Pedro Almodóvar

I`ve been recently reading a ´Film Craft´book on directing, the book gives each chapter too a particular director allowing them to share their knowledge about film-making. The first chapter is dedicated to the Spanish film maker Almodóvar. Below are some bullet points that I think may be helpful for me when I come too making my own films. This is not a word for word copy its more of my interpretation of the points he makes in the chapter. 

• He says that he writes and takes notes all the time, maybe up to four ideas are on the go at the same time until he decides on the one idea that is worth pursuing. He also goes on to say that he never really has total confidence that the project is going to work and come together, but there comes a time, with any film maker, were you know the trade and craft of film making, its like a language, and once you understand this you have to put your own stamp on the film, your own point of view, emotions and vision. The film has to have your own personal mark. One of the tasks as a director is getting that point of view across to your crew which could be made up of many different people. There are no rules that govern this process, its up to you as a director to find what works for you and what gets the best results.   
• As a film maker you have to have bags of common sense and you have to be strong as a boss and you will need to demonstrate this all the time throughout the film making process. You will be making 100 decisions every moment. He likens a film to an out of control train and the director has to stop it from going off the rails. This is something that not all directors can handle, some very talented film makers do not have the resilience to be able to cope with the film making process. Its not just the technical side of film making that can be a big issue its also the human element of a film that can destroy directors. Working with your crew and particularly your actors can be a real fight for a director.       
• Almodóvar seems to be a devil with detail, he says that he repeats himself to his cast and crew over and over until he works out what is going to work for the film, he has a strong sense of what he wants already in his mind but if he wants a particular color he´ll have his team go through all the different shades of that color so its understood completely what he wants and what will work. Its the same for any dress props like chairs and tables, he´ll hand his art directors photos of particular objects for them to try and bring onto the set. Its all about trial and error, trying things out and tweaking them to get the best possible results. He does however say this style of film making is more painstaking than it could be. He also says this attention to detail is also used on the appearance of his actors. 
• Even during the script writing process he is already thinking about color schemes and composition. Never give up on the little details. He says that when writing the script he is already working out what information to share with the audience or what information to withhold to help drive the narrative, he´s also conscious of the way his characters are built up throughout the course of the film. Even the atmosphere and music is all being thought about while writing the script.   
•  Everything you see while writing the script or making the movie can effect your creative choices, by looking art or watching other movies, these things can add depth to your writing. Everything informs your writing. He says that having depth to your films is crucial, some elements are never explained in the finished film but they are present, they give the actor that bit of extra meat to chew, gives a situation that bit more dramatic tension.