The Film Director Prepares: A Complete Guide to Directing for Film and Tv by Myrl A. Schreibman

Author:Myrl A. Schreibman [Schreibman, Myrl A.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Published: 2010-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

COVERAGE PROCESS

Directing coverage involves directors’ thought processes and, if need be, their use of personal storyboards and shot lists. Although a storyboard and/or shot list is sometimes created for a specific moment in a scene and privately helps individual directors understand coverage, it must not become the manual for the sequence or for the process of coverage. Today the emphasis on storyboards is so prevalent that directors use them religiously. This is an error that directors should break away from. Doing a specific shot that may be in a shot list or storyboard only at a specific line of dialogue is an indication of a director cutting in his or her head. Further, it is not a creative way of eliciting a performance from actors, nor will it give the editor subtle choices with which to tell the story. Do not cut in your head; rather, have a sense of editing.

One director I know was covering a complicated scene. In his staging he would have his characters speak to one another, and in his sequence of shots he would do the over-the-shoulder shot of one character, then the over-the-shoulder shot of the other character, then go back to the over-the-shoulder shot of the first character, and so on as his sequence of storyboards directed him. He would then follow a similar process for the close-ups. He would also do the shots only in the sequence on the specific lines of dialogue that he had preconceived, erroneously thinking that this would help performance continuity for the actors. This process of coverage drove the director of photography crazy, as he was continually changing the lights and the camera from one side of the scene to the other and back again. It also disrupted the focus and concentration of the actors since their environmental reality was flip-flopping. If it was confusing to the cinematographer and disruptive to the actors, it was even more confusing to the crew. And more important, it unnecessarily and selfishly extended the amount of time it took to shoot the scene. Directors must always take into consideration an efficient use of time, even if it means putting the burden of maintaining and sustaining performances on their shoulders. Directors must remember that when making movies, the actors are acting for the director and the director is the actors’ barometer for their performance.

The coverage process has logic. That logic is directed toward being creative and efficient and is developed through a firm grasp of the theme of the movie or the scene and of the characters’ journey through the movie. It is further developed by the need to build on actors’ performances within each scene and to maintain, as much as possible, the environmental truth for the actors.

There are some rules regarding the sequence of coverage:

First, after the master shot, always try to work all the coverage from one side of a scene or beat and then work from the other side or sides. This translates into efficient use of production time.

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