If you want to be a director, your first project should be something like Kemonozume or Galand.

Sometimes I see young directors who have a crazy complex story in their mind, something like Paprika or Shirobako or Monogatari or whatever, but they don't have the means to properly translate it to animation. Bland backgrounds, random stills, jarring pacing, haphazard cuts that don't transition well, poor editing, and whatever issues with audio. These things happen because a studio is still learning to work around complex ideas, and don't have the budget to make it happen.<br>Honestly, if you're a director and you want to do a story like that but don't have the tools to make it happen, like money, a big team with some pros, etc, you're probably going to end up with something that's not awesome.<br>But Galand and Kemonozume aren't like that.<br>Kemonozume and Galand are stories that are light on plot and the focus are on the visuals and drama.<br>These stories don't need a huge production team, nor much budget. They don't even need a lot of animation, because a lot of it is just stills or low framerate. It would be the perfect story if you want to work on your directing skills. It would be the perfect story if you and your team are not seasoned or did not have a big budget.<br>I think most directors should first direct projects like Galand or Berserk: Ouroboros Cycle, or any other similar project that focuses more on the visuals and drama than the story. Then, like Masaaki Yuasa, go and do complex stories that are hard to bring to life.