Original subtitles

- I'd like to talk about what might seem at first

to be a simple concept;

knowing what you want.

However, a lot of first time directors

or producers, don't embrace this important step fully.

This is a great quote from director, Kevin Smith

of "Clerks", "Mall Rats", "Dogma", among others,

about knowing what you want.

All you have to do is be able to answer questions;

that's what the job is.

You're always kind of open to suggestions,

so really the direction job

solely comes down to your ability

to answer questions at a moment's notice

and turn the ship on a dime if you have to.

But basically, that's all they're trying to do;

the whole crew, the whole cast.

Everybody's just trying to pull an image out of your head.

As the director, clearly you're supposed to have an idea

of what the bleep's supposed to look like.

Before you can begin to work with your talent,

whether they are professional actors or not,

you must know your project script inside and out

and know exactly how you want to see the project realized.

Always encourage your talent to research their roles,

but you need to be the one who is their ultimate resource.

Your talent will likely want

to ask you many questions regarding everything,

from the motivation of a character

to how they carry themselves,

to how the dialogue they're delivering in one scene

affects another.

You must be prepared to answer those questions.

No matter how trivial one might seem,

no question is silly or worth ignoring.

And it's more important to know what you want,

at least initially, even if what you want doesn't work.

Your answer doesn't always have to be the right

and final one that you will have.

You just need a starting point to build from.

We'll talk about collaboration with your talent

a little later in this course.