Professional tools - Amateur Ideas
I was listening to an episode of "The Business" awhile back about how in Hollywood they were getting rid of all these older, experienced writers and hiring younger people in they place simply because they were younger... Now with the timelines they described this seemed to run in parallel with the shift from fictional narrative shows (actual stories) to the wasteland of "reality" based crap that clogs the channels today... they have no stories to tell so they try to emulate "reality" or rehash things that have already been done over and over... they'll take something an older writer did and just make the characters "hotter" or more current or some bullshit...
My thought is DIS... Strong stories are tied to emotions... emotions are tied to experience... experience can only be EXPERIENCED not simply read about on wikipedia with shiny facsimile output as the result... To be a storyteller is to be experienced... If you haven't experienced anything what stories do you have to tell? SECOND HAND stories yes BUT those will lack emotion so they will lack deep impact... they can still be clever or snarky or whatever but they will NOT make any lasting deep connections with people...
Example A - professional tools AMATEUR IDEAS
This apparently is a "proof of concept" for a feature film...now I'm going to assume the only concept they are trying to prove is that the creators saw "Ghost in the Shell" and a bunch of other anime's and are familiar with many tired visual cliches and are able to operate 3d software at a high level and employ a myriad of cliche's.... too???... Where is the emotion? Where is the experience? Did one of the geeks who worked on this like backflip assault some compound dressed like Cyborg Ninja from MGS because like they kidnapped his girlfriend or something? Prolly not 0_o ITS ALL FLUFF there is NOTHING AUTHENTIC but fanboiSM... so do you want to see 150 geeks masturbate in a circle while humming like light sabre's? I sure don't maNE! BUT BUT LOOK AT THE PARTICLES FX OMG
So is this why you can take someone or a group of people with no real meatY experiences to mine for drama and have them make a "film" with they shiny cutting edge tools and have it lack any lasting impact? Me thinks So... What did that short leave you with? Ummm things exploded...that Cyborg Ninja guy is "bad ass" because he did "bad ass" things and we all know being "bad ass" for the sake of being "bad ass" is like the most "bad ass" thing you could do!!
Is this why you can sit at a table with an old storyteller and have his/her words drawn from they real life experiences be 100x more captivating than any second hand flickering light and color show? Me thinks so...Know any old guys who went to war or traveled the world? Many of them KNOW how to tell stories and they probably have some GREAT ONES
Example B- Who cares about the tools GENIUS PROFESSIONAL IDEAS
I could probably use any animation by David Firth as an example of the IDEA RULING over ALL... I constantly go back and watch his animations... and the ideas in them stay with me... I'm sure if he did full 3d animation he wouldn't suddenly lose his magic cause he now had GI and dynamics systems ^ ^ He's an amazing storyteller first and FOREMOST...give him ANY tool and he will make it win as a great storyteller should.... we shouldn't have to rely on our tools or techniques to attempt to make our work noteworthy...
The tech stuff is always get easier so I say focus on the IDEA, THE EMOTION... because until you do there will be NO LIFE in your work... it can be clever yes... it can strike an instant major chord like a fancy TV commercial... but it is only topical... will talking about the weather really connect with anyone? Or will talking about they abusive childhood?
I take film and animation very seriously... to me its NOT just some random shit that flashes past my eyes while I sit in a chair and stuff my face... I don't want an "escape"... I want it to engage me and challenge me and make me think about my life and my place in the world... AND if it gives me a new perspective on that or some new insights that is WIN... I want it to go BEYOND logic and cause and effect... I want it to shake me at my core emotionally not because of blood and gore etc...
Film/media/propaganda shapes and reshapes the masses perception of the world, which in turn changes the world... So why would anyone take it so lightly? If film is food for thought...what have people been feeding themselves? Reprocessed double regurgitated puree of cliche? LACKING any real emotion or passion... that won't make for healthy people me thinks... Look around you at the results...
Back to my original point... I think its GREAT that regular people like myself have access to these professional tools and can create technically "professional" work... BUT I think WE need to make up for the slack the mainstream has created... So now you have these "professional" tools BUT still you choose to make the same empty shallow crap the majors make? Why? Because your scared? Because you have no real experience to mine for emotion to put in your films? Because you spend too much time studying the films of MicheL Gondry when you should be out hollering at what your soul screams at for you to grab from life?
If you have professional tools... now is the time to step it up and bring your ideas up to the same level.... because technical competence alone isn't going to build you an audience on non-engineers anytime soon...
Because when I look around into the world of 3d animation I see a lot of professional tools and craftsman hammering away at weak amateur ideas.. AND there's SO MANY POSSIBILITIES and SO MUCH POWER with the medium of 3d animation!
So before you start on your "3d short film" or whatever...ask yourself Why am I making this?" Because I have some message to the world I have never heard before that I'm trying to express? OR Because I have all those cool tools that I know how to use and I want to make something with them?
Now from an audience's perspective which film would you be interested in seeing?
If you ask me... filmmakers need to ask themselves a lot more "WHY?" questionSBrought to you by professional weirdo M dot Strange.