Butch aka Travis

I don’t know exactly why, but I have a natural affliction for offending people.

I have always been that way. I admit I have calmed myself down in recent years, I am aware that as a moody teenager (which wasn’t long ago) I pissed off so many people, I had a longer list of enemies than friends.. But do I care? No

I bet you are asking (especially Elisa) “Travis, where are you going with this? This has nothing to do with film?” Well if you just wait for a moment, I will come to my point

My point is, I seem to offend people with my view on film making, some people aside, but for the most part, I get the feeling that people think I am an idiot because I feel independent and underground films are better than mainstream. Why do I feel like this? I love the ART involved in making films. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of art house, not a fan at all, but there is something magical about a Stanley Kubrick stare in a beautifully composed shot, than in the explosion of a car. There is something infinitely beautiful in Richard E. Grant’s retelling of Hamlet at the end of Robinsons Withnail & I, than Harrison Ford once again having a run in with the President

Withnail & I - Bruce Robinson

I see art differently I guess. I see anything that is well made (I mean anything) as art. The new wave style of shooting employed by Goddard in Breathless, the amazing ranting and raving character of Madman Munt running down a burning hallway with a shotgun yelling out ‘I’ll show you the life of the mind!!!’ in the Coen Bros. sublime Barton Fink, or a 318 Hemi Engine dropped into a 1970 model Valiant VF Coupe…. that is art to me.

Barton Fink - Ethan and Joel Coen

Changing topic, I have of late spent some time amongst the blogs of my fellow finishing Masters students, and there are things I read I strongly agree with and then there is some stuff that just doesn’t register in my brain.

JONI
Joni and I, despite being expatriates from the ‘Republic’, are from different schools of thought.

This from her blog

When a person says the reason they love the entertainment industry is because they want to be a storyteller, I think, how clichéd! It is such a stock answer I wonder if they even know what they are truly saying. Narrator, teller of tales, recounter, is this what they mean? If this is their best answer I think they have chosen the wrong profession.

This is bad news for yours truly. This is what I always say. I want to tell stories, no doubt about it, I never got in this purely on the basis I want money (don’t get me wrong, I want the money, I want it all) but film making is as much about the business as it is for the story telling

I doubt if you asked a color grader why they enjoyed the entertainment industry they would say because of story telling.

Hence the reason I am no colour grader. But surely the same above statement would never apply to a writer? Or a Director?

OVEN

Oyvind and are alike and different at the same time. Oven wrote

I keep hearing that if I want to be successful in the media industry, I have to have a story that I want to tell, and that I have to be pastionate about my storytelling.

I don’t know who told you that. As Joni has already pointed out, I doubt a colour gradist perfected his craft for the story. He takes as much satisfaction from doing his job well as I would putting together nicely flowing dialogue.

The Long Goodbye - Robert Altman

But enough of my negativity, I have had much discussion time with Rups, Jennie and my folks on this topic the last few weeks, but all are happy that it is evident the passion is there in the first place. The thing is, I know what I want, and it’s just a matter of going out and getting it.

This masters has been a very long journey for me, and I can honestly say, I don’t think I learn much at all, until I took Elisa’s class that is, but that aside, I felt so idle (and I hate feeling idle) that I had to go and do something, to alleviate the boredom, and I fell in love with film making all over again.

We have also have a lot of guest speakers, and I have been asked to do a little blog concerning all of them, but some I found a little in effective. I have previously explained about Paul from MadMan, but to be blatantly and brutally honest, the best Speaker I have had in this entire degree was Elisa Tranter. Why? Because she has actually helped me, instead of being negative, she was positive, something I was beginning to forget about. Where others told me I was mad to do this, or mad to do that, Elisa just nodded her head and said “great”.

Bande a part - Jean Luc Goddard

I know I sound like a suck, but I mean every word. Rups was also a good help, it was nice to find someone else who is completely engrossed in the art of film making, but it was Elisa that kept me nailed to the floor.

Which leads me to ask, why is she any different from any other lecturer? The answer is, experience, and know how, and that fact that she has earnt her way up, rather than sitting on her ass and blaming everyone else for keeping he down, an affliction which I have to shake.

My greatest fear for her is that she will continue to lecture!! Mainly because lecturers seem to get stuck in a comfortable situation, and don’t like to move.

In closing, if this doesn’t pass as a blog, I don’t care, it is something I have long known and feel better for saying it.

This will be my last MMP related blog, and so I sign out.

I will keep up the blogging though so please drop by.

TS