What I Think Director's Do (or Should Do)

First, I hope your last blog title is an allusion to that hilarious Nutrigrain commercial. Okay, so my thoughts on the three most important things a director does are the following:

1. The director has the "vision" for the film. He (for simplicity sake I will refer to the director as he, but a woman could and should often be in the director's chair) has worked closely with all the major crew positions (director of photography, production designer, etc.) to communicate all the pre-production work he has done. With those crew members' input, he creates the "vision" for the film project, including the themes he wants to emphasize, the look and feel he envisions for the film, etc. For the film to really succeed, the director's vision needs to be consistent in all aspects of the filmmaking, and he needs to help others believe in and capture that vision.  

2. The director deals with the "talent" (i.e. the actors), and the way he interacts with them definitely influences the film's outcome. Some actors are more difficult to work with than others, and that can influence every one else on set negatively. The director needs to know how to work with all kinds of people to ensure that the work continues efficiently and the performances are strong. When a film is successful, and I'm thinking more artistically than commercially, signs usually indicate that the cast and director had a very good working relationship and a strong friendship.  

3. Wow, coming up with a third task is suddenly difficult. The first two came easily. Okay, I got one. This third one is more a reflection my personal philosophies regarding film as art. All art, I believe, serves to help human beings better understand one another. So this third task is actually the motivation underlying all that a director does: he wants to make a film that either reflects something he has learned in his quest to understand people, or it acts as an exploration of human nature in an effort to increase his understanding. I realize this reflects just my personal beliefs, but I think most good directors (those not making terrible commercial films) would admit to using film for similar purposes.

So that's what I think, but I could be way off.