The Film-Making Blues

[LloydTheGreat]

Hello everyone.
This post is about what you do when film-making gets you down, has your camera ever eaten your tape ? has your film ever come out bad ? has the script ever turned out to not be as good as you first thought it was when shooting day rolls along ?

We all get film-making blues, its doesnt mean that were not true film-makers, it doesnt mean the were not dedicated and it doesnt mean that were bad at what we do. It just means were human.

I'd like to ask all of you what do you do when your feeling sad about your production, when you think you might not get there in the end ?

Thanks.



P:S: Personally, I have no cure

P:S Thats why i made this post

[stbd1]

It depends on the problem, I suppose. If I ever start to feel like what I'm doing isn't as good as it could be, I need to isolate WHY and then figure out HOW to solve the problem.

If there's a mechanical malfunction that causes a headache, there's really only so much you can do about it. Learn from your mistakes so you don't make them twice, appreciate the (unwanted) challenge of duplicating three hours' worth of work in 30 minutes, and learn not to expect things to go smoothly.

Allow yourself some room for error and for improvement. Realize that you're not as good as you'd like to be yet, but you're better than you were yesterday, and as long as you keep working at it you'll keep improving.

I guess the best medicine is just to laugh at yourself and the problems you encounter because taking anything too seriously is a surefire way to get upset, depressed, frustrated and angry over it, and that'll stop you from enjoying the creative process as you're progressing.

[clive]

When I used to run screenwriting courses, I used to talk a lot about how depressing the creative process can be.

We only see other people's finished product, when all the rough edges have been edited out. We don't see their mistakes, or how dog rough the original dialogue was or how much it stunk in the rough cut; we never get to see the shot idea they had, that was so bad that the entire editing team laughed about it for a week.

This is hard. We get to see the best of the everyone's finished projects and compare them with whatever mess we're in right now.

The only reason a professional film maker or writer has an edge over an amatuer, is that they understand the maths of creativity:

It usually takes twenty bad ideas to get one good one

It often takes ten bad scripts to write one good one

You usually have to make ten bad films to make one good one

and finally

You find the good script, by cutting 50% of the dialogue from the bad one and doubling the amount of description.

The truth is, that for every great idea someone like Speilberg has, he'll have had at least nine that stunk, the same is true of every writer, every film maker. The only thing is, we rarely get to see them.

The other thing is, there has never in the entire history of film making, been a film that didn't run into at least one and usually several technical nightmares from hell. The original shoot of Jaws was so technically flawed and suffering from so many problems that Speilberg was almost fired. Film making is incredibly complex, the technology is a nightmare and always has been.

What has always helped me is reading about other film maker's productions. Two books that I recommend are Rebel Without A Crew by Robert Rodreguiz and Easy Rider, Raging Bull. Both books are packed with wall to wall film making screw ups.

The trick, therfore is to understand that everyoner is going through the same process, you are no better or worse than them.

This doesn't make the lows or depressive moments go away, however, it has always helped me not to quit the business to sells shoes instead, on any number of occassions.

[SteveSutton]

I never feel "blue" or sad about filmmaking. Sometimes, I get discouraged, due to production problems, though. When that happens, I just take a break and spend a day or two away from whatever I'm working on. That usually helps.

[NicklausLouis]

Originally Posted by clive

The only reason a professional film maker or writer has an edge over an amatuer, is that they understand the maths of creativity:

It usually takes twenty bad ideas to get one good one

It often takes ten bad scripts to write one good one

You usually have to make ten bad films to make one good one

and finally

You find the good script, by cutting 50% of the dialogue from the bad one and doubling the amount of description.

I love this.

Poke

[OrangeMango]

Originally Posted by Poke

I love this.

Poke

I agree! That's why forums are great, because we can share our woes and such. I don't know many other filmmakers in my area (except the ones on my crew, of course), so it really breaks morale when things aren't going right, and I want to produce a Hitchcock in days.

That's another great thing about DVD commentary, making-of shorts and outtakes, because if the director is humble enough, we get to see all the mistakes of professional-level filmmaking, so it's easy enough to understand why an amateur like myself is making so many bloopers. In fact, sometimes it *boosts* morale, because I see that some of the pros make the mistakes that I've long learned to avoid!

[locust tree]

My blues are mainly coming from the fact that i'm picking up filmmaking as a new hobby. I've been a musician for so long, and i just don't run into a lot of the technical problems that confound beginners. There's a lot less of a gap between ideas and finished products when i'm working with music.

But i still can't get the hang of screenplay formatting. I bought the best camera i could afford, which is still just a really good consumer camcorder. I can just barely use the thing. No matter how psyched i get when I see a good movie, I can't channel that excitement into something creative. All we ever see is big-budget shit that no one outside of Hollywood could reproduce. I find that every idea i have is limited by my shoestring budget, and i haven't made a movie since my first one 3 or 4 months ago. I'm starting to think that i'm just never going to get the inspiration i'm looking for, and maybe it's time to sell back my camera.

Watching my favorite filmmakers- primarily Kevin Smith, Alfred Hitchcock, and Francis Ford Coppola- is just a really depressing experience, because there's just so much money going into everything they make. Sure, you can learn from their color choices and shot framing and whatnot... but they're framing shots that are on giant stages. I don't know where i'm going with this.

[bird]

I'm not trying to sound precious, but there is always hope and belief in your talent (however you choose to decribe or display it). I know what I'm capable of and sometimes it just doesn't manifest itself at the moment you want it to. The key is believing it will eventually happen. That's not to say things don't piss me off or mistakes don't happen. Ya vent some, listen to some music, theuraputic things which may not result in a storyboard, or a scene idea, or a shot-you end up in a state of mind where ideas flow more easily. Of course, they're not all gonna be great, but that's when your analytical side steps in and filters.

[bad haircut]

yes i have the blues ...& a little of the reds too.
i have been editing for ages & i've hurt my shoulder leaning on it! i've lost some of my footage, i found out my music won't work & the stupid f*cking camera ruined my brand new tape... and the stupid tripod is heavy *waaaah*... i'm such a baby right now.

[Mr.Blonde]

lol... you aren't being a baby. That is quite upsetting.

[Zensteve]

That sounds like quite a rough project!

What exactly was wrong with the music, that it didn't work? If it's simply a wrong format that your software won't recognise, there is bound to be a free converter out there to make it happen.

Some more details on the music, and I'm sure the board can help out.

[Mr.Blonde]

Bad haircut says that it won't read burnt cd's.. coz she's a damn pirate. lol

[Zensteve]

Place (allegedly) pirated CD in a comp that plays it.

Run it through Winamp, with output selected for .wav

Import into project.

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Then go forth and sin no more,

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Lots of CD to mp3/wav converters, also.

[Mr.Blonde]

She says that she is kissing your feet & praising you as a God.

[BUS125]

a guy named pixel from detroit killed a judge with another man ur named reminded me of him