Thelma Schoonmaker Quotes

You can see all sorts of things in film acting if you know where to look and what to look for. One thing I often notice is that the actor is looking for his mark, the place where he has to stand to be in the right place in the shot.

Technically, maybe I learned most of all from George Stevens, and among his movies I learned the most from 'A Place in the Sun.' It's a lesson in moviemaking.

For a director, the most challenging scenes are the dialogue scenes.

I don't storyboard, and I don't really shot list. I let the shots be determined by how the actors and I figure out the blocking in a scene, and then from there, we cover it.

No, I'm at full height, I'm in the studio, I can actually catch actors by the eye, it's fantastic.

I also know what looks good before the camera, how to move the camera, and how to get a story on the screen.

Finding where to put the camera is probably the most important thing you have to learn when you're a young director, and it's something that's a mixture of instinct and technique.

I don't use film in the way that the great auteurs do. I use film, the camera, to record as effectively and as perceptive as I am able what I want to say through the actors.

The way I'm used to telling a story is by looking through the viewfinder and being really close to the actors.

I like doing film, you know, single-camera.

I really love diving in, head first, with directing and not having to worry about hair, makeup or lines.

On a film, you do your own work, you come together and meet on set, and then you shoot. It's great.

I like the opportunity to make films.

I like to give dimension to shots inside action scenes. It's demanding because you have to rehearse a lot of things happening at the same time and frame all those things in a shot. But I feel like when you accomplish that then you've got a cool action scene.

Film, I think, is my medium.

People who are good at film have a relationship with the camera.

I like to direct for the big screen.

I make film to make time pass.

Most of all, I really wanted to become a filmmaker, and I've used every acting experience to just turn it into film school.

When you're making movies you've got to get obsessive.

My understanding of films was just as much as any young girl who watches Bollywood films. I had no idea about the whole process of filmmaking, about dialogue writing, scripts, screenplay etc. I had probably gone to two or three film shoots in my childhood.

You ought to have a perspective when you're making a film.

I'm a filmmaker, but my working procedures are different. All my basic structuring is done during the filming. You know, how long I keep the shot, the exposure or the speed - slower or faster, etc. That's structuring. And then there is a second stage of structuring that comes later when I begin to put those pieces together.

When you're making a film, it's a very technical process. You do things over and over again, and you have to hit your marks and your light and all that stuff.

I have definitely been curious and involved in the process; even as a young actor. I was always looking at where the camera was, what story it was telling. And as my experience grew, I wanted to know even more.