Of all those who have something to do with the actual filming of a movie and who do not come before the camera, the most important is the director. His task is a tremendous one and his ability or lack of it can make or break a movie.

Now the interesting thing is that the director, as important as he is, usually does not get full credit from the public for his contribution to their entertainment. If you do not believe this statement, just try a little experiment with some of your friends. List about ten different outstanding movies that have played in your local theater during the last year. Now ask your friends to list the leading stars and the leading directors of these ten pictures. Most of them can list nearly all of the stars and few, if any, of the directors. The reason for this state of affairs is quite obvious. The stars are before you on the screen. You can see them and you feel that you know them. Their pictures appear on the advertisements for the film and their names are blazed in lights in front of the theater. But the director is lucky if he receives even a word in passing. His name is usually listed at the beginning of the film along with many others, so that it does not make a very big impression upon the audience. A few directors have become well known and the public has learned to recognize the type of picture they produce. But for the most part they are entirely in the background.

The director is usually the one responsible for most of the important decisions after the shooting of the picture begins. He has a great deal to do with the final product. The way the movie follows the story, the unusual angles from which the pictures are shown, the clever ways of introducing characters, and the changes from one scene to another are usually worked out by the director.

It is difficult in such a short space to outline in any detail the things to look for in good directing. By this time you have no doubt begun to realize that the director must almost be a jack-of-all-trades as far as the movies are concerned. It is up to him to know the story and how it should be told. He must understand the way in which the cameras function, what they can do, and what they cannot do. He must be able to see in his mind how a certain scene will look on the screen even before it is taken. But perhaps the most important thing a director must be able to do is to inspire those who work with him to want to make the picture the way he thinks it should be. He must be able to enthuse them to the point of wishing to do their part and more in making it a success. It is not always easy for him to accomplish this task, dealing as he does with many different personalities, some of them quite temperamental.

Many of the little touches you see on the screen, such as clever shifts from one scene to another, unusual angles of photography, and so forth, are the result of the director's genius. Look for them in the future and remember who brings them to you.