| [BACK]
Remember when you were a kid and you had those painting by numbers coloring books? There would be an outline of a bear or giraffe or something and within the outline would be additional outlines with various numbers representing colors. So you'd align the color with the number and fill in the center, ultimately you would have successfully "painted" a giraffe.
Writing a short script is the equivalent of painting by numbers. You put in the shots, angles, stage directions and dialogue, but the real filmmaking begins when you actually shoot the film.
That's when you realize the scene that you thought you could shoot in your neighbor's garden can't work because it rained or a deer ripped up the vegetation.
Or that the actor who did such a great audition suddenly chokes and can't remember his lines (or doesn't show up at all and YOU have to play his part).
Real painting and real filmmaking means you actually have to do it.
Not to minimize the value and necessity of a script. The script is the most important element of every film--short or long--ever made. Good, great or crappy. It all starts with the script. For people who are only interested in being screenwriters, their work is done when they've gotten the script at a place where it's as good as it can be.
But if you're going to be a director, once you've nailed down the script, getting it shot is the real work. The real painting. The real filmmaking.
|
