Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker

by Chris Lebenzon | Published February 3, 2007

Successful Directing
The best guys interpret the material.

Too Much Prior Knowledge
I like to put myself in the position of the audience, because they don't know any of that stuff anyway.

Drama vs. Documentary
Drama is judging performance; in documentaries, the performance is so real that you never have to do that.

Editing Without Sound
I don't want to get fooled by the effects and the music-masking any problems that might exist or clarity that should be there that isn't.

Strong Storytelling
Sometimes the story is told though the dialogue and other times just with images. The best movies are a combination of both.

The Importance of Assistants
They can have a better sense of the big picture because they have a little more distance from it. It's good to have someone there who can stand back and look at it as any viewer would.

The Ideal Director
[An ideal director has] a grasp of the big picture-the whole movie-rather than getting caught up in details of specific shots.

Classic Moviemaking
It's all performance: not really a lot of editing, not a lot of music or a lot of snap. It's just pure moviemaking in a simple way. Many of those old classics are seamless, really-they don't call any attention to themselves, in a good way.

On Preview Screenings
They're just so painful. If you can relax, though, they can be great.

Problem Sequences
Any veteran will tell you that if you're bored in a scene it's not that scene-it's usually something earlier.

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