Guerillas in the Midst
Posted on December 29, 2008
I love the smell of desperation in the morning. It smells like… freedom fries.
Guerrilla filmmaking. Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose (Except the second mortgage I took out on my house to finance this film.)
I’ve expressed my love of shoestring micro budget projects and the flexibility and creativity they afford.
There’s several conditions that you have to get used to.
You have to get used to rubbing elbows with the unwashed, the low-brow groundlings, the serfs. You have to realize that there’s nothing wrong with working with amateurs. A good director can motivate, train, lead. It doesn’t matter if you’ve dug up your crew from Craigslist or the street corner. If they’re students or vagrants, you can get something done with them, as long as you communicate with and respect them just as you would a seasoned professional. Feeding them helps too.
If you’re hungry enough, no logistical obstacle will dissuade you.
My favorite realization was the fact that all films can expand or contract. All projects have scalability, wherein you can appropriately raise or lower the production values, schedules, and concepts, according to your available resources. Just be selective about which shots, scenes and sequences can afford extra attention, that is, which are your set pieces. The rest will have to be leaner. Sure, call it a Gestalt approach to production management: not that form follows function, but resources dictate form. I’ve designed whole projects around what talents, tools, and facilities my collaborators could provide.
Of course, there’s plenty to be said for artistic integrity, sure. We’ll go ahead and put that on your tombstone, pal. You have fun following your ethical guidelines. Have a blast stroking your moral code. But , eventually, you’ll get bored and hungry enough to get up off your ass. You’ll see that there are opportunities you have to comply with. There are chances to work that you cannot pass up (aside from the usual survival reasons: food, shelter, fire, water.)
Oh no. But your career, your precious pristine career. Shut up ya big baby! You have to compromise. If he hadn’t done that silly Pringles commercial, we wouldn’t know who Brad Pitt is.
Steven Tyler said “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Stretch yourself. Learn something new. Learn a new piece of hardware or software, get in shape. I jumped out of a plane.
I’ve seen so many talented artists refuse to work under any circumstances other than what they deem perfect. Meteorological, astrological, political, fiscal, demographical; their tastes and standards were impeccable. Which, of course, means that the climate conditions are never met, so they never do any work. Let me repeat that. They never do any work. Is it because they would rather be doing nothing than anything? I’m not asking for snuff porn. I’m not asking them to dance around all day, outdoors, at noon, in a giant foam costume, in August, in Texas. Just a few hours of work and fun. I’ll even bring the beer. It’s like recycling, alternative energy, or the economy. If everyone pitches in a little bit, the result is enormous. T.E.A.M.: Together, Everyone, Achieves, More.
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