Criticsm

If you’re going to criticize, be prepared to be criticized.

Film History

I find comfort in studying film history where at first I felt anxiety. When I started watching films critically, I was constantly inspired to improve, innovate, and inspire. But for every naive idea I had, I soon discovered a film that had executed the idea better than I had envisioned myself. And I would inevitably later discover that that movie was also not the first. If there is anything to discover about film that has not been explored, it will pale in comparison to the revelations from the original innovators, who perhaps benefited as much from their fortunate timing as they did their innovative genius. People love a good story, even one they’ve hear a thousand times. Maybe especially one they’ve heard a thousand times.

V.F. Perkins

In his 1972 publication, Film as Film, V.F. Perkins writes 2 simple ideas, so obvious that at first glance require no second thought. 

“The most [the critic] can ‘demand’ from a film is coherence…”  

and

“The story-teller’s freedom to create is inhibited by his two first requirements: clarity and credibility.”  

It is easy to get caught up in details and decisions that distract us from this, but this is why clarity of vision is necessary. Personally, my biggest mistake to date is I often confuse spontaneity with laziness of vision. Cinema is not for the lazy, although many have tried to convince me otherwise. As far as I can tell shooting from the hip is for the legends. And if one should attempt that method and get lucky, then what is the point? The pleasure for me is in the preparation, something I have learned only recently. Although at this point in my studies, an embarrassing production is still much more valuable than months of reading textbooks.

My Recent Discovery of Oral Presentation

Although advice is surely more pleasurable to give than to receive, it should be handed out with caution as it is often little more than a window into the presenter’s ignorance. My advice to budding directors who also share the burden of writing, tell the story orally to your friends before you consider your draft final.

Friendly Reminders of Naivety

It seems that the path to greatness is paved with broken promises,  false starts, delusions of self, and an infinite supply of opinions and advice, good and otherwise; if anyone else has found another way I would very much like to know it.  Although the increasingly frequent moments of doubt suggest to me that perhaps those who have found the other path are the ones destined for greatness.

On Influences

Many things in life influence us in many ways, so I will restrict this to directors, for I am more excited to learn the director’s name than the producer, editor, or actor. In order of importance, from least to most and incidentally chronologically:

1) Robert Altman, for focusing my attention on the director’s contribution, rather than the actor.

2) Clint Eastwood, for introducing me to the great American Western and the effectiveness of self promotion.

3) Stanley Kubrick, for introducing me to the importance of claiming to like those who are respected by those I respect.

4) Francis Ford Coppola, for introducing me to the film student.

5) Alexandre Rockwell, for showing me that a niché film can resonate greater than a than a popular film, and that lonely appreciation is bitter sweet.

6) Martin Scorsese, for showing me that a popular film can be as least as great as a niché film

7) Sergio Leone, for sharing my love for both America and the American Western, and for painfully revealing the illusion of both.

5 years in

Background:

In 2003 my future wife planted a seed in my head. That summer it sprouted. I’ve never been much of a green thumb. Fortunately the cinema is necessarily collaborative. I can think of few things worth doing that aren’t.

5 years, going strong, but nothing to show for it. I’ve had some ideas. Allow me to publish them. My thanks to the internet for removing all entering barriers to the profession of publishing. And to society, for no longer considering a profession as something that earns a living. In the traditional sense, my profession is a video editor, significant because in recent memory I was a sales person, insignificant because in San Francisco there are many greater things to be than a video editor. On the scale of amateur to professional, I would rate myself as professional amateur.