Artistic Methods and the Realities of Filmmaking

Just felt like sharing a few thoughts on film.

Before I got involved with film, I was also very involved with narrative art, such as short stories and some narrative poetic forms. When I started doing film, I found I had to modify some of my tried and true artistic methods. When it comes to writing, I can add words, take away words and modify words to my liking until I can find the intuitive balance that feels right to me. Although I might get a severe case of writer's block, I never say, "Darn, I wish I could put in 'hello' right here. It would make the poem perfect. Too bad I can't write it." In short: the content comes with my intuitions. If I think it, it becomes a part of the work.

As for film, however, when I'm in the editing room, my intuitions might call for a particular shot, or a particular inflection in the actor's voice, or what-have-you, but more often than not, I don't have that available to me. And unfortunately, I often don't realize these things until I have the entire work in front of me, and I can sense its rhythms. Thus, I have to plan plan plan and take multiple shots and hope that my planning will reward me during post. And yet, whenever I get to the editing room, a thought inevitably arises about what would help make the scene better, but if reshoots aren't feasible, that thought will never come to fruition. In short: the content and the intuitions are often separate. If I think it, it doesn't necessarily become a part of the work.

So here's a question. For those of you who've been involved heavily with other arts before you got involved with film, do you find that your former artistic methods often conflict with the realities of filmmaking?

So here's a question. For those of you who've been involved heavily with other arts before you got involved with film, do you find that your former artistic methods often conflict with the realities of filmmaking?

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Actually, film making was a natural progression for me. I was writing/directing radio professionally and doing freelance stills photography on the side. Once I'd got my head round how a film is actually constructed, directing was just a combintion of what I'd been doing before, composing shots and working with actors.

I think the hardest thing in moving to film from radio is, for a writer it's actually a step down rather than a step up. With radio you can create anything easily and cheaply because the projector is the audience's imagination. With film if you want a scene where a eight foot tall Yeti carries a grand piano up Everest wearing a gingham frock and a Heidi wig you have to go out and literally stuff the yeti into the frock.

Great question, Xuetang,

I've always worked in the visual arts (painting being my first love), puppets, glass, ceramics, limited set design. I think the hardest part, for me, was composing for movement in time. With a painting (most of the time) you're designing in one, 2-dimensional space, so you tweek until you get the most dynamic composition. With animation (on twos), you draw 1 cel for 2 frames, 770 cels for 1 minute. A lot of the time in-betweens function are simply to move figure A closer to figure B, overall composition considered secondary. It sounds anal, but as a painter you look at each individual frame and say 'ahhh, undynamic composition burns my eyes' but it's truly necessary for Movement.

I have dabbled with other forms of creativity (writing and playing music, drawing / painting, the written word) for many years. These projects would most often stump me because I felt I could not accurately convey what is in my head into reality. Oddly enough, it was when I started with movie-making that I was able to transform that vision to a satisfying reality. So for me, making a movie was the most "road-block-free" creative process.

During my time in college, I've gone through many forms of art, photography, sculpture, painting, Illustration, graphic design on and on. Filmmaking is just another medium with its own set of tools. It's probly the most intensive art form because it involves all art forms. I approach my filmmaking as art, not just filmmaking. I write in the same manner composing many bits and pieces to one story. To offshoot the long intense process of filmmaking. I create small sculptures and painting while I'm in the filmmaking process. It helps to release the pressure of filmmaking. To answer your question my art is an important part of the filmmaking process and for me one can’t be without the other. The art methods that I use to create more traditional art are the same skill set that I use to create a film just different tools. Hope this makes sense.

Christopher said:

During my time in college, I've gone through many forms of art, photography, sculpture, painting, Illustration, graphic design on and on. Filmmaking is just another medium with its own set of tools.

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It's also the most expensive, and that inhibits us from expressing ourselves as often as we'd like to.

indietalk said:

It's also the most expensive, and that inhibits us from expressing ourselves as often as we'd like to.

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Yes, I've often made that comparison myself. I can churn out poetry everywhere and everywhen, but if I want to make a film, I have to plan it out, especially since I don't own any of my own equipment yet.

clive- My experience exactly as a writer. I can only imagine that top Hollywood screenwriters don't have the same constraints as we do, but at the indie level I've found it's particularly important for me to first assess exactly what the potential cast and crew are capable of, and what sorts of sets and props are reasonable with our budget and talents. Only then can I feel comfortable writing a script for a film I want to make.

bird16 - I dabbled a little in drawing before I got into film, and I've found the same difficulties with composing in time. You take all this time in carefully composing a shot... and then the actors move... It's particularly vexing for me during action scenes because it's hard to compose a piece of action well without making the shot seem too stiff. It's also just a physically demanding task, especially when the performers are in top physical condition and I'm not!

JB- That's interesting. I wonder if the constraints of filmmaking help you hone in your artistic intuitions the same way the contraints of a poetic form often help me produce much more moving poetry than if I were just writing without structure.