Yeah, that was a cheap way to get your attention. Maybe it made you laugh. But what a waste of such a reviled and powerful word. I don't really swear that often, but when I do I make it count. I feel a vitriolic surge when I feel the need to turn to someone and actually utter the words 'Fuck you'.
Let's talk a bit about the word fuck today. It is a hugely powerful word. The technical definition is an act of sexual intercourse, but the colloquial meaning is much broader. It is an exclamation point for any kind of statement. It makes anything you say more fucking important and a big fucking deal. It is always adversarial and carries with it a bit of violence. Sex and violence, what more could you want from a word? It is a noun, a verb, an adjective, and with a bit of creativity I am sure you could find other uses for it too. The word can fit any-fucking-where, even in the middle of words. So naturally with the variety of uses of this word, we should show our massive creative might by using it any and everywhere right? See just how many times we can drop an f-bomb in a single statement while keeping it grammatically apt.
Jack and Jill went up the fucking hill to fetch a pail of fucking water. Fucker Jack fell down and broke his fucking crown, and Jill fucking came tumbling after.
But you do that with any other word and it gets boring really fast. How about the word argyle.
Jack and Jill went up the argyle hill to fetch a pail of argyle water. Argyle Jack fell down and broke his argyle crown, and Jill argylely came tumbling after.
The biggest difference is that the second passage actually puts an image in your head. It is descriptive. Rolling hills of triangular patterns of beige and black and yellow, that apparently spread into the water and infect Jack as well. Putting him into a comatose state and removing his balance, forcing him to fall down the hill slain in poor fashion sense. So fuck is not descriptive, it is explosive, it is just like saying "really really super extreme". But in fewer words. It is saying "THIS IS IMPORTANT". Right?
If you have an e-mail account at the place you work, you know exactly how much you pay attention to e-mails that are flagged as important. And why is that? Because everyone labels their e-mail as important and so they just get lost in a sea of things that you know are only important to someone else. Fuck is supposed to be the word that tells us "This is more important than normal important stuff, pay attention to this". If you want people to pay attention to every word you say as if it were the most important thing in the world, saying fuck a lot will work. We are trained to hear it and care why it is being said. But it is like crying wolf. Soon I am going to figure out that your fucking argyle hill is just a normal hill, and when you have a real fucking point to make I won't notice.
Here is a favorite story of mine. I was told this by a deacon when I was in high school (yeah, I went to Catholic school, don't worry it didn't take).
A group of guys training to be clergy at seminary were hanging out in their dormitory listening to music late one evening, the music was up and they were having a good time. Unfortunately they were not so far from Father McDoogle's quarters. He was trying to sleep as he had early services in the morning. Politely he came over and knocked on the door. As the students opened the door he spoke in a warm and kindly Irish accent, "Boys, if you would not mind turning down the music, it is late and I need to get some sleep" They obediently responded "Of course Father" and turned down the music... until he walked away. Fifteen minutes later Father McDoogle came back and politely tapped on the door one more. "Boys, I asked you once, please turn down the music, it is well into the night and I have an early morning" The students apologized and turned down the music once more. Again once the Father had walked away they turned it back and continued to party. Finally Father McDoogle came back and slammed his fist against the door and intoned with all of the fire and brimstone of a Sunday sermon "Turn off the fucking music!" The students complied and went to bed right away. Father McDoogle never had to talk to them about the volume of their stereo again.
The word fuck is like an orgasm. Unless you are having a particularly lucky evening you are only going to get one a night, and most nights you probably won't get one at all. Part of the delight about it is that it is something special and powerful and that you build up to. So to the comedy writers of the world, please don't orgasm at me on each joke, each line of dialogue. You are not so amazingly comical that every word that comes from your gilded pen is an ejaculation of brilliant hilarity. Save yourself for when I really SHOULD give a fuck.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Deadlines... OF DEATH!
In the last couple of months I have come up with a few ideas for movies I would like to make, and I even started on them. Robo-Butler, God Hates Polycots, Just a Burrito. But the thing they all have in common is that they don't have a deadline. They are being made for me and whenever I get around to doing them is when I get around to doing them. Sure, there are practical reasons why they are delayed, holiday seasons, it is really cold out and I can't ask my actors to wear t-shirts in this weather, etc. But ultimately it is because I have no one to answer to.
