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Image from Microsoft Bing |
I posted it on SoundCloud and my Website.
The Baron would stand no criticism. Cyril made the fatal mistake of being honest. The Baron had a solution.
· https://soundcloud.com/dynamiclethargy/the-executioner-and-the-jovial-dictator
https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/audio/
For almost all my movie projects I was the writer, director, and producer. So my rules encompass those roles.
Making a Movie Now is far Easier than it Used to be, but Making a Good Movie is Still Just as Hard as it Ever Was
The advent of digital technology has made it far easier to make a movie. Anyone can make one. The danger with that is that you can become lazy in your thinking when you try to make a movie.
I began to make movies in the pre-digital and pre-video era. Film was a precious commodity. I had to think carefully about what I wanted to shoot in advance. That discipline forced me to concentrate on what I really wanted to say.
When I first began to dabble in video and digital, it was far too easy to just shoot without thinking about what I wanted to say. It takes more discipline to keep focused on what I am trying to say.
A Movie is a Collage Made by The Editor
I believe that a movie is made in the editing room. The movie shoot is where you collect material for the editor to work with. Nothing you shoot is wrong until the editor decides they can use it.
Never Fall in Love with Your Own Writing
This is not my original thought. I read it somewhere. In fact I think I read it several places. I see a script is a plan for a movie, not the movie itself. I need to be objective about what I have written. I must be prepared to alter the wording and jettison the parts that do not work.
Write a Story, Then Adapt It
The approach I often take in my writing is to start by writing a story. Then I adapt the story into a script. By writing in a story format, I am able to be more explicit in the subtext of the story. A script format is much more restricted, since it must focus on what the audience can see and what they can hear.
Reading about the making of “2001: A Space Odyssey” inspired me to take this approach. Aruther C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick began by writing the novel, which Kubrick then adapted into the movie. I have heard that other writer/directors have taken the same approach.
Get In, Make Your Point, Get Out
I try to keep this approach in mind when I work on a movie. I first used this approach in an early movie “Who Shot the President.” (https://vimeo.com/45035385). My initial idea was to write a feature length satire of conspiracy theory movies. I came up with a whole bunch of scenes but had not gotten them organized into a story line. I realized that I was not at a stage in my development where I could take on a feature length movie.
I thought about just what point I wanted to make with the movie. I realized that I could make the point with just one scene out of the many I had come up with. That allowed me to turn a feature into a 3-minute short.
This approach has made it harder to develop a longer movie project.
Suppress Your Inner Control Freak
I think that directors, by their very nature, are control freaks. That includes me. As other people, actors, and crew get involved with the project, they will each bring something to the movie. There is a balance between maintaining control of a movie, and letting others contribute.
When I made “Line of Taxis,” I encouraged actors to ad-lib at the start and end of a shot to make the dialogue I wrote feel like the middle of a conversation. Although I did not intend to keep these in the final movie, they turned out so well that I left them in. They were some of the best parts of the movie.
Shoot Multiple Takes
When I first started making movies, I thought the only reason to do a second, or subsequent take, was if something went wrong. As I worked on more movies, I found that sometimes a bad take would have something good in it.
I found that on set it was often difficult to judge whether a take was good or bad. Sometimes they were simply different. There can be many different ways to read a line or play a part. So, I began to feel that getting two or three or more takes using different approaches for each take would allow me to make a better decision in editing. During editing I can watch each take multiple times and understand the nuances of each. Only then, am I really in a position to pick the right take.
Let The Actors Act
Very often I was surprised by how an actor would play a part or read a line. My first inclination was that they were wrong. But I began to realize that any reasonably competent actor will develop a deep understanding of their character. At some point they would have a better idea of who that character is than I, as the writer, would have.
Most actors are open to trying something different, so as a director, I can always encourage them toward my original vision in subsequent takes. But often their original performance is the best. The actor brings something more to the movie than I can bring on my own.
Have Fun
Shooting a movie can be a long arduous process. It is important to make it as enjoyable for the cast and crew as I can. Things like a break room, snacks, and a delicious meal can make the entire process much easier for everyone. The people who work on a film want to participate in making the film, so I need to ensure that they all get the opportunity to do that.
