Cinematic Approach Quotes

When we did 'Breaking the Waves,' he had a sign on the wall that said, 'Make mistakes.'

I did not want 'Battleship' to be perceived as an American war film. I wanted to do everything I could to make the film accessible to a global audience. It felt like bringing an alien component to the film would help take the American jingoism out of it.

Writers divide fairly cleanly into those who only work through what they hear and those who are more visual. I am the latter, where I lie down on my office floor and play scenes through my head to - cinematically, several times with different elements - to see what works. I can't write a scene until I can see it.

We don't have a lot of class-conscious filmmaking.

There was a lot of stuff [in Rock of Ages] that had effects in it and I thought it was too smooth. I thought it would be sexier if it were in-camera cuts. So I did that.

When I'm actually assembling a scene, I assemble it as a silent movie. Even if it's a dialog scene, I lip read what people are saying.

My films are completely offbeat.

The content dictates the style all the time. That's the way it is. If the content of the film - as in Husbands and Wives - is highly jagged, neurotic, fast-paced, nervous New York film, it just called for that kind of shooting, editing and performance.

I'm really specific in the way that I shoot. I've always had a very good sense of what I need in the editing room. I used to shoot in a way that drew more attention to the camera and I've tried, in each film, to draw less and less attention to the camera. I think when you pay attention to the shots, you're aware of the fact that there's a director.

I think the story should always determine the visual approach. There are situations where you want things to feel alive and like life, and there are situations that should have some magic and the separation with the grain.

[The way Stanley Kubrick] tells a story is antithetical to the way we are accustomed to receiving stories.

When people come to me with an idea and they say, 'We can do it found footage or traditional,' I always say to do it traditionally.

As a director, I start with the visual.

I want my movies to be audience experiences. As much as I like Michael Haneke, I'm not going to make a Haneke film. That's just not in my DNA.

I don't like to shoot on sets at all. As much as possible, I try to shoot on location.

With 'The Conjuring,' I really wanted to create classical cinema-style film-making, pure cinema as it were.

I think the way you make a movie dictates the movie that you make.

I don't make movies to make a point; I make movies to tell stories about people.

If I can play a scene in a master shot, I always prefer it. And the actors always prefer it. It's fun to look at on the screen, the actors get a chance to sink their teeth into something substantial, and it's economically helpful.

I compose the frame literally with the camera. Unless it makes a story point.

I'm an actor's director.

What interests Sam Mendes are characters and relationships, and he was a genius at giving you the freedom to create the type of character you want, and also to explore and have fun with your fellow actors. For him, characters and relationships are really the heartbeat of the film, and then the action is the backdrop. By developing the characters, he makes you care that much more about the action and going on a journey with the characters.

In general, we like to shoot Breaking Bad like a modern day Western, and Sergio Leone is one of my all-time favorite directors.

In Shoojit's films, there is no hero and villain. Every character has its own space and there is a social message in all of his films whether it is 'Vicky Donor' or 'Madras Cafe.'

Korean cinema is very improvisational, and there is a unique power that stems from this.