This week I got struck with sudden deadlinitis. A film festival I have entered before (see earlier posts about Films for the Forest) moved their deadline forward unexpectedly, by a number of months. Now instead of having time to prepare and schedule to work on it for three weeks, I must scramble and do it in only two with no pre-planning. For many people that would mean they simply do not participate, and those people are reasonable and sane. However, I have taken it as a challenge and have begin to furiously put together a production that will force me to edit, direct, and write in ways that I never have before.
The most important thing is that I am doing it. I am scheduling time and making it happen. Rather than waiting for people to maybe be available I am pushing forward, even if not a single actor is available and not a single crew person can come, I am going to make this movie. Under these time constrains my usual producing skills are of limited help. Most films I prepare with people for months in advance, scheduling my shoot dates far in advance. With this I have to do it right now and do not have time to wait on schedules. The shoot date is the shoot date.
This should suck. But what it really does is remind me how important film making is for me. Even when no one else is there and I am alone setting up a green screen in my basement right next to the washer and dryer, I am making a movie, not excuses. Taking this approach is critical to being successful. Once you let yourself make excuses that 'this is too hard' or 'my crew is not available' you are dooming yourself. When you see those as obstacles to be overcome instead of barriers that you cannot traverse you are doing it right. It is a lot like exercise. Say you decide to run two miles every morning. Then one morning it starts raining. You have two options, exercise anyway, or take that as a reason to take a break that day. The person who puts on their raincoat and goes for their run in the pouring rain is going to get into shape, the person who decides hot cocoa and a blanket are an acceptable alternative that day is going to falter and eventually give up entirely.
Set your goals. Set your deadlines. When no one comes to help you, keep going. The ability to make a project happen even without support and under harsh conditions is a key to real success. Find your solutions as they come. My largely solo productions have been the most enlightening of my career. They force me to come up with new solutions to old problems, and I take those answers with me when I work on a bigger production.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have a deadline to meet. And these 11 puppets are not going to green screen themselves into the scene.
This should suck. But what it really does is remind me how important film making is for me. Even when no one else is there and I am alone setting up a green screen in my basement right next to the washer and dryer, I am making a movie, not excuses. Taking this approach is critical to being successful. Once you let yourself make excuses that 'this is too hard' or 'my crew is not available' you are dooming yourself. When you see those as obstacles to be overcome instead of barriers that you cannot traverse you are doing it right. It is a lot like exercise. Say you decide to run two miles every morning. Then one morning it starts raining. You have two options, exercise anyway, or take that as a reason to take a break that day. The person who puts on their raincoat and goes for their run in the pouring rain is going to get into shape, the person who decides hot cocoa and a blanket are an acceptable alternative that day is going to falter and eventually give up entirely.
Set your goals. Set your deadlines. When no one comes to help you, keep going. The ability to make a project happen even without support and under harsh conditions is a key to real success. Find your solutions as they come. My largely solo productions have been the most enlightening of my career. They force me to come up with new solutions to old problems, and I take those answers with me when I work on a bigger production.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have a deadline to meet. And these 11 puppets are not going to green screen themselves into the scene.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Intellectual Property and Piracy and Congress Oh My!
So the hot topic for right now is of course SOPA and PIPA. I have a lot of beef with these, and I think most everyone who reads my blog already knows a lot of the reasons why. The legislation is to fighting piracy what using a flamethrower is to lighting a candle. It will do the job, and hurt a lot of other people in the process.
But what I really want to talk about is the effect of piracy. Lots of the Anti-SOPA/PIPAers have started to become pro-pirates. Lets be clear here, being Anti-Bad Legislation is being Pro-Intellectual Property Theft are not the same thing. Intellectual property is a hugely important topic in our world. We exist in a time when information is more valuable than physical objects in many cases. This is true of books, music, movies, software, websites all sorts of things. When you buy an album the CD and package are a tiny fraction of the cost, you are paying for the content.
So why am I upset about piracy? I don't sell my films, I provide them for free on the internet and anyone can watch them whenever they like. So pirates are not stealing profits from me right? What they are doing is taking away my audience. I do hope to one day make films for profit, and have my ideas for short films or feature films become the predominant way I pay my bills. This can never happen unless I am able to build up an audience of people who like and share my work. Currently, everything I make, I make so that it can be shared. You like one of my videos? Pass it along to someone else. I don't even mind if you download it off YouTube and burn it to a DVD and watch it or pass it around to people. (I would like it if you watched on YouTube because then I can follow the analytics though) Share it through bit-torrents, package it with your favorite other shorts and give it to your friends for their birthday. By all means, if I provide you content for free, spread it around like a four year old fingerpainting when no one is watching.
