Hi all and welcome to a new section of blog content. As mentioned before, a group of friends and I are creating our own indie-movie. We are shooting towards a 35-45 minute film shot in DV. Due to lack of funding and our totally inability to do proper lighting (don’t ask me why, we set up the shots with the correct lighting and it still looks like crap) we are going to finalize the video in black and white. We are shooting the footage in color, but in post-production we are going to go b/w. As a result of this, I will focus my attention in the directing with the hope of capturing great shadows and professional cinematography (see Citizen Kane). Basically, I wanted to blog about my thoughts and what I have learned throughout the process of writing, directing and editing a low-budget (really no-budget) movie (BTW, this is ongoing). For this article, I’m going to talk about general ideas and thoughts about various movies and what lessons and tips we can take away from them.

I have watched quite a few movies. I like a lot, hate a lot, and love just a few. You can take a look at my own collection of movies here. Note, that not all of those are my favs, but a lot are. I would like to talk about a few, and discuss what we can learn from some of the best.

Alright, lets start with probably my most favorite movie. Not only is this movie a fantastic book (yes the book came first), but director David Fincher did a fantastic job translating this beautiful work of fiction into spectacular film. I would like to talk for a second about the book. Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club and many other popular works uses a distinct style. Wikipedia puts it nicely:

In what the author refers to as a minimalistic approach, his writings use a limited vocabulary and short sentences to mimic the way that an average person telling a story would talk. In an interview, he said that he prefers to write in verbs instead of adjectives. Repetitions of certain lines in the stories’ narratives (what Palahniuk refers to as “choruses”) are one of the most common aspects of his writing style, found dispersed within most chapters of his novels.

His fast paced writing is truly outstanding and creates a constants havoc within his novels. The artist within Fincher exploded with this film. The utter creativity in cinematography is spectacular. The way this character’s sad messed up life is demonstrated is truly inspirational. This film, however, is made by the stunning acting by Pitt and Norton. Edward Norton is a true gem in my opinion. His character has a soft nature but also a Pitt-side can easily be seen in his character. His narration is in par with the film. I have no gripes. Let me say that our movie takes a huge influence from the creative genius of this film. When I wrote the script, it was hard for me to not picture scenes and interactions the way Fincher would demonstrate them.

What can we learn from this film? Try to hire Edward Norton. If thats not a possibility on your budget at least take away that casting is crucial in the success of a film. Try to envision that person as that character you are writing. As director, one must also bring the true character out of the actor. Run through the parts, enunciate the words he should. Attempt to act out the character yourself.

One last thing I must hit upon before we move on is the script. The reason Fight Club is so moving (at least for me) is the ideas, the values, the thoughts portrayed by the characters. There is a deepness to what happens. I always enjoy a movie that makes you think. Personally, I love a movie that requires a second viewing (at least). For me, the perfect movie should take at least 4 viewings. You must watch the movie without any knowledge and experience the movie for the first time. An interesting movie throws in a surprising twist or some way to watch the movie again that changes your view on it. Your second viewing should be soon after. You know the plot. You know the twist. Study the movie for its subtle details, but still entertain yourself with being carefree. Next, watch the movie again, this time with Director’s Commentary on. Listen to the minor hints at interesting plot lines as well as facts and tidbits about the production (my favorite part). After watching the commentary, bask in the movie’s glory with your full knowledge of the plot and the directors goals. Try to pick up on the minor messages and themes. Try to inspect the dialogue and look for added meanings. A well written and directed movie is a deep, meaningful and well constructed as any of the best books out there. Treat it that way. Enjoy it. Study it. Analyze it. Film is a media that when properly done, can be truly impressive and quite incredible.

Alright, enough about all this film theory. Lets get onto some more great flicks.

Ok, this is going to be very unoriginal but lets go with Reservoir Dogs, definitely in my opinion Tarantino’s best (with Pulp Fiction an extremely close second). I think this film exemplifies how to create a great movie on a minimal budget. I believe it was shot for maybe 100 grand, possibly only 30. This may seem like a huge amount, but in film its practically nothing. Watch this movie and see how Tarantino is able to capture brilliance onto film without stunning special effects. Dismiss that from your mind. You do not need crappy CGI effects to make the next Casablanca. Take for instance Triple X (is that the correct spelling? and I’m talking about #2). This movie was utter crap. Shit. The script was trash and the director knew it. That’s why they through in all those showy effects to make you think this was a good movie. I’m not saying that a movie with special effects cannot be great. Take, for instance, Saving Private Ryan, which is an incredible demonstration of special FX as well as a particularly good movie. My point here is that focus on the story and dialogue. This is the part that matters. It doesn’t matter the talent or the money you pour into a movie, a crappy script and story just falls and eats the dust.

Dialogue. The critical part of a film. Interaction between characters is the place to look to distinguish between talented and OK writers. Reservoir Dogs is my favorite example for this. Rent it or NetFlix it and watch the part before the credits. Its brilliant. It has no real effect on the film. The dialogue is just funny and most importantly natural. It’s just a bunch of guys talking around the table about “Hence, like a virgin” or why Buschemi won’t pay tip. The dialogue flows, it relates to natural people. Try to strive for this. Capture your characters like your friends talk. The point here is that although Mr. Pink, Mr. White and Joe are all professional criminals they still talk like you and me. Human nature. Human fluency. Try to write like it.

Gosh. I could go on for hours naming off my favorites and trying to pull tips and tricks from the greats, but I want to end on the #1 movie of all time, Citizen Kane.

Why is this #1 of all time. Well, watch it, and I bet you won’t think it is. You might not even like it at all. You might not even want to watch it. Just make sure you don’t watch the Family Guy where Peter ruins the ending for you. Why will you not think it’s #1? Most likely is cause you would say, “well this is typical. I don’t see anything remarkable like this movie has been marked up to be.” Picture yourself at the time of Orson Welles. Movies were structured. There were certain ways to shoot. Certain angles to film from. Certain rules that could not be broken. Well, he broke ‘em. Take for example, the fact that most movies filmed from an upper angle when inside buildings. They usually filmed down because there weren’t ceilings in the studios. Welles shoots from odd angles like these upwards shots where you find ceilings. This may not seem revolutionary now, but it definitely was. Also, the structured shot of the day was always in clear view. You could easily make out all the characters. Welles placed a wobbly camera from between fence posts. Never had that been before. He broke rules. He came up with his own way to film, his own way to demonstrate his thoughts. The lesson to take away here is to break rules. Never film something a certain way or in a certain style because thats how its done. Come up with your own shots. Come up with your own way to illustrate your movie. You are the god and you choose how things should look, don’t waste this power. Capitalize on it.

Alright, so basically, good casting, good cinematography, good writing, and break rules, come up with your own style. I hope this was insightful in some way.

I’ll be blogging soon about some more movie topics. I look forward to see you then.

-Dustin