What makes a film cinematic? by Eric Lake

I just finished watching a film called “The Red Turtle.”  It’s a Robinson Crusoe—man vs. nature—style film directed by Dudok de Wit.  It's a superb piece of work, a gorgeous animated film that doesn't need words to move you profoundly.  In a word, it’s cinematic, and therefore, my kind of film.  It’s really hard to nail down what defines cinematic.  Many point to the camera, costumes, set design, hair and make-up, editing, music, and so forth. It’s true, these are all important elements—nothing pulls you out of a film faster than a bad beard or a confusing edit.  But to me, cinematic is more about the feeling you get when watching a film.  It’s the art, and art is something that we only know when we see it…or hear it…or experience it. 

Cinematic starts with a team of creative people, each fully committed to their craft.  It requires problem-solving skills and a deep appreciation for all the disciplines involved.  For that reason, the cinematic experience is most often the realization of the vision and passion of one person, the director.  He or she is really in the best position to protect the primary aspect of the film—the story. 

Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit's The Red Turtle

I like to describe the film-making process as a car that always pulls toward the ditch.  It is a car that wants to kill everybody inside.  I know, a bit dramatic.  What I guess I mean is, film wants to be bad, dull and hokey.  It’s true, there was a time when people would willingly surrender an hour or two of their life to watch the home movies of a neighbor, friend or relative.  Not anymore.  Viewers have evolved into movie critics.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  Film is a language, and it has evolved as well.

On the set, the director faces an endless barrage of choices.  He must be driven by the principle of priority, which is:  (1) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (2) you must do what's urgent first.  This is the most powerful tool the director has in order to manage what is truly a colossal task.

When choosing a captain to helm this crew, sentimentality and prejudice must be avoided, with neither room for a tyrant nor an amateur.  There is nothing more disappointing for a hardworking film-crew than to see months of hard work ignored because of moments of weakness. 

Prioritizing the audio on location, shooting during the golden hour for the right light, spending half the day for make-up and hair...all of these are creative decisions that have to be made, each with its own production cost.  It’s the director who has to make the call, not the discipline.  Film crews are dedicated groups.  They each believe in their craft and want to give 100%.  The director knows that this is not sustainable nor desirable.  Every good landscape painter knows it’s the grays in a painting that make the bright colors pop, and so it is that the subtleties of a scene help set up those satisfying moments that really grab us.  Like the pauses and timing in a great piece of music, or the telling of a good joke, cinematic moments are planned for, often with great effort or with great restraint.  This is art.  This is the job of the director.

This hasn’t always been the case.  Back in the early days of cinema, it was the business-end of the industry that called the creative shots.  Screenwriters and directors were viewed as interchangeable with technicians, not given serious consideration in the artistic needs of the film. 

As film productions got larger and more elaborate, producers like David O. Selznick began to recognize the need for adding art direction to a film’s production.

Thus the birth of the art director.

WILLIAM CAMERON MENZIES. American. Production. designer, director, writer, storyboarder and producer

The motion picture “Gone With the Wind” (1939) ushered in a new era of filmmaking.  William Cameron Menzies would help define the role of art in film production.  "Production Designer" and “Art Director" were titles coined specifically for Menzies to refer to his being the final word on the overall look of the production.  Menzies meticulously pre-planned the color and design of each scene through a series of continuity sketches that noted camera angles, lighting and the position of actors. 

Later that year, Selznick brought over a young director from England that would help change the motion picture industry again. 

‘If it’s a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on’ -Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock began working with Selznick at a time when producers were in charge.  This was a foreign concept for him, as being a director meant being the lead creative source for the film.  Hitchcock became a major force in the industry, marking the rise of the director’s artistic vision.

Long before shooting began, Hitchcock and his writer would work together on the script.  He also worked closely with an artist to create a detailed sketch of each shot.  This storyboard is a constant guide for the director and his cinematographer in setting up each camera angle before they ever arrive on the set.  Technical problems are thus usually forestalled, saving time and energy.

“Perhaps he has engaged more viewers because he has, from the start of a film idea, taken more care, done more homework, planned more lovingly. The result, astonishingly often, has been great art.”— From “Hitchcock the Designer” by Donald Spoto, PrInt magazine July/August 1977

It is the director’s voice that we hear throughout the film. After over a hundred years, why is it some studios still fail to understand this dynamic? Fear of failure. The fact is, a risk-free artistic product is impossible, and that scares a lot of people. Film making is a unique marriage of technical and creative processes. It requires confronting challenges and problem-solving. As one director put it, ‘Direction is not about control, it’s about the wisdom of identifying the opportunity in the crisis.’ That is how art is made..