Action

Last night was my first night of Motion Picture Directing. I can’t say that anything terribly life changing happened during the class, but I think it is going to be fun. It is a very different atmosphere from my last semester. So far, I’ve only got one of my former crewmembers in this class, Brandon Steed, the 1st AC for Pantomiming. I’m also supposed to have Pantomiming’s casting director, but he was absent the first night (doh!).
The really interesting thing is that our teacher is actually a member of the Directors Guild of America. His professional name is Johnny Dust. I looked him up on the DGA website after class and found out that he directed commercials for Intel, Pepsi and McDonalds. In fact, one of the things he commented on during the class was his ability to get students freelance jobs with commercial agencies. Who knows?
Anyway, he started the night off with a little anecdote for the class. He once saw this documentary in which the director interviewed a serial killer who was on death row. He was a decidedly bad fellow – a rapist, a murderer, a sadist, sick and brutal in every way imaginable. In his lifetime he had done unspeakable things, and here he was, locked away because of the crimes he committed. The filmmaker rolled the camera and asked him point blank: “If you could do it all again, would you do it differently?”
The criminal sat there for a while, thinking to himself. Then, he looked up at the camera, and said: “If I could do it all again, I would like to direct”.
Some people in the class laughed, but a couple took on disgusted expressions. The teacher said that it was a nice illustration to introduce the world of motion picture directing and what kind of a mentality people believe directors as a whole have.
Regarding our curriculum, he said that he would teach us how to improve our skills in handling actors, but that he wasn’t an actor’s director. In fact, he said that the most indispensable tool a director has is cinematography (and he expects us to be proficient in it).
Overall, it will be an interesting class. Brandon and myself are the two youngest students in the class. Everyone else seems to be in their mid to late 20’s. And since we’re fresh out of production, I think most of the class sees us as snotty upstarts. I’m sure I’ll get to know them in time though.

On a different note, I rented the Village today and watched it for the first time since I saw it in the theater. I think I appreciated it a little more, but I’m still not a fan. However, I did pick out one element of the film that I think was the best in comparison all other films released this year. You’ll know what it is when I give my “best of 2004”…

…Whenever that is.