July 22, 2011 Leave a Comment

The Prince and the Magician

ashrafrashid

This story comes up in numerous NLP sources, where it’s used primarily as a metaphor for NLP. I also see it as a metaphor for many aspects of filmmaking. So I post it here for those who have not yet had the pleasure of stumbling across this work. From The Magus by John Fowles: Once upon a time there was a young prince, who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in God. His father, the King, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father’s domaines, and no sign of God, the young prince believed his father. But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace. He came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore. “Are those real islands?” asked … [Read more...]

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July 20, 2011 1 Comment

Without Commitment, You Ain’t Got Nothing

Photo Courtesy of Mundilfari

Following up from this post on Loving The Process earlier this week, just wanted to make a few clarifications after getting some interesting email on it. I’m not trying to insinuate that someone HAS to be working on their filmmaking four times a week in order to get good. I was just suggesting a framework that will ensure you get good (IF, of course, you actually put in the practice in a constructive way). So much of this is momentum. I consider sitting down and writing (working on a screenplay or treatment) as part of the four times a week. It's balance and perspective. You don't want to over-do it and you don't want to burn out. At the same time, you want to keep a place for other things in your life. Single minded focus is great, as long as you don't wind up getting yourself burnt out and give up on goals and commitments before you've seen them through. Without Commitment, You Got Nothing Clearly, four times a week is a MASSIVE investment in time. Not only are you spending … [Read more...]

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July 18, 2011 3 Comments

LOVE The Process! How To Change Everything!

Photo Courtesy of TGKW

You know, every day I think about filmmaking, and I have some wacky distinction that changes the way I perceive things. The crazy thing about filmmaking is that it’s the only artform in which you have to REALLY get out of your comfort zone to practice. I mean, you want to learn to play tennis, you get out on the court and you start hitting balls. You want to learn physics, you get in a classroom and get studying. You want to learn to drive a car, you get in a car and start figuring it out. Okay, the last one was a slightly bad example. But the point is that filmmaking requires a MASSIVE shift in the way you think in order to learn it – you’ve got to FORCE yourself out of your comfort zone. You’ve got to really make that effort in order to practice even just the basics. Tennis requires just getting onto a court. The basics would be hitting some balls lightly. The basics of physics will require some books. Driving a car, simply getting in one and having someone … [Read more...]

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July 15, 2011 3 Comments

How Reframing Can Help Your Filmmaking

Photo Courtesy of The Silent Man_

NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is an incredible tool to use in all areas of your life, including filmmaking. But what areas of filmmaking can NLP be used in? Ever heard of failure? What about negativity? Getting caught in a rut and feeling like you're just not getting anywhere? So you want to re-frame failure and negativity? Joseph O’Connor and John Seymour’s book Introducing NLP offers a great Six Step Reframing Process. Here is the blueprint of the process from the book, with my notes about how it can be used to reframe failure, negativity and other unproductive states: 1. First identify the behaviour or response to be changed.   You want to banish negativity thoughts and feelings (especially concerning your filmmaking goals), but you don't know where to begin. From the reframing process itself: “It is usually in the form: ‘I want to…but something stops me.’ Or, ‘I don’t want to do this, but I seem to end up doing it just the same.’ Take a … [Read more...]

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July 14, 2011 3 Comments

20 Directors and How They Made It Part II

martinscorsese

Continuing from yesterday's piece about directors and how they made it, we continue the list of interesting cases of filmmakers making their start in the business...Christopher NolanAs a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States, he spent his childhood in both London and Chicago. Nolan found an interest in botany and "dicots" early on until he found his father's camera. He began film-making at the age of seven using his father's Super 8 camera and his toy action figures. While living in Chicago as a child, he also made short films with future director and producer Roko Belic.Nolan was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, an independent school at Hertford Heath in Hertfordshire, England, and later studied English literature at University College London while filming several short films in the college film society. The first, Tarantella, was shown in 1989 on Image Union, an independent film and video showcase featured on PBS. Another notable short film was … [Read more...]

