Filming Technique Quotes

Filming, for me, is a way of approaching, little by little - of getting closer and closer to my subject. And that subject itself can transform, or it can remain the same.

Generally when I'm filming something, I have a sort of exaggerated, comical, sort of grotesque version of the same scene running parallel in my head. With this process, you get to let it out of the box a little bit.

I didn't need the insurance. I do it again if my DP tells me it didn't look good in the camera or if the actors didn't hit their marks. But if everything was working why do it again?

The scene where I took my eyelashes off we did in two takes.

I can't do a one-camera show. I don't know how to do that kind of show where you count in your head and then you do the next line.

I don't go back and look at the monitor between every take; I wait until I feel like we finally got it right: "Let me stop and look at that last one on the monitor."

The hardest scene for me is always the scene when I'm dealing with performances, when I'm actually looking at the guys and hoping that I'm covering it in the right way and that I'm handling it in the right way.

I prefer love scenes to be shot up close with a lot of focus on eyes and mouths. Otherwise it can feel uncomfortable and voyeuristic.

TV, it's a director's medium, and they wanna make it look interesting. To be rehearsing mostly for the sake of where you're standing so they can do the lighting, that's what I don't like.

I don't actually like blocking actors. I prefer giving actors freedom. They don't have to step on a precise mark with me. Instead of giving marks to the actors I like to give marks to the camera.

There are people who just collect a bunch of footage and then edit it later. You definitely feel more protected when a director is moving on when you've actually felt something happen and you know they're watching intently.

Kissing onscreen is very awkward because you have to worry about angles and you have to worry about where the camera is and you have to remember where your head was in this moment.

I prefer to have playback, but sometimes, you can't have that under most circumstances. First, it is expensive because you need a playback operator and secondly, it threatens a lot of directors. I only watch my performance. I see what is necessary for me so that I can see it right at the moment and I can fix it. That appeals to me a great deal.

I don't believe in the concept that 3D should be shot separately. I mean, every director has their own style, sure, but I don't think any of that is really an issue with 3D.

You get some directors, and I can never understand it - there's a thing they call the 'video village' where all the monitors are, and you've probably seen it on set visits - I hate that! I never, ever like sitting in video village. I get either my own monitor or a hand held monitor, and I stand right by the camera.

To me, a multi-cam is just like the feeling you get from the audience.

So we were doing this scene, and the kids get 20 minutes a day, um, so, all I had to do was pick him up out of the incubator and take him out, and that was the whole shot.

We did very little improvisation on camera, and once in a while we did.

The learning curve on soaps is through the roof because it's a three-camera setup. There's a master and then there's two singles. And the great thing about soaps, and soap actors will tell you, is that when you get your line wrong, they don't re-shoot it. They just cut to the person listening.

A good trick I learnt early on is not to immediately look at playback because once you know the shot, you can see when the camera is on you. It's best to stay 'in it' all the time, and just if it's on you, it's on you, and if it's not, it's not. It's the easiest way.

The beauty of shooting on something that's not in front of an audience is that you can just cut out the times you're laughing. You can cut to the other person and try to use that moment, right before you break. There's an energy to those performances. There's a reason people were laughing. There was something very special. That little extra something was in that line delivery or in that improv, so you try to use that stuff.

Shooting stuff on horseback is more complicated and time consuming than anything else.

When I do music videos, I like to do a take, then see how it looks, so I can correct it.

Zooming in, zooming out. I was shocked. I said, "Let's erase this right now, put the camera behind the stage and I'll do the performance just for the camera." He set up everything and I told him to go outside and smoke a cigarette. Come back when I finish. Don't touch the camera. This was the way how I've done most everything after that.

You really need to learn how to turn it on for 'action' and off for 'cut.'