When pirates give away movies for free, that cuts into the market of people I am trying to provide content for. The people who don't want to pay. If you have the option of paying nothing for one of my films, made on a budget of under a thousand dollars, with some rookie mistakes here and there, with actors you have never heard of, and special effects that don't really make your eyes bug out of your head.... or paying nothing for 'Hugo', with all the talent and amazing images that a multimillion dollar budget can buy. Why on earth would you pick my work over that? I understand the consumer who downloads the illegal copy, someone is offering you something of value for free. But every time you decide to spend two hours watching a pirated movie instead of watching content provided for free (like mine or that of other young production companies) you are hurting the independent film makers and independent artists.
We depend on our low price point of free to help us compete with productions that have staggering budgets. It is the one thing that we have up our sleeve to tip the balance towards independent production. Pirates rob us of that. I know that they think they are robbing people with huge fistfuls of money, so no big deal. But they are robbing us, and they are robbing the artistic community as a whole. I may not become the next great American director, but who is to say that they are not lurking on YouTube or Vimeo in obscurity because the people who would be their fans, are too busy watching stolen copies of Transformers 3?
After re-reading this post I realized my own hypocrisy. Originally I had a really cute picture of a kid finger painting all over the floor and making a huge mess. But then I realized, that is piracy too. It is hard to avoid stealing other people's work sometimes in the attempt to create good quality content, especially for free. But using that picture would be just as wrong as someone downloading Kanye West from Megaupload. So instead, you get this picture that is in the public domain, which is close to right, but not quite.
But what I really want to talk about is the effect of piracy. Lots of the Anti-SOPA/PIPAers have started to become pro-pirates. Lets be clear here, being Anti-Bad Legislation is being Pro-Intellectual Property Theft are not the same thing. Intellectual property is a hugely important topic in our world. We exist in a time when information is more valuable than physical objects in many cases. This is true of books, music, movies, software, websites all sorts of things. When you buy an album the CD and package are a tiny fraction of the cost, you are paying for the content.
So why am I upset about piracy? I don't sell my films, I provide them for free on the internet and anyone can watch them whenever they like. So pirates are not stealing profits from me right? What they are doing is taking away my audience. I do hope to one day make films for profit, and have my ideas for short films or feature films become the predominant way I pay my bills. This can never happen unless I am able to build up an audience of people who like and share my work. Currently, everything I make, I make so that it can be shared. You like one of my videos? Pass it along to someone else. I don't even mind if you download it off YouTube and burn it to a DVD and watch it or pass it around to people. (I would like it if you watched on YouTube because then I can follow the analytics though) Share it through bit-torrents, package it with your favorite other shorts and give it to your friends for their birthday. By all means, if I provide you content for free, spread it around like a four year old fingerpainting when no one is watching.
When pirates give away movies for free, that cuts into the market of people I am trying to provide content for. The people who don't want to pay. If you have the option of paying nothing for one of my films, made on a budget of under a thousand dollars, with some rookie mistakes here and there, with actors you have never heard of, and special effects that don't really make your eyes bug out of your head.... or paying nothing for 'Hugo', with all the talent and amazing images that a multimillion dollar budget can buy. Why on earth would you pick my work over that? I understand the consumer who downloads the illegal copy, someone is offering you something of value for free. But every time you decide to spend two hours watching a pirated movie instead of watching content provided for free (like mine or that of other young production companies) you are hurting the independent film makers and independent artists.
After re-reading this post I realized my own hypocrisy. Originally I had a really cute picture of a kid finger painting all over the floor and making a huge mess. But then I realized, that is piracy too. It is hard to avoid stealing other people's work sometimes in the attempt to create good quality content, especially for free. But using that picture would be just as wrong as someone downloading Kanye West from Megaupload. So instead, you get this picture that is in the public domain, which is close to right, but not quite.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Goals are Dreams with Deadlines
I get these questions a lot of the time:
What do you want to do? Where do you see yourself in five years? What are you?
