John Wells Quotes

I teach film directing, inasmuch as you can. It's not really possible to teach film direction, but I sit there as a sort of testimony of experience and know-how, I suppose.

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.

I think I've always wanted to direct, but I didn't go to film school. I was lucky enough to work in movies, and I think those became my film school in terms of acting and watching directors work and also writing and co-writing and producing.

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.

When I was in film school, I was learning more theory than practice.

I went from off-off Broadway. I would direct plays in Baldwin Hills. Almost Tyler Perry-like, really trying to express myself in that and not really knowing how to, knowing acting in story, but not really knowing how to technically hold a camera.

I think you cannot make films without choosing everything.

I had a pretty steep learning curve in film - as I'm still learning.

I actually started as a model builder and quickly progressed into production design, which made sense because I could draw and paint. But I kept watching that guy over there who was moving the actors around and setting up the shots.

Especially as a director on 'West Wing,' I directed a lot of different things in a lot of different ways and really stretched my wings.

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.

Most of all, I really wanted to become a filmmaker, and I've used every acting experience to just turn it into film school.

I always wanted to be a filmmaker and became one through sheer single-mindedness. I came to filmmaking from a background in graphic design. I went to film school at Newcastle Polytechnic.

I think we've shot scenes from every angle directors can think of to make it look like different villages. I've directed a couple shows on that set and believe me, it's impossible not to duplicate some camera angles.

As I began making my feature films, it was a great adventure. It was about constructing something I saw in my head or I had designed on storyboards and capturing that on film.

Visual elements are, of course, the director's job.

When you're making a film, you have an obligation to fill the frame with life.

If I want to make people moved or cry in a film, I figure out what the room looks like, what the people are wearing, what time of day it is, what the light is, how to photograph it, where to put the camera. It involves optics and costume design and set design and architecture.

If you're a documenter, you're taking a video of something in the real world you want to capture. If you're a director, you're trying to create something in the real world.

Your job as a director is to study the show, understand the show, understand the vibe, the tone, the characters.

Directing is quite a nuts-and-bolts thing. It's a mixture of creating an atmosphere in which actors can feel safe enough to be dangerous.

My job is to kind of nudge them. Who said it, where, like, '90% of the job is casting,' so all I do is try to come to set and focus on getting all the best shots to cover the story; that's really it.

A director should be in a position where he is only directing. On the sets, he is only looking at the performances, thinking 'How I am going to shoot this?'

I'm really fascinated by other directors' methods. I've done a lot of learning by observation.

Working with George Miller was an education. It was eight college degrees in character development and directing all at once.