Filmmaking

OK, so I want to be a filmmaker. But what is REALLY filmmaking? Much more than just looking in the camera on the set and talking to everybody pretending to be wise and know everything about the characters, no.

I believe that directing films is about creating worlds, convincing worlds we are immensed in. When I define it in such a neat formula it seems effortless. Anybody working on a film (that is not including me, yet, I base it on documentaries I saw) knows that this work is extremely difficult and stressful. I appreciate actors and every member of the film crew, because they not only devote the film to a certain fixed (that is director's) vision of a film and if a director is sensible enough, he is able to go beyond his fixed vision and listen to his cast and crew. And this good director earlier managed to make his cast and crew care enough for the story depicted in the film or any aspect of it (namely, characters), that everybody knows that the aim is to make the best film possible and the remarks they give to the director are what they believe is good for this very aim. Director isn't the wisest man of Earth, even if, as said by Ridley Scott, he is the God of the movie. Of course he is - he creates the world! But still, this god is also a human and as a human being, he can be wrong. This also demands a lot of security from the filmmaker (something what I'm working on myself), so he doesn't feel that ANY remark given by other people on the set is against his vision.

Ridley Scott, one of my masters, truthfully said that you really make three movies during the period in which the film is made. First "director" is the writer, who makes a movie on paper. The emotions, the characters, the personalities, the drama - everything is already in the script. Second movie is made on the set, where some things in the script are bound to change, some things change due to sheer reality - you can't make all the neat shots you planned, because the atelier or the location simply may not allow them. And you must adapt, right there! A film director is said to make the biggest amount of >responsible decisions of all the jobs in the world. Also, he deals with people and little things based on the human factor, do make a change. That's what I believe. Third film is created during the editing, because you can make thousand of movies from the same material, all depends on the chosen shots - the information you decide to give or not to give.

All decisions, while made quickly, must be made with a lot of thought. The quality counts, not the quantity. That is, even the best have made bad films. Spielberg did Hook (far from perfect, sorry), Ridley Scott did GI Jane and Hannibal. Nobody is perfect. And being imperfect sometimes may be an asset.

Another concern for the director is his cast and crew. They give themselves, emotionally and time-wise, to the director and that demands a lot of respect. Whether they give you your best it depends really on you. They are people and they need inspiration. I hope I will be up to this job, because it all sounds so easy and really is one of the hardest jobs ever...

My dreams

In one of my recent discussions with Liri, and some discussions with other friends, I came out to be a dreamer, but only a dreamer. Only now, when I'm 24 and the year has just started, I started to do everything to seriously pursue my dreams. For those that don't know it, I want to be a film director. Hard job, I know, and the more I know about hardships of it, the more I want to do it. It's a big challenge.

I posted a rough outline about plans to become a filmmaker, again, thanks to Liri, and decided that this year I will film something good enough to post on youtube (though not too coherent storywise maybe), next year a more serious short movie and by 30 I will debut as a feature filmmaker. I do have some projects I could pursue as my first. And I do have a talented actress, whose name I mentioned at least twice in this post ;). Yes, guys, I stand for it that Liri Sheridan is a big talent and deserves her breakthrough.

But aside from that. What are dreams really? I know that in some cases, dreams are the only reasons that keep people alive. I do know such people and I think it would be unfair and disloyal to them to share their names on a public blog. Definitely though, dreams give us power. They give us the rhythm we live with. Sometimes we quit them, because they seem unreal. I don't want to sound like the oh-so-popular positive psychologists, but what we believe in becomes our reality. I could refer to other psychologists here, even social psychologists, like Elliot Aronson, who speaks of it a bit in his classic work Human - A Social Being. I decided to fight for my dreams. I am looking for my weapons and preparing for the struggle. But it's worth it. And you know, knowing that there are a lot of people who believe in me, yes, they do!. Knowing that makes me want the job anymore and believe I will pull it off!

Thanks everybody!

Hello!

Hello guys and gals.

The title of the blog may be some of the nicest phrases and metaphors for just life. It's a title of a Rilo Kiley album and song and I want to thank my great friend Liri Sheridan, whose blog you may read here, for letting me know of their existence. It's a great band, even if their last album (Under the Blacklight) isn't the best. The frontwoman, Jenny Lewis (yes Liri, she RULEZZ), made up for it with two really cool solo albums - Rabbit Fur Coat (with the Watson Twins) and Acid Tongue.

Here I will write about my own ups and downs, or to use the name, take-offs and landings. It's life, real life and I hope that what I want to do here will make some sense and maybe make some of you think :). Positively of course!