On the Fringe: Why so personal?
Donnacha brings up a good direction of conversation in the last post. Why are micro-budget folks getting so personal? As this industry changes rapidly it’s hard for filmmakers to get their bearings. I think it’s simply an easy, cheap way to tell a story. Write from what you know and keep the stories small to work with the microscopic budgets you have.
horseshit…right?! I mean all that certainly helps with production and budget, but it doesn’t tackle the why. The reason we get out of bed in the morning. As a young filmmaker who has found his own way through this landscape, I use the personal stories to establish a style, learn an industry, and relate honestly to a world that is dishonest. I will make movies till I die, for little to no profit, using very personal subject matter. Why!?…because it’s all I know/want to do.
I was watching a semi-typical romantic comedy the other night with Rae (date night!:-) and it hit me why I was so disconnected with it. It was disingenuous. It lacked a specific voice. It was a script put together to entice the idea of love and loss. It felt sterile and manipulative…like all the right notes were played at the right time with a hollow nod to romantic stereotypes. A sociopath trying to fuck with me.
I think that’s why I’ll constantly want to work low budget. You have to work hard to make a genuine story. And you have to want it…it has to be all you want to do in the world despite money and commerce. It’s liberating and makes me whole.:-) To churn out film solely as commerce is to make it a hollow serial killer.
thoughts?
John
Tags: conversation, indie film, micro-budget, On the Fringe
