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On Ratios and Reading Material
From Chicago, this is The Dope Sheet... I'm Adam Kempenaar (with
some help from Sam Van Hallgren)
While discussing "Apocalypse Now" as my #1 Ambitious Movie a few
weeks ago, I mentioned Coppola's shooting ratio was something like 97
to 1 -- 97 minutes of footage shot for every 1 minute you see on
screen. I remarked, and I'm paraphrasing, that this was pretty
unbelievable even compared to Hollywood 'hack' directors who don't
have a real vision and shoot closer to 20 to 1; they just shoot as
much footage as possible in the hope that they can make it work in
the editing room. That prompted this email from Brett "Sparta"
Merryman:
My understanding of shooting ratio is that it includes multiple takes. Sometimes actors need to fine tune or even find their performance, or a technically ambitious shot takes multiple takes to get right. Saying a 20 to 1 ratio "means they don't know what they're doing" is a little cruel. I'm pretty sure Stanley Kubrick and Michael Mann knew what they were doing, and 20 to 1 for them would be a breezy shoot. In your defense, shooting ratio and coverage is often used to deride bad directors. But I think you'd agree shooting one take, or even editing 'in camera,' would not guarantee a good movie.
Absolutely, Brett... I do agree, and your comment about shooting
ratio and coverage being used to deride bad directors is the
conventional wisdom I was so hastily referring to. Coppola, Mann and
Kubrick are not hacks, obviously, and shooting ratio is not by any
means a measure of a director's worth. If it was, Ed Wood would
probably be regarded as the best director of all-time. "Don't you
wanna do another take Ed? Seems like big baldy had some problems
gettin' through that door ... No, it's fine. It's real. You know, in
actuality, Lobo would have to struggle with this problem every day."
My comments also prompted this email from Walt Cygan in
Minneapols:
The ratio of film shot to screen time for "Apocalypse Now"
that you quoted was in Walter Murch's very enjoyable book: "In the
Blink of an Eye." You guys have probably read the book but on the
off-chance that you didn't, it was a collection of lectures on
editing he delivered in Australia (if memory serves). While it wasn't
a technical primer about editing, it did give a sort of philosophical
and physiological assessment of how editing affects a movie. Very
cool.
Very cool, indeed. "Blink" was my source for that comment, having
read it several years ago as a film student. Walt's email reminded me
of something I posted on the old Cinecast site back in September 2005
in response to a listener request for recommended reading. With the
holidays fast approaching, maybe I can provide some ideas to add to
your wish list. For those of you who saw this in the message boards
or on the site originally, it's mostly redundant but with a few new
tidbits thrown in...
Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player
by Robert Rodriguez -- The Sin City director's tale of how he made
his first movie, "El Mariachi." Inspiring for anybody who wants to
make movies; illuminating for anybody who doesn't know that good
movies can be made for less than $100 million if the filmmaker has a
clear vision and plan to execute it. For what it's worth, Rodriguez
considers film school a waste of time and money. And he might be
right. But that's a discussion for another time...
Bonus gem from the immortal Magnus from Berlin in the
Filmspotting Message Boards: "'Rebel Without a Crew' is a good book,
it's better than all of Rodriguez's movies combined, it's also
prophetic in that all the Hollwood stuff he makes fun of, he later
went on to do himself..."
On Directing Film by David Mamet -- Mamet isn't the
greatest director, and certainly not the most subtle, but he's got
fascinating ideas about making movies and how to lift something off a
page and enact it on screen in a very precise way. Note: I'm
currently reading Mamet's
"True and False: Heresy and Common Sense For the Actor" and
loving it.
"Emotional memory," "sense memory," and the tenets of the Method back to and including Stanislavsky's trilogy are a lot of hogwash. This "method" does not work; it cannot be practiced; it is, in theory, design, and supposed execution supererogatory -- it is as useless as teaching pilots to flap their arms while in the cockpit in order to increase the lift of the plane.
