Rock-N-Roll Creation

I love working with actors. My two favorite parts of making any movie are the rehearsals and the editing.

The re-writes that come from rehearsals are essential. Asking questions of actors, and more importantly them asking questions of you as both a writer and director create dialogue and scenario changes that leave no gaps. One of the points of rehearsal is to work out any logic gaps or credibility issues with the scenes and words. Cutting lines feels like editing video, but live with actors. Sometimes something reads fine, but hearing it out loud makes you think “Hey, no one would stand there and listen to that much without intervening or doing something.”

It’s different for a writer/director in that I have to either have or find the answers to the actors’ questions. I get to interpret with the actors what the words mean. Sometimes it changes in the rehearsal process to incorporate what the actors bring to the table. I like the challenge of seeing if I know the characters well enough to answer all questions. Sometimes the answers find themselves, other times I have to create the answer, and sometimes the actor can find the answers. Finding a reason and a meaning in every line is important. The context, subtext, and everything in between makes for a more interesting performance.



From one single rehearsal last week, I changed 30%-40% of the dialogue in the script. Concepts and ideas get refined in the dialog. Clarification from the intent happens easier when you have an open mind to contributions. Rehearsals are somewhat sacred to me because I want to develop a repartee with the actors so we have trust on set. All the bugs need to be worked out BEFORE we get to set. I am going to fight to have a true blocking rehearsal on the actual location BEFORE the shoot sans crew. Even with great rehearsals, it gets disorienting on the actual location with the crew and cameras, so getting that extra chance to try it out at the real place develops a confidence in the cast on the day of the shoot because they have a leg up on everyone having already been there, done it, without the same pressures of the shoot day.

I’m only shooting a 5 page script in 1 shooting day. It will be a full day and my standards (for myself) are a lot higher than anything I’ve ever made before. I have 3 of the best actors in Central Ohio. I pretty much have a dream cast for Columbus thespians. Greg Sabo has the cinematography gig, so a polished, well lit and operated piece this shall be. He already started a shot list and it’s gonna be fantastic. We’re on the same page mostly, and to be honest, I like to rely on my camera person more than a director should. Most directors are 50% camera and 50% actors (or 75% camera and 25% performance), and I like the collaboration with actors and making performance my main concern. If I “cast” the camera person right, someone who knows how to tell a story with the camera, then I’ll be fine. I need to work with people who have more experience and are “better” than me at what they do. That’s the best way for me to learn.

SMELL THE GLOVE

Now I’m excited again, in a big way. After making some short films earlier in the year, and doing some writing, I feel a little bit more confident in myself again. Part of it was the self beating that my first real feature film gave my ego, especially on the self reflection angle. I’m not really affected by people saying “You suck!”, no matter what the project. I don’t like or hate something I made based on how other people feel about it; I’m only concerned with how I feel about it. I don’t measure myself against other people, only myself and my own goals and interests.

When another local filmmaker recently dick-measured themselves versus my material, and basically were saying they were so much better than me. I was not pleased. A friend misinterpreted how I felt and told me to “Use that! Go out make your next movie and kick their ass!!!!” and all I could think was (And unfortunately I also said this out loud), WHAT A STUPID REASON TO MAKE A MOVIE. I am not motivated by interpersonal rivalries or comparisons to other filmmakers. Making movies is NOT a competition or a race. This whole analogy that film is akin to sports makes me nauseous. I make movies to tell stories. My only successes and failures, along with comparisons are to myself and my other work. I can’t put myself on any kind of scale with another filmmaker. My personal philosophy truly is that there is NO SUCH THING AS BETTER OR WORSE; ONLY DIFFERENCES.

What motivates me is the need (not desire) to tell a particular story. If I have something to say, I say it with the moving pictures and the sound along with it. It’s an expression about whatever the story and characters mean to me and some kind of sociological metaphor or slice of humanity that tickles my fancy. When I make a movie to try to prove that I can do this or that to some other filmmaker or to win a popularity contest, I’ll shoot myself in the head.



Now what gets confusing is that I have had to learn to keep my mouth shut about my honest assessments of other people’s work, unless it’s praise. I’m much more silent now about that kind of stuff, but I guess some people are ultra sensitive about their own material. Go figure. I’m a lot less interested in other people’s projects at this point anyway. My life has changed significantly in the last 2 years and where I am at and what interests me has invariably changed.

