DV Info Net - Best movies to watch to learn filmaking

[Funny, I don't feel like a wise old fart. But I've been doing this professionally, in one form or another, since 1975, so I guess that makes me one, right? So pin your ears back, young 'uns, and get a load of this:]

On the topic of watching movies, well, I think that's a given for all on this board.
We all got here because at some stage, while watching movies (and most of us have watched *a lot* of movies), we went past the "wow, what a movie!" to the "geez, how'd they do that?" and later on "man, I reckon even I could do better than that", and finally "hey, I'm going to look into doing one of my own".

And then, long story short, we finally get behind a camera in one form or another -- and do it.

Or not.

There are plenty of wine connoisseurs out there, far fewer wine makers, and very few professional vintners.
No harm in that, no dishonor. People don't have to make wine to love wine.

Plenty of people love movies, and most of the ones who love movies have an opinion about them, one way or another. That's what they're for.

I'll quote (actually probably mis-quote) Ingmar Bergman in saying that the process of creation, and the life of creativity, isn't all it's cut out to be.

I mean, there's plenty of movies, or TV shows about the director pointing this way and that, and the crews doing his or her bidding, like the captain in a sports team, (and whoever joined a sport NOT wanting to be captain of the team?)

But then you try making one.
Of your own.
A teeny weeny short one, maybe in your own backyard, just to test out the waters. Maybe with your friends or local actors, or no actors at all.

And it's not all roses, is it?

One of my more colorful friends calls the process of filmmaking "shovelling steaming soft sh** up a steep slope with a sharp stick"

Another one, more experienced, said something like this about his first professional directorial experience: "if you can write and get up early in the morning, then you can make a so-so movie. Because the people on the movie with you will simply not let you make a bad movie, because they need for every movie they're on to be so-so at least. But how to make a good movie? A great movie? I don't know. I just know how to write one." (and yes he does, has an Oscar or two to prove it).

They just don't want to make themselves, do they?

And then, finally, you're done.
Your first movie is out..

And you realize - heck, this is just about spending money and time.
It's just like a home movie, only with a story.
You might as well be making a table or a paper doily, only ours costs more to make, in terms of time or money.

'Cause guess what? You won't be enchanted with your own movie.
It's your own movie.
You know all the pimples, and the wrinkles, and every single last flaw that you had to cover up, smooth over, to make the illusion complete.
They get to see your illusion.
It's for other people to get enchanted about, not you.

Thus - you make movies for other people, not for yourself.
Oops.

And then, after you've mulled that one over, you either get into it, or not.
What makes a movie a movie and not a collection of dailies, strung together?
Why are some movies more compelling, others not?
And away you go.

Everybody who watches movies does this. Movies are made for us to do this.
To raise our awareness. To think for ourselves.
But to go through all that pain again, just to make another darned movie?

Well, you still have your camcorder, and all that damned expensive equipment...

So you make another damn movie. Not so short, not so timidly.
You either get caught up in the thing, and go "hey, if I did this, or that, slightly differently, maybe it would be better" - or "what happens if I do this?"

Or not.

If you think, first time round, that yours is the perfect movie, then guess what?
Your next movie will be as good as, or worse than your first. Because you can't get better than perfect, can you?
Or, more likely, if this is a thing you're meant to be doing, and you did it right, guess what? You feel a certain sense of dissatisfaction. You know you could do better next time. Why?
Because the very act of making a film -- makes you a better filmmaker.
Also, hindsight is 20/20.

So welcome to the artist's conundrum. Nothing you do will ever feel good enough, because if it is, you're doomed to repeat yourself, and then it's time to leav and try something new..
So there's always this mixed feeling of deep accomplishment and deeper frustration that keeps you going onto the next movie, knowing full well that you'll never quite touch that rainbow.
As I've said, it's not exactly the bed of roses it's cut out to be.

So better to get out there and make one, right now, today, and start finding out if this really is for you or not.

