Priceless advice on filmmaking from five iconic directors
Aspiring and passionate film students flock to film schools with their dream of creating visual stories. They develop their own tastes in films under the influence of many iconic directors.
Those looking to become filmmakers should take these directors’ words and films as gospel. They work under the infamous advice of “study the greats and become greater”, hoping to draw influence and create something new.
Successful and creative filmmakers are always asked what advice they have for this incoming generation of directors. Their answers reference an understanding of what cinema is and relationships on set.
Here are five examples of such advice given by some of cinema’s greatest artists.
Filmmaking advice from five iconic directors:
Sofia Coppola
The daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola began her career as an actress before moving to behind the camera. She is responsible for some beautiful visual storytelling, such as Marie Antoinette, Lost in Translation, and Somewhere.
Coppola’s filmmaking advice stems from her beginnings as an actress. She says there should be a healthy relationship between director and actor, as she is “sensitive to that vulnerability”. She emphasises that “there has to be a connection”, so “you’re on the same channel” and “communicating effectively”.
Agnes Varda
Considered a “God of cinema” by Scorsese, this Belgian-French filmmaker blended cinema with photography. Her work consists of authentic location shooting and thematic imagery, evident in Vagabond and Cleo from 5 to 7.
Varda focuses on “cinematic language” when giving advice. She once stated, “a film is not written by the screenplay or the dialogue, it’s written by the way of the filming”. She directs aspiring filmmakers to value “the choices that you have to make…” about lighting or costumes as “that’s what cine-writing is”.
Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater is known for his portrayals of time passing and the chosen setting of the suburbs. His artistic imprint can be found in Dazed and Confused, the Before trilogy, and Boyhood.
For Linklater, it’s all about knowing your story and executing it well. He feels that “humans are storytelling animals” and “the big nut to crack is to how to tell a story”. Once you’ve figured that out, the rest will follow.
Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa demonstrated how cinema is art in Seven Samurai and Ran. He structured his work using a bold style and showed mentor-student relationships as a key theme.
The Japanese director used Zeami’s “watching with a detached gaze” as inspiration. He once revealed, “while the cameras are rolling, I rarely look directly at the actors, but focus my gaze somewhere else”. He claimed that this was “being aware… in a natural way”.
Stanley Kubrick
Known for his use of realism, dark humour, and innovative cinematography, Stanley Kubrick is considered one of the masters. His space epic 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the greatest films of all time.
Kubrick advises filmmakers to know their own artistic identity. “The director’s job is to know what emotional statement he wants a character to convey in his scene”, he once said. Furthermore, he felt “the director’s taste and imagination play a much more crucial role in the making of a film”.
