No close-ups, unless we need to
Keep it real. Keep it natural. The beauty of [Elephant, Last Days, Gerry] was that one of the rules was no coverage, unless we need to. No close-ups, unless we need to. So when you have a close-up, it’s very important.
In the standard coverage, where you do master shot, medium shot, 2-shot and close-up, the crew become like robots. It’s like “Okay, got it,” then everybody starts moving, the tape measures come out… That’s not filmmaking, it’s the dumbing down of the people who make movies. And everybody’s just covering their asses, “just in case”…Instead of shooting everything and looking at it later, please make a decision. It’s hard to make movies. We don’t have money, and we have to act like the police are chasing us. So let’s try to do this with some dignity. And do it well, and have some fun. And do good work.
– Harris Savides on shooting Elephant, Last Days, and Gerry with Gus Van Sant
Via the always excellent Heidi Saman.
Get a day job, but don’t get too good at it
The most defeatist thing I hear is, ‘I’m going to give it a couple of years.’ You can’t set a clock for yourself. If you do, you are not a writer. You should want it so badly that you don’t have a choice. You have to commit for the long haul. There’s no shame in being a starving artist. Get a day job, but don’t get too good at it. It will take you away from your writing.
Matthew Weiner via Submitted for Your Perusal.
I agree with most of this, but I think it’s OK to get really good at your day job. First of all, you always have the option to stop doing your day job — it’s not like you will be magically forced into accepting it as your permanent career.
Second, the better you are at your day job, the more you will enjoy it, all things being equal.
Third, the better you are, the more money you will make, which really comes in handy if you want to start producing what you’re writing.
Fourth, if you are really good at it, you will have more career security — you can take off 3 months to write and then find another job in the same field because you’re really good at what you do.
They don’t go to the police because it’s dull
The sheriff’s intervention comes under the heading of what we have discussed many times before: “Why don’t they go to the police?” I’ve always replied, “They don’t go to the police because it’s dull.”
– Alfred Hitchcock in Hitchcock/Truffaut
God I loved this book.