Paul Greengrass Quotes

I love directing more than anything in the world, and I love being in the editing room. I love cutting. When I'm shooting, I cut it in my head anyway. That's not to say that it always turns out that way, but you have a sense when you're composing a sequence or a scene how you want it to look anyway.

From 2005 to 2010, I was exclusively shooting 'The Act of Killing' and then editing it.

In moviemaking, you learn to pay attention to detail, because so much is in the detail. And when you're shooting, you try to be very alert to what's going on, even if you're tired.

It's been 50 years since I was on the roof of my parents' house shooting Hag in a Black Leather Jacket when I didn't even know there was such a thing as editing. I thought you just shot the film and showed it. That's exactly what I did. I'm not that different 50 years later.

With film, so much is in the director's hands. Once something is cut together - unless you're in the editing room - you don't really remember what the alternatives are.

Filmmaking is a difficult process. There are the logistics of making a film. You have to do your part, and then change the entire thing around to do someone else's part. A lot of the magic is lost, in between that, and you have to figure out how to get it back.

I got to learn what does and doesn't work on screen. Because the turnaround is so fast, there's no messing around. You have to be on the ball.

I'm attracted to directors in general because I appreciate the work and the job they have to do. I watched the post-production, I watched the pre-production... post-production is something that I'm very interested in and I did spend a lot of time in editing rooms when I was young pretending to be sick.

The only reason for using another cut is to improve the scene.

My M.F.A was in directing, and all the films I've made, for film school and after, I've written, directed and shot.

I have considered the directing, actually. Not so much the writing. That is not really interesting, but the directing is really interesting to me.

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

A film ingeniously directed does indeed give the impression of having been laid end to end, but a film ingeniously edited gives the impression of having suppressed all direction.

I don't think you can be a great director without knowing a lot about editing.

Direction is something that interests me. Even while shooting, I always have conversations with the director to get a better understanding of shooting technicalities.

You never have any idea where your movie's going to go when you're shooting - you're in this little bubble. Everything you care about is getting the next step right: getting the script right, finding the right actors, shooting it. Then you spend half a year in a dark room editing your film, and you don't talk to anybody.

Television is an excellent training ground for a director. If you work consistently in television, as I did, you have to come in on time and on budget. What you are allowed in feature films are, fortunately, more time and a larger budget.

It's wonderful to work on footage by someone who understands how to get it to cut right, which a lot of directors don't.

I always see the filming as basically going to the grocery store and buying a bunch of ingredients and that's about as far from having a dinner as you can possibly be. Then editing is the cooking, the preparation of the meal and if you don't edit it you've just got a pile of raw meat.

Pictures are written, acted, directed, photo­graphed, edited, scored and all that. The screenwriter determines what scenes are in and what scenes are out; decides whether that bit of information is dramatized or just referred to; whether it takes place on or off screen. There are millions of decisions made by the screenwriter.

I've always been a relaxed person on set, but I think the main thing is I think about it from an editing point of view way more than I did before.

I became really aware that when you're making a movie, you're making it three times. You're making it when you're writing it. You're making it when you're shooting it. And then you're remaking it again when you're editing it.

I've worked in the movie business for many, many years, where you have lots of days and lots of money. It's really mainly about time. We always try to conceive all of our action from a place of, "What can we shoot that looks fantastic?," rather than trying to do the kinds of thing that you would be able to accomplish in a movie.

The wonderful thing about film is that you have something that has a beginning, middle, and end, and you have a concrete amount of time to shoot it.

Clint Eastwood is an extraordinary director because he knows the value of a buck. He knows where it will show on the screen.