2/2/07
BLOG #1 – INTRODUCTION
THIS WEBSITE IS DEDICATED TO THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE ‘LOST ALL REASON’ AND ARE GOING TO MAKE A MOVIE; PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO DO EVERY JOB IN THE FILMMAKING PROCESS UNTIL THEY: 1) GET HELP, 2) DROP DEAD, OR 3) MAKE A MOVIE.
Getting an independent movie made and up on the big screen is a feat that ranks just under Moses parting the Red Sea and I don’t think he got one bad review. You and I on the other hand will have everybody and his brother critiquing our work and telling us how we could’ve done it better. Now, there is that very slim possibility that we do almost everything right and we ‘make shore’ before Moses brings his staff down but, you know, it really doesn’t matter…we just plain have to do it.
These blogs will pretty much be about One Thing: The ‘nuts & bolts’ of making movies for under & way under $100,000 that will have an honest shot at getting a theatrical release. That means we’ll have to identify the qualities that successful ultra low budget films have in common with successful bigger budgeted films. It certainly ain’t technical proficiency and star power.
The answer is uncomfortably simple: It’s CONTENT. Why uncomfortable? That’s obvious; almost nobody wants to tackle that subject head-on in simple terms. It involves the discussion of talent - bummer, but there’s no way around it.
Now, like they say, “you can’t teach talent” – true, but there may be some ways to help you fake even that if you have to & you’re real (real) lucky. After all this is ‘Hollywood’ even if you are sitting in Bumfuk, Idaho.
Critics - will be glad to tell you all about content ‘after the fact’, which is ok, but it doesn’t help you right now – when you just can’t bear to read one more screenwriting book, take one more crash course, watch one more damn movie, or (if you’re in film school) show up for one more damn class:
“YOU GOT TO SHOOT A ‘MOVIE REAL SOON OR YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"
Schools - will try to lead you in the right direction, give you feedback, and let you shoot ‘a short’ – but it’s in a ‘safe’ academic environment which ain’t even close to the real world, and besides, you passed safe awhile ago – remember you’re gonna make a movie so you’re hell bent on either starting to realize all your dreams right now or start destroying yourself.
Virtual Studios – like Zoetrope & Trigger Street are great for what they are – for one thing they give you a ‘not so safe’ environment to learn by having your stories reviewed by your world wide peers and by you reviewing theirs – and although I’m sure you’re normally a caring individual, right now you don’t really give a shit about anybody else’s story – remember you’re gonna die soon if you don’t start shooting.
Crash Courses – There’s more than enough information out there to tell you ‘how’ to shoot a movie. The pamphlet that comes with your mini-cam tells you ‘how’ to shoot a movie for God’s sake. People like Dov Simens really do know what they’re talking about. Listen to them. But again, they’re not going to address content and talent (or the semblance of talent).
Simens says, “Get the great script”. Hell, you can hire the best writer in the world and not get “the great script”. So it’s not writing ability per se that’s going to make the difference. What’s going to make the difference is finding out where to start and never losing sight of what you find there.
WHERE TO START
A movie is a story; different than a novel, hieroglyphics, or a tale told around a camp fire several thousand years ago, but it’s still a story – end of story.
Where to start is with the 3rd example given above: a tale told around a camp fire several thousand years ago (talk about ‘old school’!). We have been listening to, then reading, then watching the same basic stories, in one variation or another, since before recorded history.
Some people told these stories better or different than others; they knew the best place to start (with a back story or in the middle of an action sequence), how to use voice inflection, body language, timing, suspense (by holding back certain information - like the lion a hunter thought was dead…wasn’t) until the ‘optimum impact moment’, then making that impact by shouting or whispering, tying the end up with maybe the beginning to put an exclamation point to the moral or theme of the whole thing.
The best story tellers left their audience with a sense of awe if they were hearing the story for the first time or a sense of satisfaction if they were hearing it for the hundredth time and it was ‘told right’ or told better than the last time they heard it.
What I just described is what makes a good movie. The ‘language’ has expanded to include visual images, complimentary and, or juxtaposition of sound & image, the ability to show the lion cited above eating the unfortunate hunter, etc.
Now, jump ahead several thousand years; you just saw a great movie and you describe it to a friend. If you’re a good story teller the friend wants to go see the movie for himself. Why? He already knows the whole story and how it ends. Reason: humans love good stories…over and over. Ask any parent who’s had to sit through a ‘kid’s movie’ ten times in theatres and then had to go buy the DVD and sit through it a hundred more times at home.
How about this blog? I don’t think I’m saying anything that hasn’t been said before (and a lot more eloquently), but maybe I’m saying it a little differently than somebody’s heard it before, or, if you’re like me, you need to hear stuff you already know over and over because you forget you know it.
Back to the ‘what’ to shoot question; after reading all the Greek Comedies and Tragedies I realized there really ‘isn’t anything new under the sun’. Ask Shakespeare, Dickens, Hemmingway, or Capote. If they’re honest they’ll agree.
I’ll end this introduction with a few random thoughts and suggestions. I mean, after all, we’ve only scratched the surface of this subject:
1) Stories – How many times have you told somebody the story of ’the crazy ass
shit’ that happened to you since the last time you saw them? If they didn’t
fall asleep while you were talking then maybe you’ve got a part of your movie
(dialogue and images). Sienfeld made millions on a sit-com ‘about nothing’.
2) Talent – If you got it…you got it, and you didn’t give it to yourself – so
Thank the universe.
3) If you don’t got it and you still want to make a movie consider this: When
people talk about ‘original’ movies they’re talking about original ‘angles’.
Remember ‘there’s nothing new under the sun’ – yet. ‘Outland’ was a
remake of ‘High Noon’ set on a Space station. ‘The Magnificent Seven’ was a
remake of ‘The Seven Samurai’ set in the Old West.
3a) Now, you’ll need half a brain for this part – You can’t copyright ideas or
themes, so if you have to, copy a successful movie and change it around
enough so you don’t get sued.
3b) A hint for faking or enhancing talent: Use your left brain to understand
the principles of talent in your right brain. One place to start is “Thinking
Like a Genuis” – Joe Landsberger’s ‘Study Guides and Strategies’ – it’s on
the web.
4) Perspective - Check the #’s on the ‘real crap’ that goes straight to DVD –
somebody’s renting it, somebody’s making money, and maybe some people
with talent got a chance to work on a movie.
5) If what you put up on the screen is interesting people will watch it; flawed or
not.
6) In subsequent blogs we’ll tackle the subjects of how to make something from
nothing / how to make budget limitations work for you / pet peeves / what’s
great, what’s good, what’s garbage &… What the hell was that all about?
Feel free to make suggestions – here or at smokinglensfilms@yahoo.com.
And yes, you can write back and tell me how full of crap I am.
Have a good day… I mean that.
DT |
