John Badham on Directing: Notes from the Sets of Saturday Night Fever, WarGames, and More

Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Contributors
Using This Book
Part I: A Lack of Trust: The Five Mistakes
	Introduction: A Nasty Bit of Laundry
	Chapter 1: Mistake #1: Directed by Anonymous
		Get ’Em While You’ve Got ’Em, Before You Get ’Em
		Homework . . . Do It
		They’re On Board
		On the Day
		Failure Is OK
		Summary
	Chapter 2: Mistake #2: Know-It-Alls Rule
		Summary
	Chapter 3: Mistake #3: Filibusterers
		Summary
	Chapter 4: Mistake #4: Too Many Notes
		Step #1: Cut and Validate
			How Not to Watch a Take
		Step #2: Privacy Please
			Technology Sidebar
		Step #3: Keep Them in the Loop
			The Bull in the Arena
		Step #4: Make It Fun
		Step #5: One at a Time
			Don’t Let Things Slide
			Make It Their Problem
		Summary
	Chapter 5: Mistake #5: Enamel Grinders
		Tales from the Trenches
		Summary
Part II: Action and Suspense: The Five Strategies
	Chapter 6: Strategy #1: Not Just a Pretty Chase
		What Is Action?
		African Action
		Directing Actors in Action
		Summary
	Chapter 7: Strategy #2: Who, Where, and When
		Point of View
		ID and Locate
		Orientation
		Jeopardy
		Countdown
		Summary
	Chapter 8: Strategy #3: Quick Techniques and Safety
		1. Pointless Masters
		2. Few Actions
			Exception
			Observe the Three-Take Rule
		3. Overlap Actions
		4. Scissor Time
		5. Not That Fast
		6. Change-Up
		7. No Immutable Rules
		8. Booby Traps
		Summary
	Chapter 9: Strategy #4: See It Before You Shoot It
		Storyboarding
			1. What’s the Point?
			2. Dialogue Scenes
			3. Overdrawing
			4. Losing the Flow
			5. Slaves to the Boards
		Can’t Afford No Stinkin’ Storyboards?
		Coverage
		Summary
	Chapter 10: Strategy #5: Mystery, Surprise, Suspense
		Rule #1: Mild Conflict, Mild Interest
		They’re Coming! Get Out!
		Setups, Builds, and Switches
		Another Cat Skinner
		Mystery vs. Surprise vs. Suspense
		Summary
Part III: Preparing the Scene: The Director’s Checklist
	Before Rehearsal?
	The Checklist
	Chapter 11: The Scene Related to the Film
		1. What happened before this scene?
		2. What does it add?
		3. What’s different at the end?
		Summary
	Chapter 12: Architecture of the Scene
		4. Whose point of view?
		5. Where are the beats?
			Tool #1: Physicalizing
			Tool #2: Characters Think Ahead
			Tool #3: Use the Camera to Show a Character’s Thought Process
		6. Where is the Tipping Point?
		Summary
	Chapter 13: Characters Enter the Scene
		7. What do they want?
			Rule #1: We Always Have a Goal
			Rule #2: No Goal, No Acting
			Rule #3: Every Character Has His or Her Own Goal
			Rule #4: One Beat, One Goal
		8. What do they expect?
		9. What’s at stake for each character?
		Summary
	Chapter 14: Interacting Characters
		10. What’s stopping them?
		11. How do they get what they want?
			Only Verbs . . . Active Verbs!
		12. How does a character regard the other?
		Summary
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Further Reading
Photo Credits
About the Author
Index