The Bumdog School of Film: “The Art of Making a No Budget Movie”
(NOTE: this was written as for a film class I was invited to teach in Bangkok in 2012, which unfortunately fell through. I eventually create video tutorials and posted them online my intentions for the class, they are at the end of this post.)
Starting in the Fall (10/10/12)
LEARN ALL EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE A FILM IN ONE DAY!!FOR FREE!!!
A one month Filmmaker’s intensive course on how to make a film using only the barest essentials. First night FREE!
Do you have a video camera? Do you have a computer with some basic editing software on it? Then you have all it takes to make a movie. More importantly you have all the tools in your hands to create. In fact it might be quite literally in your hands, as many cell phones today are now capable of shooting and editing video footage right in your phone!
It is pretty much acknowledged by anyone in the movie business that “film schools” are at best pointless, at worst very cruel and very expensive jokes. If this is news to you, then that’s an indication that you have yet to have a discussion with a “film grad” a couple of years out of school themselves on what their biggest regret is.
“The best filmmakers are not necessarily the ones we’ve come to know. Because of the financial requirements of the 35mm camera, there were allot of people who could not afford to use it. Now with digital cameras its possible for anyone to pick one up like a pen. If you have the vision, and you feel you are an instinctive filmmaker, there is no hinderance anymore.” — award winning Persian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami.
Indeed there is no longer a hinderance for anyone to tell a story with visuals anymore, instinctive filmmaker or not. It has been reported in the New York Times that there has been a surge in students enrolling in college Film Classes. The interesting thing about this surge is that many of the students have no intentions of a pursuing a career in the movie industry. Many are from such divergent fields as business, journalism and political science. These students want to learn film fundamentals, not to help them become filmmakers, but to help them communicate in the visual language of video within in their future professions.
Social scientists have noted the rise in the understanding and use of video: School children are asked to do their homework in video, street gangs threaten each other through video messages, and even cave dwelling terrorists have the basic understanding of cutting and slicing the medium to communicate with the outside world.
It is predicted that within ten years if don’t know how to shoot and edit video, it will be on par as if you did not understand how to use word processing.
And just like word processing, it doesn’t take four years and $100,000 to learn the esthetics of how to make a film. That can be taught in a few hours….and we will teach you…for free. No prior experience in film making is needed. We invite professional and novice alike. This class is for:
- Those with the desire for a career in movies, music videos or commercials.
- Anyone with a personal vision of creating a film.
- Interested in learning an new art form to create in.
- Looking for the skills in shooting and editing video to create a professional Power Point business video presentations.
- Want to learn to make better home videos with your children.
As far as our ability to teach these skills, there are two opposite opinions when it comes to any form of teaching:
“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”
Or
“When you know a concept completely, you can explain it with the simplicity a child can understand.” — Albert Einstein
We welcome you to come to ALL SOUL’s opening day film class “Art of Making a No-Budget Film”, and decide which one applies to us. Because in this one day it is our intention to teach all the film esthetics you need to know to make a film….FREE. It’s our small giving back to the Artistic culture of Thailand, that has given us so much.
Yes, come to the first day 2 1/2 hour class and pay nothing but your attention, and learn every aspect of how to creatively make a film. If you don’t feel you know enough about film in the first place to judge the merits of the class, then we encourage you to bring along one of your filmmaking friends, or even better any film grads you may know to inform you on the worth of the class.
And should you decide it’s worthy, the class continues over the course of a month, at the end of which you will have learned what it takes to shoot, edit, write, act, direct and produce a film, and will also produce a short film to your credit.
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Actors as Filmmakers
This is not a class for learning to act in films, it is to teach actors how to create their own films. There is a difference between actors who star in films, and actors who make films.
The latter are not just pure auteurs like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Orson Welles, Vittorio Di Sica, Jerry Lewis and John Cassevettes who insisted on full creative control of the writing and directing their own work. But also actors such as Dustin Hoffman, Amir Khan, Warren Beaty and George Clooney, who while not always in total control, demand a certain standard of quality from the productions they agree to act in.
This is a class for actors who want to make films. Who are intent on, not only being conscious of the quality of productions they act in, but conscious of the purpose of their acting as a whole.
