Assistant Director : To be or not to be
iView Author: Timtomlee (Thane, India)
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Assistant Director : To be or not to be
Is it necessary for me to be an ASSISTANT DIRECTOR to learn the basics of cinema?
Or Can I still direct without being an assistant?
This question has always bothered me.
To pursue my interest, I started reading books on film making . After reading a dozen books, I came to the conclusion that there is no one way to shoot a scene.. No one can teach you where to place the camera, you will place it only where you think is the best. It all depends on your vision. But my Dad, (who was once a small time producer) believes in the opposite. He thinks one must have a good practical knowledge about all the activities on the set and therefore must work first as an assistant or else No one will take you seriously. He may have a point, but c’mon, I can give examples where big directors from the industry where never an assistant.
MANIRATHNAM, RAM GOPAL VARMA , ANURAG KASHYAP, etc. and may be there are many. But the truth is I am not one of them . I cant even compare myself with them, but still at one point even they were no one , yet they made their mark.
But during my conversation with a BHOJPURI film maker, I was advised not to jump till you know the basics, otherwise on SET you will be humiliated by the experienced cast and crew . He gave his example that even though he was an ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR for several years, during his first film as a director, the D.
But during my conversation with a BHOJPURI film maker, I was advised not to jump till you know the basics, otherwise on SET you will be humiliated by the experienced cast and crew . He gave his example that even though he was an ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR for several years, during his first film as a director, the D.O.P and a top lead actor of BHOJPURI films , doubted his abilities , “ KYA YEH SCENE IS TARAH SE SHOOT KAR PAOGE?” they asked . He accepted the challenge and delivered the shot in four takes. I don’t’ know whether this anecdote is true or not, but he said, work for at least seven years as an A.D.. before taking any directorial work . Or else,. “KAB TAK AAP APNE PAPA KA PAISA BARBAD KARTE RAHOGE”.
That last sentence made me realize what a level of arrogance that guy had. I was just asking his opinion, and he thought I will use my dad’s money to make films. May be he was thinking that no one will produce my film except my dad as I have no experience. On another thought, may be he is right. Why would anyone take me seriously. If I go to a producer and say, this is my script and I want to direct this feature. A good chance is that he may show me the door. And even though somehow if I may convince him, on SET it may turn out to be a hell for a newbie like me. I had once visited a set and had seen how A.D’s are humiliated by the D.O.P’s for little mistakes, imagine what a new director has to face .
This may be the common pattern but I still believe I can make it on my own . If I have the ability to communicate with my cast and crew, then I don’t need to assist anyone.
I will say to the cameraman, “This is the MASTER shot, lets place the camera there,
Lets use WIDE angle lens for this shot so that the GEOGRAPHY of the location and the POSITION of the actors are established. I will give instructions to my actors, tell them the ESSENCE of the SCENE, give them their MOTIVATION for their ACTIONS. If they are not comfortable, I will allow them to IMPROVISE. Then accordingly I will CHOREOGRAPH my MASTER shot or else I will shoot in SUB-MASTERS.
Next I will go for COVERAGE. I will shoot all the necessary CLOSE Ups so that it will get easier during EDITING process. For LIGHTING, I am fond of the CHIAROSCORO technique (high key light, lower fill light). I will use it according to the MOOD of the scene. Even though I will prepare my SHOT LIST, but will never follow it rigidly as lot of things may change while filming.
Next is post production, I think if I have done my pre-production and production work well, the post production process is to FINE TUNE your work , essentially the EDITING process. Then the final MIXING( sound effects, background score, dialogue) and then the FIRST COPY of the film.
This is the way I will work. To understand this I don’t think I need to be an assistant director. Is not that I hate being an assistant, but only that I don’t believe the set- standard notion in the industry, “ITNE SAAL TO ASSISTANT BANNA HI PADEGA”.
May be I am wrong , may be there are lot more things I must know before I venture into film-mking. What’s your opinion? Do you think I have a point ?
In this situation, the statement of Einstein always comforts me,
“Imagination is greater than knowledge”.
