Silent Film Director Shows You 'How to Be a Motion Picture Director'
With The Artist up for an Oscar this weekend, I found this little item to be apropos. If we were to travel 100 years back we’d be avidly reading articles like the following interview with silent film director Marshall Neilan – “How To be a Motion Picture Director.” There’s a lot we can learn from watching silent films in terms of pure visual story telling, but it’s not often you hear advice about the business side. Mr. Neilan delivers in a big way, showing that as much as things change, some things stay the same:
A couple of choice quotes:
Q. What are the essential qualifications of a director?
A. The ability to convince producers that you are a better director than your pictures show you to be.
Q. How can this be done?
A. Easily. It is being done every day. Read a book on self-confidence and salesmanship.
Check out the full interview:
Do you think you could hack it in early Hollywood?
Link: Spectacular Attractions – How To Be A Motion Picture Director
[via Go Into The Story]
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19 COMMENTS
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E.M. posted this, not I… still waiting on those pesky bylines in the site design. Should be up shortly.
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Michael Locke on 02.20.12 @ 6:56PM
Love to read a similar interview with an actor of the day: on Acting! (as Jon Lovitz might say it).
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Granville on 02.20.12 @ 7:05PM
Seems almost satirical, but this is in fact the same b. s. fronting that exists to this day in movieland. Thankfully, there are many great directors who don’t live according to these lesser-evolved ideas.
Then again, there are plenty of wannabe’s who chew on cigars and act like they are Coppola’s brother, having never shot so much as an interview.
Is it really sound advice to suggest duplicity and deception are the way to greatness? The header could just as easily read, “How to be an as$h0l#”.
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James Fisher on 02.21.12 @ 9:45AM
How many do you have? Because it is scientifically proved that we start forgetting our kid names after the 10th … lol
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Hey Everyone,
Thanks to your votes ‘Parasite’ made it into the final round on YobiTV!
The final round runs from Febuary the 20th-26th and I’ll be competing against 15 other finalists for first place.
The 3 winners will be flown to Detroit, USA for spots on the new YOBI.tv original reality webseries “Aspire”.
Keep up the voting and don’t forget to share this link on your Facebook wall, as well as with your friends, family and co workers.
You can vote once everyday for my entry with a YobiTV account which can be created in just minutes.
Don’t forget to comment on the video as well and like it on Facebook or share it on twitter.
Thanks again to everyone who has voted and given thier support!
Cheers.
Dirk.
http://yobi.tv/yobifilm/contestant/17928/dirknienaber/parasite
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Thanks a lot. A smile at the end of a long day. Just what I needed.
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1 pingbacks
- Consejos de 1925 para ser un director de cine | Drama Robot on 02.21.12 @ 10:13PM
This was a great article to read, coming down from a 48hr film challenge this past weekend. Thanks for sharing this Koo!