Blog #3: A Lonely Wolf, Robotic Arm and Home Made Bible.

THE TOURIST

So Michael wrote this treatment, sort of sequence-list and it kinda sucked.

Not because of Michaels abilities as a writer, but because it was based on what we came up with on a previous meeting. The problem was that the meeting was over a month old. And during that time new ideas for scenes and structure had entered my head. So it kept building and building in my head.

But Michael had focused on the results from that meeting and had written the treatment out of that.

I took 3 days off from Koncern Film & Tv, (where I work as an post-production assistant, basically a logger/loader) and joined my friend and actor Lucas Alexander on the Oslo ferry, to work on the structure, in a paradigm-form, filling in the ideas that had swirled around over a month. 

The plan was to have it done when I returned home. And I was hoping that the hardcore deadline and obligatory pressure would at least produce one sentence of genius.

Not sure about the genius, but after those 3 days, the structure was working. And since I had to write alongside to figure out if the paradigm-notes, such as "The Airplane Plan", would hold water, I already had kind of a treatment. High 5!

The paradigm-notes.

What I really learned about this process is that nearly every crappy word you write, serves as a sign of where not to go. You have to confront the fear of filling up a page of pure shit, in order to end up with something truly great. (And this fear is what can seriously make you do nothing throughout the course of a day!).

And so the first treatment was a phenomenal and priceless help!

Another great thing that has happened since the last post is that we have found some incredibly beautiful shooting locations in Poland. One of my DP´s, Jonathan Puntervold, insisted on shooting in Poland, for the middle-part of the movie. I responded with a "Under no circumstances are we going to shoot there. It´s all square, boring buildings and the nature, if there is any, must be of the color grey, from the lack of sunshine".

Of course, when no one was around, I googled Poland...and the most beautiful pictures of mountains and landscapes was presented before my eyes. I had no idea Poland had these scenarios! The scenario is jam-packed group of mountains, called The Tatra Mountains.

Some photos struck me to be perfect and I found out they were all taken by the same photographer: Maciej Duczynski, AKA Lonely Wolf.

I wrote him a mail, attached 3 photos of locations I knew we just had to use and asked if he would be so kind to give me information of their whereabouts.

Luckily, he WAS so kind.

Actually, I couldn´t have asked for more, because he told me precisely where he had taken the photos and how to get there.

Additionally, he gave me info on nearby hotels and offered to help us when time came to shoot.

People helping strangers out is the greatest thing in the world!

But it´s not all positive news though.

Sometime this year a film with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie will come out in theaters near you and god damn me if it isn´t called The Tourist!

That leaves two options: 

1) We keep our title and hope the blockbuster will suck big time. Then it will be OK because people will say "They´re called the same, but this one is much better". This One being our film.

If the blockbuster turns out to be a smash hit, our title will stand in its shadow.

2) We find a new name. We can still call it The Tourist as a working title, but at some point we will have to find a new name. Maybe it will show itself during the next year.

All this title-nonsense might sound like nonsense but if you had made something and it took over a year to make, you want to make sure it will stand out somehow. And everybody, including me, will judge a movie on its title alone.

You just have to keep these things in mind. What will sell, what will not.

We have the lead, as I wrote about in the previous blog. The casting is further down the line, but I´m already asking myself: Who should be playing the father? It can´t just be anybody. It´s a small role, but it´s in the climax of the movie and that character has such an impact on the main character. He has to be bigger than life almost.

And I want a name that you know. It´s such a pivotal role and it would be nice if that actor could help bring the movie to life, in just being in it! I have two names in mind but I won´t drop the curtain just yet. I will wait till he have actually agreed to join.

For the role of the pilot and the caretaker I also have two very specific actors in mind. "The caretaker" is a woman I have worked with before and I know will do a great job. "The pilot" is a guy I have never worked with but ever since I met him, I´ve been trying to find some role to give him. And I think this one will suit him just fine. He tends to get kinda the same roles. He has such a persona and a tremendous face! A real movie face.

Next on "The Tourist (For Now)":

- The treatment will be done today and I will send it out to my trusted critics. Their comments will definitely be helpful in writing the script. Things just need to be speeded up.

- Deadline for funding at the FilmWorkshop is coming up and I need to do some storyboards for some rather difficult sequences, so they (the money-men) can see how I see the movie. Also, I will write out some production notes, basically explaining how I imagine we shoot these things and hopefully show them it won´t be so difficult as they may think.

CINEMA COMERCIAL

We went to Cph. Film & Photoschool, were I walked around and made Little Man in 2009, and borrowed their cinema for the storyboard-shooting on a wednesday afternoon.

The idea was: Instead of me drawing some weird, cryptical drawings, I brought in the actress, Ida Kenskov, who is going to play the character and had her act out the entire commercial, while my DP, David, would photograph the whole thing. It served as a rehearsal almost and thus make the shooting itself easier.

It took about an hour and we ended up with almost 300 photos. I have made a rough selection and now I need to figure out how you make a professional looking board of storyboards to show to the money-men.

