cinemanovel

BEST FILMS OF THE DECADE

In no particular order at all:

The Return

Last Life in the Universe

Lost in Translation

Gerry

Before Sunset

In the Mood for Love

Magnolia

The Barbarian Invasions

Italian for Beginners

Kira’s Reason (a love story)

The Proposition

City of God

Dogville

The 25^th Hour

Cache

Mulholland Drive

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

The Lives of Others

You Can Count on Me

Talk to Her

Millennium Mambo

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Squid and the Whale

Woman on the Beach

Brick

Punch Drunk Love

Lilya-4-Ever

Import/Export

Children of Men

Sideways

Wonderboys

White Night Wedding

Fear Me Not

Summer 04

Climates

Match Point

In Bruges

Fish Tank

Star Trek

The Puffy Chair

Head-On

OldBoy

Dancer in the Dark

Elephant

Grizzly Man

The Child (L’Enfant)

Vancouver Lights

http://vancouverlights.blogspot.com/

Cam is working on Production Design and Art Direction on the new film A NIGHT FOR DYING TIGERS. It’s great to have somebody with Cam’s experience and understanding of both Architecture and Design. There are so many things to consider: the story points enhanced by the space we’re shooting in, the colour scheme, the fact that I (when wearing the hat of cinematographer) need interesting things to balance each frame I shoot, and the style of the home vs. furnishings/set dec and how limited we are budget-wise.

A lot to consider!

We’re heading into production on January 11th.

We’ll need a cut ready for June.

Hopefully we’ll have our key location secured by tomorrow.

I’m reworking the script everyday (hopefully Katie will go easy on me for the constant changes). New cast and new locations, as well as the reality of words on the page turning into “words out of mouths” forces the writer in me to really focus on what’s important. Hopefully there is enough time to reflect on the new stuff before we start, however, I know I’ll be adding as we go, so maybe it’s just best to give into the whirlwind of changes that are coming. The speed with which production happens means very little time to overthink once the camera rolls.

Kubrick would hand cast and crew new pages on the day, pretty much everyday, and that was the script. I suppose that’s not a bad working example.

21 YEAR OLD PORN STAR

JUST A SIMPLE LIST

Godard, Antonioni, Dogme95, Von Trier, Herzog, Monte Hellman, Bertolucci, Varda, Malick, Malle, and Cassavetes.

This is a list of some of 21 year old Porn Star SASHA GREY’S favourite filmmakers (Sasha Grey stars in The Girlfriend Experience by Steven Soderbergh).

She listed her five favorite films (she did this for Rotten Tomatoes) of all time, and they included: Godard’s Pierrot Le Fou,  John Cassavetes A Woman Under the Influence, and Werner Herzog’s Stroszek.

(ONLY SLIGHTLY) DEPRESSING REALITY

A 21 year old PORN STAR knows more about cinema than 99% of the ACTORS (of any age) I’m able to audition (here in Vancouver, and I’m speaking mainly of non-union actors here, but this is, sadly, true of many union thespians as well).

Think about that. It’s absolutely true.

I love actors. They are the most important thing. Brilliant actors are like athletes. Their performance can make you forget to breathe.

I’ve auditioned over 2,000 actors (of various age and social situation) over the past few years, and maybe FIVE of them have heard of one of those films or filmmakers (and of those FIVE, at least TWO of them were Directors themselves).

Are there actors in Vancouver who are interested in cinema?

The Sasha Grey thing really took me by surprise.

Pretty soon I’m going to begin casting a new film.

Maybe I’ll go hang around outside the Cinematheque and ask everybody leaving the Ozu retrospective if they’re an actor (I suppose it’s either that or hang around porn sets and ask the actors about their favourite films - between “takes”).

Vancouver is a city filled with actors, which should be great, right?

Not necessarily…

In Vancouver there’s no reason for most actors to care about cinema (although I hold out hope that some of them do, and that I’ll meet them soon) because Vancouver is set up in a particular way.

