If the audience is bored with your story and bored with your actor's performances then the shortcomings of your production is laid bare for criticism. A solid story and solid performances from your actors are your first line of defense against the harsh criticisms aimed at anything technical. Your amateur lighting, uninspired camera work, lean set design and even lack luster special effects can be forgiven, within reason, by a well told story.
Lacking a trained eye, I've enjoyed movies on the first viewing, then notice poor production on subsequent viewings. If I did notice something, I didn't care, because I was so wrapped up in what was happening in the story and to the characters I had already become emotionally involved with.
"Brick" is a good example of this. The filmmaker took some liberties with jump cuts and audio but I didn't care. I didn't notice most of them till later viewings. Also, have you seen the 2005 Sundance selection of "The Puffy Chair?" The story and actor performances were obviously what captured the audience's heart and attention.
Give your audience something to chew on. A lot of drama. A lot of conflict. A character they want to see succeed, or one they want to see fail miserably. If you can tell an emotionally moving story with three clip lights, a $200 camera, and your friend's apartment, then the only thing you're missing is a big budget.
I firmly believe your skills as a storyteller can be identified within a 5min no-budget video. At least enough to catch the eye of someone who knows what they are looking at and can possibly offer you an actual budget.
Always strive for the highest production value, but don't think that 'pretty pictures' are enough to save an emotionally starved story.
- JC Cocker
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Compassion Shouldn’t Sleep When Passion Runs Deep
While listening to the Director’s commentary, on even movies I hate, I find genuine passion behind them. I respect passion.
I understand that a ‘hack’ can write a script just for the money. A producer can get caught up in a project because his / her movie-star best friend wants to play the lead. An unknown director can accept the job just to pay the mortgage. And a distribution company can pick up the movie just because it’s cheap enough to fit a hole in their line up of summer releases. I understand how total pieces of crap can float down the pipe. Devoid of passion.
But if I know the filmmaker, I know his/her passion is there. I consider all the work it takes to make a piece of crap and remember to be impressed that I know another person with enough desire and passion to put themselves through the process. I praise what I can. We are a community. I want to be known as a supporter.
Now why bother with compassion for Hollywood movies we hate? It’s not like Hollywood cries if we have a hateful thought. Well, think of it this way. When we become well known filmmakers it will be in our best interest to have the habit of expressing our opinions of other filmmakers and their creations with diplomatic compassion.
Once we become a part of the larger, yet still very small, filmmaking community, we will understand how to maintain relationships and spare the burning of bridges. If we don’t learn to curb our blatant hate and discontent toward the creations of our peers, it’ll come back when it’s our baby on the chopping block. But, most likely we’ll just find ourselves friendless wondering why opportunities pass us by.
So, find something you can compliment, keep the peace, and continue to support each other.
- JC Cocker
I understand that a ‘hack’ can write a script just for the money. A producer can get caught up in a project because his / her movie-star best friend wants to play the lead. An unknown director can accept the job just to pay the mortgage. And a distribution company can pick up the movie just because it’s cheap enough to fit a hole in their line up of summer releases. I understand how total pieces of crap can float down the pipe. Devoid of passion.
But if I know the filmmaker, I know his/her passion is there. I consider all the work it takes to make a piece of crap and remember to be impressed that I know another person with enough desire and passion to put themselves through the process. I praise what I can. We are a community. I want to be known as a supporter.
Now why bother with compassion for Hollywood movies we hate? It’s not like Hollywood cries if we have a hateful thought. Well, think of it this way. When we become well known filmmakers it will be in our best interest to have the habit of expressing our opinions of other filmmakers and their creations with diplomatic compassion.
Once we become a part of the larger, yet still very small, filmmaking community, we will understand how to maintain relationships and spare the burning of bridges. If we don’t learn to curb our blatant hate and discontent toward the creations of our peers, it’ll come back when it’s our baby on the chopping block. But, most likely we’ll just find ourselves friendless wondering why opportunities pass us by.
So, find something you can compliment, keep the peace, and continue to support each other.
- JC Cocker
Friday, January 18, 2008
JC Cocker battles "Newbie Zombies"
I don’t feel like a wannabe filmmaker anymore! "Newbie Zombies" changed that. I just finished shooting my first short film with a fully departmentalized crew. My friends Neal Bryant and Jeremy Drake gave me my first opportunity to focus solely on directing. Instead of having to work out all the details myself, I had a DP, a camera operator, a gaffer, grips, make up and wardrobe, and actors that were not already my close friends. It provided me with a completely new learning experience. Neal and Jeremy tackled the job of making it look good while I worked closely with the actors.
You can’t make a good movie without an awesome script. Alex Blair, a student at Harding University in Searcy, AR, passed on a masterfully crafted comedy sketch entitled "Inexperienced Zombies." The story: "A close knit group of zombies corner a woman, and find themselves cornered as well when they awkwardly explain why they’re not interested in making a meal of her."
Alex had originally written it for a sketch comedy show that I attempted to produce for a local cable channel. It was never shot and I have been a huge fan of the script for more than a year. It was an honor and blast to direct. I only added two pages to the script, just to set up the zombies with their victim and to tie in the location we had available to us. The rest is pure gold from Alex Blair.
Working with the actors was the most rewarding part of the project for me. I had a wonderful selection of performers to choose from, thanks to Jeremy and his connections to an awesome pool of local actors. I especially enjoyed discussing the characters with the actors, approving makeup, working out the blocking, and overseeing the stunts for safety. Everything in general about directing the actors was my favorite part of the process. I figure that’s a good sign. Because that’s the only job a director can’t pawn off on anyone else.
