In film, a dancer should always be shot from head to toe, because that way you can see the whole body and that is the art of dancing. Nowadays they shoot the nose. Left nostril. Right nostril. Hand. Foot. Bust. Derrière. The film prevents you from determining who is a good dancer and who is not.
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 run a fast pace on my sets, man. I like the energy of the scene to be the energy on the set. I think it affects the actors, and I think it affects the crew. There's that sensation like you're really shooting it for real, like in a documentary.
When you go to set, they just go, 'OK, let's see what you guys do!' The camera moves around what you initially feel.
I love working fast. I don't relish the director who wants to do 25 to 30 takes, or the actors who insist on doing 25 or 30 takes.
There's a way of filming where you can get rid of the vanity and of trying to make something beautiful.
My favorite elements of 'Start Talkin'' were those man-on-the-street pieces. I love shooting those. I was born in Manhattan, have lived in or around New York my entire life, and I feel like I'm in my element when doing those pieces.
To me, a multi-cam is just like the feeling you get from the audience.
Because we don't have a lot of light, because we have a very low budget, we have to adjust the speed of our camera to get the effect that we want. So sometimes this is the way we work, and the result of the filming becomes a kind of a style.
'Shogun' was a mini-series, so even though it went on television, we filmed it like a movie.
With 'True Detective,' you have a lot of time. How I like to describe it... it's like you're filming a theater piece.
