'Short Films... how to make and distribute them' By Nathan Parker,
Harpenden, Herts: Kamera Books (Creative Essentials series), 2007. ISBN
978 1 904048 81 7 300pp. (softback) £16.99
The ever-improving ratio of equipment cost relative to quality means
that
more or less anyone can now make a film. Whether that film is any good,
and whether
it merits someone else spending their time watching it is another
matter. On the surface,
this democratitisation of film-making is a good thing- after all, why
shouldn't people get to
make films? On the other hand, as evidenced by some of the less
convincing efforts
viewable on a You Tube video near you, just anyone can't make
films, in the way that anyone
can't write a novel or compose an operetta. There are standards of
cinematic quality
which separate the 'can dos' from the 'can nots' and the 'should dos'
from the 'should nots', but, for better or worse, anyone can string a
rag-bag collection of images
together and refer to it as a 'movie' or- even worse- a 'short film'.
Film is a language. That language needs to be understood (and
preferably mastered) before
entering the fray, unless of course you are Charles Hendley, the
director of Shelf Life, who 'seemed to understand it' (p.270)
without studying it in the first place.
I for one would not dream of venturing to some far flung corner of the
former
British Empire with a) no knowledge of that country's language or b) no
phrasebook.
But, the language of film can tempt those without knowledge, phrasebook
or (it seems) even
common sense (and I call Mr. Hendley as my key witness here, m'lud)
into translating "their dream" into moving images. I would argue that
there has to be at least some underlying knowledge- some degree
of comprehension of the tools and techniques of cinematic practice- to
distance
those who simply shoot video from those who make film. For me, it is
just as
inconceivable that someone could make a film without having at the
least watched
(and preferably studied) existing films as it is that someone could
write a novel
without having first bothered to learn the English language. All this
said however, there is
a burgeoning market in books aimed at making everyone the next Steven
Spielberg- indeed,
you could be forgiven for thinking that mere monetary investment in
equipment and
a book or two would give you all that was needed to make the next
Hollywood Blockbuster.
The reality is much, much different.
Refreshingly, Short Films- how to make and distribute them is
not a book for the absolute novice (and avoids the trap
of convincing anyone who can read the book that they are bound to be
The next Big Thing), but it
does seem to tread an uneasy gap between feeling that films are do-able
and providing a
list of ten million things
you-might-not-have-considered-but-might-not-have-needed-to-anyway.
In short, the book seems to target itself at those that, whatever their
level of cinematic
literacy, have put some serious measures in place to make a film
irrespective of the standard of the finished product. There are a
thorough 31 chapters across a total of 300 pages
(including the necessary index) dealing with everything
from composition to casting and from grip gear to grading. The book
also provides a useful look
at the comparative merits of DV (Digital Video)
as compared to film. Given the level of detail throughout, it is rather
a shock to have the indispensible
term mise-en-scene airily dismissed in two and a bit lines with
the comment that
it 'refers to how you put a scene together' (p.170). In fact, mise-en-scene
is so much more, and could have usefully been introduced as a Key
Concept early on before the
discussions of lighting, locations and casting come into play, for
those are all elements
that shelter gratefully under the umbrella that is mise-en-scene.
As the book moves on, one gets two main messages- firstly that films
are actually very complex
works of art indeed and secondly that there is no way anyone could
possibly know everything in the book and produce a worthwhile film at
the end of it. Ultimately, the book is one that
will not (I would hope) be read cover to cover and learnt like a
mantra, but instead be used as a
reference book as a project is being put together. It is even
inevitable that some people may not
find the book of much use at all- consider an extract from one of its
interviews with
minor players on the cinematic world scene for example:
Q.- 'How do you go about finding the right kind of actors for a role?
A.- 'After years of going out to the theatre three times a week I have
a pretty good
knowledge of the actors out there so I will usually have a good list of
who I would like to see for the role straight away'. (p.71)
For those of us not accustomed to going out to the theatre on a
thrice-weekly basis
there is, it seems, no ready answer.
If there is a key problem with the book at all it is exactly that- a
willingness to
discuss in great detail lenses and filters at the expense of, for
example, a step by
step advice guide following a production from inception to fruition. It
is the
balance between what should work in theory and what actually works in
practice that
makes the book seem rather unfriendly in its 'there's so much to think
about' attitude.
True, one needs to carefully consider many aspects when putting a film
together- but
so many- and in so much detail? Short Films...how
to make and distribute them is,
as should be evident, not an easy ride. However, if film is to move
away from the
home video 'anyone can make a movie' world it is probably, despite its
shortcomings, a ride seriously worth taking.
If the intricacies of the production process prove too much, the book
also comes with
a DVD featuring five eclectic short films (which are all much of a
muchness with the exception of the amazing Being Bad) plus four
items of necessary paperwork
(requiring computer access). Of the five films, Rare Books and
Manuscripts failed to capture
my interest, and should have been far shorter. Being Bad on the
other hand was mesmeric, and I for one could have enjoyed it for
longer.
The director of the third film on the DVD, Shelf Life, is
modestly quoted thus: '...the moment I started making films, I just
grasped it' (p.270). My advice (both to the audience and to the
director concerned) is to skip the obnoxious Shelf Life and
watch Being Bad again.
Sadly, film four, Hotel Infinity, is barely any better- and
commits the first sin of short filmmaking: self-indulgence.
The DVD ends with a whimper- Chrysanthemums the Word must be
the only film with a longer title than its running time.
Overall, the DVD is rather a curate's egg- though worth having purely
for the innovatively stylish Being Bad.
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