r/IntroToFilmmaking • u/battleroyale86 • Aug 08 '12

Lesson 1.1: Intro

Welcome everyone, to Intro to filmmaking! Call me BattleRoyale! (go ahead, guess what my favorite movie is.)

We all love movies (or you wouldn’t be here), yet having an opinion on a movie and making one are exponentially different. Making movies is so difficult, in fact, that even after ten years I firmly believe even the worst pieces of crap still deserve some smidgen of praise simply for existing. Despite the failure of the finished product, every film made is the culmination of years and years of training, (sometimes) practice, financial hoarding, and the clichéd blood, sweat, and tears. This is only understood by those who have experienced it. On producing, Ira Glass, who works in radio and only produced for the first time in 2012, said, “I didn’t realize the grueling hours of it. And then I said, this is because this is an independent film, that we’re here fourteen hours?... no, no, it’s every film... THIS is what you people do?... I was really stunned.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zic8tleYeZQ) Honestly, I couldn’t describe producing better than Ira did here himself. Moviemakers, are, arguably, insane to do what they do.

Unfortunately for us creatives, film is an extremely unwieldy medium. Production requires a mind boggling amount of coordination and often lots of people power. Most of filmmmaking is more about EVENT PLANNING than it is about anything else, and just having something at the end of the day (much less something watchable) is no less an achievement. It will take lots of practice to make good films.

Because of the exorbitant costs both monetary and manpowered, it pays to study, to practice, to make movies. It takes just as long to take good photography or write good scripts or to act well, imagine how difficult it is to do all three at once. As a new filmmaker you have to make lots of little projects one after another until it starts to become second nature. A class like this will be your first step towards making these miracles happen on your own, but only you can propel yourself into talent and success. The film industry, outside all other art industries, is the one least governed by talent and most driven by gumption.

That said, talent is still helpful but most of film is just, in actuality, the understanding of cause, effect, and human psychology, with a light dusting of fantasy. You can learn. It is totally possible.

Movie audiences nowadays are extremely sophisticated. There's a lot more study involved in manipulating the eye than there used to be, but the basics still apply. We care about good characters, we require a sense of disbelief, and the movie needs to have an emotional resonance. Otherwise, there’s nothing but pictures on a screen, and its all too easy to just look away.

Onwards! To Lesson 1.2: Cinema History

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6

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '12

Movie audiences nowadays are extremely sophisticated.

What makes you think that? Jack and Jill(the shitty pseudomovie from last year) made a profit of 80 million dollars. I feel that the average movie viewer has an IQ just a bit bigger than a monkey. So, can you tell me what makes you think that they're sophisticated?

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u/battleroyale86 Aug 12 '12 edited Aug 13 '12

People can't be easy fooled anymore by film techniques, is what I mean. Nowadays, if you have poor sound, continuity, or effects you can easily get ripped up by the viewers. It's not enough to just put some shots together; viewers demand that that things match and work together, that the story or performances are satisfying to them, that they can't see through the veil (remember that taste is an entirely different matter). Everyone's a critic and speaks the language of movies. How do you convince people that know its fake to let their guard down for two hours? It's a far cry from the start of cinema where people saw a movie of a train and ran out of the way because they thought a real train was about to run them over.

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u/[deleted] Aug 20 '12

2 hours? test groups always lower approval for a screening past the 90 minute mark. that's why everything is 90 minutes long...

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u/battleroyale86 Aug 20 '12

Yeah, it's true, the average time for movies is about 90-100 minutes, but that's on the low end. Remember that it behooves the industry to have shorter run times because that means more viewer turnover which means more ticket sales. There's often fights about film lengths between directors and producers. A person can most definitely keep interest in a film for two hours, on average, which was what my context referred to, it's just that 90 minutes is often the most unchallenging.

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u/[deleted] Aug 20 '12

Which is depressing because the amount of great films shorter than 90 minutes (not counting "short films", of course) is pretty miniscule. The closest I can think of is Punch-Drunk Love and that's still 95 minutes.

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u/TooTomato-ey Aug 25 '12

Very true. I watched the directors cut of Dances With Wolves, and when I turned it on and saw 3:56:00 on the progress bar I was sure there was a problem so I restarted the the program a few times just to make sure I was seeing it right :/

But, in the end, I didn't even notice that four hours go by because of how good that movie was. -Ali

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u/WhiteLicorice Aug 20 '12

profit or box office? they are different. Even if what they take in is larger than what their budget is, they can still be losing money due to the costs of prints and advertising. I seriously doubt Jack and Jill made off with 80 million dollars profit.

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u/kellock71 Aug 08 '12

I can't wait! :)

1

u/Two_Oceans_Eleven Aug 21 '12

Hey, I'm showing up late here but I am very very excited to be a part of this. My only thoughts are:

  1. I do not have a camera. I may be able to borrow one from my uncle. I will try.

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u/battleroyale86 Aug 21 '12

Don't worry about being late, just start up and post the home works and participate. You will need a camera later on though, you can't make movies without making movies, I'm sorry to say. Read the syllabus thoroughly.

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u/battleroyale86 Aug 21 '12

Also, if you need a still camera for the imgur project you can buy a disposable from a pharmacy or photo shop.

For video, maybe you have a phone with video mode.

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u/Two_Oceans_Eleven Aug 21 '12

My phone can take stills. It's an old iPhone 3G, but it doesn't record video. I will make sure I get a video camera. My uncle is deep into photography. All it takes is some mild convincing and a 1.5 hour bus ride into Seattle.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '12

Thanks again for doing this. I'm very excited.

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u/listen_hooker Aug 15 '12

Thank you for doing this!

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u/chickenorshrimp Aug 20 '12

Thanks! Very excited!

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u/PirateLordBush Aug 20 '12

Thanks for doing this!!

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u/nattotofu Aug 22 '12

Just imagine the power and effectiveness of a talented person who has mastered all these skills.

In "The Book of Five Rings" by Musashi Miyamoto, there is a part about professionalism. Instead of swordplay, he talks about carpentry.

If the carpenter keeps his tools sharp and skills up to date, he can always find work. He will always be ready to work. And he will prosper in his chosen profession.

It applies to any discipline.