Direction

This page is generated. Do not edit it by hand — run scripts/atlas-vocab.py.

part of Video Production · tier 2 · Video · 6 pieces of work carry it · 3 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Brands and production companies hire direction for commercials, brand films, and social content — the market organizes work BY DIRECTOR below format (Smuggler lists its roster under each of Commercial / Music Video / Film & TV), making direction the name-brand craft buyers select first.

The director's craft on live-action work: authoring the creative vision of a piece and guiding talent, camera, and crew on set to realize it — performance, blocking, tone, and coverage decisions. Refines the prior text: overseeing live-action shoots, guiding talent and crew to achieve the desired outcome. Ratified as the first cross-discipline canonical group (CN13, canonical_id 'directing').

Tag it when…

Tag when directed performance and staging is the visible craft: deliberate blocking, coached on-camera performance, a controlled tonal point of view sustained across scenes, intentional coverage. Usually co-tags with Cinematography on crafted live-action pieces.

Never tag it when…

Never tag for the logistics of getting the shoot made (that goes to Live Action Production) or for the image-making craft alone (that goes to Cinematography). Never tag animation direction (that stays under Animation's leaves). The piece's format label is never the rule basis — a directed testimonial is still directed work. Note: this row is pending the chunk-7 per-credit refile (direction is heading to the credit-graph tier; one of the 3 chunk-7-chipped VP refile rows); define and tag as-is until then.

Easily mistaken for 3 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• video production live action cinematography — Direction stages WHAT happens in front of the camera (performance, blocking, tone); Cinematography crafts HOW it is photographed (light, lens, frame). Crafted pieces usually carry both.
• video production live action production — Direction is creative authorship; Live Action Production is the producing/logistics craft that makes the shoot happen.
• video production commercial spot — Commercial / Spot names the DELIVERABLE being produced; Direction names a craft exercised on it — a directed spot tags both.

At what size it applies

Asset tag — direction governs the whole piece; a piece is directed or it is not. Rarely a moment tag: only when a single distinctly-directed vignette sits inside a compilation whose other beats are not directed work.

Pieces that settle the definition

• How can I communicate better with my mom? — Directed real-people conversational piece — coached performance and controlled tone are the visible craft
• What do you think of my business idea? — Same directed conversational series — staging and performance guidance over run-and-gun capture
• Forward | Nike x Patta: The Wave Ch. 3 | Nike — Directed brand film — sustained authorial tone and staged performance across scenes
• DeWanna Bonner Is Putting Us on Game | What It Takes (E1) | Nike — Directed episodic athlete series — interview and performance direction as the governing craft

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.