My life is a confusing one and I don't follow just one route. But no one seems to be curious about my day job, they only want to know what I am doing in my creative life. Why? Because the creative life is a scary and particularly enigmatic one to most people. The perception is that to succeed in any form of art is to be very lucky and nothing else. As though success fell on you and it had nothing to do with who or what you are.
The vast majority of creative people that normal people deal with are dreamers. People who sit back and say "Oh I wish I were" or "Wouldn't it be great if I could..." And dreaming is a core to creativity. To be able to see something that is not there and to understand it in every detail and feeling. But so many dreamers end up as baristas, or data processors, or the store manager of the local hardware store. Not that there is anything wrong with those jobs, there isn't. But they are not the dreams those people had. We all know these stories of people who were wonderful actors in high school and college and everyone thought they were destined for greatness and to be famous, but when we find them again they are mundane. It is saddening to see anyone give up on their dreams, or worse, forget them. So when your friends and family find out that your dreams are to be a writer/film maker immediately they feel fear. Most likely you are going to be a fallen dreamer. So the questions begin.
For the longest time I have simply pushed away these questions with either silly and overblown answers or just smiling confidently and saying "I don't have the faintest idea". Now, at the cusp of turning 28 I think I might be ready to actually start giving them answers. I have been a dreamer for a long time, floating around and doing what felt good and enjoying it. Dreamers fall. I don't need dreams anymore. I need goals. And so do you.
I have been acting for over a decade, writing since I was a little kid, and making films for five years. I have some to show for it but not much. Not until I stood up and set a goal. Last year I finally set a goal. I thought it might be a little bit overwhelming but I wanted to do 10 video projects during the year. Since in the previous 4 years I was averaging about 2 or 3 different projects this was a HUGE jump for me. I was no longer dreaming, I was working. I had to. I needed to produce something almost once a month to meet that goal. Now only did I blow away my goal and end up doing 20 different video projects, but the quality of those projects exceeded anything I had done in the previous four years.
Now I realize that one year of goals is not enough. I am finally doing what all of the 'regular' people in my life have been doing since they were 16: Attacking life with a game plan. While a lot of great things came out of being a generalist and taking everything as it came my way, the best things I have done have been the result of dedication, hard work, and responsibility. These are things we don't have in dreams, but we go have in goals. So if you are looking for your New Year Resolution, make it a New Year Goal. By the end of 2012 what will you have accomplished?
Here is mine, out in public and on record so in a year everyone can see if I succeeded or failed:
5 Short Films that I write, produce, and take to festival
70,000 words in my novel that I hope to adapt into my first feature film
Now, what are your goals? Comment below and let me know. I will hold you to it.
What do you want to do? Where do you see yourself in five years? What are you?
My life is a confusing one and I don't follow just one route. But no one seems to be curious about my day job, they only want to know what I am doing in my creative life. Why? Because the creative life is a scary and particularly enigmatic one to most people. The perception is that to succeed in any form of art is to be very lucky and nothing else. As though success fell on you and it had nothing to do with who or what you are.
The vast majority of creative people that normal people deal with are dreamers. People who sit back and say "Oh I wish I were" or "Wouldn't it be great if I could..." And dreaming is a core to creativity. To be able to see something that is not there and to understand it in every detail and feeling. But so many dreamers end up as baristas, or data processors, or the store manager of the local hardware store. Not that there is anything wrong with those jobs, there isn't. But they are not the dreams those people had. We all know these stories of people who were wonderful actors in high school and college and everyone thought they were destined for greatness and to be famous, but when we find them again they are mundane. It is saddening to see anyone give up on their dreams, or worse, forget them. So when your friends and family find out that your dreams are to be a writer/film maker immediately they feel fear. Most likely you are going to be a fallen dreamer. So the questions begin.
For the longest time I have simply pushed away these questions with either silly and overblown answers or just smiling confidently and saying "I don't have the faintest idea". Now, at the cusp of turning 28 I think I might be ready to actually start giving them answers. I have been a dreamer for a long time, floating around and doing what felt good and enjoying it. Dreamers fall. I don't need dreams anymore. I need goals. And so do you.