NOTE: if you are an actor and you don’t understand the above statement, then this is not the class for you.
Cinematographers and Filmmaking
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.-Goethe
A Director of Photography (DoP) is one of the three or four creative nuclei of any filmmaking project, along with the director and writer. They are essential to the co-creation process of film, and it is one of the great crimes of filmmaking when cinematographers contributions are made irrelevant in comparison to the writing or direction of the film.
It is no coincidence, but in truth a maxim, that many of the greatest cinematographers began their careers with some of the greatest directors. Gordon Willis began his DPing for a string of the best directors of the generation: Hal Ashby, Irvin Kershner, Francis Ford Coppola, Alan Pakula, and Woody Allen. Haskell Waxler also can trace his early development to originally working with such high end directors as Irvin Kershner, Elia Kazan, Mike Nicholas, Norman Jewison, Hal Ashby and Milos Foreman. Working with directors who allowed them the freedom to create at the beginning of their careers, gave them a bold confidence that they refuse to give up for the rest of their careers. The man often cited as the greatest Cinematographer in film Greg Toland, started his career working with King Vidor, William Wyler, Erich Von Strohiem, and John Ford. After he shot “Citizen Kane” with Orson Welles, he stipulated in his future contracts that he would have at least a month to prepare before he shot a movie. It was the same stipulation he found out Welles had in his contract.
Unfortunately cinematographers as co-creators, is not always an acknowledged fact. And when it isn’t, a DoP’s ideas and visions can be so systematically crushed time and time again, project after project, that they become creatively shellshocked. To the point that when they actually work with a director that wants them to contribute their ideas, its like opening a cage to a tiger that has been imprisoned for too long, and although the door has been opened, the tiger doesn’t leave his cage.
We want to establish a sense of entitled boldness and confidence in new cinematographers, and if possible re-establish it for more experienced ones.
Filmmaking for writers
QUENTIN TARANTINO: -because I am actually committing to telling a story.
CHARLIE ROSE: Because you’re a writer?
QUENTIN TARANTINO: More as a VIEWER.
The difference between writers of screenplays and writer/filmmakers, is the former write scripts, the later plan out films. For the first, once they write a script, that is the end of their contribution. From there it is first adjusted by the producers. Then the director. It is then accommodated according to the budget, to the availability, acting skills and preferences of the actors, to the locations, and time of the season of the locations. Finally to the scheduling of the locations, the budget, the actors, and the director etc. And then it goes into the editing room where the whole process is repeated.
There are screenwriters who complain that only about 20% of what they write ever makes it onto the screen. But that’s because they only write the original script. And if that original script is out of touch with the esthetics, resources and abilities of all others involved in making the project, then very little of it will survive.
Whereas the writer/filmmaker writes and plans out not just the whole movie, but the whole process of the movie. He/she writes for the producer (or finds one that agrees with their esthetic). They write FOR the money they know they have in the budget. They write FOR the locations they have. And they write FOR the preferences and acting level of the actors they knows will be available. And because they are there during every stage of the production, they are able to improvise on the spot for any and all changes to the above.
If you want to learn to create your vision on paper, there are plenty of books to read for that. But if you want to learn to create your vision on the screen, we can teach you…up to a point. Because truthfully, film making can only be learned by experience. And we can provide a environment for that experience.
Dance Choreographers as Filmmakers
We welcome dance choreographers who want to explore the cinematic possibilities of their stage work. It has always been a challenge to capture the kinetic energy of live dancing cinematically. And while this challenge has failed more times then it has succeeded, the successes stand as many of the most work groundbreaking works in American Movies.
Since the beginning of the sound era of film in the early 30’s, many of the pioneers of cinema have been directors of musicals: Busby Berkley, Gene Kelly, Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse just to name the top tier.
Putting together a stage dance and musical performance, is probable the closest, in terms of the collaborative dynamics, to making a movie: the logistics, the scale, musical vision, set design, not to mention juggling multiple prima-donna personalities at the same time. This class will teach Dance Choreographers to build on the the fundamentals they understand from dance theatre into the skills for transforming their stage visions into Cinema.
Martial Arts Choreographers as Filmmakers
Thailand is blessed with many of the best martial art stuntmen in south east Asia.
