a lot’s been happening lately, both positive and not so much… on the positive end, i recently reconnected with a filmmaker friend from gradschool who called me in to help him light a small shoot he was doing, and i have to say that doing so was simply wonderful. the whole experience was an affirmation of the perspective i’ve taken on filmmaking lately and a further reaffirmation that making films is still a form of art. the most interesting part is that we’ve both come to this same conclusion.

independent filmmaking is changing and continues to change. obviously i’m not saying anything new here. people have been talking about this since the first affordable video cameras were introduced “back in the day,” but i honestly think that what’s changing now is the perspective that “professional” filmmakers have on the idea of “professional filmmaking” itself.

the tail-end of my formal film education occurred at an interesting time. sure, i’d been on that path since the early nineties and was determined to see it through, but what stands out most is that i’m seeing how it’s now come full-circle.

my gradfilm experience taught and prepared me for a lot of things. the colleagues, faculty, and professionals i met and worked with have been incredible. the education was definitely a solid one. however, i think our approach was off.

we all (well most of us) were reaching toward achieving the things that would bring us up to the standard of what we thought (and were led to believe) filmmaking was—what was and would be required of us—striving to learn and perfect whatever it took to ‘break in’ and ‘make it.’ these required things included commanding a crew of dozens, scrambling to get deals on the latest industry equipment and services, learning the techniques and practices that those professionals in the industry used and were living by, and a lot of waiting & “paying one’s dues.” simply put, it meant doing things and learning to do things “the right way” and oftentimes just because that’s the way things were done. incidentally, we learned how to do these things well and with incredible precision.

the irony with this “way things are done” is that in every other aspect of my life from as far back as i can remember, if someone said this to me, i’d immediately look for a different way to do it. i’m not one to take orders or follow a prescribed set of rules lightly. i’d make for a terrible soldier but a pretty decent revolutionary. i’d happily bring a knife to a gunfight… but when it came to learning filmmaking i was mostly compliant. i mean after-all, “this was the way things were done.” right?

something i’ve been saying for a while now is, “making films was easier before i really learned ‘the proper way’ to make films.” this saying became an inner mantra of mine during gradschool when i was feeling particularly frustrated, but i still think it completely true.

i’m not saying that i’d trade my formal film education for anything. knowing how things are done is one of those things that make me tick. they drive me obsessively. the things i learned ‘on that path’ were and continue to be invaluable. however, i certainly would have approached the learning experience differently. when making films changed from an art-form only to an art-form/business, something in it died, for me. don’t get me wrong, it was never taught this way. not explicitly. none of my professors (all of who were incredible in their own ways) ever said anything so contrary to what i’m saying now. it was simply the environment. our microcosm inside the macrocosm of the professional motion picture world (business) was a perfect mirror and the preparation for moving from the first to the second was/is perfect.

the error was in my acceptance of it. but gladly, this too has changed. it took some time but i’m more on track now and focused. filmmaking for the sake of filmmaking.

who knows if or when the ‘professional industry’ will catch up to the ever-evolving independents. certainly there’s some bottom-line benefit in it for them and definitely there will be an attempt at a commercialized copy of it. but i’m betting it’ll pale in comparison.

back on the set i was talking about earlier, the two of us were there together for around 15 hours ‘working’—lighting, shooting, thinking, and talk to inspiring and interesting artists (the first a dance group, the second a painter)—we were using affordable equipment and lots of creativity, and we were having a great time doing it.

cinema is dead. long live cinema.