Tags: Anurag Kashyap, Manirathnam, ram gopal varma
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
there are no set rules in film making.
all u need to do is “work” … work could be either all the books u read on film making or assisting. u can take up direction when u feel comfortable. but to get a producer u have to make him believe that ur film will make him earn profits. otherwise produce urself.
the first director in cinema obviously never was an assistant director.
i share your feelings and doubts, i also think that why is it neccesary to be an assistant and at the same time i sometimes feel will i be able to handle it otherwise?
but i believe in myself n hope for best, share your thoughts on the topic n experience whenever u take plunge! best of luck.
this is something about which i’ve no clue…
do you have a script? can you tell a story? if the answer is yes, all you got to do is decide HOW you do it….
good luck
One advice that i hear often is to direct several short films which are low/no budget and are made with primitive technical equipment.
@Sameer,
Yes the advice of short films is the second advice given to wannabe directors.
i dont think it is absolutely necessary to assist. the important thing is that you know what you want to do, and that includes a lot of objective knowledge. how you acquire that knowledge- from reading or assisting others- is immaterial. if you dont feel like assisting, dont. but dont be dogmatic about it. assisting does help, especially in getting to know some of the real conditions who are mostly in which films are made here- the resources, the logistics, the level of knowledge and attitudes of the kind of people you are most likely to encounter, how much work you can do in how much of time etc. to repeat, dont be dogmatic about it either way. suit yourself.
am wid u bro. go for the kill & come back with a great film.
Hey bro, I also belong to ur category ! they tall bulshit man ! thrs no rule in creativity..wht requires is what u want u have to know tht..i dnt knw nything bt still m confident coz I have written a story tht I believe no one else would b able to understand its requirements more than I do..so I will only direct d feature..one more thing dude, nothing is perfect in dis world..we all r inferior..u knw if u r creative thrs no ending..u can btter nything u do or others do..u can chng styajit rays work n make it better..so whn u cant help it.y nt u go for it..if u can, y cant i, if i can ,y cant they..
brother,
Assisting will really help you understand the basics better, as far as directing is concerned i think one just needs a clear vision of what he or she wants to do with what he wants to narrate visually and how, its that simple. So bindaas, go for it wink…
Thanks all for ur comments,
Sahitya Sahay – “the first director in cinema obviously never was an assistant director”,
Well said, thats the point i was trying to make.
It all depends on ur vision.
aman – thanks, will definetly share all my experiences henceforth.
chandidas mishra – thanks for ur comments,i am not dogmatic, only thing that, i was always discouraged by the industry veterans for directly jumping the wagon,i was even laughed at when i desired to make my short film. what pisses me off is that “experience is everything”. i am sure with good d.o.p, i can make a good film.
Magik- anirban – thanks for ur encouragement, some day we will make our films.
you have a good script, a vision, the resources…. then just make it and see the result.
There are some directors who are gold as far as assisting is concerned. If you hook up with them stick with them for couple of years atleast. If you don’t get any such director, leave after 1st film.
Watch one film everyday for the next 4 years. Esp European films & Americn Indie films.
Read a lot of books. Not just film related. Get laid as much as you can. Get your heart broken by a bitch.
In short, watch movies & live life.
You can assist, yyou can go to film school, you can work in advertising , you can be a anything & write a mindblowing script & get to direct it. There is no one way. Only you can decide. listen to your heart.
But watch lots & lots of movies.
And no one makes fun of newcomers in Bollywood. Not that i know of. Infact they are very giving to new ADs. You will learn the most in your first film as everyone wll explain everything to you because this is your first film. Use that to ask every department a lot of questions. Esp Sound & Camera.
Hey… just one thing… to be a film maker you need to have vision, as long as you have that & you are confident of capturing it on celluloid… just go for it… what i understand of film making, every body has self doubts, even the great ones… there’s nothing wrong with that… just be confident of yourself…Best of Luck…
@mainak: Fantastic inference there @13.