I have been acting for over a decade, writing since I was a little kid, and making films for five years. I have some to show for it but not much. Not until I stood up and set a goal. Last year I finally set a goal. I thought it might be a little bit overwhelming but I wanted to do 10 video projects during the year. Since in the previous 4 years I was averaging about 2 or 3 different projects this was a HUGE jump for me. I was no longer dreaming, I was working. I had to. I needed to produce something almost once a month to meet that goal. Now only did I blow away my goal and end up doing 20 different video projects, but the quality of those projects exceeded anything I had done in the previous four years.
Now I realize that one year of goals is not enough. I am finally doing what all of the 'regular' people in my life have been doing since they were 16: Attacking life with a game plan. While a lot of great things came out of being a generalist and taking everything as it came my way, the best things I have done have been the result of dedication, hard work, and responsibility. These are things we don't have in dreams, but we go have in goals. So if you are looking for your New Year Resolution, make it a New Year Goal. By the end of 2012 what will you have accomplished?
Here is mine, out in public and on record so in a year everyone can see if I succeeded or failed:
5 Short Films that I write, produce, and take to festival
70,000 words in my novel that I hope to adapt into my first feature film
Now, what are your goals? Comment below and let me know. I will hold you to it.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Wrong Path?
So something happened recently that got me thinking about film making as my hopeful profession.
One of my younger cousins just got accepted (and a scholarship to boot!) to a film program for her undergrad. She tells me she plans on doing documentaries and I want to help her out as much as I can. But it got me thinking and contrasting my own personal journey into film with her's.
I went to college for biology, and my professional life since then has consisted of veterinary emergency rooms and stem cell research labs. I make my money in a world where film is seen as a neat hobby. I am very fortunate that I surround myself socially with actors and directors and other creators of art who support me and regard me as a professional.
But now I find myself asking the question. Have I gone the wrong way somewhere along this path? As a part time film maker and full time scientist am I missing something? I am certain that my cousin is going to come back in four years knowing things I may still have not yet discovered. Names for parts of the camera, theories on film composition, possibly even connections I would not have ever had the chance to make. However, what are the things that I am learning that she might need to wait another 4 years before she starts in on? As an independent producer I have learned most of my lessons by screwing up and needing to scramble to fix it. Or by sopping up knowledge from someone I am working with who already knows better.
My film crews have consisted of a number of people educated in film making and those who have made media production into their day job. They in many cases know a lot of things that I don't But there are many things which can only be learned by doing and no one is going to tell you.
So here are a few of the things I have learned by taking the 'wrong' path:
Bribery - No one does anything for free. They might do it for near free but they want something and they want to feel rewarded. Even if you are making the most amazing film the world has ever seen, you need to reward your actors and your crew with more than 'experience' and that most foul promise 'exposure'. If you cannot afford to pay your actors and crew, make sure that you at least put down money for food. Good food. Catering at the early stages of your professional game is going to be the MOST important thing you spend your money on. If it is cold, have hot cocoa and coffee ready, if it is hot freezie pops and ice cream. If you set a goal people are excited about, like lunch, your cast and crew are sure to give their best to get to it sooner.
Equality - Sure, it is YOUR film. You wrote it, you are directing it, you are producing it, whatever. You might be the best person for every job on your film. If you could maybe you would even star in it as well. But that is too much. If you do all of those things you are sure not to do any of them very well. So you have to share ownership of the film (not necessarily in the legal financial sense, but in the artistic sense). You get better work out of people who have control over the work they are doing. If you tell your director of photography exactly what you want and you only need him for hitting the button or racking focus you are not using him to his potential. Talk and plan, but leave the final decision in his hands. Because he is concentrating on only that one thing he can see things you can't. And the end result is a better product. Not only that, but you have one less thing to think about and you can concentrate on the things you need to be doing.
Doing - There is a delicate balance between 'doing' and 'planning'. If you just jump right in and start filming without a plan you are going to take longer and screw up more. But there is never an end to the planning that you can do. At some stage in your career planning will become the lionshare of your work. There will be so many things to prepare for before shooting begins that there is no way that you can shoot from the hip so to speak. But anyone reading this blog is not likely to be there yet. You probably are lucky to have a half dozen people on your production crew. And you can easily shoot that scene on the fly because you only need to move three lights and a camera to make it work. Face it, the first films you make are going to be all about training yourself. So it is ok to jump in a little bit half cocked and start making it happen. Been working on an idea for months? Actually schedule your shooting days and rent your equipment. You will learn more from the practical experience than you ever will by sitting in a room and just planning.
