As you may already know, I’ve spent most of my life making films. It’s been my great pleasure to teach at some of the finest Film Schools and Universities, and something that comes up over and over again is the question of how one becomes a film-maker.
Here are three answers:
Don’t wait for permission.
When I was a kid, I used to help my Dad in his shop – demonstrating video cameras to punters.
I was about 8 years old, and video cameras were huge and expensive novelties. Proper films were made on even bigger 35mm film cameras, and hobbyists used 16mm cine cameras. (Super 8 was still a real thing, not a hipster toy. Yes, I really am that old.)
Now, anyone with access to a mobile phone has infinitely better technology than those huge, expensive cameras.
So the issue is really no longer about access to kit.
The challenge is how to tell compelling stories. So how do we do that?
Telling Stories
There are a billion books out there on storytelling. As someone who has taught screenwriting, I’m always a little wary of the formulaic approach – but that’s not to say you can’t learn how to tell stories.
I’ll write more about this on another post, but in my imagination there’s a cave. A Platonic one, if you like.
In that cave a bunch of early humans are huddled around a fire. A wizened old lady is holding everyone’s rapt attention. She’s a magician. She can create worlds. Sometimes she brings forth monsters and heroes, and other times she revives the story of the tribe, brings it back to life through words.
Crucially, she’s not alone.
Her storytelling is not a monologue, although it might seem like it – in fact, it’s the sigh of boredom from a child in the front row that creates the next story event.
The storyteller is immensely sensitive to the attention of the audience.
(That’s the main part of what Film Director’s do, by the way. We direct attention. )
The Big Secret
So here’s The Big Secret (which isn’t a secret at all):
People have been telling stories since the beginning of society. It’s how we create meaning, understanding and preserve society itself.
If you want to write well, you need to read. (Note to self: yet another page to be written some day.)
If you want to make good films, you need to watch good films.
So here, just because I love you, is a list of the films you might want to watch that will help make you a better storyteller…
I’ll add to it when I find the time, , but here’s a start:
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
Raging Bull
Notes on Blindness
The Battle of Algiers
High Noon