"To me the great hope is... people that normally wouldn't be making movies will make them and suddenly some little girl in Ohio will be the new Mozart and will make a beautiful film using her father's camera-corder and the "Professionalism" of movie making will be destroyed forever and it will finally become an art form." -Francis Ford Coppola.
Ted Hope (truly free film) asked:
I think it would be a good post to list the "qualities" that make a film mediocre. Any suggestions?
I replied:
I agree. I'd stick to the bare-bones basics for the sake of simplicity. The very topic opens a can of worms. So much is out there already. Cut through the mucky confusion.
I'm thinking address the filmmakers still open to suggestion. Newbies and non jaded types. Not for the professional, critics, film buffs and experts. That'd be digging a deep hole.
I'd circumvent any discussion on cinematography, art direction, film stock, equipment, sound, music and effects. Just focus on story-telling, directorial jobs/work, performance (drawing out the best from actors) and editing.
The "Anyone can Make a Movie" method. Accessible to all from the regular Joe at home to people serious about filmmaking everywhere. A non elite audience. A non money/funding dependent explanation.
My suggestion is a hands on approach for people to see/do the work themselves. It's a fast and cheap professional level project. For anyone with a consumer grade camera, anywhere.
My focus on the foundation of filmmaking I equate to baking a cake. The rest is icing. I figure all the icing in the world can't make a cake taste better.
Get the basics down solid and the possibilities are endless. A weak grasp assures mediocrity.
I have a completed project that illustrates this idea. It's clear and simple. It works well and costs nothing.
The project is "Jun Kitatani - The Piece of Apple Pie" on Youtube.
The methodology is by Nicholas T. Proferes. He's Professor at Columbia University and teaches Directing at the Film School. He's worked with Elia Kazan, so it's old school and traditional. His book condenses all the director's jobs with a short screenplay used as a microcosm for a film.
"Film Directing Fundamentals" by Nicholas Proferes Leaf through the contents to see what's there on Amazon.
The style is basic, raw and unvarnished Dogme 95. Check it out on Wikipedia.
This book is popular so lots of people have used it, and the story/screenplay in it, to make their shorts. There is a list of links in the Youtube description box also.
Watch all the different versions. The main project video adheres to conventional standards that make up the foundation of filmmaking (precisely from the text by N. Proferes). At the same time it adheres to the Dogme 95 rules that focus on story, directing, editing and nothing else.
The films linked in the description box stray from convention, but have lots of leeway in production value.
N.B. All the versions are the same story from the same source ("Film Directing Fundamentals" by Nicholas Proferes) that delineates the methodology in a clear and concise manner.
I love it because it's so fast and cheap. Filmmakers can churn out pieces for practice like a painter with a sketch pad. Painters need to know how to draw before they paint. I equate this to learning how to draw for the filmmaker, so they can "paint" a feature length film.
I got over 30 camera set-ups with multiple takes in one 3 hour and a second 4 hour night for night shoot.
For me, the beauty of this is that anyone can do this. It's clear, simple, works well and costs nothing.
Adherence to an exacting recipe-like convention of standards in Directing for filmmaking may feel like a straight jacket, but there's a reason for it. It works, and it's the part of the basic grammar of telling a story on film, in a movie, in visual story telling.
To stray from fundamentals, even with added production value, assures mediocrity, because the craft of telling a story visually gets lost and garbled.
With Dogme 95, all you need is a hand-held consumer grade digital camera and editing software.
Only an elite few have the $$$, resources, funding and time to do a full scale production. If you're serious about filmmaking, movies, videos, chances are you're not part of the elite few with the connections and $$$.
So how do you make a professional level film? How do you avoid making a mediocre film without practice, training and flushing $$$ down the toilet?
How do you make a movie at home? How do you avoid mediocrity at home? For home movies, fan films, original shorts for friends and family. Videos made for fun, entertainment, viral fame, websites, etc.
Anyone can make a movie. Filmmaking is for everyone. Mediocrity is not an inevitable fate. It's just an unfortunate accident. Outstanding filmmaking is available to all.
Material for study, research and development in story telling (dramaturgy) for screen writing, directing and editing are readily available everywhere (all book stores and libraries). We have affordable user friendly technology at our disposal. Software is available that have capabilities that rival multi-million dollar editing suites.
If this Dogme 95 version of "The piece of Apple Pie" is shot with lights, sound, music and effects it will be very glossy looking. Now imagine it with a hip, snappy original story you wrote. Together with the confidence that knowledge and experience give you, add the $$$ and you're on the road to Cannes, Sundance or the Academy awards. Or have the best viral movies on the Internet. Whatever you want. No doubts and no fears. The possibilities are limitless.
