Pearls of Wisdom from Ridley Scott and Warren Beatty

Several mentionables in separate interviews with Director Ridley Scott and Director/Actor Warren Beatty in the December 2016 issue of Post Magazine:

Scott:  For me, if you didn’t get it in the camera, you’re going to have serious problems and issues in post. You can’t save a movie in post, no matter how many visual effects you stuff it with.

The phrase "we'll fix it in post" gets tossed around a lot, but there's just only so much that can be done on the post-production end.  Try your hardest to make things right in production.  But how does one know what's right in production?  Experience, wisdom, expertise, and clarity of what's to be accomplished — Scott discusses this later in the interview:

Scott:  If you know what you’re doing you don’t need to spend all that time... For me, speed is good. It stops you over-thinking things.

Sounds like he's done plenty of experimentation, and often he knows exactly what he wants and how to achieve it, no more no less.  Laser focused efficiency.  On the flip side, Warren Beatty mentions how unplanned spontaneity can also be beneficial:

Beatty:  A film never turns out the way you first envision it. And you hope it doesn’t, because it gets better as you go along — or it should... I had all these initial ideas in mind, but sometimes you do your best work when you don’t have anything in mind and it just happens when you’re thinking about something else.

On watching and showing their work:

Scott:  I never watch any long-form version of my films till we have it all cut and put together. So you’re a virgin and you watch it fresh.

When creating, try to experience it with a first-impression mentality so you can critique and improve it properly for your audience.  Do not let your familiarity with the material equate to clarity of the material.  Beatty talks about another aspect of immediacy:

Beatty:   I don’t like to show a film before it’s ready, because with my films, they only get ready at the last minute. To quote Cocteau, ‘A poem’s never finished, it’s just abandoned,’ and that’s how I feel. I like showing it but not to people who then have to decide what they think of it. That’s dangerous, and you only have one immediate response.

When asked his opinion on music and sound being half the movie, Beatty responds:

I wouldn’t say half. I’d say more like 95 percent. (Laughs) It’s just so important and I choose all the music myself.

Director Jim Sheridan On Simple Shots

In the February 2004 issue of Millimeter Magazine, Director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot), discusses simple, clean shots in his movies:

I think it's better to have a lack of visual information than to have too much.  When you have a lack of information the audience has to become interactive with it.  They have to figure out what they're looking at.  I think a lot of films are overcrowded with information.  There's too much going on: too much light, too much acting, too much story.

...The more you put in the way that is visible, the less chance you have of getting true emotions.

Some movies spend an awful lot of time on carefully planned shots where everybody hits their marks, and it looks great.  But working that way can also take the soul out of a show.

If the audience is watching the characters and focused on the story, they're more likely to get the emotion of the moment.  The less you put in the way of that, the better.