Vancouver screen actors are groomed for commercials, or bit parts on Broad Television shows and Movies of the Week. They can make enough of a living doing these things (and maybe serving on the side), at least until their mid-thirties.

An actor is just a cool thing to be for a lot of Vancouver twenty-somethings.

I suppose I might have a better chance casting the next film someplace smaller, where playing GUARD NUMBER THREE isn’t an option, and therefore not a career goal. Only because I wouldn’t have to wade through ALL THE REST, but that’s the catch…there are so many actors here in Vancouver…and a lot of them are truly talented (in my opinion, of course). I know this city, and I’m comfortable working here.

It’s so frustrating to watch the perfect (looking) lead for your new film walk in the door, open her mouth, and she’s something right out of THE HILLS. She’s empty, absolutely no depth or understanding of the world or the world of cinema/film.

She can do reality TV, but how is she going to pull off the lead in a feature film (I’m not talking about something like Final Destination 5)?

If our local actors spent more time watching films (world cinema), and less time attending “acting” or “audition” classes (which do MUCH MORE harm than good, especially if the young actor has any real talent), not only would they immediately land more television and movie of the week gigs, they’d be available for more serious lead roles in independent arthouse cinema.

I’m looking forward to meeting a whole bunch of actors who love film, soon!

ART VS. INDUSTRY

It’s funny. Everybody thinks they’re an artist.

Being an artist is hard.

It requires a moral commitment.

An artist cares nothing about what an “audience” wants.

An artist cares nothing about “the market.”

An artist is concerned ONLY with creating art, no social agenda, no political agenda, no financial agenda.

This is not some vague provocative statement. This is the simple truth. There are no exceptions. The artist creates because they have to, the stuff of life and love and death makes it impossible for them to do otherwise.

This is not an invitation to discuss how to strike a balance between art and commerce, because the moment commerce becomes any consideration, you are no longer creating art.

You may have found a creative way to make a living, that you enjoy, but the moment you compromise your artistic vision (for any reason at all, and you must be completely honest with yourself here), you’re no longer creating art.

I’m interested in creating cinema art in my feature films, and I’m interested in creating commercial stuff (TV/Web, etc…) as a way to have fun (and hopefully pay my rent one day).

Those are two completely different things, mutually exclusive. 100% No exceptions.

I posted something recently (as a facebook status update, which was a mistake), a rather aphoristic statement that read as follows:

You can have ART or INDUSTRY, there is no more “and.”

This was in reference to cinema art, and the creation of same.

I will say this of myself and my feature film work.

I’m trying.

I’m aware of how incredibly difficult it is.

I understand the difference.

If you’re willing to compromise 10% of your vision, you should be willing to compromise 100% because it is the same thing (just understand you’re not creating art and make certain you’re compensated in some way for the compromise).

For the right amount of financial consideration, I’d be willing to modify my TV and web projects, to follow suggestions, etc…but when it comes to my own feature films (as a writer/director), I’m not interested in compromise. I would much rather work a manual labour job during the day and shoot my films at night (with my own money), than compromise my vision. I’m not making films so I can yell “Action” and “Cut” and wear a hat and be in charge, or because I love the circus atmosphere. Production almost kills me, every time.

Of course filmmaking can be a very collaborative process, and, as long as there’s one voice in charge (and that person is an artist), that collaborative process can result in some of the most inspiring work. Recognizing (and always using) the best idea is key in feature filmmaking. This is not the same as mis-casting or cutting scenes because bankers and accountants, producers and execs, who have read Robert McKee’s book and skimmed your script, want to believe they’re creative people.

If you’ve created a work of art and it finds an audience and you become wealthy, congratulations. That is a wonderful gift, a by-product.

I understand how difficult it is to create art, and how each and every success, however small, will make this progressively more difficult.

Being an artist is hard.