Somewhere James Lipton just had a heart attack. Mamet also
provides the single greatest attack on the film "Babel" you'll find
anywhere this year:
Similarly, onstage, the Great Actor, capable of bringing herself to tears, may extort our admiration for her "accomplishment," but she will never leave us stronger; she has made us pay a price, and made us pretend we like it, but we leave the theatre moved only by our capacity to be moved.
What's that you say? The book was written in 1997? Mamet isn't
talking about "Babel"? That's just me continuing to beat an already
decayed horse? Oh. Sorry.
In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch -- Among many
others, Murch edited Apocalypse Now and did the sound design for both
Apocalypse and The Godfather Part II. In other words, he knows what
he's talking about. It's billed mainly as a book for editors, and it
does address many practical editing issues, but Murch takes a really
insightful approach that extends beyond editing to philosophical
questions about how/why to make and watch movies.
Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman -- From
the screenwriter of The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and All The
President's Men... Goldman's got an acerbic wit and some fantastic
"inside" stories from the various sets and projects he's worked on.
Best lesson here -- that I repeat frequently -- is that a good
screenplay isn't necessrily about dialogue; it's about structure.
Three more recommended reads: Sidney Lumet's "Making Movies, John
Pierson's "Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a
Decade of American Independent Cinema," and, for the sheer fun of it,
"Easy Riders and Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll
Generation Saved Hollywood."
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Vote for Filmspotting!
It's a new month, so please feel free to
vote for us at PodcastAlley.
We appreciate your support!
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Improving Filmspotting
Alan Docherty in London recently wrote in with some constructive
criticism and Sam and I thought The Dope Sheet was the perfect venue
to dive into a few of his suggestions. As always, we look forward to
any feedback you have --
dopesheet@filmspotting.net
Thanks for continuing to put together such a great show -- you
never fail to entertain and provoke. How you find the time to hold
down day jobs, watch several movies a week, record a podcast every
few days and have a life -- I'll never know. Enough of the flattery.
I really enjoy Filmspotting -- but I do have some suggestions to make.
You couldn't be more wrong Sam, or is it Adam?
Shame on me -- but for a long time I got confused as to which of you was which. Again, maybe it is being British. My way of remembering is that Adam has a slightly deeper voice. How about a short video of the two of you on the site talking about yourselves and favourite films to help ignorant foreigners who struggle to distinguish between your similar accents?
Alan, such a video already exists! It's called Cinecast A/V #5.
The final installment of our short-lived video podcast is still
available on our site -- and the feed is still active in iTunes, I
believe. I'm too proud to tell you where on the site. But it's not
hard to find if you are really curious.
---
Massacre Theatre
There's no easy way to say this. Massacre Theatre sounds fun, but what's the point? 80% of the time I don't know what you are massacring, so it makes no sense.
I hear what you are saying, Alan, but... well, you know.
---
Movies not now showing in Milwaukee
You only have time to do one or two new movies a week and within
the current format that is the right balance -- any more and you'd
have to do spend less time on each, which would be a real shame. But
you've missed out on some great stuff -- especially non-American.
Timothy Spall's performance in 'The Last Hangman' made Phillip
Seymour Hoffman in 'Capote' look like Sylvester Stallone (I'm
exaggerating, but only a little). Then there was last year's Italian
'Consequences of Love' which is surely the only beautifully shot
existential drama, and what a shame you were never able to review the
German drama 'Downfall.' How about offering one minute slots for FS
listeners to submit their own MP3s (heck, I'd even do one)?
Saw a film you loved that hasn't opened in the states yet or
isn't getting a lot of publicity? Filmspotting welcomes your
voicemails --
feedback@filmspotting.net
---
Donations
You've been very quiet about donations -- maybe there is a reason
for this and I certainly don't want to pry. Maybe you don't want to
put too much effort into it because it's not important. But here's a
few suggestions for boosting revenue.
Gold/Silver/Standard -- what's the criteria for these different
levels of support? If you've already said it, it would be worth
repeating. Can you offer Gold contributors anything special -- a
limited edition Filmspotting mug? A signed Adam and Sam photograph?
Also, what would you prefer $2/month contributions or one-off silver
donations? Say something! Merchandise -- You could sell mugs,
T-shirts, mouse mats...
