Not Getting it Right
It really takes some effort to get used to ignoring expectations. Looking at the footage from Made Crooked is a task of not looking too closely for what I preconceived or even what might be expected in a conventional sense.
I notice a tendency to want to get moving, to get my hands dirty, in most of my pursuits. (Patience, or lack thereof, is a persistent theme in my life.) Walter Murch speaks of his first time with the material when he takes notes of his impressions. He ignores technical issues of how it's going to cut together.
All projects benefit from this patience. This project, shot so unconventionally and on the fly, demands it. I suppose one of the lessons in this project is that to complete a film takes time. Perhaps we shot the bulk of it in three days but we'll make up for that fluidity in the editing phase. Maybe a future film might take longer to prep and shoot, but will come together more readily in the edit.
I've sat down a couple of times with Jordan looking at Made Crooked and kvetched that a scene wasn't shot the way I had asked or the focus was on the wrong element in the frame. I really need to sit down and watch the footage as Murch does. This is what we have to work with - we didn't make any mistakes. We did our best. Sometimes our best was superb and evident. Sometimes our best provides us with an opportunity to look at the film in new ways.
I recently saw a classical play that tells a compelling and relevent story about ambition and abuse of power. I know the theme only by knowing the text. What was presented on stage didn't tell me that story. I would have to think very hard what story I saw and heard the other night - certain sections and elements of the original came through - but overall I am not so sure. A benefit of the film medium is we recorded what the actors were doing and expressing and can abandon the script as necessary as we discover the story (ies) that we told.
I wanted to shoot some pickups at Mirror Lake on Mt Hood this weekend. Schedule conflicts prevent such an ambitious location, so we'll be doing it in Forest Park. Instead of relying on the beautiful scenery of my first choice, I asked myself how I wanted to juxtapose the goings-on back at the cabin. I found much more interesting choices and ideas of telling the story. Things I might have missed had the focus been on getting everyone up to the mountain this Sunday.
More evidence of not getting it right is that the sex scene that is to be intercut with the rest of the family hiking wasn't shot as we rehearsed. (Initially an irritating bummer as it was the only scene we rehearsed for the film.) Once I got past wanting it to be right/according to my expectations, I saw the opportunity to avoid a pretty throwaway hiking scene. Every scene in a film should count, so all these mistakes ultimately keep us honest.
I am so glad to not be getting it right.
Did I just say that?
nc
I notice a tendency to want to get moving, to get my hands dirty, in most of my pursuits. (Patience, or lack thereof, is a persistent theme in my life.) Walter Murch speaks of his first time with the material when he takes notes of his impressions. He ignores technical issues of how it's going to cut together.
All projects benefit from this patience. This project, shot so unconventionally and on the fly, demands it. I suppose one of the lessons in this project is that to complete a film takes time. Perhaps we shot the bulk of it in three days but we'll make up for that fluidity in the editing phase. Maybe a future film might take longer to prep and shoot, but will come together more readily in the edit.
I've sat down a couple of times with Jordan looking at Made Crooked and kvetched that a scene wasn't shot the way I had asked or the focus was on the wrong element in the frame. I really need to sit down and watch the footage as Murch does. This is what we have to work with - we didn't make any mistakes. We did our best. Sometimes our best was superb and evident. Sometimes our best provides us with an opportunity to look at the film in new ways.
I recently saw a classical play that tells a compelling and relevent story about ambition and abuse of power. I know the theme only by knowing the text. What was presented on stage didn't tell me that story. I would have to think very hard what story I saw and heard the other night - certain sections and elements of the original came through - but overall I am not so sure. A benefit of the film medium is we recorded what the actors were doing and expressing and can abandon the script as necessary as we discover the story (ies) that we told.
I wanted to shoot some pickups at Mirror Lake on Mt Hood this weekend. Schedule conflicts prevent such an ambitious location, so we'll be doing it in Forest Park. Instead of relying on the beautiful scenery of my first choice, I asked myself how I wanted to juxtapose the goings-on back at the cabin. I found much more interesting choices and ideas of telling the story. Things I might have missed had the focus been on getting everyone up to the mountain this Sunday.
More evidence of not getting it right is that the sex scene that is to be intercut with the rest of the family hiking wasn't shot as we rehearsed. (Initially an irritating bummer as it was the only scene we rehearsed for the film.) Once I got past wanting it to be right/according to my expectations, I saw the opportunity to avoid a pretty throwaway hiking scene. Every scene in a film should count, so all these mistakes ultimately keep us honest.
I am so glad to not be getting it right.
Did I just say that?
nc
posted by Signore Direttore at 12:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home