Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

by Henry Bean | Published February 3, 2007

The Believer

On Directing Actors

Be simple with what you tell them. Don't spend too much time explaining. It's a lot like sports. In sports, if you ask somebody to do something that they know how to do that's good for them, they will often do it and do it brilliantly. And if you asked them to do something they don't know how to do then they suffer, and it will be awkward. One of the most important things in working with actors is to learn what they are and what they do naturally and work with that; go with that; use that.

On Finding an Actor's Strength

You learn by watching people. One of the things I learned with Ryan Gosling-- Ryan is a fabulously talented person --was that he began as a dancer and his body was very crucial to his work. And I realized that one of the reasons I picked him was that when he said lines they seemed to come out of the whole physical being. And I found that whenever anything was amiss with the performance, all I would have to do was give him some sense of movement or some sense of bodily being and it would all resolve. Once he focused on his body, the rest of it came naturally.

On Preparing for Locations

Storyboards that aren't location specific are much less useful. They give you some ideas, but when you get to the location you find this doesn't work, that doesn't work. We were often re-blocking on the set.

On Pacing Yourself

Necessity is a great benefit. You know you don't have enough time. We always made our day. We almost always made our days. But we always had to keep going; we could never slow down. There was never the luxury of doodling.

On Next Time

The one thing I tell myself I would do next time is that I will prepare even more. Though I had storyboards, what I should have done is sat and poured over those storyboards for hours, thinking the shot through. Not just seeing the shot but feeling it and knowing what emotions I wanted. Often, in the course of making this, I felt that I was mechanically following a plan, rather than animating it, and making it alive. I think that was largely because I hadn't worked enough in advance. I did a lot but didn't realize how much more I could have done.

On Mastering the Edit

The director should know how to use the AVID. The director should not be dependent on the editor, even though the editor makes many decisions. I had two editors and they were both great. If I could have used the AVID myself, I think that would have made a big difference.

On Writing Lessons Learned in the Director's Chair

I learned a lot about simplification. I learned that you better find a simple way to express complicated emotions, but that you can trust that if the thing is there in the script, it is going to come out.

Henry Bean Filmography as Writer

The Believer (2001): Writer/Director
Venus Rising (1995)
Deep Cover (1992)
Internal Affairs (1990)
Golden Eighties (1986)
Running Brave (1983)
1988: The Remake (1977)

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