Write within your means - This is the biggest thing I have had to come to grips with. When I have an idea I want to let it run free and become HUGE. I want it to be the biggest most exciting thing ever. But I can't afford to produce it. You can tell a great story in a single room with a single shot. The key is just to train yourself to think that way. If you don't have the costumes and props and locations you want for your perfect script... write the script that calls for your living room and modern clothing and a conversation. If you want to do a documentary but cannot gain access to the President of Peru... why do not a documentary about the mom and pop shop down the street and find out how they got to where they are now.
Finally... the most important lesson that I have learned from all of my films and all of the time I have spent in the creative field:
One of my younger cousins just got accepted (and a scholarship to boot!) to a film program for her undergrad. She tells me she plans on doing documentaries and I want to help her out as much as I can. But it got me thinking and contrasting my own personal journey into film with her's.
I went to college for biology, and my professional life since then has consisted of veterinary emergency rooms and stem cell research labs. I make my money in a world where film is seen as a neat hobby. I am very fortunate that I surround myself socially with actors and directors and other creators of art who support me and regard me as a professional.
But now I find myself asking the question. Have I gone the wrong way somewhere along this path? As a part time film maker and full time scientist am I missing something? I am certain that my cousin is going to come back in four years knowing things I may still have not yet discovered. Names for parts of the camera, theories on film composition, possibly even connections I would not have ever had the chance to make. However, what are the things that I am learning that she might need to wait another 4 years before she starts in on? As an independent producer I have learned most of my lessons by screwing up and needing to scramble to fix it. Or by sopping up knowledge from someone I am working with who already knows better.
My film crews have consisted of a number of people educated in film making and those who have made media production into their day job. They in many cases know a lot of things that I don't But there are many things which can only be learned by doing and no one is going to tell you.
So here are a few of the things I have learned by taking the 'wrong' path:
Bribery - No one does anything for free. They might do it for near free but they want something and they want to feel rewarded. Even if you are making the most amazing film the world has ever seen, you need to reward your actors and your crew with more than 'experience' and that most foul promise 'exposure'. If you cannot afford to pay your actors and crew, make sure that you at least put down money for food. Good food. Catering at the early stages of your professional game is going to be the MOST important thing you spend your money on. If it is cold, have hot cocoa and coffee ready, if it is hot freezie pops and ice cream. If you set a goal people are excited about, like lunch, your cast and crew are sure to give their best to get to it sooner.
Equality - Sure, it is YOUR film. You wrote it, you are directing it, you are producing it, whatever. You might be the best person for every job on your film. If you could maybe you would even star in it as well. But that is too much. If you do all of those things you are sure not to do any of them very well. So you have to share ownership of the film (not necessarily in the legal financial sense, but in the artistic sense). You get better work out of people who have control over the work they are doing. If you tell your director of photography exactly what you want and you only need him for hitting the button or racking focus you are not using him to his potential. Talk and plan, but leave the final decision in his hands. Because he is concentrating on only that one thing he can see things you can't. And the end result is a better product. Not only that, but you have one less thing to think about and you can concentrate on the things you need to be doing.
Doing - There is a delicate balance between 'doing' and 'planning'. If you just jump right in and start filming without a plan you are going to take longer and screw up more. But there is never an end to the planning that you can do. At some stage in your career planning will become the lionshare of your work. There will be so many things to prepare for before shooting begins that there is no way that you can shoot from the hip so to speak. But anyone reading this blog is not likely to be there yet. You probably are lucky to have a half dozen people on your production crew. And you can easily shoot that scene on the fly because you only need to move three lights and a camera to make it work. Face it, the first films you make are going to be all about training yourself. So it is ok to jump in a little bit half cocked and start making it happen. Been working on an idea for months? Actually schedule your shooting days and rent your equipment. You will learn more from the practical experience than you ever will by sitting in a room and just planning.
Write within your means - This is the biggest thing I have had to come to grips with. When I have an idea I want to let it run free and become HUGE. I want it to be the biggest most exciting thing ever. But I can't afford to produce it. You can tell a great story in a single room with a single shot. The key is just to train yourself to think that way. If you don't have the costumes and props and locations you want for your perfect script... write the script that calls for your living room and modern clothing and a conversation. If you want to do a documentary but cannot gain access to the President of Peru... why do not a documentary about the mom and pop shop down the street and find out how they got to where they are now.
