You hear a lot about this phrase before embarking on the life of a director. The importance of it. How it will define your career. But what does it actually mean?
Gaining Vocals
When you first start watching work in the field you want to specialise in, you are always drawn to particular filmmakers. Certain ones stand out for you. They call to you. That is their voice resonating with the creative inside you. You consume everything they have made.
It is from watching voices that you learn the importance of a distinctive voice in shooting any visual medium. Watch how two similar stories differ so much with two different directors — their two different approaches. How their own unique voice has shaped the final project.
A director’s voice has such awareness with audiences that they know what to expect when they go to see their new project. They know the style, are familiar with the voice, comforted by it.
But what they are looking for, is not a continuation of that voice. They are always on the lookout for new voices.
Broadening Your Octave Range
The inherent danger with fixating on one filmmaker you love, is that your own work starts to mirror what they do. It has seeped so far into your subconscious that you are often not aware that you are merely recreating someone else’s voice. Audiences are smart. They can spot a copycat a mile away. You did not dream of being a filmmaker to simply be a shadow of someone with a stronger voice.
Therefore, it is imperative that you broaden what you watch. Even if it is a filmmaker you are not normally drawn to, there will still be a moment that will catch your eye. You often hear the expression that someone is well-read. The same needs to apply to you. You need to be well-watched. Anytime you watch a famous director being interviewed they are able to talk about a huge variety of influences, across multiple genres. They broadened their viewing to discover what their own voice is.
If you do the same, all of that research will begin to shape a new voice, the one you need to shoot with.
Your Directing Voice
As you make more and more projects, the voice inside you will become shaped and moulded by what you make. It will gain clarity from experience. You will also have picked up new skills on your previous shoots. These skills will have completely shaped your own unique voice.
You will still love the projects of others, but you will no longer be influenced by them, only inspired. You will instinctually know how you are going to shoot something. You will know from experience, what projects are best for your voice to shine.
It is a wonderful feeling when you discover what your own voice is. What is unique about your approach to filmmaking and how you put visuals and stories together. It is that voice that audiences will be drawn to, the way you were drawn to other voices when you were first an audience member longing to be a filmmaker. You will be a new voice of cinema. Completely unique. Utterly you. A voice that needs to be heard.