Skip to main content

I See Dead People

The road to becoming a real live, honest to goodness filmmaker can often seem like a lonely one. To many people, the idea of making a film, writing a book, recording a CD, or most other artistic endeavors for that matter, seems like a magical process that only certain people with certain magical skills can achieve. As a result, when the aspiring filmmaker tells those around him about his aspiring dream, many people don't know how to react. Some furrow their brow in genuine confusion. "You want to what?......... Make a film you say? Are you allowed to do that"? Other people laugh. Not because they are trying to crush one's spirit, but because they think that said one, must be joking. Others who might have been tempted to laugh, but can tell by the now struggling filmmaker's face that this is not in fact a laughing matter, will just nod and say how interesting that is before quickly changing the subject. It is not that those around the budding filmmaker have decided they will become the gatekeepers of happiness and the crushers of dreams, they just don't understand. Recording artists, authors, and filmmakers are all famous people, and I, gentle reader, am not famous. So, in their minds they think "How could he possibly become a filmmaker? He's just..... well, him". Most folks don't take the time to think that Steven Spielberg is just little Stevie from down the street to someone. Most forget that he too picked up a camera for the first time, with no idea how to use it. So when faced with the idea of someone they know reaching for what seem to be impossible heights, they are unsure of how to respond. The result can often be a sense of isolation for the filmmaker to be. Some, when faced with this isolation, give up their dream and take up a new dream of being an accountant (and probably make more in a year than I have in the last three). Others decide to go it alone. The lone wolf. El Lobo Solo.

Since the road from aspiring filmmaker to actual filmmaker can be a lonely one, when I was given the opportunity to help my friend with his latest film project, I jumped on board. As you well know gentle reader, getting started can often be one of the most difficult obstacles for me. Here was a project that was written and ready to go. A chance to be behind the camera with actors in front of it, saying lines and being recorded. Sounds a lot like movie making to me. This represented a chance for me to stop dreaming about shooting a project, and actually go help shoot a project. While the project is not my own, and the name read following "and the Oscar goes to......" will not be mine, it does feel good to be working on something tangible. Working with someone who shares a similar dream and faces the same odds. It feels good to have a little company on the road less traveled. So gentle reader, that is how I came to find myself working on the set of the moving picture, with the working title, Zombies during third period..... Again!
Labels:

Comments

  1. Billy HawesNovember 19, 2009 at 3:08 PM

    Lights, Camera . . . Action! It's the action part that will get and keep people believing, because you create great stuff. Keep the camera in Action. It will be fun to see your camera work on Third Period.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matthew 13 BlogNovember 19, 2009 at 10:59 PM

    The problem with action is, it takes so much effort! Thanks for the vote of confidence. I think Zombie's will turn out pretty well and do all parties involved proud. Stay tuned, there is more to follow gent..... I mean, voracious reader!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If a Tree Falls in the Forest

At some point or another, gentle reader, we have all been asked the age old question. "If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound"? It is supposed to be a thought provoking question. It's purpose is to make us think about the way we view the world around us, and give that world view a closer look. Now, being the son of a science teacher, I always thought the answer to that particular question was a fairly obvious "yes". Sound is produced by vibrations moving through the air. Those vibrations are then sensed by the inner workings of the ear and are in turn, processed by the brain which then categorizes and interprets them. The fact that no one is close enough to the falling tree to sense the vibrations it's falling creates on their eardrum, does not mean that the vibrations weren't present. So, yes it makes a sound. The true question is not whether or not the tree makes a sound, but rather, what purpose do...
4 comments
Read more

The Problem of Perfection

Well, it seems like only last week that I was sitting here musing over the laws of physics and how they could effect the filmmaking process. Overcoming the inertia of sitting still and turning filmmaking dreams into filmmaking nightmares....... I mean realities, is one of the most difficult obstacles for the fledgeling filmmaker to overcome. A contributing factor to this most diabolical of phenomenon, is none other than "The Problem of Perfection". I can hear your voice even now, gentle reader. "What is this, how do you say...... problem of perfection"? Simply put, the problem of perfection comes into effect when said would be filmmaker, is paralyzed into inaction by the fear that their would be film, will not be perfect, or great, or pretty good, or even watchable. When faced with the idea of making something bad, some filmmakers will opt instead to make nothing. Such action, will in turn take away one of the key ingredients necessary to becoming a filmmaker...
4 comments
Read more

Better Late Than Never

Better late than never.  It's a phrase we hear all the time.  I have no idea if it's true or not, but if I had to guess, (and since I'm the one writing this, I do), I would guess that when someone says "better late than never", they are most likely trying to by pass the guilt that tells them whatever is "late" should have been done long ago.  To this sense of guilt they reply, "Look guilt, I know I didn't do what I said I was going to do, at the time I said I was going to do it.  But look here, I did do something.  Things could be worse, you know.  I could have just not done anything.  Then where would you be?  You'd have nothing.  So why don't you just back up off me".      So, the phrase is part acknowledgement of wrong doing, and part dodging responsibility by alluding to another trademark phrase, "things could be worse".  I suppose "better late than never" could be true in certain situations, and I'm ho...
3 comments
Read more