Fiction directors:
In their own words
Elevate your movie-watching experience with this filmmaking guide for cinema aficionados.
Uncover the intricate filmmaking decisions, from conception to editing, that tug at your heartstrings and provoke your thoughts.
Diverse perspectives from the best filmmakers working today will shatter your preconceptions, proving there’s no one-size-fits-all in directing.
Transform how you consume movies and cultivate a richer appreciation for the craft.
The ebook will be delivered to your inbox as both a PDF and ePub as soon as you purchase.
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“Seventh Row interviews are to film what the Paris Review interviews are to literature.” – Shaula Evans
Why we wrote the book
About
In their own words
Have you ever wondered…
Why do directors care about creating a sense of place in film?
How do directors choose an aspect ratio?
How do directors decide how close the camera should be to the actors and action?
How does editing fit into the filmmaking process?
What creative decisions do directors make that it never even occurred to you to consider?
From conception to final cut, directorial decisions are intimately connected to your emotional response to each moment in a film and the film overall.
t’s not just about understanding why a scene moved you—it’s about exploring the plethora of creative decisions that led to that pivotal moment
Seventy-four directors (more than fifty percent are women), from across every continent, weigh in on all of these questions In their own words: Fiction Directors.
Fiction Directors will transform how you analyze and engage with films as a movie lover by helping you think about film through the eyes of a filmmaker.
Discover new questions to ask yourself about what you’re seeing on screen and how these can unlock a movie in new ways.
This is the second book in our In their own words series which began with In their own words: Documentary Masters.
Download the first chapter free!
Not sure if the book is for you? You can download a free preview of the book now! Discover how filmmakers approach working in different genres.
About the Editors
Alex Heeney is a film critic and film programmer and serves as founder and Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row and the Seventh Row Podcast. She has interviewed hundreds of international filmmakers, and some of her best interviews are excerpted in In their own words: Fiction directors. Her interviews are used in university classrooms around the world and regularly referenced in academic books and journal articles. She has learned to be a more attentive and critical movie-watcher through the insights of the directors she’s spoken to — not just on their films but all films.
Orla Smith is a film critic, filmmakers, and was the Executive Editor of Seventh Row at the time of the book’s publication. She has interviewed dozens of major and emerging filmmakers from around the world for Seventh Row.
Alex and Orla have co-edited 14 critically acclaimed ebooks on film for Seventh Row. These books have been featured in RogerEbert.com, The Film Stage, Screen Anarchy, Stabroek News, Woman in Revolt, The New York Times, and more. In their own words: Fiction directors compiles some of the best insights from the interviews in all of these books and on the website from 2015-2021. It puts comments from disparate filmmakers on common topics side by side.
In their own words: Fiction directors primarily features excerpts from interviews conducted by Alex Heeney and Orla Smith. Several other Seventh Row contributors’ interviews are also excerpted, including Elena Lazic
Table of contents for In their own words: Fiction directors
How do you approach working in different genres?
- What are the storytelling benefits of working in genre cinema?
- How do you approach depicting action and violence in film?
- Why is comedy such a crucial cinematic tool?
- How do you tell a love story?
How do you approach representation in film?
- Why is diversity in the film industry so crucial?
- How do you portray a marginalised group outside of your own experience?
- How have you portrayed masculinity on screen?
- What does it mean to depict Indigenous experiences on screen?
- How do you tell complex stories about women?
How do you create a sense of place?
- Why is it important to create a sense of place?
- How do you approach location scouting?
- How can locations reflect character and vice versa?
- How should you shoot your characters’ environment?
- How do you accurately and respectfully portray a foreign place on screen?
- How do you portray Canada on screen?
How do you devise a film’s aesthetic?
- How do you approach creating a unified but interesting aesthetic?
- How do you use references to devise an aesthetic?
- How can you use colour to tell a story?
- Do you prefer to shoot on film or digital?
- How do you choose an aspect ratio?
- How do you decide how close the camera should be to the actors and action?
- How do you decide if, how, and when to move the camera?
- How do you use framing to tell the story of a relationship?
- How do you visualise memory on screen?
- How can you use production design to tell a story?
- How can you use costume design to tell a story?
How do you work with actors?
- How do you approach casting?
- How do you feel about rehearsal?
- How do you collaborate with actors?
- How have you approached working with first-time actors?
How do you shoot a film?
- What is the benefit of shooting chronologically?
- How do you approach blocking a scene?
- How can improvisation add to or detract from the filmmaking process?
- How do you approach shooting an ensemble scene?
- How do you approach shooting music and dance?
How does post-production work?
- What do you get out of editing your own films?
- How does editing fit into the filmmaking process?
- What did you discover about your film during the edit?
- How do you approach using music in a film?
- Why is sound design so crucial to storytelling?
- How do you use sound to create a sense of place?
- How do you approach recording sound and creating the library of sounds that you use in the mix?
- How do you use sound to reflect a character’s subjective headspace?
What is the connection between film and theatre?
- How does directing film compare to directing theatre?
- How should you approach adapting a play for the screen?
- How does directing actors on film compare to directing actors in theatre?
- What do actors with theatre experience bring to a film?
Directors featured inside In their own words: Fiction directors
From famous, celebrated auteurs to emerging talents, we feature filmmakers who have interesting ideas on film. You don’t need to have seen their movies to benefit from their insights, and you might discover new talents whose work you’d like to explore.
Haifaa Al-Mansour / Shola Amoo / Benedict Andrews / Quinn Armstrong / Amma Asante / Olivier Assayas / Jeff Barnaby / Sofia Bohdanowicz / Deragh Campbell / Dominic Cooke / Terence Davies / Yann Demange / Arnaud Desplechin / Andrea Dorfman / Gwaii Edenshaw / Chris Elena / Anne Emond / Richard Eyre / Sadaf Foroughi / Philippe Falardeau / Coralie Fargeat / Jennifer Fox / Merawi Gerima / Rupert Goold / Debra Granik / Andrew Haigh / Brett Haley / Mia Hansen-Love / Kathleen Hepburn / Atsuko Hirayanagi / Eliza Hittman / Joanna Hogg / Anna Rose Holmer / Susan Johnson / Wanuri Kahiu / Natasha Kermani / Ariane Labed / Yorgos Lanthimos / Pablo Larraín / Francis Lee / Mike Leigh / Philippe Lesage / Sam Levinson / Tonie Marshall / Lucrecia Martel / Ashley McKenzie / Kleber Mendonça Filho / Rebecca Miller / Oren Moverman / Jasmin Mozaffari / Cristian Mungiu / Darlene Naponse / Rungano Nyoni / Christian Petzold / Pascal Plante / Sally Potter / Kazik Radwanski / Atiq Rahimi / Lynne Ramsay / Kelly Reichardt / Patricia Rozema / Lone Scherfig / Céline Sciamma / Alankrita Shrivastava / Mina Shum / Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers / Warwick Thornton / Joachim Trier / Athina Rachel Tsangari / Lulu Wang / Alice Winocour / Carmel Winters / Chloe Zhao / Darya Zhuk
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