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July 13, 2011 1 Comment

20 Directors and How They Made It

wimwenders

I wanted to investigate how various directors broke into film, how they "made it." I tried to select filmmakers from a wide breadth of backgrounds, nationalities and experiences. Obviously, this won't be a comprehensive list of everything that's possible, but these examples cover many of the varied tracks into directing. I think, often, we forget that the big name directors had to start somewhere...just like us. It's not discussed nearly enough and, like filmmaking itself, famous director's paths into filmmaking can be mysterious. I hope this post sheds some light on haziness and gives readers a measuring stick of possibility. Above all, this list means to stand as inspiration for what's possible. This is how "they" did it... Wim Wenders He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine (1963–64) and philosophy (1964–65) in Freiburg and Düsseldorf. However, he dropped out of university studies and moved to Paris in October 1966 to … [Read more...]

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July 11, 2011 2 Comments

The Importance Of Travel

Photo: PhilCoates.tv

I really want to emphasise the importance of travel. Besides its obvious and much talked about benefits, travel is incredibly important when it comes to filmmaking. I’ve travelled a lot myself, and I feel it’s one of the best ways to boost your confidence in all areas of life. Getting put in alien situations and having to pull through time and time again – incredible confidence builder.   Too many people seem to be caught up in this proximity crap. They grow up in a small town, go to school there, get a job there and then settle down with a wife and kids there! The only time they see a place outside of their hometown is on their vacations, and those are few and far between. Some people never even leave their hometown! Thing is, this is marriage by proximity. It’s settling for something because it’s right there and easier than going out and finding something of quality everywhere you go. What are the chances of finding an incredible career/partner/etc in your … [Read more...]

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July 7, 2011 1 Comment

Books I’ve been reading!

lightset

Just recently, I mentioned a great book with many filmmaking applications: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. I wanted to mention a few others here that I’ve been reading that you should check out! And, yes, I realize that I wrote another recent post about how we're often susceptible to reading too much! This blog post features a little walk-through of what I’ve been studying lately on this journey of filmmaking discovery! Speaking of Mr Greene, his Art of Seduction is also worth investing in. While it's aimed primarily at romantic relationships of various kinds, there are certainly passagesthat speak directly to filmmakers. In fact, any book that covers relationships of any variety is useful in filmmaking terms. Anything that covers communication techniques or linguistics can also be useful. Check out NLP and Hypnosis books. I hope to write a posting jumping specifically into these kinds of books and some of my personal recommendations for getting started in this area … [Read more...]

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July 6, 2011 1 Comment

The 48 Laws of Power

filmset

I see The 48 Laws of Power and it’s various laws being parroted a lot in filmmaking circles. Although I was skeptical at first, I have almost finished this book now and have found it an incredibly useful tome. Definately the most amoral self-help book I’ve ever read, but just filled to the brim with truth. What I’m curious about is if any of you guys have actually found instances in your life when you have put one of the laws into action and seen results? I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to seriously get involved in filmmaking. In fact, this should be on all the filmmaking guru's recommended book lists. Of course, some people will parrott the old Hollywood cliches of the ruthless sharks trying to get ahead in the business at other people's expense in describing the book. There are certainly examples of that in this book, and it's riddled with cut-throat tactics, but I think it goes deeper than that in being useful for filmmakers. I see The 48 Laws of … [Read more...]

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July 2, 2011 2 Comments

Why Do We Read So Much?

behindset

  You know, when I first got into filmmaking, I was one of those guys who just has to read LOADS. I had to get my hands on everything, and just READ AND READ everything! And I did. So why do we read so much and amass so much information? I think reading filmmaking material is comforting. We think that if we’re reading something we’re engrossed in the goal and we’re actively moving towards our outcome. This is true to an extent, but we’re fooling ourselves if we think it’s anywhere NEAR as powerful as getting out in the field and practising this stuff! Maybe it’s because we’re trained by school and academics in general that if we read LOADS, then we’ll get good at something. Yes, this is true in a field like history or English Lit. But in the field of filmmaking, the field of life, we need to get out and take ACTION – try the techniques, the new processes, learn from our failures and grow. So there’s a lot of new people who come in and they must … [Read more...]

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