CHANNEL 17, a local digital only TV station has switched over from being a HOME SHOPPING NETWORK to original programming. They are filling a much needed void of locally created content. My old boss Mike Tavares does some freelance shooting and editing for them. A few months ago, they told him about how they were interested in local content and he told them about me, my short films and even HORRORS OF WAR. He gave them some DVD’s and that started them looking at the local film scene as a whole. Ironically, local yahoos want to (yet again) take credit for something they didn’t start but I really don’t care. All I want is my material to be on TV again. It can only help with exposure to an audience that otherwise would not see it. There is also a credibility issue that good work being seen on a TV station helps create. If potential investors see your work broadcast or know that it is being shown, then you are being validated by someone other than your mommy and daddy and the cast and crew. Step aside pretend filmmakers, the real ones are going to utilize the opportunity, then parlay it to mean something.

Sonnyboo.com is going to sponsor the show and the :30 Sonnyboo spot will play on the CHANNEL 17 network soon. With enough (good) new programming, WDEM CHANNEL 17 might get picked up by cable operators and then the exposure goes up exponentially. Since Columbus is illegally withholding any kind of Public Access television, this is a way to get material seen, and in this case, the station will filter out the sub-par, unwatchable crap from many of the weekend camcorder wannabes.



Next month I am shooting something special to me. Finally, I get to shoot something with the RED ONE camera. That will be freakin’ sweet. That means an upgrade to Adobe CS4 just to be able to handle the RED footage from the CF (Compact Flash) cards. I think THIS will continue my growth as a filmmaker and be another huge stepping stone in the career path. RELATIONSHIP CARD helped, and I am very proud of the piece, but this is taking another deep stab at something more professional and clawing my way towards another feature film.

Rehearsals start this week for the new project. The juices are flowing. Time to take another bite out of life and see what’s left.

Shark Sandwich

The other night I watched an old movie, as in 50+ years old. Even as a film fanatic, I don’t enjoy many older pictures. Also, I love the way guys from the Golden Age of film called them “pictures”. What I don’t like is the acting styles. That Edward G Robinson/Humphrey Bogart syncopation to the dialogue that comes off like it’s half theater-y and half semi-real acting. It’s too distracting in most cases for me to sink in and enjoy the story. CITIZEN KANE stands out because Orsen Welles gives a very real and modern acting performance, and that’s why Marlon Brando and his contemporary James Dean were considered so great – they were breaking the mold of that old style decades before it became the norm (and pop culture preference).

I make a few very rare exceptions, but mostly I like movies made AFTER 1964. The movie I watched easily makes it into the exception (and exceptional) category. TWELVE ANGY MEN blew my mind.



This is the 1957 movie version. It’s obviously based on a play, but the acting and direction are superb, but what stands out the most to me by a large margin is the screenplay. 95% of the movie takes place in 1 room and it never loses its grip on the audience. That’s all in the writing. Even though a few of the actors had that kind of period acting that I hate so much, the story and dialogue were too good to let that hinder the experience. Not one word spoken is wasted. Even the seemingly mundane turn out to have significance by the end of the movie.

For those of us want to consider a low budget, one location movie, the lesson learned for me was SCRIPT IS KING. If the screenplay isn’t 100%, it’s all for nothing. Every word has to play a part in achieving the affect and intent of the movie in some form or another, if it is demonstrative of character or painting the world. 12 ANGRY MEN doesn’t even tell you a single character’s name (except 2 at the very end), but you know a lot about them and they are all individualized.



As for direction, Sidney Lumet is still kickin’ it if you can believe it; I mean he is still directing as of 2009. Lumet’s direction can’t go unnoticed because he changed lenses slowly through the piece and the eye levels so that at the start of the piece we have some distance between the jurors and looking “in” on the scene, and later gets down to eye level and gets in the faces of the characters, plus it starts to compress space with the lenses and makes it feel claustrophobic in the end. At this time, even though they had color film everywhere, DRAMA’s were almost always done as Black & White as a choice. I wish it were still a viable option today, but that happens less and less.



Great movie. Definitely something relevant today, even in comparison to the varied court room dramas playing 7 nights a week on TV…


Anywho, have a good time one and all!
Peter John Ross