The Director's Idea
The Path to Great Directing
by Ken Dancyger
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Book Presentation:
As a director, you must have a concept, a "director's idea", to shape your approach to the actors, the camera, and the script. With this clear idea your film will be deeper and more effective, and you will be able to differentiate--and therefore make the choice--between competent directing and great directing. Using case studies of famous directors as real-world examples of "director's ideas", the author has provided the theory and the practice to help directors immediately improve their work.
About the Author:
Ken Dancyger is the author of numerous books on screenwriting, editing, and production. He conducts screenwriting forums and workshops in North America, Europe, and Asia. A past chair of Undergraduate studies in the Department of Film and Television at NYU, he is currently Professor of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Press Reviews:
"The Director's Idea explains in precise language how cinematography influences every aspect of story-telling and character portrayal in a film--it will certainly help young directors understand the importance of making critical choices along the way. It is especially useful to talk about camerawork in the context of a book about directing--linking the technical and creative aspects is the key to great film-making." --Michael Ballhaus, Cinematographer, THE GANGS OF NEW YORK and WORKING GIRL "Ken Dancyger interprets my films accurately, intelligently, but most importantly for me, with a great deal of heart. He allows himself to be gripped by a character, to be moved by a powerful performance, and that is why he so clearly understands the priority of emotion in my films, that the personal journey defines the political story, and not the other way around. The beauty of Dancyger's book about directing is that he writes simultaneously as an impressive intellectual and as a lover of cinema. That is rare and refreshing" --Margarethe Von Trotta, Director, ROSENSTRASSE and MARIANNE AND JULIANNE "This book takes a scholarly look at moviemaking...but creates a keen appreciation of the art as a result." - What Digital Camcorder "The idea behind the book is that each director's unique vision begins with an idea, a unifying principle that will carry through every decision in all of his or her films." - Back Stage West, June 22, 2006 "This book is a compendium of information about directing and what makes a good (or great) director. What kept us reading was the author's use of well-known films and directors to illustrate and complement the concepts he presents in the book." -Camcorder & Computer Video
"The Director's Idea explains in precise language how cinematography influences every aspect of story-telling and character portrayal in a film--it will certainly help young directors understand the importance of making critical choices along the way. It is especially useful to talk about camerawork in the context of a book about directing--linking the technical and creative aspects is the key to great film-making." --Michael Ballhaus, Cinematographer, THE GANGS OF NEW YORK and WORKING GIRL "Ken Dancyger interprets my films accurately, intelligently, but most importantly for me, with a great deal of heart. He allows himself to be gripped by a character, to be moved by a powerful performance, and that is why he so clearly understands the priority of emotion in my films, that the personal journey defines the political story, and not the other way around. The beauty of Dancyger's book about directing is that he writes simultaneously as an impressive intellectual and as a lover of cinema. That is rare and refreshing" --Margarethe Von Trotta, Director, ROSENSTRASSE and MARIANNE AND JULIANNE "Whether you're an aspiring director or simply a film lover, you'll gain insight from this book that you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere." -Camcorder and Computer Video
See the publisher website: Routledge
> From the same author:
Alternative Scriptwriting (2023)
Contemporary Storytelling for the Screen
by Ken Dancyger, Jessie Keyt and Jeff Rush
Subject: Technique > Scriptwriting
> On a related topic:
Directors Tell the Story (2025)
Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing
by Bethany Rooney and Mary Lou Belli
A Guide to (Short) Documentary Filmmaking (2025)
Creating Artful Short Documentary Films
The Art of the Filmmaker (2023)
The Practical Aesthetics of the Screen
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