Many art forms are the result of an individual's painstaking commitment to his or her craft; countless hours toiling over the piece, funneling their own emotions and experiences into this very personal expression. In these such cases, like poetry and other forms of writing, music, and visual mediums like sculpture, painting, sketching, etc., it is always clear who is responsible for this work.
Film, however, is in a gray area. Occasionally you have a movie where one person conceived and produced a work in its entirety - including shooting, editing and other parts of the process. More frequently, however, the final movie is the result of many individuals' hard work and expression. And yet, so often there is a certain credit that reads "A Film by [director's name]" at the beginning and end of the movie. This brings up the question of true authorship.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately after a friend asked me who's responsible for the shots of a movie, the director or the cinematographer. Is the D.P. just a technician that does what the director tells him to? I've been lucky enough so far that all of the directors I've worked under have really allowed the process to be collaborative - thorough discussions of look and feel before shooting and then come time to roll camera, I am entrusted with the image. A lot of this may be due to the fact that in documentary, there really isn't an opportunity for the director to nitpick my shots. On "Director's Cut," the narrative feature I'm currently working on, my relationship with the director is similar to my doc work. She has put so much trust in me that the process of shooting is stress-free and fast. Prior to shooting, Elana and I figured out our style for the film and from then on, we just do it. Elana does her director thing with the cast as my crew and I set up the shot. Then she comes around to her monitor, smiles, and calls action. So for "Director's Cut" the direction of the film is Elana but the compositions and a lot of other visual elements are very much mine. As I understand it, the process is very different with other filmmakers. James Cameron, I hear, is meticulous with his planning and shooting. I think he even operates the camera. While he doesn't set up the lights himself, I'm sure he has a heavy hand in that stuff as well. AND he edits. So perhaps "A Film by James Cameron" is appropriate.
I guess there is no single answer for my friend. Different films have different hierarchies and different degrees of trust between crew members. Sometimes, the singular authorship of a movie is valid. More often than not, though, these "A Film by" credits ignore the crucial creative contributions of many key crewmembers. I've found that also more often than not, I tend to think the more collaborative movies are better anyway.
A post by Dave Dodds.
