Oh, okay. So that’s how a film is created. I totally get it. –That’s what I wish I could say after class, but I don’t quite feel that confident. I’m not saying that I didn’t learn a lot from the workshop last class (Eric did clear up a lot of fuzzy areas), just that it was so much information all at once that I couldn’t digest it. Every step in the process of making a film seemed to have ten sub-steps and about fifty people for each of those sub-steps (I’m probably being conservative on those estimates).
The main quality that I admire in these artists called filmmakers is their ability to make decisions. They seem to know (well the filmmakers on the behind the scenes clips from LoTR and Star Wars seemed to know anyway) exactly what they want out of every shot. Maybe it’s because of my indecisive nature that I find it hard to imagine seeing something so clearly that you automatically know what has to happen for the end product to turn out the way they want. It takes me twenty minutes to figure out what kind of toothpaste to buy, I can’t imagine the amount of stress it takes to decide what lighting, music, sound effects, special effects, and dialogue to include in a scene. Hopefully my indecisiveness won’t hinder me too much in class. It seems as though, more so in filmmaking than any other art, there are so many more decisions to be made to create a quality product. I find, for myself anyway, that things just come to mind naturally with a pencil and paper in front of me. However, with a camera and an infinite number of ways to tell an infinite number of stories or invoke a mood…where do they start?
Another thing that struck me while watching the short videos about making LoTR and Star Wars was the trust is must take to create a film. There are so many people doing so many different tasks on this one project and each person has to hand over complete trust to every other person. True, there are people who look over the progress and make sure that the work is cohesive, but even then, people must trust each other completely. Their name will be attached to this work from now on. I’m slightly worried about this aspect of filmmaking. If I have an idea that I feel strongly about and have a certain vision for, I can get kind of closed off until I see my idea through. I think that’s a good problem to have in a way: feeling so strongly about an idea that I must see it realized. Hopefully, it won’t turn into stubbornness.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
That is definitely how I felt walking out of class, overwhelmed with so much information. The fact is that was only a portion of behind the scenes...just imagine how much more work there is to it! But I understand your point about being indecisive with the extra effects, but I believe that this is when the director and writer come into play, because they are the ones who visioned the story and film, I think they know what they want, and that it wouldn't be so hard. But adding the special effects and working with the technology to make everything right can be a hard task. This just makes us realize that there are more aspects to a movie then just the actors, and I think that is really cool!
ReplyDeleteFilmmakers often are helped early on by not having many resources or options. I tend to believe that obstructions and limitations really spark creativity; overcoming those obstacles is a creative process, and narrowing down the options can really get people started and end the paralysis of infinite possibilities.
ReplyDelete