Saturday, February 26, 2011

a couple new..

All of Me by sahalemarja

Borders by sahalemarja

sometimes I feel no matter what I experience, no matter what I learn, I am really just uncovering who I had always been... only had forgotten. No matter what institution, ideal or philosophy others want me to believe, I always will and always have been .. Sahale.

its a new genre.


Just, take me where you find me and what my actions reveal me to be.



Friday, February 25, 2011

scripts are a beast.


a script is like a mighty beast.

each genre is its own animal.
you can't look at a action film and a high school musical rip off the same way.

each is totally legit in its own world. But what is its world?

I bet reading High School Musical you would scoff it. Tear it to pieces and generally see it as fluff.

"Filmmakers from Southern have an advantage because our work is DEEP! and all of Hollywood is shallow!" blerdy-do

NOT TRUE.
people in Hollywood that are working high up aren't nessicarily dumb. They just have to make entertainment.. you know why? because you will buy it.

They are super smart.. super deep about these things, but intentionally dumbed down. It a part of selling the image. Its what the majority wants. Its just another way of manipulating the market. Of course the brilliant bit... the bit you are not seeing... is that they just suckered you into making that pithy movie into a blockbuster hit!! The joke is more on us than them. Trust me.. its intentional. Not necessarily what you always want to do, but hey! some of the most brilliant and fun/compelling/entertaining films out there .. strait classics and all around amazing films are made of some of these very scripts and concepts.

Sometimes is becomes more form than content.

So when you read a script... it is valuable to say in your coverage of it that it is good.. yes. But more than that.. does it fit in with the world of films out there? It is commercially relevant. Is it enough of a blue print for a good film of that genre?

We are considering developing a action-y.. thriller-y film and as a part of the process, I was to read the script and give coverage. Lets just say I had a variety of problems with it. It was written well.. but there were some things I just couldn't buy. Some loop holes in my own mind of what it should be. Did I have context for these comments? Had a read a lot of action-y thriller scripts? Had I even seen a database of the classics in that genre? No. My comments were generally worth something, but not much. I decide to watch some of this genre's films.. ones I had seen before.. Top Gun, Alien, Wanted, Jaws... etc. and I started to break down what I was seeing with how I imagine the script to read. Corny words stared to appear on its pages.. contrived situations.. giant leaps in plot.. okay okay okay.. obviously.. I started to realize that these films would have read on page just as corny and just as contrived as this script I had read, but yet on screen they worked. they were magical.

the script is an animal! I'm telling you!
Its not what it seems.

A good director/producer needs to be able to decipher the animal. know if the beast is tamable by taking that content and knowing what form it demands. they need to know the genre.. know the screenplays and films in that genre well. pull it from their back pocket.. give people's work context and scrutiny on the correct playing field..
or someone else will for them.

///movies Sahale is watching this weekend..

1. Boys Don't Cry - Kimberly Pierce
2. Amores Perros - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
3. Breaking the Waves - Lars van Trier
4. The Ice Storm - Ang Lee

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

BORDERLINE!



Lesson Number 2


Tip No. 2 .. aspiring filmmaker.

watch LOTS of movies.
you want to talk to any professional about your film or someone else's film? You need a lexicon of influences.. models, to draw from. The bigger the better.
You need to watch everything. Nothing is worthless.. EVERYTHING comments on what is achievable or what you should avoid. Not only should you watch the "good" and artsy films but you need to especially pay attention to films that make MONEY or films that art marketable.

The films that are considered great, show the subtleties of film.. the ultimate potential artistry that is possible. The make you think and they challenge you. They show you how a film can be compelling. Be it unpredictable characters, distinct visuals, or articulate and deeper plot structure. They they have an innate and intuitive profoundness that you should pay attention to. I haven't been able to figure out exactly what it is.. but it holds you hostage.. compels you beyond your control.

