I knew a father named Ys who had many many children and sold every one of them to the bone factories. The bone factories will not accept angry or sulking children, therefore Ys was, to his children, the kindest and most amiable father imaginable. He fed them huge amounts of calcium candy and the milk of minks, told them interesting and funny stories, and led them each day in their bone-building exercises. “Tall sons,” he said, “are best.” Once a year the bone factories sent a little blue van to Ys’s house.
A Manual For Sons translated from the English by Peter Scatterpatter (Barthelme’s The Dead Father 1975)
(Source: adactivity)
Check out the Photographer’s Gallery of London’s collection of GIFs to be featured at the opening of its newly renovated building!
The image above is a preview version of a GIF I made especially for the opening on the 19th of May. This and dozens of others will be displayed on a massive 3x2.5 meter video screen.
(Source: phillipstearns.com)
Edward Yang, Jonathan Chang, and Kelly Lee at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Yang received Best Director honors for his film Yi Yi.
(via auteurasaurus)
Every year around this time, the film program at my university (which will remain unnamed) throws their version of Cannes to feature all of the “best” films by the student filmmakers. A good several films are shown in an ostentatiously decorated auditorium, and officious sounding awards are presented, not unlike those coveted and wrapped in palm branches. A red carpet event even precedes the entire festivity.
I’ve attended all four of these as I was a student there… primarily to gauge the level of work being done by my fellow peers… these peers which I’ve already developed an immense disdain for based on theory and history classes. I fantastically thought that perhaps, their filmmaking would show a more… say competent side. I can only say that a small handful the entire time I was there, didn’t make me roll my eyes and stick a finger down my throat…
So as I’ve mentioned multiple times before, I am a masochist. Therefore, I was prompted earlier today to watch the films from this year that were uploaded on the event’s website. And complimentary to these videos are cute little behind-the-scene production photos… Ten people standing behind a mounted DSLR, chest high with their titles and clipboards, acting as if they really have any business being on set. Hilarious… The unnecessarily long credits underneath these no budget student films have listed positions like “producer,” “clapperloader,” and “2nd AD.” Please…
I understand my university is certainly no microcosm for film schools worldwide, or even nationwide… my university isn’t even anywhere near known for its film program anyway. But I’ve seen things from UCLA, USC, and Chapman (no offense to anyone from here, but I’ve hated almost everyone I’ve worked with from this school)… Sure their production values are higher, but that’s about it… These student films are the exact reason why film is in the shithole state that it’s in now.
Sure I guess one needs time to mature, gain experience, and hone in their skills. And I understand that Hollywood has become a machine industry cranking out nothing but mainstream garbage… ultimately solidifying that if you’re not in that game, you’re pretty screwed. I know this all too well. I’m always torn between making what I want, and making stuff to get money and LIVE.
If anything, I would say that that is even more reason to make the things you want while you’re in college. There are few, if any, pressures about financing, marketing, etc. And if this is the crap that these student filmmakers “want” to make, then I can only say that they certainly do belong in Hollywood.
What’s sad is these filmmakers not only know nothing about film and filmmaking, but they know nothing of life… of people and relationships… These student films tend to fall into two categories: narrow-vision, comfortable, sugarcoated perspectives of their own lives, or wildly exaggerated, nonsensical attempts to dissect lives they know fucking nothing about. Risk, heart, and truth are in no one’s lexicon.
So given that, don’t even get me fucking started on their actual filmmaking and film influences. Those ridiculous production photos only give you a hint. If you could only witness the bullshit of actually being on set. It’s utterly pathetic. A clusterfuck of people standing around, twiddling their thumbs, focus-pulling the 60D, taking an hour to set up the endless shot/reverse-shots, adhering to safe-ass textbook Classical Hollywood, holding boom mic slack or a bag of C67s (and calling them C67s) because they think that such giant sets with an endless list of designated positions make their production more legitimate… more serious. And the influences… or more like uninspired ripoffs… I’d pay money to the people within these mass sets who have seen more than ten non-English films from before 1990. I think you’d have a better chance with a squirrel in the university park (a prime location for 99% of these films) that accidentally walked into one during a class where everyone is sleeping.
And as the credits roll and the lights go up, the seated lemmings clap wildly and compliment each other on various forgettable aspects, boosting nothing but false hope and self-esteem.
You can completely fucking forget about any real criticisms. The moment I gave mine out in my final production class, I had a meeting called in about my ego and attitude problems. No joke.
Anyway, this rant doesn’t solve anything. Nor does it really say anything most people actually into film aren’t aware of. If anything, in my own reflection, I’m constantly being reminded that film school was probably one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made in my entire life. It’s utterly fucking useless, and it makes you an arrogant fuck and crazy hater. If it doesn’t, you’re probably the problem…
It’s a little scary that this spells out EXACTLY what I’ve spent the last three years trying to communicate in regards to Tisch film school.
