Filmmaking is Easy If You've Got Ten Arms

The other day, some one told me that filmmaking is easy. Yeah, right. If you've got ten arms and absolute no need for sleep, it's easy-peasy.

I'm a visual thinker, always have been. I remember names, ideas and concepts in relation to an image which I saw or mentally constructed at the time of introduction. And I love mixing images with narrative concepts or poetry. Thus, directing comes more naturally to me than, say, chemistry or medicine.

As the beginning filmmaker, armed with only a student budget and a determined vision, one of the first lessons you learn when embarking on your big project is that you can't do it all alone. There's too many things that could go wrong, money that could be unwisely spent, mistakes that lurk in mental darkness, waiting to happen when you least expect it.

Filmmaking -- well crafted and beautifully told -- is, as far as I'm concerned, NOT easy.
If you're trying to accomplish any form of real storytelling with a sturdy moral premise and visually aesthetic promise, you quickly find that the true filmmaker is also a master delegate and manager and has truckloads of faith and trust.

Case in point: I've been in preproduction for my thesis film for several months, now. I wrote the twenty-page screenplay within a matter of weeks and, certain that it was perfect, quickly proceeded to cast the roles, find the locations, organize the crew and reserve the equipment. And then I submitted it to my mentor for approval.

"It has flaws," he said, "it's too wordy at times and, though it has a solid moral premise, doesn't clearly reveal the protagonist."

Back to the drawing board.

(To be continued next week...)