The career of a martial arts stuntman is often uniquely thankless. It’s one thing for an actor to give a great performance only to see it cut out of the finish film, but to be a stunt man you can risk your life and limbs for a few seconds on film that someone sitting in an Air Conditioned room all day decides to cut out with the click of a mouse.
More so then writers and actors, the frustration of not seeing their full work make it to the screen is compounded by the fact they risked (and sometimes sacrificed) their physical health for it. This is probable the strongest driving force martial artists have to create their own work. However choreographing a fight scene and the ability to make an entire movie, is a gulf even the most talented martial arts Choreographers are rarely capable of bridging.
But just as a someone who truly knows martial arts can teach anyone how to fight regardless of their body type, initial skill level or even handicap, we can teach any stunt man, or martial art choreographer how to make a movie. Sound like a scam? Let’s put it this way: if this class were a con to scam people, where we take your money without teaching you anything, we would stick to inviting only the actors. We sure as hell wouldn’t want to be on the grudge list of a group of angry ripped off Thai stuntmen and martial artists…yeah?
Wardrobe and Set designers in filmmaking
Two of the overlooked disciplines in films. And yet one of the true “Masters of Cinema” was a costume designer Edith Head.
A Wardrobe and set designers contribution to the overall look and feel of a film is often frustratingly incidental. It is our goal to provide an costume and set designers an environment of autonomous, and equally valued creative input. We invite set and wardrobe designers to the opportunity of having an equally respected creative contribution to the overall production. And to network with emerging filmmakers who will be taught the value of collaboration with all creative individuals in the process of making a movie.
Filmmaking for Producers
Producers mainly function as the “business side” of the entertainment field. In fact most start out in business profession, and parlay their success as an entry card into the movie industry. As a businessmen in the business world, their dynamic is to find, recognized, and maximize potential assets. In the entertainment business those assets are the talents of individuals. Hence the most successful producers: United Artists, Arthur Freed, Walt Disney (the man, not the corporation), Roger Corman and the early Weinstein Brothers, are the ones who are able to find, recognize, and maximize the talent of individuals.
They must have the ability to bring talent along, and at the same time get out of it’s way. Give them all the freedom they want, as well as all the discipline they need. Now this is a creative talent in of itself. More often then not it is an intuitive one, that you either have or you don’t have. However for those eager to invest in and produce films themselves, we can teach you the basic skills to recognize talent, and the principles it takes to direct those talented individuals to maximize their own potentials. To their benefit and yours.
Documentary Filming
Making a movie documentary is an art form in itself. Unfortunately many confuse documentaries with five minute nightly news pieces. Making a documentary film has it’s own creative esthetics, and yet at the same time the greatest documentaries incorporate all the elements of movie feature principles.
For those interested in making documentaries we will teach you the basics necessary to recognize all the elements that make a great documentary, as well as the camera and editing techniques you will need create a compelling story out of the material you acquire.
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ALL SOUL FILM MANIFESTO
Pro-Creating Co-Creation
It is our commitment at ALL SOUL to PRO-Create an environment of CO-Creation. Our group esthetic is based on the discipline of Grotowski’s Poor Theatre, combined with the principles of the Powell and Pressburger’s “The Archers” film collective, the nurturing talent philosophy of SECOND CITY improve group, and the creative benefits of No-Budget filming:
- We believe every human being born has the urge to procreate/PRO- Create. It is irrelevant whether we call ourselves creative types or not. It is something that is innate in all us, artists and brick layers alike, it is a constant. Whether we are creating art that is mundane or adventurous, or creating a life for ourselves that is mundane or adventurous. It never stops. We cannot stop it, we can only be conscious of it, and with commitment and focus we can channel it into something that can inspire and connect us with other human beings.
- Our goal is not to teach ‘art for arts sake”, but to teach creativity as a vehicle for personal growth. We do not engage with people as “artists” (actors, DoPs, directors etc.). We deal with people developing themselves as an individuals through this particular creative medium of “moving pictures”.
- The term “experimental” has too many pretensions in the field of arts. We prefer the phrase “make all the mistakes you can”. Or “Instill confidence, by allowing failure.”
