1st question what this sentence means? "The great visualists span the history of film, all one hundred years plus".
is that it means a great filmmaker knows history of film?
2nd question why history of film so important for directors? without knowing the history of films you cannot become great director??
director_journey wrote:1st question what this sentence means? "The great visualists span the history of film, all one hundred years plus".
is that it means a great filmmaker knows history of film?
2nd question why history of film so important for directors? without knowing the history of films you cannot become great director??
"The great visualists span the history of film, all one hundred years plus".
First of all, cinema is an audio-visual medium.So it's natural that since it's inception, many have tried and succeed showing their audience something extra-ordinary.I can only imagine what it was like when people first saw Star Wars and Blade Runner.
Please go through these two.Very informative about SFX/VFX and production design.
"In 1895, Alfred Clark created what is commonly accepted as the first-ever motion picture special effect. While filming a reenactment of the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, Clark instructed an actor to step up to the block in Mary's costume. As the executioner brought the axe above his head, Clarke stopped the camera, had all of the actors freeze, and had the person playing Mary step off the set. He placed a Mary dummy in the actor's place, restarted filming, and allowed the executioner to bring the axe down, severing the dummy's head."
why history of film so important for directors? without knowing the history of films you cannot become great director??
It's like science.We are standing over shoulders of scientists and can see far beyond they could've.Similarly knowing history of films lets us explore the ideas presented there.
BTW I think someone else can answer second question better than mine.
I think it means being a visual artist, having a scene in your imagination that is fully formed, so when you you put it up in reality it actually radiates with emotion. It's not just a spectacular image, but it stirs emotion in those who look at it. I believe the best films are those that tell the story from the characters' perspective, ie. everything from the lighting to the camera angles radiate with the character's feelings. And yes I think if you want to be a director you have to study history of film, because film makers in the past had little technology so they put in huge effort, imagination and mind work to make brilliant scenes.
I think making scenes from graphic novels (mature comic books) is the easiest an probably the best way to make a film, specially if the director is the one who drew the comic. I saw a film about film making where the director had all the scenes drawn as comic strips before hand, Philip Seymor Hoffman was acting the role of the screen writer in that film.
EDIT: I had to add this video, it's Kinetic typography but it's very, very expressive of human emotions. http://vimeo.com/16452039
maddie88 wrote:
I think making scenes from graphic novels (mature comic books) is the easiest an probably the best way to make a film, specially if the director is the one who drew the comic. I saw a film about film making where the director had all the scenes drawn as comic strips before hand, Philip Seymor Hoffman was acting the role of the screen writer in that film.
maddie88 wrote:
I think making scenes from graphic novels (mature comic books) is the easiest an probably the best way to make a film, specially if the director is the one who drew the comic. I saw a film about film making where the director had all the scenes drawn as comic strips before hand, Philip Seymor Hoffman was acting the role of the screen writer in that film.
I think you are talking about Synecdoche New York
Thanks for the link but I think it was a much older film...don't remember the title :S
The great visualists span the history of film, all one hundred years plus
It might simply mean that effects and effect makers have since the business started, challenged each other with grander and larger scale effects. Star Wars was a wonder to see back in the 70's, but today a film like Avatar completely silences that. There will be another film in the next decade or two that will do to Avatar what it did to Star Wars.
Why history of film so important for directors? without knowing the history of films you cannot become great director??
I don't think you HAVE TO know the history of cinema to be a director or a great one. There have been a lot of filmmakers in history that they themselves didn't know much about cinema before, some got in via last minute application or because they felt they needed to try it out. Secondly, I don't think you should as a person be arrogant about it and say "I don't need to know it" because then that is simply being ignorant. But it all boils down to your choice: if you feel that learning about cinema history is the right thing then by all means go ahead and learn because at the end of the day there is nothing wrong with wanting to learn. However, if you don't know much about cinema history or to what the new wave really was, then don't worry...it's not like the job app will ask you if you know what Nouvelle Vague means. Sometimes having no knowledge of other visualists might work in making your vision more unique because you aren't subconsciously recreating instead you're simply inventing. I'm doing an art course, we recently did a module on video art and effects and in that module we learned about experimental filmmakers using fresh and unconventional techniques to create works of art...some of these filmmakers didn't know much about conventional cinema, as a result if you watch some of their work you will realise how beautiful their work is.
All videos above use rare and odd techniques. If you watch them for their visuals and not for other typical functions, you'll notice how thriving and wonderful they are.
You should also consider this: Did some previous filmmakers before you know much about film history? Some did, some didn't. It was up to them.
In a way though we automatically learn about film history, just by watching a film in a cinema or just by reading an article in a newspaper related to film, we are teaching ourselves about a past before us. In your lifetime you will subconsciously learn about film history and you'll be surprised at how much you know.
m_man360 wrote:The great visualists span the history of film, all one hundred years plus
It might simply mean that effects and effect makers have since the business started, challenged each other with grander and larger scale effects. Star Wars was a wonder to see back in the 70's, but today a film like Avatar completely silences that. There will be another film in the next decade or two that will do to Avatar what it did to Star Wars.