Point is, like anything else, you really don't know, at the starting gate, if you're going to be any good at it or not.
You think you might, but then you realize that, as with anything else, you're going to have to throw in a bunch of time and money (read movies) to find out if you're really any good at this or not. I'd say maybe a dozen short films at least.
If by your 12th movie you still don't know, time to move in.

It also doesn't take too long to figure out that any clown can point an automatic camera at anything and get a shot, same as you can.
People can make rookie movies anytime - that's why they're called rookie movies.
But... are they really the same? I mean, even Spielberg and Coppola eventually point cameras and get shots too. We're all doing the same thing, more or less.
So what's more, and what's less? What's theirs doing that ours isn't?

Heck, how can you even tell what's good and what isn't?
Think you can get that from film school? Think again.
All you can get there is what somebody else thinks is good, or not.
You have to get what's inside, yourself.

And this is why and where the film watching comes in.
A lot of them, good or bad, it doesn't matter.
Because it's not about knowing more than it's about feeling.

Because in the end, if it's you controlling the camera, out of many choices of where to put it and what to point it at, ultimately it's going to shoot what, to you, looks and feels best.
The other guy won't do it your way, because he'll be doing it *his* way.
And that's why we all want to do this.
Everybody wants to be successful. To express our inner feelings. To achieve our inner potentials, all that good stuff.

Film making is just about spending money and time to make shows, right?
Maybe so.

But for some of us, it takes us, grabs us by the whatnots, and won't let go.
And then we start to live it, every moment of every day.
Then it's not just the movies we watch, not just on the screen anyway..
It becomes about the live movies we see in our heads when we go the grocery store, or pass through a forest, or do our laundry.

Then we go through a stage where we stop watching movies altogether because it's become an overload, there's already a universe of images swirling around in our heads from past movies we've seen, past dates we've been on, past tragedies, victories, sadnesses, triumphs...
And that all has to come out again, in the form of violence, sporting instinct, competition, artistic expression, whatever.
In short, it's like a virus that takes us, and infects our lives.
Creativity like nausea leading to vomit, because it *has* to come out, there's nowhere else for it to go.

And after that, if we *don't* go out there and make moves, then the sickness takes hold, and we hang around despondently, talk about this and that, criticize others' work, and generally get depressed and moody, and complain all the time. And don't do anything at all. Or, more precisely, we do everything else but.

And this is the creative person's sickness, according to Mr. B.
We all get it. We stare at our blank computer screens or sheets of paper.
We take our expensive camcorders out with us for the weekend hike.
And nothing comes out.

And we get depressed and moody, and go watch TV or movies, and get more depressed...

when what we all really need, all we really needed all along, is to be given a swift and stiff kick up the backside and told to get on with it.

Thank you, Mr. B.

So I say yes, watch movies. All the movie you want.
But always, always be making your latest, your last, best movie, inside your head.

Make your own damn movie. Start Now.

Get a project going, and all of a sudden, all the films you're looking at all start to make a special kind of sense, because you're working on a movie. Sorry, not A movie. YOUR movie.

Which is why I said in the beginning, don't talk about it, do it.

Tell us what movie you want to make, and I'll bet you the responses on which movies you'll need to see or not to see will be overwhelming
Don't forget. Ours is a collaborative art, a group process. A poet or a painter works alone. We do not. There's a load of us out here, waiting to work with you to make your movie the best it can be.

Now, one last thought:
Why is that?
Why would a captain of one team volunteer to help the captain of another?

Because we're all actually in collusion, not competition. Or, put another way, the better your move is, the more people will be there to watch it. And that's a wonderful thing. Ever seen people lining up around the block to watch a movie?
Ever think about what it would be like for us, for all of us, if those lines were to dwindle and die away completely?
So sure, I'm going to cheer for you, applaud your talent, help you out in any way I can, to keep the audience out there -- and why?
For the time my movie will be done and out and blows yours off the screen, that's why (they've already seen yours anyway) -- and please let there still be lines of people wanting to see mine too!

LOL!

HTH
Cheers
Chris