MAJOR MOTION films show what is desirable. What people are looking for what people want.
You are not always going to be able to shoot or produce the next "Citizen Kane". You HAVE to have content for genre. You have to know what the acceptable boxes are before you can hit or intentionally miss them. You have to know what is out there, you have to be aware of the working professionals, screenwriters and production companies that are able to make work and stay in business because IT SELLS.

Working at a production company, I have found that I have seen nowhere near enough films to a have an adequate database to converse with legitimate professionals. If I watched 2 movies a night for a year I still wouldn't be caught up. There are so many films that I have FINALLY been exposed to that have taught me the equivalent or more than one of my film classes at Southern. They have challenged my way of looking at films.. they have shown me how production lives and breathes. To be relevant you MUST educate yourself. You must watch and watch and study and study your craft. And that means watch as many movies as you can.

Because, I have found, if you are watching a movie and can say to yourself "that's interesting!" ..you should have, in that moment, learned something new about filmmaking.. and if you are paying attention to that moment, if you are being critical about it, you will be able to identify what that new thing is. The more movies you watch.. the broader your scope is, the bigger and bigger you database and lexicon .. the more content you have! the more your opinions, insight, and critique on scripts, films, other working professionals.. (even your own stuff) is relevant!! Be extremely relevant people! make your words and your opinions matter. Make them matter by knowing what you are talking about. In other words, watch tons of movies!!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

hard work. work hard.


So.
Filmmaking.

I am realizing how saturated the market is.. and how LUCKY I am to be a ShadowCatcher.
I want to sooo badly to work in the top of the top in the film industry. I'm not even sure why.
I think it is because those are the type of people I want to mix with. I am so addicted to how smart Tom is. I so addicted to how much work Ginny Ruffner gets done. I want to be amongst people like that. ALL the time. They are exciting and challenging. I thought I wanted to be a great filmmaker because I wanted to make good films.. which I still do, but now I really want to make smart films to be around the smart people who make smart films.

I do not want to squander this opportunity. I have to be good at this stage of the process so that I can be good at the next. I have to work above and beyond what I need to at this level so that I can make sure to tackle the next. I want to live life fuller in the sense that I take on everything and anything and be the best at everything and anything.

I found that I haven't been who I was all along because I never saw myself as that. Now that someone has mentioned that I am "ambitious" and "aggressive" I realized that I was all along.. just no one ever took me seriously.. or maybe this is something new.. maybe I just never believed in myself.. Whatever the case.. I am finally in a good place! I am finally in a place I fit.

Its up to me. Its how far I want to take it.

"When I die I'll rot, but when I live.. I'll give you all I got" -Sufjan Stevens.

Monday, February 14, 2011

cover it.

there are certain things that I definitely
will have to develop.

No. 1 Tip aspiring filmmakers.

Learn how to write coverage.

Coverage is a synopsis and comments for a producer or another lofty
decision maker to know the skinny on a script.

Whether it is good or bad.. needs work, what is wrong with it and what is good.

The amount of scripts a production company may have submitted to it prohibits the
people at the top from reading each one so it is handed off to the smaller people to
make sure it is worth their time.
Coverage has to be an accurate and objective interpretation of the script. You can't omit stuff because it is stupid or not exciting.. yet you have to be concise and make sure you only give the bare basics. Concise is 3/4 a page.

super hard.

But this is good. CLARITY. I will obtain it!!!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

a few thoughts.

There are two perspectives that I have encountered. One, and the biggest one is that Christians have the ultimate truth and they need to tell the world about it.

The other is mine, which wishes to have the world teach me what is truly good. Those little moments that are truly and honestly beautiful is where you find good for good's sake. Not by the rule book but by it standing in the harsh light of what really really just is. truth.

I think that telling life how it is, is more compelling. Showing characters where they are at.
I think good film should be a vulnerable exercise in doubt.
A willingness to paint something more honest than faith but still be able to see the value of that ideal.

I just found the best thing ever.

um... new looks <O> <O>