CINEMA IS DYING

“After 100 years, films should be getting really complicated. The novel has been reborn about 400 times, but it's like cinema is stuck in the birth canal.”

- Harmony Korine

DARE TO FAIL

One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite directors: 

“The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail. You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.”

- John Cassavetes

50 FILMMAKING TIPS FROM WIM WENDERS

Wim Wenders is an amazing filmmaker whose work I've long admired. I read through these tips years ago on a blog post and was pleased to recently revisit them when they were reposted to another blog. It was a great refresher to read them again, and for that reason, I am now posting them here to serve as a constant reminder. 

1. You have a choice of being “in the business” or of making movies. If you’d rather do business, don’t hesitate. You’ll get richer, but you won’t have as much fun!
2. If you have nothing to say, don’t feel obliged to pretend you do. 
3. If you do have something to say, you’d better stick to it. (But then don’t give too many interviews.) 
4. Respect your actors. Their job is 10 times more dangerous than yours. 
5. Don’t look at the monitor. Watch the faces in front of your camera! Stand right next to it! You’ll see infinitely more. You can still check your monitor after the take. 
6. Your continuity girl is always right about screen directions, jumping the axis and that sort of stuff. Don’t fight her. Bring her flowers. 
7. Always remember: Continuity is overrated! 
8. Coverage is overrated, too! 
9. If you want to shoot day for night, make sure the sun is shining. 
10. Before you say “cut,” wait five more seconds. 
11. Rain only shows on the screen when you backlight it. 
12. Don’t shoot a western if you hate horses. (But it’s okay to not be fond of cows.) 
13. Think twice before you write a scene with babies or infants. 
14. Never expect dogs, cats, birds or any other animals to do what you’d like them to do. Keep your shots loose. 
15. Mistakes never get fixed in post! 
16. Final cut is overrated. Only fools keep insisting on always having the final word. The wise swallow their pride in order to get to the best possible cut. 
17. Other people have great ideas, too. 
18. The more money you have the more you can do with it, sure. But the less you can say with it. 
19. Never fall in love with your temp music. 
20. Never fall in love with your leading lady! 
21. If you love soccer, don’t shoot your film during the World Championship. (Same goes for baseball and the World Series, etc.) 
22. Don’t quote other movies unless you have to. (But why would you have to?) 
23. Let other people cut your trailer! 
24. It’s always good to make up for a lack of (financial) means with an increase in imagination. 
25. Having a tight schedule can be difficult. But having too much time is worse. 
26. Alright, so you’re shooting with a storyboard. Make sure you’re willing to override it at any given moment. 
27. Less make-up is better. 
28. Fewer words are always better! 
29. Too much sugary stuff on the craft table (or is it Kraft?) can have a disastrous effect on your crew’s morale. 
30. Film can reveal the invisible, but you must be willing to let it show. 
31. The more you know about moviemaking, the tougher it gets to leave that knowledge behind. As soon as you do things “because you know how to do them,” you’re fucked. 
32. Don’t tell a story that you think somebody else could tell better. 
33. A “beautiful image” can very well be the worst thing that can happen to a scene. 
34. If you have one actor who gets better with every take, and another who loses it after a while, make sure they can meet in the middle. Or consider recasting. (And you know whose close-ups you have to shoot first!) 
35. If you shoot in a dark alley at night, don’t let your DP impose a bright blue contre-jour spotlight on you, even in the far distance. It always looks corny. 
36. Some actors should never see rushes. Others should be forced to watch them. 
37. Be ready to get rid of your favorite shot during editing. 
38. Why would you sit in your trailer while your crew is working? 
39. Don’t let them lay tracks before you’ve actually looked through your viewfinder. 
40. You need a good title from the beginning. Don’t shoot the film with a working title you hate! 
41. In general, it’s better not to employ couples. (But of course, there are exceptions!) 
42. Don’t adapt novels. 
43. If your dolly grip is grumpy or your electricians hate the shot it will all show on the film. (Also, if you’re constipated…) 
44. Keep your rough cut speech, your cast and crew screening speech and your Oscar speech short. 
45. Some actors actually improve their dialogue in ADR. 
46. Some actors should never be forced to loop a single line. (Even Orson Welles wasn’t good at that.) 
47. There are 10,000 other rules like these 50. 
48. If there are golden rules, there might be platinum ones, too. 
49. There are no rules. 
50. None of the above is necessarily correct.

BEST TRAILERS | MAGNOLIA

There is definitely an art to making a great trailer. When it's done right it can sometimes be better, and more memorable, than many of the actual films out there. One of my all time favorite trailers is the trailer for MAGNOLIA. PT Anderson always puts out great trailers for his films, but the MAGNOLIA trailer is easily one of the best that I've seen in the past 20 years. 

Unfortunately, the art of the trailer has been dying a slow death for quite some time now. I remember when I used to go to the cinema and get excited when I'd see those green bands fade in, but not so much anymore. Every trailer is the same gimmick now. The same pacing, the same music, it's very lackluster and disappointing. 

The MAGNOLIA trailer, however, is unlike any trailer I've ever seen before or since. There are these great character introductions that seem to be specifically shot for the trailer (as they are nowhere to be found in the film, or deleted scenes), and they each come in and out with the signature whip pan that is used perfectly throughout the film. It gives you a great feel for the film without revealing too much. The other brilliant section I especially love in the trailer is the tonal shift at the 1:45 mark. Right when you think you're getting a feel for what the film might be it takes you on a left turn to completely different territory; and if you've seen the actual film then you know that's exactly what happens there as well. 

Lastly, because MAGNOLIA is such an unconventional film it would seem like a very difficult task to not only market it, but also create a trailer that gives people a general idea of what it's about. Often the people/studio behind the film fail miserably at this. So, the fact that MAGNOLIA succeeded at such a high level is even more admirable. 

Every time I revisit this trailer I want to play it again as soon as it's over. Watch below: 

Trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's film