onsdag den 24. november 2010

A NEW PERSPECTIVE


Still taken from “Field of Dreams” – Kevin Costner & Dwier Brown


Or how a change in your life affects your movie watching

(Warning – this blog post contains spoilers for Field of Dreams including the very end of the film!)

I first saw Field of Dreams, written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, in the cinema when it opened in 1989. It was a film that I liked a lot – the first hour absolutely flies by in a very hypnotic way. I bought the film when it came out on video and must have watched it a few times in the following years.

Cut to 2010 and my wife finds a DVD of the film in a bargain bucket and buys it – she’s never seen it and knows that I like the film. A few days later we settle down on the sofa, pop the film in the player and start watching. The first hour or so moves along in its usual hypnotic fashion and it is actually better than I remembered. Then the strangest thing happened,...

- I began to cry – a lot.

About 20 minutes from the end, tears formed in my eyes and my stomach tightened. Then, for the last ten minutes it is very hard to focus – I’ve reached the point when there’s no chance of hiding or controlling the emotions I’m feeling.

Now, I remember it being a moving ending, but it had never hit me this hard before. Until I remembered what the approaching final scene was – Ray (Kevin Costner) finally got to meet and play catch with his estranged father who had actually died a number of years before. To play catch with each other was the remedy for the emotional pain the men had been through.

In 2002, my own father died, and the reason the film hit me so hard is because this was the first time I had seen it since that major event in my life.

The simple act of a game of catch helped remind me of the good times we had, but also awoke certain longings in me, making me yearn for the opportunity to kick a football with him again.

Our daily lives and the people around us affect the way we watch movies, but they will also have a deep effect on how we make them.

An actor has to delve deep into a character to be able to mine and use all the emotion in order to help their performance.

As a writer, you need to delve deeply into ALL of your characters to mould them and shape them in a way that helps you say what you want to say. I’d suggest that this is practically impossible to do without utilizing your surroundings and the things that affect you in your day-to-day existence.

It is important to look at both the little things and the life-changing moments in life and how they offer a new perspective on your work. Try and recall the moments from your past that have provoked the strongest or most unusual emotional response. An ability to access these emotions is strong tool to have in your toolbox.

How does your daily life influence your work? Or has there been a major event in your past that has helped you take your writing in an unusual direction? Let us know.

There’s a little piece of you in all your characters after all, right?

Happy writing.

søndag den 14. november 2010

TILLYKKE TIL DANSK FILM...


Så kom filmforliget på plads..!
De politiske partier var alle helt enige om, hvad der skulle gøres - og set med vores briller - er det et fantastisk forlig, de har skabt...
Mange af de tanker og overvejelser vi skrev om i vores white paper, er indeholdt i forligsteksten. Ikke fordi det er vores formuleringer - men grundtankerne er der.
Så vi kan kun sige: 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED'...

Men ikke alt er fryd og gammen endnu!
For hvis Filminstituttet virkelig ønsker, at der også skal satses på de mindre selskaber og på noget af det nye, så kræver det, at Filminstituttet skal administere sig frem til det. Det sker ikke uden af DFI skal gå forrest...

Men det vil være en underdrivelse at sige, at vi er glade for det her forlig - vi er MEGA GLADE for det..!
Siden vi for to år siden besluttede, at vi ville ændre strategi og blive en stemme i filmbranchen, har et af vores langsigtede mål været at påvirke det her filmforlig på en sådan måde, at der ville komme støtteordninger vi i Zeitgeist Film kunne bruge..
Men vi har samlet alle vores kommentarer i forhold til forliget i endnu et paper - som du kan downloade her:-)

http://www.zeitgeistfilm.dk/kommentare-til-det-nye-film-forlig