Behind the scenes: Actress Ida Kenskov in a rehearsal of the "Robot Arm"-part of the commercial. The prop in my head was a stand-in for the robotic arm. We didn´t have a lighting package, but the window in the back was excellent for backlighting, creating a nice edge on Ida´s head. You gotta run with what you have.

AUCTION COMMERCIAL

An international auction website liked the commercial we made for the Metro trains and asked us to come up with some ideas for their new website.

I made up 3 different sketches of ideas, in a quick and hasty fashion and we didn´t really think we would get the job, honestly.

We did! Or: They liked idea number one and wanted us to make a budget for the commercial.

The set-up is actually quite big but we ended up with a pretty low number (in the world of commercials anyway).

This one will be fun to make and the number of crew and extras is bigger than what I´ve tried before. It scares the shit out of me and I can´t wait! 
To have these kind of jobs is excellent because it´s a great way to keep you warm before you´re try to climb your Mount Everest.

I had a brief meeting with my DP, David, about it and we agreed on the style and lighting.

I will write more about all of this in the next blog, because as I´m write we are awaiting response from the auction-people, so we don´t actually know if we will be shooting this at all.

HOME FILM STUDY

I´m not planning on attending anymore film schools. (Maybe a few courses, but not schools!) Even though we have The National Film School of Denmark and even though they actually PAY you during those 4 years, I honestly don´t believe attending any film school necessarily will make you a better filmmaker. 

Necessarily!

Because will a person spending 4 years in a film school be better equipped to make films than someone working his way up in the business and working on getting better at his respective area during week-ends?

No.

I´m not saying film schools are bad and won´t take you anywhere. But the ones I´ve attended, you didn´t learn about the business! The business is way more than half of the filmmaking experience! Why don´t they teach in budget, contracts, advertising, how to handle a camera rental facility, etc?

And even though we did make movies, it was still a SCHOOL! School rules and etiquettes! Not film making rules and etiquettes.

There are SO many rules, etiquettes and ways to handle certain things on a film set, that they don´t teach in film schools. Certainly not the ones I´ve attended.

They should be teaching about all this stuff and maybe cut out a few of those "Where and where not to put the camera"-lectures.

You Will Figure This Stuff Out For Yourself, If You Just Make Movies!

Plus: The notion of school is just playing it safe. Get out there and learn it by yourself.
(Of course I´m talking about the film business vs. schools here and not schools in general. If you want to be a nurse and you can only be a nurse by attending a certain school, then that´s what you need to do. But films and movies are about life, persons, feelings and stories. You can´t really learn about those things in a class room.)


And as I read and watch people talk about film school, the more I learn that The Business won´t hire a guy out of film school because he went to that school. They will look at his productions and if it looks good and didn´t go over budget, then they will hire him.
That is after they have gone through their own list of people, because you would want someone you know and like to play in your sandbox.
If they weren´t available, then they will ask someone "Do you know someone?". That´s much easier than going through that humongous pile of showreels and applications from strangers.
So it´s really about who you know and if you get along with the people you work with.
And hard work, of course. A lot of hard work.
But the note "Film School" on your resume might not necessarily do anything for you. Not in the long run.


...it should be noted that all of this is written by a guy who doesn´t 100 % know what he is talking about. There are of course great, great things about film schools and a part of me really wants to attend NYFA or something similar, if I had the massive amount of money required. (Especially NYFA, because they do it in a hands-on way without boring film classes on Potemkin.)

Anyway...since I´ve decided not to waste time in a class room, I´m doing my own sort-of film school. In the past 5 years I´ve bought a lot of books on directing, screenwriting and interviews with people I admire. But, as books tends to do, they just spend time collecting dust on a shelf and you rarely sit down and read it, even though you thought it look interesting in the book store and couldn´t see how you could evolve without this book in your collection.

So I bought a Moleskin notebook (the only cool notebook there is!) and wrote HOME FILM STUDY on the cover.

This is now my self-made bible.

At the moment I´m reading Gil Betmanns "FIRST TIME DIRECTOR", for the second time. (It´s a pretty cheesy title, but in this case "first time" means with a million dollar budget and not the first time you pick up a camcorder). And as I´m going through it, I´m writing down as many notes as I can. The more the better.

Luckily, he have made notes at the end of each chapter and I just add more as I go through that chapter.

And this will be the process on the many books to come.

Also, I´m a big fan of things like Inside The Actors Studio and commentary tracks. You can learn a lot about film making that way. Plus you have the actors and directors right there in your room, your own personal lecture. If you were there in real life, I bet you would write down anything they say. Why not write it down, while watching it on youtube?

And for me, it´s a tremendous help to write it down. Listening and reading is only the first part, and might not make you learn it. Writing it down, while thinking about the words, makes it stay in your head. That´s the second part. 
The third part is going out there and use what you´ve written down.

There are so many things to talk about here and I will do a blog dedicated to the great film making books that is out there, at some point. Because you can very easily get lost.






That was that.
For now.


All the best,
Jonas Thorbjoern


P.S. Please leave a comment, if you like!