The Director of a film is responsible for the entire project coming together. They guide the actors in their roles, by telling them how he/she wishes the scene to play out. They also handle the technical aspect of a film, telling the crew how he wishes the lighting, camera shots or even sound to be in any given shot. Here are a few examples of what a Director's responsibilities are.

How To Become a Director

First off, you must become a Director. This is usually a fairly long process if you are working in a big studio in Hollywood or New York. You would normally start off going to film school or taking a college course for filmmaking. Here you will learn about camera work, editing, sound work and most other areas of filmmaking. One of the most famous schools for filmmaking is the University of California and of course the American Film Institute. If you are in Canada, the Toronto Film School and Sheridan College are great schools for this purpose.

Of course you don't necessarily need to go to school for this, it just gives you an advantage. You may start out as an intern or production assistant. Interns don't get paid,and spend most of their time running around doing errands, but you do gain valuable experience and if you are wise you will watch and learn while on set. Production Assistants do get paid, not well, but they are a great step toward creating your own film.

Going through the stages you will work your way into film editing. It's best to try your hand at most of the aspects of filmmaking, as you will be leading the way once you become a director and will need to know or at least have a working knowledge of how the rest of the areas work.

Auditioning Process

One of the responsibilities of a Director is to audition actors. You will need the script in hand and have a very good knowledge of all the characters and plotline. You must know what direction you wish the movie to take well before this step, as you must guide the actors through the scene in which they perform.

Directors often give this task off to the Casting Director, but if it's lower budget film, they may do this themselves. They have a good idea of the type of actor they want for each character and a good idea of how that character should behave.

Directors also rehearse the actors in pre-production, going through the entire movie usually to set up how each scene should go. They will usually do this with the Director of Photography or Cinematographer as well, to make sure each camera shot is correct. Of course for a low budget film, it's usually the camera person they should take through the movie.

Shooting the Film

Once the film gets to the shooting stage, you must have everything you need in place. If you wish to have storyboards done, (which brings you shot for shot through the film), your actors cast and your locations reserved; well before shooting takes place.

If you are on a low budget, you yourself will have to ask restaurants, stores and parks for their permission to shoot there. You will need the right permits to shoot as it is disruptive to the public, keeping them away from your scenes. Permits do cost money and it will vary from city to city so check this out beforehand and add it to your budget.

Give instructions clearly and percisely, making sure everyone understands what you have in mind for each scene. Don't worry about editing right now, just shoot as many shots as you can for each scene, to make sure you give yourself a lot of footage to work with. You want your final product to be the best it can be.

Give breaks. You can't just keep shooting the film all day and not give your crew and Actors a rest. So schedule breaks into your day, so you will be sure not to overwork anyone. Finish the day after the last shot you originally planned, do not try to go over what was in the schedule or you will start to lose creativity and make your crew overtired.

Editing Your Film

Editing is one of the most important parts of the film. We have all seen bad editing and it can take you right out of the story. If done right, it's seemless and carries the watcher through the story.

Make sure you have an editor you trust and check their credentials and portfolio for other work they have done. You want to be certain the type of work they have done before matches what you plan for your movie. It does no good to pick someone then not be happy with what they have provided.

If you are doing your own editing, there are ways to do it on a budget fairly easily. You can either go to editing suites, they charge by the hour and can be costly. If you attended a school, most of them will allow former students to use their facilities so check with them. If you are creating a digital film and want to do the work from home, there are numerous programs you can download for your computer, which do a fine job. Windows comes with Movie Maker, which is free and easy to use for simple editing. Apple has iMovie.

These are the basics for Directing. Most of what makes a director is instinctual. A Director has a vision for what they wish their film to be; how they wish for it to be taken by the audience. If you have taken the time to put in place the pieces correctly, camera person, actors and editors, you can make your film exactly how you want it.