Why do you do it?

Zensteve

Zensteve

Okies... sounds like a fairly basic "duh :rolleyes: " question... but really...

Why are you interested in creating films?

You have stories in your head that just need telling?

Learning a few basics, before launching a professional career?

"Sticking it" to Hollywood, with an indie-vision?

Best-you-can-do without a budget?

Making a lo-budget short, as a promo for a full-length script?

Getting by in film-school?

Tell me... Why are you making films? :cool:
 
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Just fun...I'd made silly little videos with the friends based on painfully difficult to follow stories that we'd come up with on the fly. Stage Performances in High School.

10 years later, friend asked me to make a short for his wedding ("Hassegechichte" from my site's portfolio).

5 years later, helping my dad out on some wedding shoots and a co-worker asked if I could make a good bye video for our owner after he sold the company (he really did garner that much respect). Cool little short blantantly ripped off from the "Office Enforcer" Rebok comercials with Terry Tate (can't show you as it's openly critical of the company that boght us - in a tongue in cheek way).

Given the audience reactions to these last two shorts, I figured I could actually do this as a hobby. Had a story pop into my head whilst my band was playing at a coffee shop (acoustic guitars and 2-4 part harmonies doing adult comtemporary stuff...train, edwin mccain, matchbox 20)...had a friend (also in the band) help flesh it out (he ended up writing it as well). Spent the next 2 years researching everything I could about this insanity, started shooting my feature...cause, what better way to learn than to dive in?

Couple of "Why Not?" short competitions...and an "Official Selection" award at the UK Film Club's Halloween challenge.

Now I'm in the challenge here and pushing myself by doing all three entries to see if I can do more than one project at a time and give each a distinct flavor...even with some shared locations and actors.
 
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directorik said:
it's the only thing I know to do to earn a living.
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No, I would disagree.

You could be mopping floors, or flipping burgers. Both of these (and other menial examples) could bring home the bacon.

Yet you direct?

There is something bigger calling to you, from deep inside. :cool:

The role of "filmmaker" does not simply drop into ones lap. It is learned & earned, through experience, with no promise of payout... at the indy-level, anyways.

Let me rephrase this, maybe...

What is your motivation for focusing on film?
 
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Why I do it?

Some artists use oil paints (my Mother). Some use junk and Super Glue. I use a camera.
"Sticking it" to Hollywood, with an indie-vision?
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(blush) Personally, I have this love/hate relationship with Hollywood. I love (some) of the movies Hollywood releases and that's what probably got me interested in filmmaking, but then again, I really hate big business with a passion. Orson Welles did it right with Citizen Kane. As much as the studio tried to bury the film, they never got to touch a frame of it. :)
 
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I don't feel I have a choice. I do it because there is this overriding need to tell stories in this medium. Nothing else feels quite right. If I'm not making movies, I'm thinking about making movies.
 
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Casting director Shari Rhodes once told me that we do it because it's a "disease" we're born with, and that if we don't there's a good possibility we'll become serial killers! Okay, she was joking about the serial killers thing but I agree with her point, as stated above, that it's something we HAVE to do. No rational person would want to get into this business, and my rational friends wonder why I tolerate the ups and downs of it. My explanation: I have a disease....
 
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I've started many different hobbies, and quit most of them before completing anything. When we premiered our first short movie (granted, it was at a party with our firends...) I realized that I must care about this hobby enough to see it through to completion. For me -- that's a big deal. Explaining why would take more thought, time, and coffee...
 
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sonnyboo said:
We've chosen the only "hobby" that is more expensive than a cocaine addiction....
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It depends on how much the normal addict (who dosen't have much money in the first place) is spending on blow. I'm spending $3800.00 a month for chemo. :lol: Then again, I'm not going to venture a guess how much Richard Pryor spent a month freebasing. :P

Is it a disease? Maybe. I agree with Sonnyboo, though.
I don't feel I have a choice. I do it because there is this overriding need to tell stories in this medium. Nothing else feels quite right. If I'm not making movies, I'm thinking about making movies.
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I couldn't agree more with this statement.
 
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Sheer fun! To interest me something has to be intellectually stimulating and require some creativity. Movies combine both of those aspects nearly perfectly. I LOVE visual effects that add to stories (unlike, say, the latest star wars movies). It's part of the reason I like to focus on post production more than anything else. I get bored easily so I'm constantly searching for new things to learn. I think I would die if I ever had to give up learning!

My problem in life has always been that I have far too many interests and so little time - choosing just one is very hard to do. Still, I'm on the verge of dropping everything to get into working as a compositor. I love the process. It combines every single thing that I love: it requires creativity, presents technical hurdles to overcome, it incorporate color correction, image processing, photography, and even programming (for me at least - I like writing my own tools!). In short, it can pretty much incorporate or benefit from any skill I wish to develope!
 
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Shaw, I am right there with you. This profession is a union of almost every variety of art and engineering. It's a chance to exercise all of our fancies.
As I get into the process I'm discovering more and more how much I love the cinematography aspect (in addition to everything else). Finding that perfect shot is like hunting for treasure.
 
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If I lived during the Renaissance, I'd be , primarily, a painter or sculptor, if I lived in the mid-1800's, I'd be, primarily, a photographer. The moving art is the medium of our milieu...we are lucky to have such an expressive, all encompassing artform to *tell* our stories...it just keeps getting easier to communicate to a wider audience.
 
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