Neal Brennan Quotes

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.

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

The experience of shooting a film is about the script, the captain of the ship who is the director, and the way they push their actors and teams to give their best. It's not about the language and the region.

Directing is a tremendous art.

If you do television, and it's great, it's the best job there is. Every week it's another opportunity to really make that work and figure out how to make it work better. I love that it's like theater too, and the audience, and it's so short, like twenty minutes... It's like a Haiku or something.

I kind of want to learn how to direct TV. It's interesting.

I do want to direct a movie from horseback one day.

All film directors, even the ones using 3-D today, want you to look at what they chose.

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.

As a director, you're looking for ways to tell the story with the whole image and not primarily dialogue.

Anybody can direct a picture once they know the fundamentals. Directing is not a mystery, it's not an art. The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes.

Most screenplays depend primarily on the vision of a director.

With videos, I find I'm better off if I'm playing a role inside of it. The more you do it, the more you understand it.

I think you cannot make films without choosing everything.

Zhang Yimou is an artist. Sometimes we did only two or three shots a day because we were waiting for the sun.

Film work can be very interesting, but it also can be awfully boring because who creates the film? The actors? No. It is the director. It's his piece of work.

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.

Making a movie and not directing the little moments is like drinking a soda and leaving the little slurp puddle for someone else.

Film and television essentially feel the same when you're doing it, because it's the same technical approach.

I think half the battle is just being comfortable in front of the camera - and I already am, doing so many videos and interviews, so then it just takes that extra step of trying to get into character.

The process of filmmaking is very musical, you get into the rhythm and the rhythmics of how someone is, especially with Woody Allen who is very much into body language and body movement.

The first scene I ever shot for 'Louie Bluie,' on that first day, I had never seen the camera before. I didn't know where to put it. I just knew what was strong about these guys and what I wanted to capture, so I tried to work backward from there and figure it out. Trial and error. Hopefully I got a little bit better at it.

When you shoot a movie, the camera is always taking, taking, taking and not giving anything back.

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

I don't study films particularly. I plan to direct, but I'm not watching film - I watch the entire film to see how the story goes, but I don't say, 'Oh, so he does a slow pan here, or he pulls here, watch the crane shot, or look at the composition,' because it's got to be my eye.