Rachel Morrison Quotes

Period recreation is very difficult unless you make a black-and-white movie.

One of the reasons I love to jump back and forth between mediums is that film does allow me to be more literal. I can go to the real place. I can go to the Coliseum, and I don't have to fake it.

It's more interesting because you get to research the history of the period, and all the different aesthetic elements that make a film, particularly this film, so stunning.

I find that with period pieces, you're sort of able to really take advantage of what's around you because prop-wise, wardrobe-wise and location-wise, it's all so specific due to that time.

When working on a period, it is the finer details that evoke imagery that helps in cinematic adaptations.

Filmmaking is a very complex form - ya know, acting, lighting, screenwriting, storytelling, music, editing - all these things have to come together.

Of course, it's wonderful to film any period piece - but especially 'Foyle's War' because the art direction is so imaginative and yet at the same time so real. You can open a drawer on set, and even though the camera never sees what's inside, it'll be filled with genuine 1940s documents.

Scale is not just something that a director wants so as to play with all the toys. Scale also lends verisimilitude, to put together a real world.

Visually, I'm always considering shots and composition quite a lot, and I love putting art into films, and I do a lot of the art.

All my films have been larger-than-life. And since I've sat on almost all the scripts of the films I've produced, I do not compromise on aesthetics and visuals that could add to a scene.

I liked the whole process of creating on set. It's almost like creating magic. The work that the camera guys are doing at the same time, the lighting... all of the people working in their departments to make one thing.

Lighting practically whenever I can when shooting period really helps with authenticity.

There are a lot of similarities with film and TV, but also a lot of differences, especially in the way they film stuff.

I really love diving in, head first, with directing and not having to worry about hair, makeup or lines.

When I was acting, I was always asking abut the mechanics of filmmaking. I decided I would learn what everyone on set was doing, so I would feel less threatened.

I'm the kind of person who likes to create the environment and mindset - not because I do it deliberately, but because that's how I like to live - where, from catering to makeup to hair to wardrobe, electricians, camera department lighting, sound, you know, it's our movie; we're together, and we have that camaraderie and that closeness.

As a filmmaker and film student, I think it's really interesting to hear what a director did and how they figured out how to do things.

And then we watched an amazing number of movies from the late '60s and '70s, which is my favorite time, and we studied their camera movements, their stocks, the way they lit stuff, the colors they used.

I want to try and be as involved in the art of filmmaking as possible. I feel that the only way to really do that is to take on as many roles as possible, whether it be as an actor, an editor, a director, a cinematographer.

My wife Victoria Harwood was art director on 'Far North,' and she had designed my student film, 'The Sheep Thief.'

In L.A., cinema and television might be seen as more interesting places for architecture than ever before.

Any time you talk about the look of the film, it's not just the director and the director of photography. You have to include the costume designer and the production designer.

I loved being behind the scenes and finding out how they make movies.

There's a level of sophistication of filmmaking that's mind-boggling. Anything you need for your movie, there's an establishment that can make it happen really fast.

I've heard it said many times, 'Let's work on the look of the film,' but that doesn't work with me.