Chris Gore on Having a look?

M

Madlabent

Can someone help?

I could be wrong, but I was browsing through my copy of the Film Festival Guide by Chris Gore, trying to find the section where he talks about having a distinct look. It's not the section where he lists what to pack for festivals. I know that there is some kind of question in the passage that I'm looking for and it's along the lines of recognizing some famous screenwriter or producer with a beard or wild hair or something.

I have already read this book like twice and do not have the time to read this thing cover to cover just to find one paragraph.

Now I'm wondering if it's even in Chris Gore's book or is it in Michael Dean's $30 Film School OR is it in that What they Don't Teach you at Film School book?

I am so lost but really want to review that section.

Does anyone have one or two of these book and know what I am talking about, where the author recommends having a "look" ?
 
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Not in "$30 Film School"

It ain't in my book. I would never bother with something as silly as cultivating a "look" to get recognized anywhere. I do talk a little bit about your FILMS having a look, but not YOU having a look. YOU should just look like YOU.

So it isn't in my book.



Michael W. Dean
"A User's Manual for the Human Experience"
http://www.lifeamp.org/
 
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Cool! Gonna have to get me a copy of that $30 Film School. Hadn't heard of it. :cool:

Btw, flipped through Chris Gore's book - didn't see anything like that, either... but wasn't lookin' too hard.
 
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The "Look"....an UPDATE

indietalk said:
I don't think it's in Chris' book either! Having a look? No beards? :lol: Just silly.
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Darn, I suppose I'll be at a loss then because with the exception of What They Don't Teach You at Film School, many of the film books that I have are rather large and not something that I want to be reading for the 3rd, 4th or 5th time during a busy afternoon.

I'm glad that Michael Dean helped to narrow it down by leaving a comment here. Hey Michael, I left a review on Amazon for your book and then sent you an email about that and D.I.Y. or Die on Youtube sometime last year but got no email response. What's up with that? I did get your recent email about the new book on life or something like that, so I guess I'm on some kind of mailing list.

Back to the subject at hand,

It is mind boggling, that I cannot seem to locate this "having a look" writeup. I'm pretty sire that it wasn't in Moviemaker magazine or Filmmaker magazine and it was in some kind of book, but I'll have to go through my books one of these days and find them. Sheesh, with The Ultimate Filmmaker's Guide to Short Films, The Movie Marketing Handbook and a few other publications, this may take some time so maybe I should just let that subject go and come across it whenever I do.

I wanted to reference it again because lately I have been trying to figure out how to market DVDs, screenings and other film related events and it seems like many filmmakers are popular because of themselves first and then the films. Lance Weiler (Head Trauma), Fritz Donnelly (To the Hills), Steve Balderson (Firecracker and Watchout), Joe Swanberg (LOL and Kissing on the Mouth) are just some of the filmmakers that I can think of who I became familiar with by name before I even knew about their work. These are also filmmakers (Joe Swanberg especially) who have audiences that will attend a festival screening or buy a DVD for their new films based on the fact that they are familiar with the person more than the work.

It's like some kind of Indie-Celebrity factor or Cult factor that works for many. However, do we have to have a "look" or have to become well known in order to garner interest in out films and products? I am pretty reserved often and am not like that hyped up dude from Extreme Home Makeover, so I wonder if that will affect my success. Is it ok to be that filmmaker that you rarely see and let the actors drive interest in my work OR do I have to be out there like Ross the Intern from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno?

Arin Crumley and Susan Buice really put themselves out there and let the whole world into their private lives and basically broadcast their whole relationship for anyone who wanted to check out what was going on with them and as a result, Four Eyed Monsters got more fans. I admire their courage to do something like that but am not sure if I could. In a time when people are getting their entertainment in a variety of ways, is that what it takes to get people interested in our films? I LOVED Four Eyed Monsters, but does that also mean that I have to have someone following me around with a camera during my film festival journey?

oh,

Zensteve,

$30 Film School is a practical book that basically teaches you how to actually get things done and has some humor sprinkled in there as well, so you may enjoy it.
 
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YOUR FILM is your LOOK! Seriously. People are there to see YOUR FILM! If you saw an AMAZING film, and then walked up to the filmmaker, and he was in flip flops and a tank top, would you say "Forget it!" No! Hope this helps.
 
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indietalk said:
YOUR FILM is your LOOK! Seriously. People are there to see YOUR FILM! If you saw an AMAZING film, and then walked up to the filmmaker, and he was in flip flops and a tank top, would you say "Forget it!" No! Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I understand that, but my concern lies in the matter of getting people "there" in the first place. The references mentioned in my previous post on this thread were of many people who's work I was even unfamiliar with until I noticed them.

Forget having a "look".....

To garner interest in a FILM, does a filmmaker have to make more friends and fans OR does he or she have to spend more on advertising and get more reviews?

I started this thread searching for a passage in one book but it was based off of an initial concern that I had regarding publicity versus no-publicity.

That is the MAIN subject that has me wondering if I should make myself more known to the masses in order to garner additional interest in a film or event.

Case in point:

I purchased a CD from some rapper guy back in 2005 and had no idea what was on that CD. I never even listened to it and could not tell you where it is located today but I bought it because I saw this guy at least twenty times around the city before that day (no kidding) but never really paid attention to him or his music. I didn't care about the CD. I just knew that he was selling something and I could buy it, so I did.
 
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Madlabent said:
....Hey Michael, I left a review on Amazon for your book and then sent you an email about that and D.I.Y. or Die on Youtube sometime last year but got no email response. What's up with that? ...
Click to expand...

I was getting about 400 spam a day so had a really aggressive spam filter. lost a lot of mail. I'm now using spammarrest, which works.

Try again, you'll have to reply to a confirm e-mail.
mwdean
at
kittyfeet
dot
com.



MWD
 
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