4th Edition

Film Directing Fundamentals See Your Film Before Shooting

By Nicholas Proferes Copyright 2018
    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    Film Directing Fundamentals gives the novice director an organic methodology for realizing on-screen the full dramatic possibility of a screenplay. Unique among directing books, Nicholas Proferes provides clear-cut ways to translate a script to the screen. Using the script as a blueprint, the reader is led through specific techniques to analyze and translate its components into a visual story. A sample screenplay is included that explicates the techniques discussed. Written for both students and entry-level professionals, the book assumes no knowledge and introduces basic concepts and terminology. Appropriate for screenwriters, aspiring directors and filmmakers, Film Directing Fundamentals helps filmmakers bring their story to life on screen.

    This fourth edition is updated with a new foreword by Student Academy Award-winner Jimmy Keyrouz, who studied with author Nicholas Proferes, as well as an enhanced companion website by Laura J. Medina, available at www.routledge.com/cw/proferes, which features new supplemental material for both instructors and students, including two new analyses of contemporary films—Wendy and Lucy (2008) and Moonlight (2016)—study questions, suggested assignments and exercises, as well as the instructor’s manual written by Proferes in 2008.

    Part One: INTRODUCTION

    Chapter 1: Introduction to Film Language and Grammar
    Chapter 2: Introduction to the Dramatic Elements Embedded in the Screenplay
    Chapter 3: Organizing Action in a Dramatic Scene
    Chapter 4: Staging
    Chapter 5: Camera
    Chapter 6: Camera in NOTORIOUS Patio Scene

    Part Two: MAKING YOUR FILM

    Chapter 7: Detective Work On Scripts
    Chapter 8: Staging and Camera For The Piece Of Apple Pie
    Chapter 9: Marking Shooting Script With Camera Setups
    Chapter 10: Work With Actors
    Chapter 11: Managerial Responsibilities of the Director
    Chapter 12: Postproduction

    Part Three: ORGANIZING ACTION IN AN ACTION SCENE

    Chapter 13: Staging and Camera for Over Easy Action Scene

    Part Four: ORGANIZING ACTION IN A NARRATIVE SCENE

    Chapter 14: Staging and Camera for Wanda Narrative Scene

    Part Five: LEARNING THE CRAFT THROUGH FILM ANALYSIS

    Chapter 15: Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious
    Chapter 16: Peter Weir's The Truman Show
    Chapter 17: Federico Fellini's 8 1/2
    Chapter 18: Styles And Dramatic Structures
    Chapter 19: What's Next?

    Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Nicholas T. Proferes was the director/cameraman and editor of Free at Last, a 90-minute documentary on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which was awarded Best Documentary at the Venice Film Festival in 1969; director of photography and editor of Wanda, a feature film directed by Barbara Loden, awarded Best Picture at the Venice Film Festival in 1971; and co-producer, director of photography, and editor of The Visitors, a feature film directed by Elia Kazan. In 2008, his screenplay Romeros, Julieta, & the General won best screenplay at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival; and in 2009, his screenplay Handsome Harry, directed by Bette Gordon, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. He is Professor Emeritus at Columbia University.

    Laura J. Medina is an educator and filmmaker. She has professional production credits on a wide variety of productions including studio and independent feature films, documentaries and TV series. Laura directed three short narrative films, screened at film festivals all over the U.S. Since 2011 she has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Theatre at the University of New Orleans, where she teaches producing, directing and advanced production. Laura has a BA in Political Science from Antioch College, an MFA in Filmmaking from New York University, and is a member of the Directors Guild of America.

    "Just bring your talent, add a touch of luck, and the rest you will find in this book."

    —Milos Forman, Film Director, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Amadeus (1984), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

    "Nick Proferes doesn't tell you how to direct, which would be as silly as telling you what to direct. Instead, he does something much more valuable: He explains how directors actually think their way though the job."

    James Schamus, Associate Professor of Film at Columbia University, Producer and Screenwriter, The Ice Storm (1997), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

    "Film Directing Fundamentals was a particularly useful textbook when I was a student learning filmmaking techniques for the first time, and I have continued to use the book as a professor of film and video studies. This important text will influence the next generations of student filmmakers and film professors."

    —Thomas Britt, Associate Professor, Film and Video Studies, George Mason University

    "I taught with Nic at Columbia University for nearly 28 years before I moved to American University, and I've always admired his excellent teaching and mentorship of students. When he first published the book I immediately adopted it and have used each edition ever since. The pedagogy and insight that he brings to the critical skill of directing helps not only students but all filmmakers. I’ve worked on more than 250 projects over 40 years of teaching and filmmaking, and I apply his techniques professionally as well as in the classroom."

    —Larry Engel, Filmmaker, Associate Professor, School of Communication, American University, Washington DC