As part of our Directors Series mix, here are a pair of sponsored content profiles in which directors Jay Patton of Dictionary Films and James Lipetzky of Foundation Content reflect on their most creative, challenging work this year, as well as lessons learned about the business and/or themselves based on their experience/projects in 2013.

Jay Patton
Director, Dictionary Films

1) What project has been most significant for you this year in terms of creative challenges you were able to meet and/or how did it help to define or diversify the nature of your work?

I worked on a great Philadelphia Cream Cheese project with McGarry/Bowen Chicago. They wanted a spot that followed milk through all of the steps to becoming cream cheese.

Our team built a 36′ long miniature set that represented everything from the farmland where the milk is procured, to the factory where the cream cheese is made.

Our team created and combined a blend of stop-motion, live-action, CGI and miniatures within a really tight schedule. Much of the CGI and miniature designs were built simultaneously to make the deadline.

I am really interested and active in using scale models and stop animation. This was a great opportunity to do these things on a bigger scale with the support of a great agency and clients. The finished spot is a beautiful, fun piece that really captures the energy of everyone involved. It also ran in 3D cinema before the movie, Oz the Great and Powerful.

2) What has (have) been the most important lesson(s) you have learned about the business or about yourself as a director based on your experience/projects this year?  

This year I’ve really learned the importance of stepping out from behind the camera. Previously, I’ve operated the camera on almost everything I’ve directed. As I tackle bigger projects with creative that is more dialogue and performance driven, I have really seen the benefits of delegating the camera work.
Directing without operating has given me a very different perspective on the work. It’s a challenge learning to trust someone, but it also provides a level of freedom and the ability to really focus on performance.

I never want to stop learning and I truly believe there’s knowledge to be gained on every project. Learning to give up some responsibility in camera is probably the biggest and most rewarding thing for me this year.

3) Have you a mentor or mentors? If so, who? And how has that (those) mentor(s) helped to influence or shape you as a filmmaker?

Nadav Kurtz has been an inspiration to work with, I love that he makes his own opportunities and is always exploring new ways to approach the stories he’s trying to tell.

Chris Markos has taught me a lot over the years about the commercial business in regards to shoot boards, working with talent, and bringing great teams together to tackle projects.

Carl Schumacher, an old friend and treasured editor, has taught me a lot about what works in an edit and how small unplanned pieces of footage can be used to bring humanity to a story.

James Lipetzky
Director, Foundation Content

1) What project has been most significant for you this year in terms of creative challenges you were able to meet and/or how did it help to define or diversify the nature of your work?

Filming the documentary feature, License to Operate, over this past summer has been the creative challenge of my career. It was a wonderful and challenging opportunity. It started when I did a short for a charity Pete Carroll started called A Better LA which funds gang interventionists. The agency, Omelet, and I decided the story deserved to play out over a feature and with their support, I was able to make the film.

Shooting the feature, I’ve been able to take all the lessons I’ve learned from the commercial world and apply it to this film. Having edited and shot real people for over twenty years, I was comfortable with interviewing people but when the stakes are life and death, the pressure’s on. So, I focused like I always do, on the story. What is compelling. Where is the human connection that makes this special? And from that basic step which I learned on day one, I started to weave together the larger narrative of the film.

Link to License to Operate teaser trailer: https://vimeo.com/74390569

2) What has (have) been the most important lesson(s) you have learned about the business or about yourself as a director based on your experience/projects this year?

Focus on what’s in front of you. The amount of change to the business over the past year has been monumental. I’ve seen more change in the past six months than I have in the previous ten years. As a creative, you just have to accept that uncertainty and embrace it because you can’t change it. Let every shot be an opportunity for change. Let every shoot challenge you. I try to be organized for every shoot but I’m also open to where the shoot and then the edit takes the idea. Filming the doc feature, License to Operate, was a case in point. I had expectations for the story but it changed every day. If you’re open to it, change is the best thing to happen to you.

3) Have you a mentor or mentors? If so, who? And how has that (those) mentor(s) helped to influence or shape you as a filmmaker?

I wouldn’t say I had mentors as a director but I was influenced by directors I worked with as a commercial editor. From Zack Snyder, I learned the importance of constantly reworking the camera within a scene to find the best way to film it vs. shooting twenty takes of the same thing. No frame of film from Zack was the same. The lensing always differed. He was constantly exploring trying to find the truth of a scene. From Errol Morris, I learned the importance of being in a conversation with the people you’re interviewing rather than having a check-list you go through. Let the subject lead you where they want to go and together you both can find the story that needs to be told. So when it came to filming my feature, you can say they were mentors in a way to me since I put both those skills to the test.