Q&A with director Marian Yeager– part 2
Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in film?
Steven Spielberg was the first filmmaker to make me realize that there was someone behind all the magic of moviemaking. His earlier, smaller genre films are really what influenced and still influences me. John Hughes; storytelling style has been my template when writing since I started learning to write.
“Follow your dreams. Set aside your fears and do it. Just do it, you gotta do it.”
~ Marian Yeager
Directing is an incredibly difficult job. Why would you want to have 1,000 decisions in front of you and have over 100 people waiting on your answers and decisions?
The simple answer is I love to tell stories and I love to tell stories in this medium. Those thousands of questions are little each piece to a huge puzzle we are putting together. And I guess I love to put puzzles together, but not alone.
I enjoy the teamwork it takes, the long hours to get everything, the direction of the actors and discussion of motivation and intent. I love when I walk on to the set and see something that was in my head alive and breathing. A real place that you can touch and inhabit.
I love the creation and don’t mind at all the hard work it takes to get it.
Who or what are your main artistic influences?
There are several. I love bold, saturated colors, and very stylized looks which Baz Luhrmann does amazingly well. I also love the artistry of Edgar Wrigh’s editing style. And actually The Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things is a favorite of mine now – I love how they created the feel of an 80s genre film within their tv show. They brought such a beautiful atmosphere that built tension and intrigue and yet it was so familiar and artistic.
But I never am completely influenced by just my favorites. Take The Conway Curve as an example. It is highly influenced by Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie color palette and Bryan Fuller’s Pushing Daisies boldness of color and style. Ultimately, the way the film’s turns out is all dependent on the story and what it needs. Conway is not even close to being as stylized as say Pushing Daisies, but it took that idea and made into what worked best for it.
“I believe that the best way to present a hard truth is through humor. People are more likely to stay open to new ideas when smiling and having a good time.”attitude.”
~ Marian Yeager
What makes a film great for you? Are there certain qualities that make a film better for you?
There are three things that make a film great to me. Story, performance, and visual/audio storytelling.
You have to start with a strong story and characters that are compelling. If you haven’t got either of these why are we here? A strong performance can take a character who is not so likable and talk the audience into at least being interested in seeing how he/she gets out of their current situation. And finally visual/audio storytelling. I love when a film is beautifully shoot and the audio is clean but what puts the film over the top is when every shot and audio cue has a reason. That the director and DP and Audio mixer have come together before shooting and work out how the visual and audio are going to tell the story. What makes film different from all other art forms is the combination of the dialogue and visual/audio coming together to tell the story. It takes a while for most filmmakers to bring those three elements together. Even in some of the higher budgeted Hollywood films you’ll see that the director wasn’t thinking of how a visual might make a scene stronger or how an audio cue could have cleared up a confusing story element.