Participatory Authoring: Film Directing as Participatory Sense-Making

Abstract

It is commonplace in the film industry to describe a film director’s responsibility as being to have a ‘vision’ and communicate it effectively to cast, crew, and ultimately, audiences. A ‘vision’ in this sense is shorthand for the source of a director’s signature or authorial style. But what, from a cognitive perspective, is meant by vision? This article will argue that a director’s vision, far from being wholly contained in their brain, is developed through enaction. It is contingent, subject to responsive development throughout process, and manifests through participatory sensemaking with key collaborators. By doing a close reading of two director’s decision-making processes, this paper will demonstrate that film directors are, among other things, central nodes of complex and dynamic processes of ‘social cognising’ and ‘participatory sense-making’, leading configurations of multiple experts whose efforts must both coordinate and achieve excellence individually to generate and realise ideas.