As far as my narrative directing careers goes, I only have the experience of directing scripts that I have been a key part of the writing team. With all the scripts I have been involved with, features or short, I have always had a great group of collaborators to co-write or brainstorm with. By the time the script has been through multiple drafts and it is gearing up for production I have a pretty good foundation of what the story is supposed to be, but I always take the time to lock myself away and do my director’s breakdown on the shooting draft.
Since we live in the digital age, I do this process with an iPad, in a program called PDF Expert. It allows the user to open a PDF and make all sorts of notes, doodles, and text bubbles. What’s amazing about the digital format is that I can fire it off to different collaborators and they can all have instant access to the notes I am making, and share their own with me. What I end up with is a super colorful mess of a script that I can then create “look books” and “mood boards” from.
For my first pass I usually make distinct color coated notes:
GREEN - SHOT LIST
BLUE - LIGHTING / LOCATION / PRODUCTION DESIGN
PURPLE - WARDROBE
ORANGE - CHARACTER BACKSTORY
RED - DIALOGUE CHANGES / OPTIONS
YELLOW - TONE / POSSIBLE JOKES
I always start by reading a scene and making a breakdown of all the shots I want to get for the scene. This helps inform every decision about lighting, location, wardrobe, and production requirements. I’d love to say character and tone come first, but I feel like I have a pre-conceived idea about all that from the writing phase and I enjoy getting a technical / logical pass first and I come back to those steps as I begin my script breakdown and rehearsal with the actors.
I love going in and getting as heavy on the details as I can while in pre-production. On set things get crazy, actors and crew members bring different ideas to the process, you can fall behind schedule and everything can go wrong. Having the solid foundation and starting point for ideas allows me to move forward and make the best decisions in the moment. Chances are if something really sticks from pre-production to crunch time, its an idea worth executing.
Like most creatives, I have a love/hate relationship with my completed films. Part of me feels accomplished for putting ideas on paper and making something happen. The other part of me only sees the mistakes and finds something to hate about every frame of a film. I always think I will read the script with my director notes on them while watching a film back, but that’s never happened.
The attached image is from my first film General Education that released in 2012. You probably can’t get the little note tabs to open, but this should give you a pretty solid idea of what my initial breakdown looks like. If you’re bored, check out the film today on iTunes or other digital platforms!