It is a time-honored truth of the film industry that everyone wants to direct. It is also a time-honored truth that few know how to approach the task. The role of director is perceived as one of creative visionary, which appeals to many. The description is apt, for the director must take the written words of the script and create a visualization that will translate itself into images on the screen.

What few novice directors realize is that this visualization is a process, a process that can be long, painstaking and, at times, tedious. The great myth of all creativity is that the creator is struck with a blinding vision of brilliance and throws it on the canvas in an explosion of genius. Artists often feed this myth by making it seem easy and hiding how difficult it is to create, how long it takes and amount of failure they deal with. No one wants to hear this anyway for it robs the arts, and especially filmmaking, of its magical appeal. This is not what we find when the curtain is pulled back and the magician’s trick is revealed – in this case, the director’s process of visualization.

The visualization usually begins with the first reading of the script. If the script has cinematic appeal the director will see many great images and moments in the piece. The novice will move forward, excited with the moments but the experienced director will realize this is far from a complete visualization.

One preliminary step towards that complete visualization is the shot list. The shot list is a breakdown of the script, usually scene by scene, of all the shots that the director believes he/she needs to communicate the story. This shot list will be revised, and revised and revised. As the shots go down on paper, the director should be thinking through all transitions between shots and how it will all cut together.

The shot list is a rough cut of the visualization, it covers the broad strokes of the required visual elements. The framing of the shots and the mise-en-scene and the blocking should all be coming together as the director “sees” the scene playing out. Once the director feels that the shot list is complete, a storyboard is drawn up of the shots in the shot list.

I strongly recommend creating the storyboards yourself. Some directors feel that this job should be handed to a storyboard artist. A storyboard artist will deliver you some fantastic images, but what good are they? The purpose of storyboarding is to communicate your visualization to the director of photography, certainly.

Far more importantly, the storyboards are a critical step forward in your visualization. As you take your shot list and make it into a visual picture form, gaps and problems in your visualization will become apparent. They will not if you hand this over to a storyboard artist. Since they are not on the same visualization process you are, they will not be able to interpret what you had in mind. In fact, they will bring their own vision for your film to the project and could easily muddle or obscure your own vision. Doing your own storyboards will help you realize that, for example, you need to set-up your camera to the left of the car instead of the right to get the protagonist exiting the driver’s side door. These little details of blocking and placement never come up in a first visualization.

But I’m terrible at drawing, you say. Doesn’t matter. They shouldn’t be good pictures in an artist sense. They are conceptual drawings and are not designed for public consumption. You are not making a comic book. I highly recommend that you have a look at the DVD extras from Martin Scorcese’s “Taxi Driver”. You will see Scorcese’s storyboards from the climatic shooting scene. They are not artistically well done. They are, however, a dead-on visualization of the shots needed to make the scene work. And you can compare and contrast them to the actual shots and see the faithfulness on the part of the cinematographer to the director’s vision because the cinematographer had a visual representation of the director’s vision. No amount of talking or gesturing or writing can substitute for these visual drawings.

If you still object to your own ability to draw to scale, I would recommend using software like “Storyboard Artist” available from www.powerproduction.com. This will allow you to get the depth and dimensions you want and help you revise your shot list. To a certain extent, it will aid your ability to see what the shot will look like through the viewfinder and even tell you what your compositions will be.

Some cinematographers would emphasize the storyboards should not be particularly detailed, since the geography of the shots and the framing may change once on location. Wise words, but to be taken with a grain of salt. The cinematographer will, of course, want to have as much control as possible over the framing and camera positions. There is a remedy for this, and it is another revision of your shot list and storyboards on location.

As a director, you can travel to the locations once they are secured and walk through all of your shots with a director’s viewfinder or, even better, your cinematographer. This will cast a bright light on the discrepancies from the perfect, idealized vision of your movie that exists in your head and the reality of the space and light you will be working with. This can be a disappointing exercise, since you will really be seeing what this movie will look like and it might not be what you originally had in mind. Better to know it now and make changes than discover on set, or worse, when you view the rushes. At this point, it’s not too late to reject the location, bring in different props or set pieces or change a lighting scheme.

Is this last bit of preparation excessive? Perhaps. Will it add onto your preparation? It will add an enormous amount of time, maybe double the amount of time spent in pre-production.

Will it shorten the amount of time it takes to set-up and execute each shot in production? Probably by half. And there will be no pressure from crew standing around staring at you when you scramble to find a solution to a problem you hadn’t anticipated from lack of preparation. Every moment they wait is a moment they are less engaged in the project, another moment you rob from yourself and the realization of your vision, another moment you go over time and over budget, another moment you lose credibility, another moment you give someone else the opportunity to realize you are not ready for this job and take it from you.

The purpose of going through the visualization process is to establish what the shots will be and how they will work together. Be very careful about who you accept suggestions from and what changes you make. You have thought through these shots very carefully and made numerous revisions, there will be a limited number of circumstances under which they will be able to add anything.

Many times the people making suggestions are not thinking beyond the shot in front of them. They are usually not considering the most important element, which is the story being told. They are usually focused on something related to their own individual job and are not looking at the big picture You have a plan for the entire movie and there is a reason why you planned to do the shot the way it is listed in the storyboards. Deviations from the vision without proper background will lead to shots that do not work together. In the end, if the movie doesn’t work it will be your fault and you can’t place blame anyone else who lead you astray from your vision.

Only permit suggestions from senior members of the crew and only so often, for deviations from your storyboards and shot lists are deviations from your visualization. Deviations from your visualization is a waste of your prep work and a truncation of your schedule. It’s too late to change things when you’re on set and come hell or high water, the movie you have designed is the one you are going to make and if it isn’t perfect, your next picture will be. If you don’t get it done on time and on budget, there will not be another picture.

Will all this ensure that you will get the shot in production that you had visualized in your head, on the shot list, on the storyboard and in the script? Yes, although it will be equal parts adjustment of your vision to reality and adjustment of reality to your vision. Take the time to develop your vision, to know it better than anyone else and to be certain of how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Then there will be no surprises on set, it will just be a rehearsal of something you know by heart. The variables will be ones that can easily be controlled so you can focus on the performances of your actors and the emotional content of the material.

Glen Berry is an award-winning filmmaker and the Editor of film underground. Berry has written for Moviemaker magazine and FilmFestivals.com. For more information visit www.filmunderground.com.