Preston Sturges Quotes

A lot of directors in my experience are very receptive. They see what you do first, and then they want to find a place to put the camera, and they tweak you here and there.

Before I started to make films, I didn't give much thought to the way the characters were physically positioned in the story world.

I've directed a fair amount of television series - so I'm always trying to learn new things. One episode was all hand-held and I'm trying to get better at when you should do things and when you should just shut up and watch what the people are saying.

You don't want to be the guy whose back's to the camera in the emotional part of the movie. So, you have to be aware of the camera movement and what the camera's doing.

I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.

Well, I've learned something from Michael Robison just about maximizing your shots. For example, if I'm shooting a scene and someone's driving at the wheel, you could steal an insert in the same shot.

When I am shooting a film I never think of how I want to shoot something; I simply shoot it.

Every shot is unique, even if it's just a close-up, an insert of your hand. You've got to work with the guy behind the lens to get it right, focus in. Those are critical little nothing things, but you've got to work with the people who are trying to put it down, in order to get it.

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

A shot is only as every as good as how well it tells the story.

Normally as a director, you do look at other films and things that are relevant. But with this film, it became impossible because I became so aware of the camera placement.

Going to directing wasn't a reaction away from acting as much as it was a move towards something I always wanted to do. Ever since I was a kid, I was interested in the camera and how it worked and why one director would place it in this part of the room and then another would place it in that part of the room.

I was always very interested in the storytelling decisions that went into directing. It just held this real allure for me. You know, if we're doing a scene at a dinner table, they weren't all shot the same. 'Why was the camera here for one moment and there for another?'

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.

Film gives us the luxury of deciding where the viewpoint of the audience is, and by knowing that, we can very effectively design around what is actually seen on camera.

I really enjoy blocking and staging. I think most of visual storytelling is camera placement and how to stage action around the camera.

When I started, you didn't focus so much on production, certainly not - gosh - down to the finest little detail of how you shifted your eyes or how you turned to somebody. A lot of the shots were far away from a still camera. There weren't as many close-ups and intimacy.

Try to place the camera somewhere where you get most of the information from there, so you don't need to have too many shots and be too explanatory and expositional about the scene.

I can still recall the thrill of shooting my first film.

I don't like to watch playback. But being on the set, watching the way the camera is being moved and the way the light is being used, you do get an idea of it.

I've always had the utmost respect and awe of what the lens can do and what a director can do with just a camera move.

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

I believe that the best cameraman is one who recognizes the source, the story, as the basis of his work.

People think that the directors direct actors. No. Really, what the director's doing is directing the audience's eye through the film.

I learned a lot about how to shoot and how to put together sequences.