Paul Greengrass Quotes

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

I feel every shot, every camera move, every frame, and the way you frame something and the choice of lens, I see all those things are really important on every shot.

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

I was never one for multi-cameras; my approach was always... I always considered there was only one place to be to do a shot.

I'm one of the few directors that actually shoots a lot in camera.

I also know what looks good before the camera, how to move the camera, and how to get a story on the screen.

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.

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

People who are good at film have a relationship with the camera.

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.

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.

I've storyboarded for things other people have shot. So thinking in shots and orchestrating shots is not foreign to me at all.

I've always wanted to be behind the camera in some capacity.

If you know how to shoot a scene, then you know how to shoot an action scene. If you've seen an action movie, and you watched it, and you paid attention to how scenes are constructed and where the camera is and how the camera moves, then you know how to do it.

Having been a cameraman, I think about, 'Well, if this was real, how would this be shot?' I try to inject as much realism as much as possible.

An actor's performance can be improved or shaped - or ruined - by what takes you use, how long you are on the actor's face, what line you put on the other actor's face, and when do you use close-ups or wide shots or two shots.

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.

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.

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

Every cinematographer I worked with had his own way of solving problems.

So many directors say nothing beautifully, and so many others say great and profound things but have no idea how to read a light meter or arrange a shot.

The camera must point at the exact spot the audience wishes to look at any given moment. To find that spot is absurdly easy: you only have to remember where you were looking at the time the scene was made.