michael. voice and identity will engage your head, your hands, and your heart, and enhance every aspect of your waking life. Film makes extreme demands on its makers so this book makes an ideal com- panion