Filmed in Exile

Robert Rodriguez might be the poster child for the digital revolution. His setup is much like a lot of digital filmmakers I know, just a hell of a lot more expensive. . He has all his equipment in his house/studio  (troublemaker studios). He works with digital video and non-linear editing systems. He does not work in Hollywood, but rather in Austin Texas. He does much of the work himself, from making music, to camerawork, to editing. Rodriguez is one of the most powerful and eloquent advocates for the digital revolution. His book, Rebel Without A Crew is an inspirational how-to book where he generously shares secrets and encourages filmmakers to get off their ass and make movies instead of just talking about it.

Still, he did kind of ruin my life.

In 1996, after graduating from film school (a ridiculous experience that by no means made me feel ready to make a movie) I read Rodriguez’s “Rebel Without A Crew” and decided if Robert Rodriguez can make his flick for $7,000, I can make mine for, $6,999.

I was wrong.

Two years later I had spent 20,000 dollars on a movie I can not finish. I ordered the workprint on super VHS video because at the time, the lab I was using did not offer a digital workprint (This is a reminder of how new the digital revolution is). Having spent my entire budget on film, I could not come up with the cash to get a real print and therefore, I only have the film on Super VHS. Although I could and do intend to finish the movie, even if it is only from the super VHS workprint, I can not justify the cost of getting a digital workprint (Around 15,000) when for the same cost, I can make another movie on digital video.  I am not really feeling motivated to drop 20 grand on the movie I wrote when I was 24. I racked up 25,000 bucks in debt and destroyed my credit (which I have since restored).  The movie took nine months to film and consumed my life for that year, it ended a relationship (which was probably doomed anyway, but what the heck. I’ll blame Rodriguez for that too.) cost the DP his day job, and in the process, I crashed my car, broke my arm and it caused me to go bald.  (Okay, blaming Rodriguez for going bald is a stretch.  But I did coincidentally go bald during the shoot, and previously had a thick head of hair).

Rodriguez made it sound easy, and enticed myself and a whole bunch of other suckers to follow his lead.   (I’m not the only person Rodriguez screwed.  Check out, The Unkindest Cut: How a Hatchet-Man Critic Made His Own $7,000 Movie and Put It All on His Credit Card, Joe Queenan’s hilarious memoir of making the no-budget movie Twelve Steps To Death.  It can be done, but it is not easy and it requires the filmmaker to get it in one shot, something I am notoriously bad at.  I like trying things out, something which can really blow up the budget when you are using film.

Realistically I can not and do not blame him.  I’m the dumb shit who tried to make a movie for nothing and racked up a credit card.  And I joke when I say he ruined my life.  My life is pretty good.  And the time I had making the movie was incredible.  Making movies is always a blast, despite what the final project looks like or if it even comes out.  I do plan to finish this damn movie someday, and maybe even buy my negative back from Monaco labs.  See?  This thing still plagues me.  

In part two, I will talk about the making of the movie that didn’t get made.

As a low/ no-budget filmmaker, I have been frustrated by the limitations of making movies with little money. I have always gravitated to bigger stories, and while I can appreciate the thirty-something-having-quirky-conversation genre (like the numerous mumblecore movies), I do not necessarily want to make these movies.  I would like to make a Revolutionary War movie or a sci-fi epic, but can not achieve the production value necessary on no-budget without it looking cheap.  If no-budget filmmaking is to rise beyond the living rooms and parent’s basements of no budget filmmakers, film will need to ask the audience to take the leap with them away from realism and toward The Black Box Theory of filmmaking.  By adapting this Theory, we can open up the world of the Indie filmmaker.  This is necessary for the democratization of movies. 

Years ago, theatre creators decided they needed the freedom to create plays not bound by the limits of realism. Playwright Thornton Wilder created “Our Town”, a play which showed the history of an entire town. The town was created in the imagination of the audience. This of course, was nothing new. Early theatre began requiring the audiences imagination to fill in the blanks. Later, realism krept in and spectacle took over. Theatre moved towards an attempt to recreate experience, and then artists like Becket and Wilder showed us the way back. This is exactly the pattern filmmaking is caught in at the moment. There is an obsession with realism.  Just like in theatre, The Black Box, is nothing new. In fact, it is callback to the origins of cinema where everything was shot on a studio. Take, for instance, the work of George Melies.

Melies made films on small sets using elaborately constructed backgrounds. Enjoying Melies requires an ability to accept the lack of realism in the set. The same can be said for German Expressionist masterpieces such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The Black Box Theory is currently being practiced on a big level.  One could argue, many movies have been made in a Green Box.  Movies like Sin City, 300 or The Spirit intentionally  forgo realistic backgrounds in favor of stylishly created worlds.  These films were shot on greenscreen and utilize a philosophy similar to Black Box Theory.  The backgrounds are made on computer and favor style over realism.    

This pic from Sin City shows The Black Box Theory in full effect. The majority of this film was shot in one big green room.

Arguably the most significant and pure Black Box Movie is the film Dogville, by Lars Von Trier.  Dogville plays like a demented Our Town where the town has been replaced by a large warehouse.  The various places in town are represented by chalk outlines.

Dogville; The ultimate example of "Black Box Theory". This picture shows the stage which becomes the town in which all of Dogville takes place.