I also need some questions to ask:
I am marketing manager with a dotcom. My long term plan is that I want to get into films ( direction/script writing mostly). I dont want to take a drastic shift right now. I want to take a gradual course. I spoke to few people and have been advised to start with film production/ film marketing with any of the production houses. Now my question is would these production houses ( UTV, Excel, Dharma etc) take MBAs with 3-5 yrs of work ex in marketing for the said roles? Or is being an AD a good bet to take films as a long term strategy.
Which are other production houses that go the corporate way, apart from the ones I mentioned?
satyajit ray never assisted any one before his first film ‘pather panchali’. so you have plenty of big names on your side.
I think sameer is right about short and low budget film making. I am also a film student by passion and I’m thinking to make a short low budget film to start with. currently I’m working on my script and story development.
but the problem here in kolkata is you never really manage to have a good sincere cast and crew team when you think of making a low budget film. previously me and some friends of mine were working on a low budget experimental script. we manage to find good quality camera, light and editing set up in very cheap rate. but the actors and actresses fucked us up. they were not giving their full effort because they were not being paid as much as they earn from a mega serial from a tv channel, though they were actually our friends.
so my suggestion is whenever you choose your cast and crew team be very specific about this point at the beginning of all conversation. all the best for your film.
@Morrison
Yes the corporate Production Houses like Reliance & Sahara will take MBA’s like you. I would advise you to stay in your job right now & dedicate your after work hours completely to reading film books & watching every film you can get your hands on. 2 or 3 years from now with enough knowledge & atleast one short film in your hand you can try to get into these corporate production houses.
Once you are in its upto you how you slow from marketing to writing/direction. Maybe you will prefer to be on the producing distributing side.
But please give 2 years to reading & watching froms from all over the world. That way you will understand the pain of filmmakers/writers & see through the bullshit of others.
@Sankha
Now you know the limitations. So try to do a project knowing these limitations. Something where you don’t depend too much on these factors.
You are lucky to have TV Soap actors as friends. Most people just make their friends act. Its upto you to take advantage of them.
“And no one makes fun of newcomers in Bollywood. Not that i know of. Infact they are very giving to new ADs”.– mainak, u have hit it on the nail. They will give it new a.d’s, not someone who has the ability to communicate. Ram gopal varma said ,during the making of shiva, he narrated the entire script shot-by-shot to nagarjuna, and he was so impressed that he decided to act in it. who has no prior experience in film mkaing , except his vision.
thanks all for ur comments, its all upto oneself how he decides to build his career in film-making. watching films, as mainak said ,is very important part. i will definetly follow ur advise and share my experiences.
Watching films is overrated. If that was the criteria for learning filmmaking then all the wannabes who flock Sarvodya and Movietimes would be making films that win awards in festivals all over the world. What’s most imp to be a director is to have a voice which is shaped by your life experience. I personally know of a guy who’s seen the entire Criterion catalog (I’ve only seen bout 20%). He started to shoot a feature and was 3 days behind by the end of the first week of shoot. His problem was that despite having a good script, he was constantly referencing his fav directors and films in his head and was unable to come up with original staging or camera movement.If your only source of inspiration is gonna be watching films then your films will end up as being reflections of someone else’s work.
Nothing is perfect. It depends on the person.
I’m not suggesting only watching films. I’m suggesting that never stop watching & seeking out films. You can do all the other things but if you have no idea what kind of films are being made you might end up making a masterpiece in ur head but the world has seen it many times & moved on.
A very good example of someone who became a director just by watching films is Tarantino.
So there is not one way that works for everyone.
Actually that’s part of the aura that QT has created for himself by saying that he only watched films. He made some terrible shorts and worked as a PA on a lot of low budget films before striking it big. He also sold his script for True Romance before Reservoir Dogs was greenlit. In any case all his films post Pulp Fiction have been a pastiche of films from around the world and that’s why they have steadily decreased in originality and quality. His biggest contribution imho has been to champion filmmakers like WKW in America. Having said that I always look fwd to a QT film.
