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.
The work of the director is the work of constructing the shot list from the script.
We just started filming, and after every scene was shot, we had a rehearsal for the next one.
When you are shooting over a period of six months, you tend to forget how dark or bright it was. And when you are using different technologies, having a look book helps during the final grading of the film. So you can design what the film is going to look like even before the colouring process begins.
We always try to leave room for the actors to come in and make discoveries on set, in their interpretation of the scene. The shot list is scaffolding.
The director is the only person on the set who has seen the film. Your job as a director is to show up every day and know where everything will fit into the film.
The fact is, you don't know what directing is until the sun is setting and you've got to get five shots and you're only going to get two.
Working on a film, the setup for an action sequence takes a long time, and we need to shoot the scene many times to get different angles.
I went to film school, trained as a director, have made a lot of movies, and taken a lot of photographs, so I tend to envision things spatially. As I'm working, I need to have a map of the space. I need to know what's happening in all corners simultaneously.
The way I work is, I always compose a shot list before I talk to anybody, including my DP. So I'll spend a couple months basically creating the movie in my head, so I have a very solid film in my head, where I know every shot, and I know what the transitions between scenes are.
I rely upon the directors to fill me in before a shot.
In a very real sense, all you do when you're shooting film or television is you shoot a scene, and then you shoot another scene, and then you shoot another scene.
I'm more of a seat of my pants, heat of the moment kind of person, which lends itself well to hosting and acting, but not necessarily going, "Oh, what is my shot list? That's right, I needed to work on a shot list."
I don't storyboard like some. I mean, all directors are different. I plan meticulously - really meticulously.
