Art and Teamwork: Collaboration vs. Auterism

Posted on December 16, 2008

There are two pillar ideas that permeate this industry. The first claims that this is the most collaborative art, science, and industry mankind undertakes. The second is the celebration of the auteur. These seem somewhat mutually exclusive.

Collaboration vs. auteur-ism (yes it’s similar to autism, they both are characterized by parallel symptoms: they live isolated and can’t relate to anyone.) If you consider yourself an auteur, a renegade cavalier, you will quickly find yourself in predictable circumstances. If you have enough money and time, you can overcome your own hubris with sheer brute force of will (and pay others enough to put up with you.) But most filmmakers with this perspective will find ever increasing isolation and rejection. Therefore you must learn to efficiently work and communicate with others. Otherwise, all your movie making will have to be done by yourself.

Valuing the intrinsic perspectives and opinions of your peers will benefit your efforts. How? It’s simple:

Remember: the dp, gaffer, ac, even the grips all have more production experience than you. you can exploit their experience. They’ve seen it all before. That’s why they’re with you: so you can profit from their hard won knowledge. Listen to them.

Or, you can disregard them. You can abuse, reject, insult, berate, and cheat your crew, your co-workers.  Next, you will find yourself in the same position I have seen so many director in. If you make a big enough ass of yourself, they will eventually give you exactly what you’re asking for: plenty of rope to hang yourself.

These aren’t fast food workers. They’re not slack-jawed, pimply-faced teenagers flipping burgers. These are highly trained, thoroughly educated, world traveled professionals.  These are master craftsmen, artisans. Disrespect them at your own peril.

Your crew will quietly abandon you. If you ignore their suggestions enough, they will stop contributing.  They will now do exactly what you tell them to do. They will stop giving you what you need, and give you all of what you think you want.

But, it gets even worse. They will not only let you swing, but will watch you go down in flames. They can do this to you because they enjoy a unique perspective, an opportunity that you can’t see. This is what you crew can do to you: every team member, from both cast and crew, everyone from every level (even on down to a lowly PA or groundskeeper or security guard) will at least one one occasion throughout production, hold the fate of your film in their hands.

That’s right.

They will observe a moment where a problem with an obvious solution appears.  More than likely, they will be the sole observer of this growing problem. Furthermore, they will be the only one in the position to sound the alert. Finally, they will be in the best position to provide the antidote. All they have to do is exert a quantum of effort. Lift just one finger. They will then make an ethical decision based upon their perception of you: go out of their way just one degree to save you, or watch you burn.

Qualifications for leadership

Posted on December 15, 2008

I was told by one of my family members once that leadership is a trait that some people have and most lack. It’s not a skill that can be learned. Gee, I don’t know about that. I think one of the best traits of a good leader is the ability to learn to be a better leader, if not the ability then an obvious, public desire. Therefore, leadership may be a skill that can be acquired and learned through study and practice. The best ones owe their success to their ability to learn: that is, learning from mistakes, both theirs and others’. But, my favorite bosses were the ones who realized that their subordinates are not subjects from a fiefdom, not their property. They, as manager, existed to service the workers with the resources necessary to succeed the task at hand. To the workers go the glory and credit, thus, to the leader go the workers’ loyalty.

What do I try to keep in mind when I’m in charge?
I do not to ask of my people anything I would not do. I’m not going to stay cool or warm, dry, and comfy while I demand that they roll around in fiberglass in a blizzard/sandstorm/stampede.
I also try to know of every job and task they perform for the project. That means I’ve done my share of set construction, sewing costumes, hanging lights, audio monitoring, live switching, engineering, soldering, acting, dancing, singing, fighting, teleprompting, script notation, gripping, camera assist, loading, driving, dolly, jib, steady-cam, editing, graphics, floor management, animation, producing and directing. I’ve done just enough to appreciate how hard they work at these jobs for me.
I will not allow fool’s errands. I won’t waste any one’s time.
I will not permit injuries. No one need be sacrificed for my project.
Most importantly: Everyone gets credit and accolades. Because, very little of the mission was actually performed by me.

So, what are the basic qualifications to be a director?
You have to have some direct experience or significant knowledge of a few basic areas: acting, blocking, camera, light, editing, audience, distribution, management, story structure, elements of style, etc.
(No offense to the sound department. I left them off that list. It exposes my ignorance, bias and prejudice.)

 
It seems like a long list. But, I’ve worked with so many directors who had so little basic understanding of the industry.

 
My favorite is a cute, little, wrinkly, sprite who had acquired the position through social networking: she dated her way up the ladder (to put it politley.) She could not operate the equipment, didn’t know the difference between a jump cut and a cutaway, thought that alpha channel was a Canadian comic book, and absolutely knew she deserved to be in charge. I injured my back, knees, and feet working on her shoots. She forced me to ride in the back of a cargo van for three days on a shoot that took us through ten cities (you can imagine what kind of driver she was.) I watched in horror as good people were laid-off while she enjoyed political protection.

 
So, you know how resentful I am of people who are clueless of their own ignorance, ignorant of their stupidity, and stupid just because it’s in fashion.

 
That’s why I respect people who are strong enough to learn the necessities, wise to practice the requisites, and brave enough to defer to an expert.  They don’t demand respect, they command it. That’s why people are loyal to them. That’s why the team’s they assemble can build the best products and deliver services. That’s why their customers are as fiercely loyal as their employees.

