I wanted to direct your attention to a great post by Paul Zadie (he’s on Twitter at @paulzadie.)
It’s titled What a Nice Camera. It Must Make Good Stories.
Nice Way to Put It
I was immediately grabbed by the headline, as it seemed Zadie was getting at a pet-peeve I have with a lot of aspiring producers and filmmakers these days.
His post didn’t let me down. In it, Zadie points out than many filmmakers are flocking to the new breed of Digital SLR’s that actually shoot video. They provide a beautiful picture and shallow depth of field for a relatively low price.
However, just like buying a set of paints and a canvas doesn’t make someone a master artist, buying one of these cameras won’t make someone an award-winning filmmaker.
In fact, many “films” shot on these cameras and posted recently are nothing more than pretty pictures strung together with some music underneath. Nice to look at. But gorgeous, filmic imagery doesn’t make up for story…ever.
Tempted by Technology
The temptation to fall in love with technology and forget about story is nothing new. Think about all the blockbusters you’ve seen over the years that, despite amazing explosions and incredible CG, are just lousy.
Somewhere along the line, someone was more concerned with whiz bang technology than with story. As George Lucas said himself, “a special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.”
The Latest Special Effect
Shallow depth of field (a shooting technique in which only the main subject is in focus, and the foreground and background blur out in a pleasing way) is just a new “special effect” for a lot of indy filmmakers. It’s a bell and whistle they didn’t have access to before. Now that they do, many are spending more time crafting shallow DOF than crafting story.
Perya: A Great Short Film
Now, a real filmmaker has crafted an enchanting short documentary with the Canon 7D
Yet, as Zadie points out, many comments on the piece come from folks enamored with the camera and not the story…as if the camera is what made it a great short movie.
Bob Nicolas made a great movie. Not his camera. Thanks Paul Zadie for reminding us all that story is king, and a camera is only as good as the filmmaker using it.
“Perya” – a Canon 7D Short from Bob Nicolas on Vimeo.
Thanks for reinforcing the message! I think we should start a STORY movement.
I posted this reply on Paul’s blog as well. If you start your STORY movement here, count me in and save me $$$! Umm, I’ll need Final Draft and a laptop now. Seriously, I use Celtx and a banged up old laptop for screenwriting and just saved over £400 by not attending a Robert McKee seminar in London when I haven’t even finished his book yet.
On the camera front, I am guilty as charged. I traded in my DVX100 to buy a Z1 and a small Panasonic TM300. With an iMac, Final Cut Studio, 2 x Sennheiser wireless mics and Manfrotto tripod I still look at gadgets like the 7D and wonder about buying them… next year. Meanwhile time passes and my next documentary doesn’t get made (my first was shot with a basic DVX and edited on a laptop in Vegas. I wasn’t too concerned with kit then and the film is out there, selling well).
I can think of many technical reasons why the 7D actually won’t do what I need, but I can convince myself it looks like what I want. Is it a “bloke thing”, or some kind of procrastination?
One of the greatest movies – The Godfather – employed static tableaux shots, dark lighting and only moved the camera when the subject moved.
My partner is saying this to me all the time. I know instinctively that we will watch a poor image with bad audio if the story is strong – try Pasolini.
A good story still deserves the best image we can manage, but thanks for reminding me to think more about the subject than the equipment.
I have decided to start that STORY movement, and I have something cooking right now. I hope it is something that gets the filmmaking community excited about storytelling again. Stay tuned for details within the next few weeks.
@Simon – Great points. Good for you for taking the time to think it through. Excellent point: people will deal with bad production value and great story, but will be bored to tears with pretty pictures and no story.
@Paul You have my support on your STORY movement! Can’t wait to hear about it.
Can we start by taking away financial success from Michael F*ing Bay…
I want to join your STORY movement. I am interested in three areas, screenwriting, cinematography and editing – but it all starts with the STORY [let's keep it capitalized]. So, count me in and keep me posted.
Goodnight.
@Simon Sounds like Paul’s got something big in mind. We’ll be sure to post about it when he gets there!
I was only looking for a “profile” on Simon when I stumbled over this chain. I like it, and you can count me in on the STORY movement. We are not alone, by the way, and that’s good too. I think everyone agrees, but not enough of us are keeping it in mind.
Art and culture begin with someone having something to say, a thought or a feeling to share – usually with an audience. Film (including video, of course) is known as the 7th art. So (thankfully) we’re stuck with the naked truth: nothing to say? no story! No story? no film! no video, no music, no painting, no sculpture etc.
In my old-fashion point of view, making films means story telling. Story telling is my favorite definition of culture, and it is in desperate need of being preserved, way beyond any technical means. Something I like to remember is the Storyteller as a profession. There are many still alive today, in many parts of the world, and they do nothing but travel around and tell stories – on the street or in the biggest theaters. Usually just one person, perhaps a few props and an occasional change of costume, and especially good STORIES!
In 2000, Les Films d’Ici http://www.lesfilmsdici.fr/accueil.htm produced a beautiful 85′ doc about storytellers by Dominique Bloch and Muriel Gros for Arte Television. I was lucky to catch it as it aired. “Il était une fois des conteurs” (Once Upon a Time There Were Storytellers – my literal translation) pays due homage to the profession and is a lesson in storytelling we filmmakers should keep in mind. I only succeeded in locating a way to purchase it for non-commercial cultural purposes only. It could be an enrichment to the STORY movement…
Hope to hear from the movement soon again!