Finally... the most important lesson that I have learned from all of my films and all of the time I have spent in the creative field:
You are not alone
It may seem like it sometimes. That you are the only person trying to make this crazy scheme work. That you are fighting tooth and nail for every scrap of footage you produce. That rejection letters are piling up and you feel like the world will never see your films and you will be forced to work in your dull dank office job the rest of your life. It is not just you. There are other people out there doing just the same thing. Probably right in your community, probably right down the street. Go out to your local film festivals and go out for drinks afterwards. I have found more talented people to work with through clinking glasses at a bar than I have at all of the 'networking' events I have ever been to. Talk about what you are doing, find out what they are doing and try to help.
Almost every major city will have a 48 Hour Film Project there, do it. Make friends, use it as the opportunity to screw up, to try new things and train yourself and your team. Go to every film festival you can, and don't be shy about talking to the film makers.
Good luck.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Editing is Pain
For a minute here I want to change gears and talk about the writing side of film. This probably applies to other kinds of writing as well, but primarily I write short screenplays so that is where this is coming from.
I have been working on a script for my next short for a little while now. Usually I write something and almost immediately get to work on filming it never looking back. It is great and rapid fire and has helped me learn a lot about producing and running a team. But it has resulted in so-so stories and dialogue. Fun certainly, and things I am proud of and that I hope the other people who worked on them can be proud of too.
But today I am working on the script for Robo-Butler. I wrote the first draft months ago and made some minor alterations and changes for the weeks after that. Already it had more thought and time go into the writing than any of my previous projects. Then it went into a drawer, and by drawer I mean I un-starred it on GoogleDocs while I concentrated on other things. Now I revive it in preparation of producing it in the new year and I have realized one thing. It all has to change. All of it. Every last scene needs a major overhaul. Had the holiday season not happened right smack dab in the middle of my production process I would already be done this film, and only now realizing the glaring flaws that need correction.
So in response to realizing that my entertaining fun story needs to have all of the dialogue cut and replaced with images that get across every feeling and word just as vividly what have I done? Buckled to writers block. The kind where you decide that you have other things you need to write, like blog posts. Because it feels as though I am going through the script and removing all of my hard work. Lines I loved, moments I cheered for when I came up with them. They are all gone and being replaced. Editing is like not just leaving your baby up for adoption, but deciding their circulatory system is just not good enough and replacing it by hand yourself.
But this has revealed to me something far more important. I was about to set my baby out into the world with a flawed circulatory system! What a callous and careless parent I was to this story. It is not easy to go through and fix the problems, but it would be harder still not to find them until the opening screening in front of family and friends and the public.
Every time I make a film I come to that day and the same thing happens. There is something new that I did not see that I think "Why didn't I fix that?" I hope that feeling never goes away. But I do hope that by working on my scripts over a longer period I can be sure that it takes until a 3rd or 4th viewing before I can find those problems.
I have been working on a script for my next short for a little while now. Usually I write something and almost immediately get to work on filming it never looking back. It is great and rapid fire and has helped me learn a lot about producing and running a team. But it has resulted in so-so stories and dialogue. Fun certainly, and things I am proud of and that I hope the other people who worked on them can be proud of too.
But today I am working on the script for Robo-Butler. I wrote the first draft months ago and made some minor alterations and changes for the weeks after that. Already it had more thought and time go into the writing than any of my previous projects. Then it went into a drawer, and by drawer I mean I un-starred it on GoogleDocs while I concentrated on other things. Now I revive it in preparation of producing it in the new year and I have realized one thing. It all has to change. All of it. Every last scene needs a major overhaul. Had the holiday season not happened right smack dab in the middle of my production process I would already be done this film, and only now realizing the glaring flaws that need correction.
So in response to realizing that my entertaining fun story needs to have all of the dialogue cut and replaced with images that get across every feeling and word just as vividly what have I done? Buckled to writers block. The kind where you decide that you have other things you need to write, like blog posts. Because it feels as though I am going through the script and removing all of my hard work. Lines I loved, moments I cheered for when I came up with them. They are all gone and being replaced. Editing is like not just leaving your baby up for adoption, but deciding their circulatory system is just not good enough and replacing it by hand yourself.
