Costumes, credits and guts !
Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:46 pm
This website is fantastic, but I always look forward to receiving the next issue of FVM too. Last Friday I received the issue of May and June. Ned Cordery and Lee Preston wrote articles about "Amateurs" and "Professionals". I agree with you, Ned and Lee. Young people don't like the word "amateurism" anymore. In every article Ned uses the word "non-commercial" and indeed this sounds much better. Time to use the word "amateur" only when it is really necessary. I will do my utmost. What you have written is right, Ned. On your website I always see pictures of old and young people.
Costumes may make eyebrows frown
At this moment I am collecting Belgian fillms for the Guernsey Lily Film Festival. One of the movies is about witch hunting in the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th century. This film is based on historical facts. It also means that the actors are wearing 16th and 17th century costumes. I wonder what the judges will think about it. I hesitated to encourage the filmmaker to take part in the Lily. I don't know him personally, but every year he takes part in our regional (provincial) and national competitions and he is a member of a club like yours and mine. I know from other friends that he is a real non-commercial filmmaker. Sometimes judges are a bit suspicious when seeing all those costumes. "The maker must have spent much money on hiring these clothes", they think. It was also like that when I had made my film "Breendonk" about a concentration camp in the Second World War and the documentary one about Charles Dickens.
Guts
Each time I found the costumes that I needed thanks to talking to people or thanks to writing several internet messages. ,"It's dogged that does it, slow and steady wins the race". That's a very useful slogan. Thanks to having guts you can obtain what you want without paying. That's an extra challenge when making a film. That's producing ! I know that the maker of the film about witches in the 17th century is a member of a drama club that has many historical costumes.
The names of Tom, Dick and Harry in the credits of my films
In one of the recent messages on this forum I also read that one friend is a bit suspicious each time when he sees long credits at the end of a movie. The length of the credits does not mean that the filmmaker has worked on a commercial bases. Not at all ! My credits also look somewhat "impressive" even when my film is rather poor. However, I always add the names of all the people who have helped me. My wife helped me by carrying some special lenses. Not a very hard job, but she deserved to have her name in the credits. (She always deserves it because she must be patient with a filmmaker like me ! Also your partner must be very patient! Do not forget this !). A friend lent me a 19th century inkpot. I added his name to the credits of my film. I contacted the Vaughan Williams Society to have a beautiful photo of the composer for my movie... The name of the organisation is in my credits. For my film about the Cotswolds I asked some information to a tourist information centre in Cirencester. Its name is in the credits. There is one big disadvantage : people may think that my movie was sponsored by the British Tourist Board.
In other words ... costumes and credits are not criteria to evaluate movies with different eyes. On the contrary even !
Costumes may make eyebrows frown
At this moment I am collecting Belgian fillms for the Guernsey Lily Film Festival. One of the movies is about witch hunting in the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th century. This film is based on historical facts. It also means that the actors are wearing 16th and 17th century costumes. I wonder what the judges will think about it. I hesitated to encourage the filmmaker to take part in the Lily. I don't know him personally, but every year he takes part in our regional (provincial) and national competitions and he is a member of a club like yours and mine. I know from other friends that he is a real non-commercial filmmaker. Sometimes judges are a bit suspicious when seeing all those costumes. "The maker must have spent much money on hiring these clothes", they think. It was also like that when I had made my film "Breendonk" about a concentration camp in the Second World War and the documentary one about Charles Dickens.
Guts
Each time I found the costumes that I needed thanks to talking to people or thanks to writing several internet messages. ,"It's dogged that does it, slow and steady wins the race". That's a very useful slogan. Thanks to having guts you can obtain what you want without paying. That's an extra challenge when making a film. That's producing ! I know that the maker of the film about witches in the 17th century is a member of a drama club that has many historical costumes.
The names of Tom, Dick and Harry in the credits of my films
In one of the recent messages on this forum I also read that one friend is a bit suspicious each time when he sees long credits at the end of a movie. The length of the credits does not mean that the filmmaker has worked on a commercial bases. Not at all ! My credits also look somewhat "impressive" even when my film is rather poor. However, I always add the names of all the people who have helped me. My wife helped me by carrying some special lenses. Not a very hard job, but she deserved to have her name in the credits. (She always deserves it because she must be patient with a filmmaker like me ! Also your partner must be very patient! Do not forget this !). A friend lent me a 19th century inkpot. I added his name to the credits of my film. I contacted the Vaughan Williams Society to have a beautiful photo of the composer for my movie... The name of the organisation is in my credits. For my film about the Cotswolds I asked some information to a tourist information centre in Cirencester. Its name is in the credits. There is one big disadvantage : people may think that my movie was sponsored by the British Tourist Board.
In other words ... costumes and credits are not criteria to evaluate movies with different eyes. On the contrary even !