I'd like to have a thread where people can post something they've seen, read, heard, anything they've come across recently that inspired & made them excited to start or get back to work on their project. Sometimes you just need something good to remind you why you're putting in so much time & effort on something.
Please tell me if there's a thread like this already.
I'll start this off with a set of books about Orson Welles by Simon Callow.
Orson Welles Vol. 1: The Road to Xanadu
Vol. 2: Hello Americans
Vol. 3: One-Man Band
Vol. 4: (Not published yet)
I've read Vol. 2, which details the films & projects Welles did after Citizen Kane & before he left America to live in Europe. I wanted to find out how such a great filmmaker always seemed to get in trouble with the studios he worked with, & how almost every film he made after Kane was taken out of his hands & re-edited into more average fare. To sum it up, Welles was a genius in how he constantly experimented, not only in movies, but in all forms of media. That was his main goal. Unfortunately most of the time he was careless about money, his own & the studio's, so they became increasingly afraid to bankroll his projects, & he had to finance them himself, with some films taking years to finish.
Though his movies usually lack the emotional connection that makes me care about the characters, his technical innovations influenced many films that came after & to this day. And his films which were reissued in Director's Cuts are always better than the studio's versions. Welles is fascinating because he really lived for his work, & would usually be working on 3 or 4 projects simultaneously. His family life suffered because of that, but it was a gift to the world from one of the first great & truly independent filmmakers.
The (finished) books are available in the L.A. Public Library, lapl.org
And this video of Simon Callow giving a lecture on Welles got me interested in reading them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpHFaiiKhSk&t=3s
Please tell me if there's a thread like this already.
I'll start this off with a set of books about Orson Welles by Simon Callow.
Orson Welles Vol. 1: The Road to Xanadu
Vol. 2: Hello Americans
Vol. 3: One-Man Band
Vol. 4: (Not published yet)
I've read Vol. 2, which details the films & projects Welles did after Citizen Kane & before he left America to live in Europe. I wanted to find out how such a great filmmaker always seemed to get in trouble with the studios he worked with, & how almost every film he made after Kane was taken out of his hands & re-edited into more average fare. To sum it up, Welles was a genius in how he constantly experimented, not only in movies, but in all forms of media. That was his main goal. Unfortunately most of the time he was careless about money, his own & the studio's, so they became increasingly afraid to bankroll his projects, & he had to finance them himself, with some films taking years to finish.
Though his movies usually lack the emotional connection that makes me care about the characters, his technical innovations influenced many films that came after & to this day. And his films which were reissued in Director's Cuts are always better than the studio's versions. Welles is fascinating because he really lived for his work, & would usually be working on 3 or 4 projects simultaneously. His family life suffered because of that, but it was a gift to the world from one of the first great & truly independent filmmakers.
The (finished) books are available in the L.A. Public Library, lapl.org
And this video of Simon Callow giving a lecture on Welles got me interested in reading them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpHFaiiKhSk&t=3s
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