Invite financial contributions and, most importantly, tell us
what you are going to use the money for -- that way we have a clear
purpose what we are donating for.
Anyway, that's been my contribution, even if you don't take up any of my ideas -- I'll still keep listening.
Thank you for all of the suggestions, Alan. Lest anyone think we
are reprinting this to encourage donations, the fact is that one of
the most common questions I get whenever I meet listeners is, "How
much is a gold club donation?"
The reason why we don't really publicize the levels of donation
is just because we don't ever want to come off as though we are
begging or, even worse, imposing on listeners to support the show. If
you like the show and want to kick a few bucks our way, we really
appreciate it. But we never want people to feel bullied into doing
anything. Would we 'prefer' a $50 donation over $2 a month? Well, of
course... but we are extremely humbled by someone deciding that we're
worth even $2 a month.
What we spend are donation and advertising money on is a great
question, and one I'll try to shed some light on: Web hosting, audio
hosting, any audio equipment we have to replace or add, Sam's travel
from Milwaukee to Chicago 4-6 times a month (roughly $200 by train),
cab/bus fare from the train station to where we record, MOVIES,
Massacre Theatre prizes, parking, DVD rentals, Peerflix/Netflix
subscriptions... and if we can, we kick a few bucks to ourselves each
month for the work we put in.
Let me be clear... I'm not detailing any of this so that you'll
feel compelled to donate. But if you wondered where your money was
going, that's it...
Merchandise is something we are definitely committed to. Our
boards moderator Alex is the front man on T-shirts and we hope to
have something ready soon. If you have any ideas for shirts, have
experience with online companies like CafePress, or are just a
particularly savvy marketer and want to share your wisdom, please
chime in --
dopesheet@filmspotting.net
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Overlooked DVD: Sherrybaby
 OK, I'm cheating here... "Sherrybaby" won't be released on DVD until
Jan. 23. And since there's a good chance you'll hear me discuss it
further on our Dec. 30 show featuring our Top 5 Male and Female
Performances of the Year, I'll keep it brief. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays
Sherry Swanson, a recovering addict who has just been released from a
three-year prison stint and hopes to re-connect with her five
year-old daughter.
Laurie Collyer's feature-fiction debut, which premiered at
Sundance in January, easily could have drifted into a sentimental
story of redemption, and considering how many times Sam and I praise
filmmakers for their ambition, Collyer deserves credit here for her
lack of ambition. There isn't a lot of healing, or profound
psychological revelations, in "Sherrybaby." We just get a character
struggling to find her place in the world and accept responsibility
for her choices. As Sherry, Gyllenhaal is so raw and destructive that
she's hard to watch at times. Is there a braver actress working today?
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File Under: Genius Pairing
Tulsa listener and new Dope Sheet Editor Jeff Huston -- more on this
next week -- sent in this interesting news item from Variety ...
Columbia plucks 'Pineapple'
Rogen, Franco to topline Express
Columbia Pictures is climbing aboard "The Pineapple Express,"
enlisting David Gordon Green to helm the laffer to star Seth Rogen
and James Franco. Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson will produce.
Script by Rogen and Evan Goldberg follows a pair of toking buddies who get mixed up with a drug gang. Production is slated to start early next year.
Sam's take: The "genius pairing" I'm referring to is David Gordon
Green and Seth Rogen (and, by proxy, Judd Apatow). The fact that
James Franco is involved gives me pretty great cause for concern. I
don't really have anything against Franco, it's just that he has a
very special gift for choosing to star in projects that that are
completely (and, in most cases, literally) unwatachable.
But now that I think about it, Franco was on "Freaks & Geeks"
(playing neither freak nor geek), so the Rogen/Apatow thing makes
sense.
I haven't heard anything recently about David Gordon Green's
"Snow Angels" with Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell. As I recall, it
was supposed to be released sometime this year. And despite what I
considered the diminishing returns of "All The Real Girls" and
"Undertow" after his brilliant debut "George Washington," I'm still
looking forward to whatever Green does next.
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