But this has revealed to me something far more important. I was about to set my baby out into the world with a flawed circulatory system! What a callous and careless parent I was to this story. It is not easy to go through and fix the problems, but it would be harder still not to find them until the opening screening in front of family and friends and the public.
Every time I make a film I come to that day and the same thing happens. There is something new that I did not see that I think "Why didn't I fix that?" I hope that feeling never goes away. But I do hope that by working on my scripts over a longer period I can be sure that it takes until a 3rd or 4th viewing before I can find those problems.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Lets Get Steamy...
Oh baby, you know you like it when I wear leather... and goggles.
So my recent obsession has been Steampunk. I cannot seem to get enough of it. Since I started work on The Schlonburger Certainty Postulator its been a continuing influence on my artistic endeavors. I will admit, those endeavors have been limited largely to working on my next film. Perhaps you have heard me talk about it, and if you have seen me in person or online since I started work on it... you certainly have. Robo-Butler: A Steampunk Story.
Why do you as a reader of this blog care about this though? Well, because I am 'finally' producing for an audience. And it is an audience who includes ME. Science fiction has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I had the flu in grade school I used to sit and watch the entire Star Wars trilogy back to back EVERY DAY. It was the edition where Leonard Maltin did interviews with George Lucas before each one. I remember because during that part I would go into the kitchen and have a bowl of cereal. Thats right, first thing I did in the morning was go downstairs and put in the movie. Second thing was breakfast. That was the best week of being sick ever. Since then I have been a Trekkie, a Whovian (Jon Pertwee was the man), a Whedonite, a Whovian again, a Smeghead, and tons of other things that were much more effective sex prevention methods than abstinence only education.
Now I am a Steampunk. Not a long term one, not someone who has been with it since the 1980s when the term was coined. And there is a lot left for me to learn about it. But lets talk about this genre and WHY I have selected it. This has to be one of the most free and somewhat nebulous genres out there. It is in an infantile stage right now and so its tropes and conventions are limited and still in flux. This makes it a fantastic playground for me as a writer and film maker. It is well within my capabilities to produce props for it, the schlock and hammered together appeal of the aesthetic means that I don't need a huge budget to make something that is Steampunk. I need a trip to the thrift store, a good eye, and some silver gold and black spray paint.
But best of all the thing I have discovered... is that Steampunk has a rather phenomenal community. Which to me, is an audience. I know that if I make films in this genre (and they are good) I have the reach and capability to bring it to people who want to see it. This is extremely exciting to me. Instead of making things and just hoping I could put it 'out there' onto YouTube or random festivals, I have a target. There is a group of people who can talk to me and tell me what they like and don't like and I can make films that cater to them.
It is scary to narrow my focus down like this. To go from making films of any and every type to focusing on a specific genre (and even within that genre an even more specific focus). But it has been extremely heartening to me so far to see how excited people are about it. I can't wait to see what happens when I get involved in this community. Sometimes its good to be on the fringe, because at least them you aren't alone.
So my recent obsession has been Steampunk. I cannot seem to get enough of it. Since I started work on The Schlonburger Certainty Postulator its been a continuing influence on my artistic endeavors. I will admit, those endeavors have been limited largely to working on my next film. Perhaps you have heard me talk about it, and if you have seen me in person or online since I started work on it... you certainly have. Robo-Butler: A Steampunk Story.
Now I am a Steampunk. Not a long term one, not someone who has been with it since the 1980s when the term was coined. And there is a lot left for me to learn about it. But lets talk about this genre and WHY I have selected it. This has to be one of the most free and somewhat nebulous genres out there. It is in an infantile stage right now and so its tropes and conventions are limited and still in flux. This makes it a fantastic playground for me as a writer and film maker. It is well within my capabilities to produce props for it, the schlock and hammered together appeal of the aesthetic means that I don't need a huge budget to make something that is Steampunk. I need a trip to the thrift store, a good eye, and some silver gold and black spray paint.
It is scary to narrow my focus down like this. To go from making films of any and every type to focusing on a specific genre (and even within that genre an even more specific focus). But it has been extremely heartening to me so far to see how excited people are about it. I can't wait to see what happens when I get involved in this community. Sometimes its good to be on the fringe, because at least them you aren't alone.
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