You must be like Grace at the end of Dogville, or Rorschach at the end of The Watchmen (the graphic novel, not the movie). To create art you have to be morally committed, 100%, any less, and you’re making something else.

The real point is to understand and be honest with yourself. Know what you’re creating.

If I remove an important scene in my script in order to “get it made,” or cast somebody who’s wrong for the part because they are “a name.” I understand completely that I’m no longer creating a work of art.

No illusions. That’s all.

THE GATEKEEPERS

If you’re writing a script to sell, read McKee, Field, and learn when to Save the Cat. If, however, you’re writing a script because you’re interested in creating cinema art…well…you should still understand McKee, Field, etc…because you are going to have to speak with idiots, in their language. If you have a really great script, and you are fluent in the language of classical structure, you have armed yourself against the homogenizing horde of evil that waits to tell you “no.”

If you’re looking for funding, government or private equity, the gatekeepers behave in very similar ways. They are (usually) people who subscribe to the McKee/Field/Save the Cat “iron out the interesting bits” theory of screenwriting: they may have things in development, they are almost always bitter that nobody has walked up and simply handed them production money for their own (unfinished) script, and they resent anybody who goes out and makes a film on their own (oh do they ever). You will have to convince them that your art/script fits a mold they’re comfortable with.

And it’s frustrating because they DO NOT know your script, ever. They’ve skimmed it, and 90% of their notes are vague, confusing, and often just plain wrong. They are lazy, and, in their defense, I’m sure they have a lot of work to skim.

As a writer/director who understands how much can slip through the cracks, I really value feedback. I want to make the best film I possibly can. I need to. But what can you do when the people in charge of greenlighting that film, skim the script and provide nothing useful in the way of feedback? They lack imagination and they’re bitter. I’ve spent hours in workshops with them, and, like an outspoken first year literature student speaking about water symbology and Ophelia, they LOVE the sound of their own voice. They want to let their bosses know that they’ve hired the right readers, and that there is a quantifiable way to determine what works (we have McKee to blame for this, I think), and that they, the readers, know “the way.”

They love the terms “inciting incident” and “second act climax” and “conflict.” And you will know what they mean, and you will have answers to all of their concerns and questions, because you will know your script inside and out.

Notes and feedback are extremely important, but you must choose your readers carefully. I spent five years doing a BFA and an MFA in Creative Writing, workshopping fiction, stage, and screenplays. I know all about feedback. Notes from people who have really read your work, CLOSE READING we called this, are incredibly valuable, but the gatekeepers do not CLOSE READ, they skim. Feedback from people who have “skimmed” your script is dangerous.

Still, if you have catchy enough dialogue, you might make it to the next step, getting notes. If you have final cut and control over your project, you’re in a great position. Take their notes. Change everything. Get the greenlight. Look at your script again. Change everything back so it works. Hey, you may even find that some of the notes helped. It definitely happens.

It is valuable to understand the vernacular, to be fluent in the language they are going to use to put their “stamp” on your work. Producers and funding executives, like high profile actors in a vanity project, WANT to make changes, that way they can point to those changes if the film is successful and say “hey, look at what I made.” If the film is a failure, nobody knows about their contribution, only that you made a shitty film.

If you have no response to “are you sure there’s enough conflict leading up to your act II midpoint “faux climax,” etc…you’re in trouble.

Know your enemy.

TOP 15 FILMS (for right this second)

TOP 10 FILMS OF THE MOMENT:

These will change constantly, but, for tonight…in no particular order…

1. A Married Couple

2. The Celebration

3. Stalker

4. Scenes From A Marriage

5. The Long Goodbye

6. Italian For Beginners

7. Contempt

8. Red

9. The Last Life in the Universe

10. Two-Lane Blacktop

11. Five Easy Pieces

12. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

13. Manhattan

14. Woman is the Future of Man

15. Cache

Tomorrow this list will be completely different.