Ted Hope (truly free film) asked:
I think it would be a good post to list the "qualities" that make a film mediocre. Any suggestions?
I replied:
I agree. I'd stick to the bare-bones basics for the sake of simplicity. The very topic opens a can of worms. So much is out there already. Cut through the mucky confusion.
I'm thinking address the filmmakers still open to suggestion. Newbies and non jaded types. Not for the professional, critics, film buffs and experts. That'd be digging a deep hole.
I'd circumvent any discussion on cinematography, art direction, film stock, equipment, sound, music and effects. Just focus on story-telling, directorial jobs/work, performance (drawing out the best from actors) and editing.
The "Anyone can Make a Movie" method. Accessible to all from the regular Joe at home to people serious about filmmaking everywhere. A non elite audience. A non money/funding dependent explanation.
My suggestion is a hands on approach for people to see/do the work themselves. It's a fast and cheap professional level project. For anyone with a consumer grade camera, anywhere.
My focus on the foundation of filmmaking I equate to baking a cake. The rest is icing. I figure all the icing in the world can't make a cake taste better.
Get the basics down solid and the possibilities are endless. A weak grasp assures mediocrity.
I have a completed project that illustrates this idea. It's clear and simple. It works well and costs nothing.
The project is "Jun Kitatani - The Piece of Apple Pie" on Youtube.
The methodology is by Nicholas T. Proferes. He's Professor at Columbia University and teaches Directing at the Film School. He's worked with Elia Kazan, so it's old school and traditional. His book condenses all the director's jobs with a short screenplay used as a microcosm for a film.
"Film Directing Fundamentals" by Nicholas Proferes Leaf through the contents to see what's there on Amazon.
The style is basic, raw and unvarnished Dogme 95. Check it out on Wikipedia.
This book is popular so lots of people have used it, and the story/screenplay in it, to make their shorts. There is a list of links in the Youtube description box also.
Watch all the different versions. The main project video adheres to conventional standards that make up the foundation of filmmaking (precisely from the text by N. Proferes). At the same time it adheres to the Dogme 95 rules that focus on story, directing, editing and nothing else.
The films linked in the description box stray from convention, but have lots of leeway in production value.
N.B. All the versions are the same story from the same source ("Film Directing Fundamentals" by Nicholas Proferes) that delineates the methodology in a clear and concise manner.
I love it because it's so fast and cheap. Filmmakers can churn out pieces for practice like a painter with a sketch pad. Painters need to know how to draw before they paint. I equate this to learning how to draw for the filmmaker, so they can "paint" a feature length film.
I got over 30 camera set-ups with multiple takes in one 3 hour and a second 4 hour night for night shoot.
For me, the beauty of this is that anyone can do this. It's clear, simple, works well and costs nothing.
Adherence to an exacting recipe-like convention of standards in Directing for filmmaking may feel like a straight jacket, but there's a reason for it. It works, and it's the part of the basic grammar of telling a story on film, in a movie, in visual story telling.
To stray from fundamentals, even with added production value, assures mediocrity, because the craft of telling a story visually gets lost and garbled.
With Dogme 95, all you need is a hand-held consumer grade digital camera and editing software.
Only an elite few have the $$$, resources, funding and time to do a full scale production. If you're serious about filmmaking, movies, videos, chances are you're not part of the elite few with the connections and $$$.
So how do you make a professional level film? How do you avoid making a mediocre film without practice, training and flushing $$$ down the toilet?
How do you make a movie at home? How do you avoid mediocrity at home? For home movies, fan films, original shorts for friends and family. Videos made for fun, entertainment, viral fame, websites, etc.
Anyone can make a movie. Filmmaking is for everyone. Mediocrity is not an inevitable fate. It's just an unfortunate accident. Outstanding filmmaking is available to all.
Material for study, research and development in story telling (dramaturgy) for screen writing, directing and editing are readily available everywhere (all book stores and libraries). We have affordable user friendly technology at our disposal. Software is available that have capabilities that rival multi-million dollar editing suites.
If this Dogme 95 version of "The piece of Apple Pie" is shot with lights, sound, music and effects it will be very glossy looking. Now imagine it with a hip, snappy original story you wrote. Together with the confidence that knowledge and experience give you, add the $$$ and you're on the road to Cannes, Sundance or the Academy awards. Or have the best viral movies on the Internet. Whatever you want. No doubts and no fears. The possibilities are limitless.
