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There's a popular notion that film directing is a hard thing to do. Lots of people doubt their ability to be able to direct a movie. There is a kind of awe that people bestow upon directors.

Without a doubt it can tough to direct a film and there is a justified amount of worship heaped on certain talented film directors, but for the most part movie directing isn't hard to do. It's hard to do well. Still this idea persists that film directing is like a magic of some type even though most of it is based on old notions.

Expensive, Time-Consuming

Movies used to be made exclusively on film. Film is expensive. Before camcorder and digital technology, every aspect of filmmaking was expensive. You needed expensive cameras, lots of light, film stock, and a professional to run it all. Once the footage was exposed you had to pay more money to develop the negative and print a positive that you can use to see what you've shot. Then you had to edit it together and this required lots of room to lay out physical pieces of film that would be taped or glued together. From that edit you would have another copy to screen for audiences.

Anything expensive will limit how many people can get involved and thus raise the few that can participate to a level they might never otherwise achieve if it were a more merit-based endeavor.

Lingo That Confuses

Any industry will create shorthand terms for common concepts, things, or actions. It's no different in the film industry. Your average person is not well-versed in Hollywood technical terms and thus is feels special. Dolly shots, panning, low angle; these are just a few camera-related terms that would confuse most people. Boom poles, ambient sound, foley; there are countless sound-related terms that most people would never come across in their life and thus be intimidated by if they did run into them.

It's easy to romanticize things you don't know and also a great impediment to ever taking on the task yourself.

Shroud Of Mystery

Only recently has extensive behind the scenes footage been available. For the longest time we never really knew what happened on set and on locations of our favorite films. Some beloved movies from over 20 years ago have only recently released making-of features. So we have made educated guesses from what information we could gather from interviews and articles. Also now that digital technology has put the power of filmmaking in more hands there have been more directing books published. At one time a purely academic exercise for most, learning to direct can actually be transformed into the action of making a movie.

Anything mysterious may cause people to think more of it than it actually is, even if it's not supported by much evidence.

Amorphous Job Description

Film directing seems to be nothing and everything simultaneously. Once you get the idea that it's about telling actors what to do, you find out lots of directors don't say a thing to actors. You might get the impression that a director sits in a chair and watches others doing the work, then find out some directors actually operate cameras. What movie directing entails is different for each director and for each film production. There is no single set of steps to take to direct a film, the only thing necessary is that a film is created at the end of it all.

It's overwhelming to know that directors make films in so many disparate ways which is enough to put off many people.

Skill, Success Don't Always Mix

Throughout the history of filmmaking there have been two distinct patterns: an upstart director who makes a single brilliant film and the master director that makes a lackluster movie. In most other occupations skill follows success. Once you reach a certain level you can assume you will be able maintain that for the rest of your life. The problem of audience fickleness along with the nature of directing makes it hard to see the cause and effect relationship between know-how and a hit. A director is only as good as the crew and even the greatest movie can be forgotten if it's released at the wrong time.

The vagaries of production and the film marketplace make it unclear as to how a director matters to the process and seem a daunting thing to undertake.

There is only so much a director can do to make a movie the best it can be. Their participation doesn't begin when cameras start shooting and doesn't really end once it's edited. The effect of a director on any movie can be pronounced or it can be subtle, but the effect is there nonetheless. The director may seem like a glorified manager or a spoiled brat but it's not an impossible task. It can be learned.