Tag Archives: movies

Why good stories make you want to have a better life.

Recently I liked this far away three-pointer by Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed.  They always struck me as adventurous storytelling characters, Super-people from the quiet wild side.

Their quote was about finding ways to get through life.

One: “Don’t be afraid of anyone. Now, can you imagine living your life afraid of no one?”

Two: “Get a really good bullshit detector.”

Three: “Three is be really, really tender.”

“And with those three things” – Laurie said – “you don’t need anything else.”

In the full wide range that stretches from street hobos to rich presidents and from Ivy-league dropouts to post-celebrity rehabs, there is a common thread:  life is ripe with conflict.

Sure, conflict is what made humans sharper, problem solvers until the last beat. Storytellers know that ultimately conflict alone can float identity through a sea of half-truths, up, up to the surface where the sun plays catch with flying fish. However important our culture of conflict may be, the search for less human pain, suffering, and crisis may also be a story to pursue. A peaceful target to shoot for.

In dramatic movies, the ending may be, in terms of plot, happy or unhappy. In either case, if the story works, the viewer is rewarded with insights into the depths of human life.

The ancient Greeks attended Tragedies more than school, feasting on pop-corn-less morality with cathartic heroes like Oedipus (an unknowing motherfucker) or universal strategists like Ulysses, king of the surprise climax.

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Endings in these stories didn’t seem to matter much. The deus ex machina finale at times gave Gods the task of resolving plot indecision or confusion. This over-the-top device released authors from spending too much stage-time on predictable closing show and tell details. (They lived happily ever after! was another shortcut).  The middle of the story is where it all happened. Development, substance, focus, now.

So, what can we learn about “making our life better” by watching a film story?  It is true that caped Super-heroes are our cultural diet now, just as Commedia dell’Arte theatre masks were dominant wanderers from town to town for four centuries.

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Masks are types. Types embody in broad strokes the infinite relationships among standard folk: the rich man, the poor woman, the young lovers, the old doctor, the cop, the thief, the servant.

It’s all about relationships, stupid.

A film I would watch again is one that leads to my relationship with the story. Titanic was a lesson in teen-age blockbuster making, who would have thought it? Multiple viewings create a relationship, characters become familiar: it’s the key to the new TV series mania.

Note for debate: Characters are not people, but they’re close enough to pretend. Characters stand in a story because the plot says so, and the writer cast them for a role.  No script? No character. They look like people, however. Or should.

This is not the case in real life where life may be scripted but in all likelihood is not very good. Determinists saw destiny play a bigger part than individuals. In the west we famously trust individual agency and will to drive success and failure.

You want to be the big boss man? Slay the dragons. Dominate your universe and plunge forward. Action films seem equivalent to playing Mozart with only Major chords. (Male chords, duh)

I have a preference for the Minor Key in film. Movies that don’t try and impress only with underlined cinematic cartwheeling. I have the same bias meeting people at parties.

If a film reveals a personal insight, I am Up.  If there is a label that explains everything or indicates next to each action, I am turned off. I follow film-makers that make movies that matter, even a little.

As a producer of youth-cinema, I see film conflict not as a medieval head-to-head battle to release adrenaline, but a personal texture, an inside chess game of question marks: where to go? what to do? How? Who with? Well told conflict can be hesitation pure and simple. Or an identity short-circuit. Or lack of clarity, loss of vision. How to take direct action choices, then? Voting can be Hamletic too, in hard times.

Even without a simple top-down final duel on a skyscraper, a film can lead to a character’s foggy melting point, the quiet intersection of dramatic need, desire and urgency in search of identity.

Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed are not film characters.

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Their lingo is story with sound. They quest to stay away from trouble, they are grounded in their shape-shifting personae. Who they want to be? Simple:  happier spending time together.  Popcorn flicks too could explore that engagement vibe.

In the script of life rewritten, I would try reducing, not adding, conflict to stories.  Better conflict, of course, the one worth fighting for without fists and watching with senses aloft. As James Joyce said, the cinema is a “screen of consciousness”.

Luckily I am not afraid of fear, I can smell bullshit from outside the playground, and I still want to hear my kids tell me I was kind. That’s a step towards a better now, even for a callous storyteller like me.

There is already enough conflict to go around in the world.

Danny Alegi is a filmmaker, story development coach and speaker.  Read more of Danny’s blogs at ‘Movies Without Cameras‘.

Faster than a speeding bullet! Why Superman does what he does…

RAY

Need a film crew?

avatar, film crew network post

FCN – Film Crew Network – is, in its own words “a Network that puts quality before quantity keeping things up close and personal to support each member through their developments. It doesn’t matter where you are in your career our crew will welcome and help you out since we we all started somewhere and sometimes all we needed was some inspiration and support to keep us buzzing and on track. On FCN you will be able to meet some very cool individuals that have worked on gigs we all dream of, make some valuable connections, share and learn from some of the best in the industry.”

SOME FCN FEATURES:
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check out the FCN site!
CINEMAHEAD

NOW make it a hybrid movie.

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Hybrid has become an almost cliche’ word, nothing is pure, all is remixed. Hybri d in principle refers to work that cuts across genre definitions, styles, cultures or traditions. Hybrids have been a core part avant-garde cultures, in the west the idea of hybrid work makes me think of the impulses to re:think and re:do that Dada and later video-art gave to the image-making landscape.

Transmedia projets are big now, as producers weave game and narrative ideas to explore new forms of interactive storytelling that will tickle crowd-sources and give heroes longer life.

Have you seen any hybrid films you like? Are you making any story that is hybrid? In the Cinemahead forum there is room to talk about, like, “where is story told best?”

When talking about Energy, hybrids are machines that use more than one form of propulsion or fuel, like electric cars that can be switched to gasoline if needed. I personally prefer Tesla, powerful imagineering.

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog

tesla

Why? is this blog called “Movies Without Cameras” (part 1)

A good movie makes you think and feel, and puts you in touch with your self. A movie that can achieve all this without using cameras is even more worth watching.

The first time I saw a movie actually made without cameras was in 2001 when I bumped into an an animation by Norman Mc Laren, the canadian filmmaker who made most of his films by painting and scratching directly on celluloid strips.

You can see some of his original films and process here.

This one won an Academy Award in 1952, and was considered violent.

Neighbours by Norman McLaren, National Film Board of Canada

When you have time, come back to see this feature documentary on McLaren’s process

Creative Process: Norman McLaren by Donald McWilliams

(to be cont’d.)

[Resources] Starting making cents?

By now, you’re probably used to seeing Facebook “LIKE” buttons attached to content all over the Internet. The team behind CentUp wants to take that concept and monetize it — giving money to the people who create content as well as to charities. A few cents per person for a given blogpost can really add up when you think how popular some content gets. A $20 contribution earns you 2,200 cents for when the product launches!

What is CentUp?

CentUp is an intentionally simple button that lives next to all kinds of web content. It lets people toss a few cents at blog posts, photos, videos, and songs they really love. The kicker? Half that money goes to charity.

Click here to find out more about this project at indiegogo.com!