The effect of Dogville is powerful and Von Trier uses the device to enhance the power and intimacy of his story.  No one will ever see Dogville and wish the town were real.  The audience meets Von Trier’s challenge to accept the unrealistic and experimental nature of what he is doing.  Theatre audiences have been doing it forever, and the original audience of film began with meeting that challenge.  Now it is time for the no-budget filmmaker to get out of their parents living room (or paint it chroma-key green) and begin challenging themselves and their audiences.  

If you decide to make or have made a Black Box movie, let me know.  We will post about it here.

The Rhode Island Film Collaborative (RIFC) is an organization brought about to help bring democracy to filmmaking.  The organization is a non-profit started by a group of filmmakers who decided they could help other filmmakers by pooling resources and building the film community in Rhode Island.  It was co-founded by myself and Broto Chakrabarti, director of Sleep: A Novel.  At the time we started RIFC a few years ago, this was a relatively new idea, and is probably still in the idea stage.  We have two-thousand people on our e-mail list and a group of a few hundred that we all know by name, but we have yet to truly fulfill the promise of what we started.

The idea was to build the film community, share equipment, connections, actors and everything else in order to overcome the need for money.  Almost everything needed to make a movie costs money, however, with a community that comes together to donate and share resources and work on the movies for experience, the cost of filmmaking can be reduced down to videotape (or hard drive space) and food.  Most importantly, once we acquired the resources we opened them up to everyone, and resulted in helping dozens of films get produced.  

I am sure there are other organizations doing the same thing all over the country.  I am not sure if we were the first, probably not, and I know we’re not the last.  Since we sprouted up several other groups have shown up with similar concepts, such as the Boston-based Beanywood and the Connecticut based SECT.  Ideas like the RIFC, SECT & Beanywood can help usher in the digital revolution by cutting down costs and encouraging collaboration.  Check out these organizations and let me know if you know of one I have missed.  And if there is not one in your neighborhood, maybe you should start it.  I’ll talk you through it.

M

I am worried the title comes off pretentious, so let me be clear about this, I am not the revolutionary – you are.  I kept the pretentious title because I think it is important.  We need to change the way movies are made and who they are made by.  In this blog, we will discuss what the digital revolution is, why it needs to happen, how we can make it happen and why there are those who conspire to stop it from happening (and this is not some bullshit Da Vinci code conspiracy theory, this is simple matter-of-fact reality.  We need to band together as independent filmmakers and force Hollywood to open their doors.  This blog belongs to anyone who believes in this cause.  If you have something to add, e-mail me at m@exilemovies.com and I will add your post with links to your own personal website.  This will also be a place where we will share the tools of the trade, give technology updates and tricks and tips, links to relevant sites, etc.  

Why “In Exile”? One reason is my shameless attempt at self-promotion (www.exilemovies.com), but other than that, I think it fits.  We are all, as Independent filmmakers, Exiled from playing the game by bullshit rules and an unreasonable bias toward movies shot on film.  Anyone involved with distribution will tell you that most distributors will not look at a movie shot on DV or HD.  Hell, I was recently told a distributor would not look at my film even if it was shot on RED instead of film (if it is good enough for Soderbergh, it is good enough for me).  Is this bias based on the needs of the audience?  Of course not.  We all know an audience member does not care what you shoot your film on as long as it looks good.  And when one of the Hollywood elite uses digital, like Robert Ropdriguez (and this is not a shot at Rodriguez, he is the REAL cinema revolutionary and I am certain he would agree with everything I am saying) it is cool, but if it is somebody with no cash and no connections, it is unacceptable.  Does this make sense to anyone other than a distributor?

We are also Exiled by a bias held by film festivals.  Most film festivals require a blow-up to 35 mm for entry.  That is a fifty thousand dollar entrance fee.  Does this sound like they want us to play in their reindeer games?  I will answer my own rhetorical question.  NO.  (I will post more about the conspiracy later).

All of this leads me to believe we are all Exiled from an industry desperately trying to maintain its stranglehold of creative power.  Take for instance, the early nineties, when a string of self-financed n0-budget features were made and sold to Hollywood.  Movies like, The Brothers McMullen, Pi, In The Soup, Go Fish, El Mariachi & Clerks had low production values and low budgets and still went on to get major distribution deals.  Even though these movies were shot on 16mm film, they do not look as good as HD video shot with a Letus.  So why have we not heard similar stories in recent years?  (of course there are a few, Puffy Chair, Primer, etc.)  Can they honestly expect us to believe that there has not been a low-budget, HD/DV movie as good as The Brother’s McMullen in the past ten years?

Let’s make it the mission of this blog to find them.  If you have made a no budget (Under 150,000) feature we want to see it.  We will review it on this blog.  Just e-mail me and I will send you instructions on where to send a copy.  It is our goal to discuss movies made in the low/no budget genre and tell the stories of how they were made.

This also the place for you to advertise your exiled movie. We will review and post about no budget features here.  If you want your low budget feature hyped or reviewed, e-mail us.  If we hate it, we will not trash you, because that is not the point.  If we love it, it will be proof that no-budget filmmakers are still making movies as good or better than they were in the early nineties, and Hollywood is ignoring them on purpose.

This is certainly not meant to trash Hollywood, I love many Hollywood movies and I will never try to pretend I do not want to make them, I do.  Having said that, many Hollywood movies are stale. They are stale because they are the same stories told by the same people from the same part of the world.  The digital revolution has promised to bring democracy to movie making.  Why has it not worked yet?  This is the question we will search to find the answer for here.  I hope I can count on your help.

Written from Exile,

Mark Fogarty

www.exilemovies.com