Sankha said, “satyajit ray never assisted any one before his first film ‚'„'²pather panchali‚'„'´.” But Ray did assist Jean Renoir in the making of “The River”, and said many times during his career that he learned a lot from Renoir.
I don’t have an opinion one way or another on the assisting question, but just wanted to set this straight.
forget what all these commenters are saying. everything u need to know, right here –
.
http://passionforcinema.com/how-to-become-a-good-director/
@sm
satyajit ray didn’t assisted renoir in the film the river. he was actually interpretor of renoir during the renoir’s visit to india as he knew both french and english very good. Harisadhan Dasgupta was the assistant director. though ray did learn a lot from Renoir. no doubt about that.
Both mitch and mainak have a point.u just cant’ be film-makers by watching films. its your unique voice that makes u a film-maker. Watching films provokes that voice, it compells you to make films. It is clear from our discussion, that assisting is not the criteria, but passion is. if one is passionate, he will learn, will hone his craft by practice. so it depends how you learn.
RT @dabba. He is right Tim. That post has everything you need to know.
hi Timtomlee…all your queries are well answered by none another than anurag kashyap itself..go there and chk.
http://passionforcinema.com/assistant-director-a-true-picture-required/
i was also having the same doubt sometimes ago but now not…we can discuss more on deepakmetro2000@gmail.com..
thanks deepak — will do check and discuss with you.
Good article bro .
I am yet another person who belong to your league .Worser fact is that i dont read as many books as you do . But i have decided to do a short movie .
I am just trusting myself and my abilities . I cannot afford to move into AD and spent years due to personal/financial constraints .
so wats the solution? nobody even lets you assist if you have no experience in assisting before. i mean if you havent assisted before then how the hell are u going to assist anyone? it doesnt stop. how far are short movies going to take you? you have to now start writing scripts to get people’s attention (which takes a lot of time if you are new). i wrote one and is also being appreciated but let me tell you writers have very little value here.
I am an Asst. Director but I feel dat u need not assist any Director to learn the ropes of Director. You just need to be a good visualiser, dats it.
All i can say is that if you think that uve been a winner following your instincts in the past, then there is a fare chance that u can make it big on the first go.
But if you cant face failures and wanna play the game by rules then i think u should probably assist someone before yyou realize you have stabbed your zeal !
well, even i aim to b a director, and i ll b assisting somebody very soon.. they film makers tht u ve mentioned, who ve neevr assisted anybody have actually done more than just assisting before they became directors.. they have been writing stories, screenplays, dialogues, etc since a long time.. some of them have even written as ghost writers. As writers, they have been on the sets for years and observed everything around.. so there was never really a NEEd for them to ASSIST anybody ..! according to me, practical kowledge is definitely VERY impt if u r taking this seriously.. all the best !
WHTEVR U SAY, BUT UNLESS N UNTIL U RNOT 100% CLEAR WITH UR IDEAS U SHOULD NOT EVEN AFFORD TO THINK THAT U’LL DIRECT A FULL FEATURE FILM ON YOUR OWN. ITZ NOT LIKE WASTING UR TIME[BY ASSISTN SUM1]……..BUT IT SHLD HELP U 2 UNDERSTAND ALL ABOUT FILM MAKING, RITE FRM PRE PRODUCTION-POST PRODUCTION. RECENTLY I DIRECTED A SHORT FILM AND EVEN THOUGH I WAS READY WITH MY PRE WORK, ON THE SET, THR WAS PROBLM[SMALL SMALL PROBLM] THTZ WHN I DECIDED 2 ASSIST SOON A PROPER PERSON WHO KNOWS HIS/HER JOB.
if u ask me abt assisting…..i think a ltl experience is required….u know d technichal stuffs abt film making….which u can not get my reading books….or watching cinemas….the experience of working in a set…..enlighten u with practical,hard hitting knowldge…..
althou….its just teaches u the technical stuffs abt making a film
the original creativity n vision comes frm u
bt ofcourse being an assistance is not compulsory…