Why history of film so important for directors? without knowing the history of films you cannot become great director??
I don't think you HAVE TO know the history of cinema to be a director or a great one. There have been a lot of filmmakers in history that they themselves didn't know much about cinema before, some got in via last minute application or because they felt they needed to try it out. Secondly, I don't think you should as a person be arrogant about it and say "I don't need to know it" because then that is simply being ignorant. But it all boils down to your choice: if you feel that learning about cinema history is the right thing then by all means go ahead and learn because at the end of the day there is nothing wrong with wanting to learn. However, if you don't know much about cinema history or to what the new wave really was, then don't worry...it's not like the job app will ask you if you know what Nouvelle Vague means. Sometimes having no knowledge of other visualists might work in making your vision more unique because you aren't subconsciously recreating instead you're simply inventing. I'm doing an art course, we recently did a module on video art and effects and in that module we learned about experimental filmmakers using fresh and unconventional techniques to create works of art...some of these filmmakers didn't know much about conventional cinema, as a result if you watch some of their work you will realise how beautiful their work is.
All videos above use rare and odd techniques. If you watch them for their visuals and not for other typical functions, you'll notice how thriving and wonderful they are.
You should also consider this: Did some previous filmmakers before you know much about film history? Some did, some didn't. It was up to them.
In a way though we automatically learn about film history, just by watching a film in a cinema or just by reading an article in a newspaper related to film, we are teaching ourselves about a past before us. In your lifetime you will subconsciously learn about film history and you'll be surprised at how much you know.
It's really simple:
As a audience interaction driven, objectively valued, young art form, even making one's own films and seeing how they do is being a student of film. Thinking being a student of film is your knowledge of foreign films and classics what have you as shit, it's being a student of the art form, whatever film it is that helps you discover, understand, or just asks what is so powerful about this and why, whether star wars or Fellini or Spider-Man, is being a student of film.
In my opinion, the nature of both the competitiveness and the creative undertaking that film is, it's almost impossible to be a good filmmaker without loving it. Even people who have become cookie cutter proby fell in love with something in that mold, or are paying the bills but still happy to be in the same field as a film they love. If you don't love film enough to be inspired by it, you can't have the energy creatively and literally to do it for a living. It's to difficult and unstable.
That said, what marks great filmmakers and separates them from failed filmmakers or just film fans is that they Love BEING Students of Film. Instead of disaponited that they can see the mechanics, they love the power of the form and explore that. If somebody says that becoming a filmmaker ruined film for them when on the other side, do them a favor and tell them to find another job.
For good measure, the paradox of film is many can't seperate the boundaries of loving being a student of film, and many filmmakers most driving concept to explore to make films is to explore their love of films. And that's hwo you get tons and tons of uninteresting work from skilled, smart people. Film is more in love with it then any film medium in history. How many people's stated goal when writing or storytelling is to homage or do tehir version of Star Wars or wahtever their movie is...That's why we get such repetition and fresh ideas are so rare
"The great visualists span the history of film, all one hundred years plus".
Telling a story visually was a groundbreaking point in cinema. 2001: A Space Odyssey is considered a classic and astounds most new viewers to this day. Kubrik's new story telling device was what pioneered visual effects. No 2001 means no Star Wars, no Blade Runner, no Inception.
is that it means a great filmmaker knows history of film?
just by watching a film means you have a little bit of history. history has no set period other than before present. Knowing film history is almost impossible....unless you Lenny from Memento
why history of film so important for directors? without knowing the history of films you cannot become great director??
My above comment explains as much, but even you who seems discontent on learning about film history you still must have some interest to watch classics and any film for that matter. Memento, Heat, even Citizen Kane. You don't have to learn from books to actually learn about film.
#1fan wrote:"The great visualists span the history of film, all one hundred years plus".
Telling a story visually was a groundbreaking point in cinema. 2001: A Space Odyssey is considered a classic and astounds most new viewers to this day. Kubrik's new story telling device was what pioneered visual effects. No 2001 means no Star Wars, no Blade Runner, no Inception.
is that it means a great filmmaker knows history of film?
just by watching a film means you have a little bit of history. history has no set period other than before present. Knowing film history is almost impossible....unless you Lenny from Memento
why history of film so important for directors? without knowing the history of films you cannot become great director??
My above comment explains as much, but even you who seems discontent on learning about film history you still must have some interest to watch classics and any film for that matter. Memento, Heat, even Citizen Kane. You don't have to learn from books to actually learn about film.
I'm inspired by and informed by Nolan but still haven't connected with Blade Runner or most of Kubrick's work on that level. Is it right to say that I learned everything I know from 2001 when, while I respect the hell out of it, I've never been inspired by it? How bout The Aviator then, which had no effect on me but is the only reason Nolan was available to make Batman? The butterfly effect of being a student of cinema can definitely fuck with the head if you let it.