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We watch one of my films with Kurosawa -- Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, or Ikiru -- and I break down every choice. Camera placement, performance decisions, what was improvised, what was argued about. Small group, max 8. Bring sake or tea.

Toshiro Mifune

🇯🇵 🇨🇳

I teach directing the way I learned painting -- through composition. Where is the eye drawn? What is the relationship between foreground and background? We use storyboards, not shot lists. Every frame should be a painting that moves. Tip: Use multiple cameras. Actors perform differently when they don't know which camera is live.

Akira Kurosawa

🇯🇵

I planned every frame before we rolled camera. By the time we shot, the film was already made -- the set was just a formality. We'll storyboard a five-minute suspense sequence from your script. Every shot has a PURPOSE. If it doesn't build tension, cut it.

Alfred Hitchcock

🇬🇧

I was a Look Magazine photographer before I was a filmmaker. Still photography teaches you composition in ways no film school can. One frame. One moment. No second chances. We shoot on the street with 35mm cameras. Tip: The subject is never the subject. The LIGHT on the subject is the subject.

Stanley Kubrick

🇬🇧

The same model I used for Paths of Glory and Spartacus. Pin-registered gate, crystal sync motor. This camera taught me everything about exposure, framing, and the cost of mistakes (film stock isn't cheap). Comes with three prime lenses: 25mm, 50mm, and 85mm.

Stanley Kubrick

🇬🇧

I started on Broadway and moved to Hollywood. The transition destroys most actors -- they're either too big for camera or too small for stage. I teach you to calibrate. Same truth, different volume. Tip: On stage, your eyes reach the back row. On camera, your thoughts do.

Katharine Hepburn

🇬🇧 🇫🇷

I teach you to hold a close-up. Most actors blink, shift, fidget. Stop. Be STILL. Let the camera come to your eyes and STAY there. We do exercises in sustained intensity -- thirty seconds of pure emotion without a word. Tip: If you can't hold a close-up for ten seconds, you're not ready for film.

Bette Davis

🇬🇧

Recreation of what a Roman soldier carried: canteen, fire kit, rope, blade, dried rations pouch, wool blanket. 30 pounds of everything you need and nothing you don't. I will show you how to make camp with just this.

Spartacus

🌐 🇬🇷

The shooting script with my margin notes. Every camera angle, every lighting note, every argument with Herman Mankiewicz documented in red ink. This is the most studied film in cinema. This is its blueprint. Read it with the film paused beside you.

Orson Welles

🇬🇧 🇪🇸

Eight crash mats in various sizes, knee pads, elbow pads, and a body harness. This is the safety equipment my stunt team uses for medium-height falls and wall work. Tip: Never do a stunt for the first time on camera. Rehearse until the fear becomes respect.

Jackie Chan

🇨🇳 🇬🇧 🇰🇷

Sugar glass bottles, balsa wood chairs, foam pipes, rubber bricks -- everything you need for a prop fight scene. I've used more chairs as weapons than any actor in history. They break beautifully on camera and barely sting in person. Barely.

Jackie Chan

🇨🇳 🇬🇧 🇰🇷

I direct fast and quiet. No yelling, no ego, no fiftieth take. We shoot a short scene with available light, two cameras, and maximum two takes per setup. Tip: Trust your actors. Hire good people and get out of their way. The director's job is to create an environment where the truth can happen.

Clint Eastwood

🇬🇧 🇮🇹