I didn’t spend much time watching the monitor. Jeremy and Neal both found that odd. Our monitor was a 27" tube TV. Very heavy and too large to fit in the cramped spaces around the apartment we were shooting in. I didn’t want to bother climbing over the monitor after every take just to get to the actors. Because of the inconvenience and my overwhelming interest in guiding the actors’ performances, I didn’t use the monitor much.
I have heard conflicting opinions pertaining to a director and the monitor. One says your job as a director is to watch the monitor at all times to see what your getting, and another says you can’t nurture an actor’s performance while hiding behind the monitor. I have yet to make up my mind on which opinion I agree with. However, this being my first ‘focused’ directing effort, I learned two things. First, I realized that I was able to maintain an intimate relationship with the actors by always being near by, just out of camera shot, able to step in and give lavish praise and minor adjustments. Actors are emotionally needy creatures, so I knew this was a good idea.
Second, if you trust your Director of Photography to capture "pretty pictures," and you both agree on a single vision, then you can afford stay close to your talent. Instead of humping the monitor, you can give your actors some intimate attention instead. After a few checks at the monitor, I felt comfortable continuing multiple takes of a shot while trusting the DP.
For the tech-heads out there, we shot with a naked Cannon A1, capturing HDV onto MiniDV. We had it on a Mannfrotto head and legs that spent most of its time strapped to a doorway / track dolly running on track up to eight feet long for some shots.
The lights were a mixture of Lowell and Mole-Richardson brands. Brad Floyd and Landon Steward worked their magic with two 550watt, two 720watt and one 1000watt rated lights as Gaffer and Key Grip respectively.
Audio was fed directly into the camera from a single shotgun mic through out the shoot. The boom pole was manned masterfully by Avery Moorehead. And post production will be a Mac based process with the cutting done by Jeremy and Neal using Final Cut Pro. There will be a little bit of green screen trickery handled by the careful hands of Neal using After Effects on a Mac.
This chance to focus the bulk of my energy on directing actors was an exciting learning experience for me that I will never forget. Only with an awesome cast and crew, including my own friends and the generous friends of others, could this have been possible. My many sincere thanks go out to each and every one of them from the warmest depths of my heart.
- JC Cocker
You can’t make a good movie without an awesome script. Alex Blair, a student at Harding University in Searcy, AR, passed on a masterfully crafted comedy sketch entitled "Inexperienced Zombies." The story: "A close knit group of zombies corner a woman, and find themselves cornered as well when they awkwardly explain why they’re not interested in making a meal of her."
Alex had originally written it for a sketch comedy show that I attempted to produce for a local cable channel. It was never shot and I have been a huge fan of the script for more than a year. It was an honor and blast to direct. I only added two pages to the script, just to set up the zombies with their victim and to tie in the location we had available to us. The rest is pure gold from Alex Blair.
Working with the actors was the most rewarding part of the project for me. I had a wonderful selection of performers to choose from, thanks to Jeremy and his connections to an awesome pool of local actors. I especially enjoyed discussing the characters with the actors, approving makeup, working out the blocking, and overseeing the stunts for safety. Everything in general about directing the actors was my favorite part of the process. I figure that’s a good sign. Because that’s the only job a director can’t pawn off on anyone else.
I didn’t spend much time watching the monitor. Jeremy and Neal both found that odd. Our monitor was a 27" tube TV. Very heavy and too large to fit in the cramped spaces around the apartment we were shooting in. I didn’t want to bother climbing over the monitor after every take just to get to the actors. Because of the inconvenience and my overwhelming interest in guiding the actors’ performances, I didn’t use the monitor much.
I have heard conflicting opinions pertaining to a director and the monitor. One says your job as a director is to watch the monitor at all times to see what your getting, and another says you can’t nurture an actor’s performance while hiding behind the monitor. I have yet to make up my mind on which opinion I agree with. However, this being my first ‘focused’ directing effort, I learned two things. First, I realized that I was able to maintain an intimate relationship with the actors by always being near by, just out of camera shot, able to step in and give lavish praise and minor adjustments. Actors are emotionally needy creatures, so I knew this was a good idea.
Second, if you trust your Director of Photography to capture "pretty pictures," and you both agree on a single vision, then you can afford stay close to your talent. Instead of humping the monitor, you can give your actors some intimate attention instead. After a few checks at the monitor, I felt comfortable continuing multiple takes of a shot while trusting the DP.
For the tech-heads out there, we shot with a naked Cannon A1, capturing HDV onto MiniDV. We had it on a Mannfrotto head and legs that spent most of its time strapped to a doorway / track dolly running on track up to eight feet long for some shots.
The lights were a mixture of Lowell and Mole-Richardson brands. Brad Floyd and Landon Steward worked their magic with two 550watt, two 720watt and one 1000watt rated lights as Gaffer and Key Grip respectively.
Audio was fed directly into the camera from a single shotgun mic through out the shoot. The boom pole was manned masterfully by Avery Moorehead. And post production will be a Mac based process with the cutting done by Jeremy and Neal using Final Cut Pro. There will be a little bit of green screen trickery handled by the careful hands of Neal using After Effects on a Mac.
This chance to focus the bulk of my energy on directing actors was an exciting learning experience for me that I will never forget. Only with an awesome cast and crew, including my own friends and the generous friends of others, could this have been possible. My many sincere thanks go out to each and every one of them from the warmest depths of my heart.
- JC Cocker
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