Saturday, 10 March 2007
Saturday
The quote above by Tarantino is fairly self-explanatory: if you want to make movies, make movies. It hints, however, towards what most people see as the main obstacle to making films: compromise. Film, perhaps more than any other medium, is a co-operative art form. You cannot make one on your own (or you can, but it will be a rare exception). You can write a novel, and no one can touch it. But to get a film made you need actors, you need to buy the equipment, you need technical help for sound, photography, editing, production and then promoting. You have to compromise with what other people want, notably producers. In a way, Tarantino's quote is a fallacy. You can't just make a film because you want to. You need the help of other people. However, what he points to is a sheer determinism and enthusiasm that can force a film to be made, whatever the circumstances. This is the key.
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3 comments:
This reminds me of some advice I read about writing which said, "there's no point imagining that you will suddenly write the greatest first line of a novel if you simply wait longer. Write a crappy first line of a novel, and then when all of the lines of the novel are done come back and do your rewrite."
Too often I think people imagine that they are going to suddenly accidentally get involved in the creative arts. Like somebody magically comes along and says, "here you are I know you've always wanted to make a movie, here's a dynamite script, actors, money and equipment - I'll see you in a year".
Things don't work like that. You have to go for it. This, to me, is why blogging is great. Nobody would be able to argue with me if I said I was a writer. They could argue about the quality of medium - sure, but they couldn't argue with the output. And it's also why YouTube is great for film making. We have an instant audience so we can really play with the full train set without risking our necks (and wallets). Exciting times. And yet some people are sitting back waiting for it to happen to them.
I think it's sometimes called the limousine complex. You just wait around not doing anything for one of them to pick you up and everything to start. I think I have occasionally suffered from it, but now I think it's time to just get things done ourselves...
Computers are also a great thing for amateur writers, but we never really knew life without them, I suppose.
Just remembered that bit of Eddie Izzard where he says he used to creep around Pinewood Studios as a kid hoping some big producer would spot him and say 'hey, you, strange creeping kid. I need you for my new movie, the creeping kid.'
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