Direction is an Art

You could give two directors the same script and both films would turn out different by the choices of their camera positions, lighting, locations and emotion from the actors. As a director you have your own style so it's down to you to view other directors artwork.

Watching films is like being in a lesson in school there are so many things you can pick up on and learn by analysing but by doing this you will never watch a film the same way agian when you go to the cinema, somtimes it can make the expirence worse (anyone seen Naked Lunch) or you apreciate the directors work, the writers story and the overal look of the production.

DVD Extras is obviously another way of learning the process but try work out how they shot that scene before it comes out on DVD, did they use green screen, was it a stunt man, where those jokes in the script and did they shoot that on a 1000fmp? (frames per second)

Vision & Passion

As a director you are ultimately responsible for the look and feel of the film, without vision and knowledge of the codes and conventions of genres, then it's really hard to amuse an audience with what they see on screen. Without passion you will loose the motivation and respect from your crew causing the production of your vision to collapse. I find these two words very crucial to a director because directors have to know what they want and love what they are doing.

There are two specific types of directors. Those who take on screenplays using their vision to interpret how it should look and those who write and direct their own stories. Writer-directors are really the auteur's of the film world in the way that the story starts in their head and ends up on the big screen, showing how they feel "their" story should be told.

All you have to do is find out which one suits you, not everyone can write an original screenplay but not everyone can guide a film crew. People like Steven Spielberg started of like us, he was just given the chance and his work improved over time. Check out the other Topics to find ways of improving your skills.