The Bullfighter

Posted on December 12, 2008

 
The Bullfighter Returns from John H. Reynolds on Vimeo.

I was the gaffer and DP for this music video back in October, 2008. My friend John H. Reynolds Directed it. We’re a two-man crew, he and I. That’s right, two guys, seven setups, five hours, this video.

QC

Posted on December 12, 2008

My wife, Lori, generously donated 105 minutes of her precious time to watch the recent cut with me. I was under the delusion that it was the second to last cut, no more editing, graphics or sweetening required. Foolish.

This is the most crucial phase before release. Some call it audience/market testing, analysis, research. Others call it quality control.

Quality control. That means actuality observing, testing the product. It’s awful under controlled circumstances. But the best environment is in chaos. Watch it in front of a virgin audience. That’s agony.

Like Douglas Adams’ Ford said,”It’s like being drunk.” “What’s so bad about that?”, Arthur replied. “Ask a glass of water,” Ford responded.

I’ve never stood naked on the freeway in rush-hour traffic before. But, having an audience consume my work, is what I assume is a roughly analogous sensation.

Sequences, transitions, motifs, subtitles, dialogue, gags… There were so many moments I spent so much effort to construct. So many of them fell flat. I thought I was capable of more objective observation. I thought I knew the aesthetic and technical elements of media communication well and was a mastered artisan of the craft. How could I make so many rudimentary, amateur mistakes?

I know I’m being hard on myself. All of these slipped gears and popped clutch moments are easily fixed with a slower transition or an extra shot, removing a shot, choosing a different take, l-cut, audio drop, any one of a myriad of options.

I’ve got my panties all twisted up for two reasons. One: It’s just that there are several dozen of them. It will take me about eight hours between ten projects to correct, export, import, sync and remaster. The endurance needed for such mental calisthenics and contortions is not beyond me. I just want to spend it on other endeavors. Reason the second: so many were a direct result of my conscious, intended, direct, planned effort . For the result to be the exact opposite of my intentions… I thought I had already passed those tests.

Is this is what happens when you do it all, yourself?

I’ll fix it all this weekend.

That doesn’t mean that the film, the story, performances, editing, cinematography… the whole joie de vivre that the film inspires wasn’t translated and communicated. Oh, it kicked so much ass.

BackPage Film Premiere

Posted on December 11, 2008

We will hold the premiere screening of our feature film, ‘BackPage’ on Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7:30PM. The Four Day Weekend theatre will host the show, reception, and Q&A forum.

We have a capacity for 212 people.

Sundance Square
2nd floor of
312 Houston Street
Ft. Worth, TX 76102

Observing the process

Posted on December 11, 2008

I learn a lot about production from watching other people, especially directors.

I learned the most from other directors’ mistakes. The intent from the lesson is, obviously, not to repeat their costly errors.

I had a director repeatedly tell me, “There are no brick walls.” He considered that axiom as his own, original philosophy. But, for him it was not true. There were plenty of brick walls in his way. He just never saw them as obstacles. He thought he was valuing tenacity and stubbornness. Of course, he had advanced resources to deal with them: grip’s and PA’s foreheads. His shoots were Bataan death marches, brutal scenes of forces, slave labor straight out of an Egyptian pyramid building scenario. So, brick wall? Make the field hands work harder. Yeild not at quota? Whip them harder.

Of course, there’s a slight problem with this philosophy. Ninety nine percent of these ‘brick walls’ were foresee-able and avoidable from the pre-production vantage point. Additionally, half of the objectives on the other side of the wall were not mission critical goals (thus, it took time and energy away from more important endeavors.) Finally, most of the time, the shots and sequences acquired after Hulk-busting through these brick walls were abandoned it post.

What shocked me was when this practice was repeated from shoot to shoot. The director never learned that these brick walls often existed to protect him from the dead ends that lay on the other side. Sometimes cast or crew would be injured due to the extra effort required to break down these walls. So, when the shots were abandoned later in post, it make the crime extra heinous.

Lisa Simpson taught me that the Chinese use the same symbol for crisis as they do for opportunity. Solving a problem requires creativity, lateral thinking. The opportunity to solve a problem is a precious moment, a gift. My most original projects are those I have little control over. I’m constantly forced to approach the subject and the story telling structure and style from non-traditional directions. Chief Clancy Wiggum taught me that some recruits always have problems with the wall, they never seem to be able to find the door. So, that’s my philosophy: every brick wall has a door, a crack, a window, every brick wall is finite. Pole vault, para-glide, tunnel, put on your ball gown and sachet around, be creative.

I learn the most from not getting what I think I want, but being presented with what I need. That way, I’ve learned to make silk purses from sows’ ears.

It makes me apprehensive to think that one day, I may be successful enough to have a project with resources that are limitless (compared to what I have now.) Getting everything will deny me that very opportunity I crave: the chance to be creative.

The Secret of Management

Posted on December 10, 2008

One of my favorite axioms: the secret of management is simple, if you’re not smart, surround yourself with smart people. If you are smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.

I’ll confess some arrogance on my part: I get uncomfortable when I’m surrounded with people who agree with me.

I was paid a very valuable compliment yesterday. Having recently seen the newest cut, my good friend Ethan Norris really enjoyed the film. He told me so. I’m very close to him because he’s dedicated to honesty. Brutal, unflinching honesty. He has  been bombastically, constructively critical of my post efforts thus far. His contributions and suggestions were mandatory to the success of the film.

His endorsement means the world to me.

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