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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!!

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.

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!!!

suburbia

"fletta" // bjork and antony

alison brady.

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.

HAPPY VALENTINES

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