- The greatest danger to artistic freedom is the chaos that it can degenerate into because of lack of discipline. “Freedom” to do whatever you like artistically, is measured in direct proportion to the individual’s disciplined mastery of their artistic skills, and themselves. But not over anyone else. Our teaching will not just allow an environment of artistic freedom, but also enforce the personal principles, and artistic discipline needed to take full advantage of that freedom.
- At ALL SOUL we not only encourage co-creation, we DEMAND it from all participants. And in a group setting where the rules will be “don’t block” and “never deny”. As such the self respect and autonomy of all collaborators, from director to prop-man, is sustained at all times, and is established as the foundation, the theme, and purpose of the group dynamic.
Bumdog Torres
ALL SOUL Studios is happy to introduce one of the more interesting characters to arrive in the Thailand Artistic Ex Pat community in recent times. A self-described career homeless bum, with natural latent creative talents, Bumdog Torres grew up in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles Ca. (a neighborhood where the film “Boyz in the Hood” is set). Dropping out of school after the seventh grade, he face what he could see was a fairly bleak future, his options being: working at series of menial dead end jobs for the rest of his life, join a gang and end up dead or in jail, be a bum on the street….he consciously chose the later (hence the nickname he was eventually christened with).
Bumming his way across the United States and then into Europe and north Africa, back into Europe (where he was deported out of Spain, the poorest country in Europe, for being too poor) he gather some of these experience into a self published book called “Sketches of Nothing by a Complete Nobody”.
Creating primarily while living homeless on the streets of Los Angeles, Bumdog not only self- published a book, he put on a one-man play at the Downtown Los Angeles Playhouse called “Masterbation Theatre Presents: and other one act ejaculations on stage”. He also became known as a curator of local Art Exhibits such as “Barflies, Body Parts, Bedlam and Bumdogs: A photographic journey through Downtown LA”, among others.
However his crowning achievement while living in parking lots, alleys, next to railroad tracks and abandoned apartments, was writing, directing, editing, starring and producing a full feature length film “Sketches of Nothing by a Complete Nobody: The Movie”. A 2 1/2 hour epic, it took him three years to make, practically all by himself. During which time he self taught himself all the technical aspects of filming, such as cameras and editing software. He also learned the dynamics of making a feature film from start to finish: Locking down locations, scheduling, constantly finding and losing actors, and cameramen. Dealing with flakey people, as well as dealing with his own flakiness. Also the emotional addictive rushes: the euphoric optimism in the beginning, to the crashes of the depressing stops, and delays. Riding the hopeful highest of highs, and surviving the suicidal inducing lows, over the course of those three years.
Although by his own embarrassing admission that the finished film is “completely unwatchable”, to his surprised it didn’t seem to matter. The very fact that he had actually done what NO ONE thought he could do, the fact that he had accomplished with nothing, while others with ( in comparison) an infinite amount of resources, only talked about it and never did, solidified his reputation as one of the more inspirational figures in the Los Angeles Downtown Art Community. And so began the phrase “If Bumdog can do it, I got no excuses.” https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=402000939085
Leaving Los Angeles and traveling through Northern California, Hawaii and eventually finding himself in Bangkok, Thailand, the first month he was here he made a rather quick (and some would say notorious) impression on the BKK Ex-Pat film community. And by the end of the first month he had written, directed and starred in a short film called “The Bumdog and the Bargirl”. http://vimeo.com/32232080
Maurizio Mistretta Director of ALL SOUL Theatre, himself coming from the Italian Neo-Realist film tradition, felt that Bumdog was uniquely qualified to teach ALL SOUL’s film class. Being self-taught Bumdog is aware of what really needs to be learned, and what is unnecessary information. Having finished an entire film while living on the streets and completing it almost by himself, he knows the barest essentials needed to make a DIY film. What also separates him, is that he has actually has the experience of making a no- budget full feature film, unlike over 95% of the people who have jobs as “film school teachers”.
“I always wanted to create art that inspired people. But as many times as I tried, I always failed. However what I found out is that by making all those attempts I actually did inspired people. There are people who tell me, that because of me they got into making videos, or some other art because they saw me do the things I did with nothing. And that one way or another I inspired them to pursue some goal or hope of their own. So in the end I was never able to create art that inspired people, but I was able to create a life that inspired people. It’s not the way I wanted it, but I’ll take it.”
