WORK IS NOT WORK
Work is not just...work. Work is a moment for our lives to collide together, and in those tiny moments of collision- creativity is born. The question is what will you do with that creativity once you behold it?
As a director, as a creative, I’m becoming more fascinated with what happens when you prime environments charged with human interaction and let the story unfold in front of you.
It’s possible they we can be so caught up trying to do the “right thing” that we miss the story playing out right in front of us. As filmmakers we are trained to a certain level to control the environment, to set the stage so to speak. Everything is learned to be timed, coordinated and prepared down to the tee. When the director calls action, nothing unexpected should occur.
Most of what we produce is a staged replica of reality. In the process we can become disillusioned to the idea of life as it is, not as we want it to be.
Unknowingly we slip past the thin gray line until we find ourselves staging moments that never needed to be staged. We learn to fear the unexpected to a certain degree, and our entire process is geared against the unknown.
While setting up for a traditional style interview, Sean tapped me on the back and said “Do you think we should film this?”. Right behind me the family we would be interviewing was excitedly talking around the table, trying to remember the important parts of their story. You could feel the energy between them. We slipped in and hit record. 45min later we ended with one of the most beautifully authentic interviews I have ever filmed. Why was that?
The camera disappeared. We as the crew became invisible and the focus became not on one person speaking into the camera - but on relationships and conversation. There was a level of energy and excitement that could not be faked.
I walked away from that interview asking myself hard question about my process. Action is in essence reaction. We are all merely reacting to one another. If action is reaction, then I need to be creating environments that ignite reaction and not stage action. I don’t want to stage forced places where all the pressure rest on the person and the camera to accomplish their task or action. I want to remove that awkward “everyone is watching” feeling that someone experiences behind the camera and replace it with a human being that reacts to them. I want to create spaces not of staged emotion, but little moments where two people's lives can collide, and they in turn find they speak the same language - creativity.