10 Renowned Directors Offer Their Advice on Filmmaking...

By Justin Minich

As artists, we know that to some extent, all of our creative ventures are based on what has come before.

Although, much like biological evolution, the utilization of creativity recombines and mutates what has been established, ultimately resulting in work that is uniquely our own. The same can be said about the wisdom of veteran filmmakers. It's helpful to have a framework on how to approach the filmmaking process based on years of collective experience to build on, and incorporate into, our own approach to filmmaking. I've put together a list of videos from 10 well-known directors to help you do just that.

I want to start off with an interview with Fritz Lang, director of Metropolis; a film from one of my favorite eras of cinema history: German Expressionism.
http://vimeo.com/37035514

Kevin Smith on storytelling and walking the fine line between being reasonable and unreasonable (contains some NSFW language):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL-PRLEM3To

David Lynch addresses multiple aspects of filmmaking (even that bane of every sound person's existence: airplanes):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0OzpEjUPU

Sidney Lumet briefly talks about working in film and why he prefers working with prime lenses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbavTQCjNCk

Martin Scorsese talks about his experience in film school, his influences, and 21st century filmmaking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0C1jh5NuwQ

George Lucas gives a speech at the Academy of Achievement on how following his various passions led him to becoming filmmaker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCP2SGTIz28

I think it's also important to include this clip featuring a younger (and in some ways wiser) George Lucas discussing visual effects and storytelling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykmZp5cgbkU

Steven Spielberg also gave a speech at the Academy of Achievement, where he talked about how he got into film, considering the audience in the filmmaking process, and listening to intuition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBN9jpooZoM

It seemed appropriate after a clip of Spielberg to have this video of Terry Gilliam comparing the resolutions of Spielberg's films and the mysterious endings of Kubrick's (and by extension his own) films:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKS3rdYTpI

Michel Gondry discusses his philosophy on in-camera versus digital effects:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNLvR2VcqbY

Ridley Scott gives his advice to first time directors, and talks about his approach to editing (Contains some NSFW language):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEWQFa0kIC0





http://nofilmschool.com/2012/11/filmmaking-advice-renowned-directors