Get Your Five a day ...

Gerry hands Terry the pen ...

“ The five C’s of Cinematography are, Camera-angles, Continuity, Cutting, Close-ups and Composition. All of these facets are entirely in MY hands, and technology, no matter how sophisticated, can do any of this on its own. There isn’t a natural law stating that the more I spend on gadgets and software, the better my films will be. In reality, all the technology in the world can’t save a bad movie-maker from producing bad films.” - James Chalmers, LACI.

I’m finding that discussions at my local club, and in publications such as ‘Film and Video Maker’, are becoming dominated by techno-speak, rather than film making as an art form. And my fear is that moviemakers will in future be judged by what equipment they use, and their ability to baffle everyone with science, rather than by a serious look at the work they produce. There will probably be many in the IAC who disagree with my sentiments, but hopefully I’ll have started an interesting debate as to how best to define the movie-maker.

Next, a couple of short notes by Michael Slowe from his IAC article, ‘Technology is Not An Art Form,’... "I have heard it said that technology pushes art, rather than art pushing technology. Artists generally tend to be quite satisfied using whatever means they have at their disposal, preferring to concentrate on the art rather more than the means. In my opinion this is how it should be. So many film-makers (mostly amateurs it has to be said), think that with better equipment they will make better films. Over many years viewing films, I have seen no evidence to support that.” Continuing, regarding ‘films’ being posted on the internet, he says it’s difficult to sort the quality from the rubbish. "Youngsters in particular think that ‘pixelated rushing around’ is sufficient to entertain an audience, but at least they are using the medium, and those who intelligently use their imagination will progress. One thought remains common to all people interested in or involved with film: the requirement for interesting stories to be well told, and presented with flair and imagination regardless of the means employed to get the production on the screen.” Finally, from David Fuller:

“Yes, the technical dimension is always much easier to master than the artistic, but ‘tech knowledge’ alone will never make a movie. Hands-on Workshops must focus on the artistic process of creating a movie in one’s mind and using our technical skills to make the artistic dream come true. Nothing new there for experienced amateurs, but matching creating a movie to one’s technical skills is new to members.”

Terry