The process from a film’s conception to it’s premiere is rifled with conflicts. Just like any creative process, one might say. The most obvious obstacle for aspiring filmmakers is often said to be that foreboding question of finance. This means much more than ensuring appropriate equipment and technical support. It also means being prepared for every unexpected or unfortunate possibility preventing the realization of one’s film; including uncooperative weather, actor/actress unavailability, or other time restraints. Conception often must meet fact. These obstacles, though, can also be a remarkable platform for further creative inspiration. After all, Eisenstein didn’t predict the glorious fog his beaconed ships rose from. Losing a set of car keys or a smudge on your windshield is not always in itself a problem that produces a moving and unique insight. But these minor tribulations can produce sparks. Try finding out your lead actor who’s supposed to play a charming drunk has wound up in de-tox the morning before a scheduled shooting. Such unexpected conflicts are the nature of the reality we share.
In any great narrative film, we are guided by a conflict whose resolution suggests a particular insight. What prevents a character often defines who he is, and the audience is unified by the anticipation of each conflicts’ unique resolution. In the production of most student films, scripts will often be drastically compromised to meet financial strains. The real conflict often lies within the reconciliation of the practical with the creative. The less that separates a student film from its audience, the more the filmmaker can learn from it. The theoretical context of audience in many film studies courses really must expand beyond the critique of other film students. As a medium, film is always a presented reality in some sense. The support of local film committees and theatres is any future filmmaker’s real safety net. Finances seem to be a more distant annoyance when one considers the reality of an audience that will react intimately. Who else can appreciate film but the community that works, not only to preserve it, but also encourage it as a public and shared art form? Smaller scale productions are a necessary communion, and invaluable to the artist who need a more sharply defined sense of cause and effect in the dramatic arts. A common conflict in all endeavors, creative or otherwise, is achieving an awareness of where one’s hat rests, so to speak. A film is realized when the broad spectrum of its obstacles are accounted for. One supports what one may benefit from on a number of different levels. Small things are not only considered, but can also make up the determining force for many struggling filmmakers.
For example; I’ll most likely be taking your order today.
