Judith Weston

As the subtitle makes clear, this book is about script analysis and rehearsal techniques. Weston’s aim is not only to argue for the importance of these two steps of film-making but to give helpful advice on how an aspiring director can carry them out.
The book is divided into three sections of increasing length. The first encourages the director to make use of intuition and feeling. The second addresses how to conduct script analysis, both on one’s own and together with actors. It includes Weston’s own analysis of scenes from three movies, one of which, Clerks, I was unfamiliar with, but her interpretation of it was as helpful as that of the other two films, which I have seen. The final, longest section, covers rehearsal technique.
Overall, the book frustrated me. It contains valuable material, but as a book is not as good as it could have been. The text features many subheads, in capitals, sometimes more than one per page. While reading, I couldn’t shake the feeling that these were powerpoint slides and that the text beneath each was a transcription of her remarks recorded during sessions of one of her courses. The result doesn’t seem to have been edited to avoid repetition and non sequiturs. This made me almost give up on the book before I finished the first section. I enjoyed the second section, and the third section began strongly. Her remarks on directorial authority fascinated me, but then the text started going in circles once again.
I’m not a film professional, but read the book because many of the principles apply to pastors in their preparation of worship services, particularly scripture readings and sermons. It came highly recommended by a friend who has participated in her workshops. Perhaps it is one of those books that is primarily valuable to have on the shelf to refresh one’s memory after taking the course.… (plus d'informations)

Very few books about screenwriting or directing make a serious effort to crystallize the knowledge that most screenwriters or directors know. In the CRAFTY books, I tried to crystallize what I know about screenwriting. What I find in Judith Weston's DIRECTOR'S INTUITION is a serious attempt to crystallize what film directors know. Specifically the book is about how to develop your director's intuition: what you know at a subliminal level, how you tell when an actor is bringing truth versus indicating, how you get an actor to bring his truth rather than just pretending. The book is dense and kind of scattered. It's not a method and it's not a how-to. Possibly this is because Ms. Weston is an accomplished actress and acting teacher, not, in fact, a director. But she busts out legitimate insights -- hers and others -- at a furious rate. I would read this for the many nuggets of truth, each of which is worth a think. It's much like spending a week chatting with an accomplished actor and teacher in a country house. Every few minutes she says something that took a lifetime to learn.The important caveat to reading any book about the arts is there is little point to reading passively. I try to make my own books as transparent as possible. You ought to be able to read it and get what I'm talking about. But to really have an idea what I'm talking about, you have to be writing. The best books crystallize what you are seeing -- they allow you to see a pattern in what you've already observed at some level. You can't learn to dance from reading a book. You can learn to dance by dancing, and improve your technique by dipping into a book. In Ms. Weston's book, she says a lot of things I know already. Those are lessons I've already crystallized. She probably says a lot of deep things I didn't even notice, because I don't have the knowledge to crystallize. What jump out at me are the occasional insights that connect things I've seen but haven't paid enough attention to yet. In other words, the book rewards rereading as you are directing or acting.I would still like to read a book I call, in my head, CRAFTY FILM DIRECTING. That would be a soup-to-nuts method for directing, with chapters on finding material, analyzing material, casting, prepping, directing actors, directing camera, managing a crew, directing the editing, directing the sound and directing the soundtrack. John Badham has a fine book about directing actors (I'LL BE IN MY TRAILER). I've seen books on directing on a budget (REBEL WITHOUT A CREW). But I've never seen anything on how to approach reading a script, or how to talk to a composer, or where to let the soundtrack go silent. You're just supposed to know these things. Since I'm not a film director, I don't feel qualified to write the book myself.… (plus d'informations)