From Charlie Kaufman’s highly recommended 2011 BAFTA lecture: ‘People all over the world spend countless hours of their lives every week being fed entertainment in the form of movies, TV shows, newspapers, YouTube videos and the internet. And it’s ludicrous to believe that this stuff doesn’t alter our brains. It’s also equally ludicrous to believe that – at the very least – this mass distraction and manipulation is not convenient for the people who are in charge. People are starving. They may not know it because they’re being fed mass produced garbage. The packaging is colorful and loud, but it’s produced in the same factories that make Pop Tarts and iPads, by people sitting around thinking, ‘What can we do to get people to buy more of these?’
Month: December 2014
via DangerousMinds.net & MCN
As a moviegoer, I like to keep an open mind, but I also have a crisp understanding of what I like. Because I know this, I know there are other people who share my understanding and also like what I like. How do I know this? I see them leaving a theater as happy as I am about having watched a great film, sharing what they felt, taking that positive experience home with them. Knowing this affords me comfort in the simplest approach as a filmmaker. I write the types of stories that I would want to see and steer clear of pandering to a potential audience.
One of the single greatest things,
A lot has gone on in 2014. Our world continues to change rapidly. It no longer will be what it once was and we have to move on from it. IMHO, few have a handle on where it is all heading. All the more reason why you should want to dig in deep and explore. All the more reason why we need filters and curators to point us in one direction or the other. All the more reason we need someone to approach it as a business, and stop relying on those who feel forced to do it as a hobby.
Here’s my quick survey on the year in film biz that was, as told by the articles that resonated for me (or at least ten of the subjects). Many thanks to my friends who helped pull this together by recommending reads along the way.
This past week or so, you had a chance to read some new excerpts from my book. If they don’t convince you to get “Hope For Film” as a gift for yourself or any film fan you know, what will? Check these out:
Okay, we aim for mastery (yes and autonomy and purpose too) but it’s most exciting to grow. And personally I think it is more exciting to WATCH someone who is learning than someone who is demonstrating what they know. I describe this as loving the experiment over the proof. I get chills when I watch
There is little I hate more in life than online advertising. Dental visits, food poisoning, taxes; I hate ads more. That’s at least what I would have told you a few years ago, and I would have been right. I’d tell you that they were the worst thing to happen to filmed entertainment since online streaming began. You think anyone is going to risk sitting through five commercial breaks on Hulu to watch your random indie movie? Our overstimulated brains have a hard enough time keeping focused and interested as it is.
So what’s a cinephile to do?
