Movie Club Revival - part 2
The Race Is On
No matter how tempting it is to "make a film in an evening" - from first
idea to edited output - the results are almost always disappointing. People
can have a lot of fun with such events, but to give club morale a real boost
you need decent results. We're not talking Academy Awards here, just a short
you might slip into a program for a senior citizens show without making them
reach for the Gaviscon.
So adopt a "lite" version of the full-fledged movie-making process …
 Planning & Communicating
Before Shoot Day, get as much planning as possible in writing.
Whether a story or documentary, whether produced by a "Long Ranger" or a
small group of enthusiastic members … planning, sharing and rehearsing
combine to make a successful production more likely. Planning spelt out in
writing helps keep everyone "on the same page" during the Shoot. It's a vehicle
to clear away doubts and misunderstandings.
Remember, though, that even after all the pre-shoot discussions, helpful
hints and suggestions have been dealt with … the director is still the
boss. There are always some details "left in his or her head". Directors
need room to "elaborate" and seize opportunities. And you can't hope to put
absolutely everything in writing. A large part of any director's job is to
keep the "vision" intact and to deliver its "promise".
Keep moving along !
Learn on the set. Delve into the members' technical arsenal as the need arises
- this is the easy part! But don't waste an eternity of workshopping on
"technical" things for their own sake. A hands-on morning workshop on the
"Rule of Thirds" is a great basis for picture composition … with a monitor
on location, the club-film shoot itself can become an opportunity for members
to see exactly how that works successfully in practice. Try MS's CU's, POV's
(Master Shots, Close-Ups, Point-Of-View shots) on the scene and you
reveal their practical significance.
Often the most difficult issue is - yes, you guessed this - dealing with
the artistic dimension.
People are full of theoretical notions about film art … but for a club
without a bank of recent, successful "shooting" experience to fall back on,
there's only one road to Utopia: DOING SHOOTS. So, for starters, keep the
artsy-stuff simple too.
Let's be practical
We can all dream a masterpiece … but before you put pen to paper, consider
the feasibility of any project. Can your club muster up the needed resources?
We all soon learn that the availability of suitable locations and actors
limits the number of suitable choices. So balance enthusiasm with practicality
… and keep it simple.
A word about narrative
 Your project will probably be a simple drama, but beware the
script which is a great short-story but just doesn't work on screen. Look
over scripts and stories to "read between the lines". Are there "exploitable"
elements in this script, lying there "between" those lines? Ones that a director
or screenplay-writer may color and elaborate to engage the audience totally.
You don't want to mutilate a writer's originality, but screenwriting is a
literary form of its own. Keep exposition to a minimum. Try to make each
scene move the characters and plot along. In a 2 or 3-hander each character
should have a character-arc: get the boy, win the contest, avoid the in-laws
…
If you have a writer in your club, she may provide a potential idea - she's
then made her contribution. Now the screenplay writer's task is to transform
the "story" into "frames, dialog and body movements". He or she must break
down the elements of the screenplay into individual short "scenes", mostly
just a few seconds long. It is MUCH easier for someone else to do this than
for the original writer to attempt it.
One of the many lessons to learn from a club-film is that movie making is
a collaborative art. To do it well you need the skills and talents of many
people. In return you must let them make their contribution and not be too
precious about "my story", "my lighting scheme", "my set design" and so on.
Keep most scenes under 5 seconds, which includes very brief cut-ins of here
and there. Shorter scene length is harder on the director but much easier
on everyone else. Continuity is forever on the director's mind as he moves
through action-cuts, cut-ins and L & J cuts. Hence the need to get cut-in
and plenty of tight close-ups of faces and eyes "in neutral". Those can seem
like star-level acting when really they just cover a continuity error while
the dialog rolls on underneath them.
In most clubs you will not have the luxury of one-member-one-job. Nonetheless
the director has to exercise diplomacy, charm, flattery - heck even begging
on his knees if necessary - to share the responsibility. On a good club-shoot
everyone has fun - that's what builds team spirit and club spirit.
<- part one (rekindling) |
part three (the shoot) ->
David Fuller's articles have appeared in a slightly different form in
Panorama the magazine of the Society of Canadian Cine Amateurs.
We are very grateful for the permission of author and editor to reproduce
them here.
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