10 Filmmaking Quotes from Famous Directors and DPs
Enjoy our selection of 10 filmmaking quotes that will surely inspire and resonate with fellow filmmakers, writers, and cinephiles.
Image via: Paris, Texas (1984)
While many of these directors, writers, and cinematographers are considered some of the greatest of their craft, having produced some of the most memorable images and stories of all time, they explain that the elements of their films can be attributed to unadulterated luck, instinct, and happy accidents. If that doesn’t tell of the pure artistry of filmmaking, then I’m not sure what could.
Filmmaking and commercial video production are very different from one another but, in essence, are pretty similar (and becoming more alike as trends change). It’s a craft with lots of moving pieces, relies on the expertise of many hands, and can, at times, be left to the fortune of the day, time, and place.
Many of the freelancers and networks we work with are people who aspire to work on full-length feature films. They know the madness of producing and telling stories on the screen but love it deeply at the same time. With that, I thought it would be fun to pull filmmaking quotes from some of our favorite directors and cinematographers to inspire our fellow filmmakers, writers, and cinephiles. Well, without further ado, let’s get to it!
1. CHRISTOPHER DOYLE, Cinematographer
In the Mood for Love (2000)
“We’re taking the space within we work and the people with who we work as the basis of how the work evolves. So, there’s no style in the western concept. The style comes from the space, the process, the limitation we have, the people who whom we work. So, it’s not me imposing something on the film. It’s the film emerging from those characteristics, those conditions. The film is not a style, it’s a predicament.” —Christopher Doyle via video interview: “Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love) Interview - The Seventh Art.”
2. KELLY REICHARDT, Director/Screenwriter
“The lies are in the dialogue, the truth is in the visuals.” —Kelly Reichardt
3. BARRY JENKINS, Director/Screenwriter
Moonlight (2016)
“We are carrying these images out into the world, and we can't control how people contextualize those images no matter how virtuous our aspirations and our intentions are.” —Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins once explained that he had never seen a black man make food for another in a film, so he put it in his film Moonlight.
4. KIRA KELLY, Cinematographer
Starting as an electrician [in the film industry], you watch, and learn, how a set works. By the time I became gaffer, essentially being head of the department, I knew how to organize myself, my time, build a relationship with the AD and DP, give an accurate time estimate for each set-up — that’s invaluable. It was a wonderful education, especially as I got to see how the best DPs work — we learn through emulation and example. —Kira Kelly, via “Conversation with Cinematographer Kira Kelly.”
5. HOYTE VAN HOYTEMA, Cinematographer
Interstellar (2014)
“In the beginning, with Interstellar, I felt it was a little bit above my pay ray rate—it literally was, by the way. It was very ambitious, and I was worried about it, and I was having sleepless nights. And I thought, ‘Can you handle this?’ And then you plunge into it, and you notice you’re running, you’re stretching, and you’re really trying to make it work. And so, before you know it, you realize, ‘Okay, this project has made you able to do things you couldn’t really do before,’ and it’s a very satisfying feeling once you come out on the other end.” —Hoyte van Hoytema via “Unemployed to World-Class Cinematographer: Hoyte van Hoytema”
6. PIER PAOLO PASOLINI, Director/Writer
“When I make a film I'm always in reality among the trees, and among the people like yourselves. There's no symbolic or conventional filter between me and reality as there is in literature. The cinema is an explosion of my love for reality.” —Pier Paolo Pasolini
7. ANDREA ARNOLD, Director/Screenwriter/Actor
“When your characters are really living, they tell you what they do.” —Andrea Arnold
8. MIKE LEIGH, Director/Screenwriter/Playwriter
“The whole thing about making films in an organic film-on-location is that it's not all about characters, relationships, and themes, it's also about place and the poetry of place. It's about the spirit of what you find, the accidents of what you stumble across.” —Mike Leigh
Did you know Mike Leigh doesn’t start his films with a script? Instead, he works with actors on constructing a character and building off improvisation.
9. NATASHA BRAIER, Cinematographer
“For me, what makes a successful project is choosing the right project. It’s all about the process. It needs to feel like a journey like I’m going on a trip to a new place where I’m going to learn and have adventures and be insecure and find things and take risks. Where I’m going to be doing something dangerous, but I’m going to be brave and just go for it. If I make the right decisions, I know I’ll come out of it with something I’m proud of. I don’t care so much about success at the box office. I just care about creating meaningful, moving pieces of art that make people feel and think.” –Natasha Braier via “The Essence of Every Moment: Inside the Mind of a DP”
10. ROBBY MÜLLER, Cinematographer
“When I shoot a scene or light a scene, I take care of it. At every corner where an actor will go to, [it] has good lighting. You will see him. So, I don’t restrict. I don’t like to restrict people. These marks for light? The reason for that is that I hate interruptions. It’s just like a heartbeat. You can’t stop living and after five minutes live again. That’s what my main problem is with the conventional way of shooting – that you lose the momentum always.” —Robby Müller, via video interview titled, “Robby Müller on 'Down by Law' 1/3”
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